Did I Ever Tell You About a Convo I Had?

She said, “I know tonight’s not about me.” During a break at a Collide conference once, a well-known speaker turned to me in tears. She was up second session but was moved by what she saw and heard in the first session. She shared about one of her kids who was in a tough tough spot, not living at home, and she was agonizing over him. She needed ministering to, but was there to “minister.” She just kept saying, “ I know this…”, looking around a huge sanctuary full of women, “ is not about me.” I just blurted out “Yes it is!” She was taken aback, sure that her role was to come in and be the one who gave, not the one who received.

And I mean, we get her. How many times have we assumed we are the ones to walk into a room and give rather than receive? How often have we walked into a family function, there to help? How many hangouts with friends have we figured we will be the listening ear? How often do we show up at work, considering ourselves the ones whose role it is to serve everyone else?

We are so used to being the ones who give, serve, pray, cook, do dishes, carpool, take notes, organize the fundraiser, lead the committee, start the meal train, plan the party, write the thank you cards, hug the crying, and reach out to the hurting. We are the ones who teach at Sunday School and miss Sunday service, the ones who serve til everyone’s fed, and by the time we get to the dinner table, everyone else is done. We are the ones who sign up to help because we want to be helpful, and oftentimes, we are also the ones who don’t ask for help even when we need it because we don’t want to be a bother. What do we want to be? We want to be givers.

I looked at this worried mama, famous preacher chick and assured her that the night could be about her and about the women she came to minister to. You know why I can say that with confidence? Because God cares just as much about the caretakers as He does those they caretake. God cares just as much about the mamas as He does their kids. In fact, to our Heavenly Father, we are all His children. God cares just as much about the preacher as He does those she preaches to. And God cares about you, friend, just as much as He cares about the people you have been pouring out for.

I am here to remind you that God, in His crazy, big, wild, good, perfect love, is just as much about you as He is those you sacrifice for. You can keep giving and serving others, but He wants to intersect that thing you do, that thing you think. He wants to cut in where you feel so very comfortable as the giver and so very uncomfortable as the receiver, and He wants to invite you to be both. He is a God after all who washed feet, fed the hungry, invited in the stranger, healed the sick, and gave up His life. Jesus didn’t do all that only for you to extend His ministry to others. He did it for YOU to fully receive, too. And when you fully receive His love, His grace, His saving, His promises, His presence, it’s then that you can fully give it away.

So if that be true, why can’t you come and feed and be fed, pray over and be prayed for, work hard and be served, preach and be taught?

This woman, known for what she does for others, allowed herself to be ministered to. I prayed over her and her kid. She wiped her eyes and kept apologizing. About 10 minutes later, she came up to me, holding her phone in disbelief. The child she was in agony over, the one who texts her maybe 10x a year, texted with a huge apology the very minute we had been praying. She was crying tears of amazement. In a room full of hundreds of women she was there to minister to, God met her in a personal and powerful way. And 5 minutes later that same God used her in a personal and powerful way to meet the rest of us. God can give to you 1000-fold while you give to others.

God’s cool like that.

So sweet friend, keep pouring out, but be poured into. Keep giving, but receive, keep helping, but say yes to offers of help. Keep being the leader but be led, keep showing up but let people show up for you, keep fully giving and out of necessity and humility, keep fully receiving. It’s right there, God shows up and blows your mind.

XOXO,