Ephesians 6:15 … and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace.
Our journey relies upon the readiness given to us through the gospel of peace.
When I was a young mother, having rededicated my life to Christ, I began to realize the importance of raising my children to love Him. I was very passionate about the calling the Lord laid on my heart to make sure my children knew Him, and fell in love with Him.
Becoming a pastors wife was not something I would have expected for my life when I was young. However, God knows us more than we know ourselves. I rest in that fact, I rejoice in that fact, I rely on that fact.
The title Ordained Minister is another path I wouldn’t have predicted. God’s plans sometimes requires us to look outside our own understanding. The journey changes. The path curves sending us to unknown places and magical moments.
This was one of those moments.
We were walking through the community of Guanacastillo in Nicaragua, passing out flyers for an upcoming event. The children were playing and walking with us with sounds of laughter and joy despite the language barrier. God provided communication through hugs, handholding and Spanish lessons as the children would point to items and say their names in Spanish.
The dry season makes everything dusty and dirty. The children don’t seem to mind. They frolic through it, play in it, and sometimes even roll in it. This inevitably transfers onto us as we join them in their fun.
Do you know how sometimes you can have a moment where everything sort of stops in your mind and you take a mental picture, one that you will hold forever? Walking through the community that evening was a moment for me. Time froze. Children giggling, little voices calling, “Nita! Nita!”, and pointing. Two sisters sharing a bicycle that barely worked. Parents smiling and saying hola and buenos noches as we were winding our way through the street. Boys tossing a homemade baseball made from tape. Alan, a five-year-old taking comfort in our arms after he fell and scraped his foot.
As I looked down in caution, trying not to trip on a rock, or other uneven surface of the road, I noticed my shoes. They were covered with the dusty, warm soil that blanketed the children. My place was sealed, my heart was full, and my feet were dirty.
Gospel shoes aren’t worn only by people standing behind the pulpit. They can be placed on the feet of the mother raising her children. Their laces can be tied by the hands of the pastor’s wife or slid on by the unsuspecting teenager unaware of her destiny. Or…. YOU.
Your calling is unique and given to you by God. You are in a place no one else is to minister for Him. What do your shoes look like?
Romans 10:13-15
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how were they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”