What next, God?
In the last few days, I was privileged to spend some quality time with a group of incredible CRBC women. Five of us are contemplating one of those “Big-O” birthdays. I was the oldest by 10 and 20 years. As we spent time relaxing, catching up, getting acquainted, eating some good food (also ice cream), and just being together, they inevitably asked about what had happened in the decades from 50 to 60, and 60 to 70 in my life. Oh my goodness, so much that God has done!
And so I started thinking about what God has been doing in my life, and what He has asked me to do, and the ways my life has changed. There is not enough space to write it all down. But bottom line, He has been drawing me closer to Him, and He just wants me to be with Him. That is the short version of a long story. So, a little history...
EARLY MINISTRY
After Dave and I and one-year-old Erin joined CRBC in 1977, God called me into Children’s Ministry. Not being a little kid person in general—I was a high school teacher—I was puzzled. I began in a first grade class and working with children at Council Road soon became my passion. Directing VBS and Sunday School morphed into being Children’s Minister. Twenty years later, when God said, “I want you to resign,” no one was more surprised than I was. I didn’t understand why God was leading me that way, but I trusted Him and turned in my resignation.
LIFE IN TRANSITION
A few years later I turned 50 and life was peaceful. That didn’t last long! I enrolled in some Bible and Counseling classes at Scope Ministries. I learned some new (to me) Biblical truths and tools that transformed my life. I learned to ask those two important questions:
What is God doing in my life?
What does God want me to do?
Kacy, our younger daughter went off to college, my mother died, Erin got married, and Dave retired. What in the world was God doing? And what did He want me to do? Some things stayed the same—I was still teaching 6th grade Sunday School, but God steadily moved me into new arenas—leading an intergenerational group of women through Be Transformed (a workbook designed by Scope Ministries to help people find Bible solutions to life’s problems), moving to the mountains for the summers, and worshipping in an interdenominational chapel.
A NEW THING
And then at age 60, God plopped a whole new direction on my plate. “What? College-age women? One-on-one mentoring? Really, God?” Yep, go for it! And so, God began a new season in my life that has been, and still is, an amazing journey. I get to meet with young women, each one referred by a previous one, walk and talk and study with them, then see what the Holy Spirit reveals to them and what God is doing in their lives! Still using Scope’s Be Transformed as the vehicle, but each journey is unique.
So does this all tie together? Is God’s hand in all of it? I absolutely have to say a resounding Yes! You see, after I resigned, I moved into 6th grade Sunday School. It was so much fun and I loved it! Well, those girls are now grown up and our lives are intersecting again. My work with young women began with the college roommate of one of them.
What did God want me to do? Just to wait on Him. He sends women my way one by one. And then what? Walk with them, listen, be there. And I have had the joy of participating with them as the Holy Spirit has brought transformation in each of their lives.
YOUR LIFE
What about you? Where are you on your journey with God? Are you a twenty-something with all sorts of challenges before you? Are you a decade or two down the road trying to figure it all out? Or, are you on the downhill side, like me, marveling at what God has done and wondering what comes next? Wherever you are, know that we are all walking this road together. I am so richly blessed by women of all ages that God has placed in my life—they teach me, inspire me, motivate me, allow me to love them and love me back.
Look around you. Who could use your intentional presence and encouragement? Is there someone you could learn from? Who is God putting in your life? And ask yourself:
What is God doing in my life?
What does He want me to do?
Life is better when we as women intentionally live it together and when we invest in others wherever the Holy Spirit leads. That is an amazing journey!
Meet the author!
Millicent has been a member of CRBC for 41 years, worked in the Children’s Ministry almost as long, and has been married to Dave for 49 years. She loves her grandkids, quilting, and chocolate. Yep, she’s old and loves every minute of it!