One year ago today I walked into a house-turned-office for my first day at Living Proof Ministries, and my, what a year it’s been! (Fun side-note: Within an hour on the job, I filmed this video. On my very first day of work. I was terrified and can now laugh hysterically at my professional head nodding.) This year has easily been one of the most exciting, fun, challenging and neat years of my life. I’ve grown in ways I would have never imagined, been challenged to increase my faith and believe God, and on top of all that, made a handful of new best friends. What you may not know is that not only did I enter into a new job, after 26 years of attending, serving and working at a church I was raised in, I became a member at a new church as well. So, to say it’s been a new year and a new season is a vast understatement. But I wouldn’t trade this year for anything in the world.

There is no way I could let this day pass without sharing what I’ve learned about this ministry in just one year. Though I’m only going to share three things that stick out to me, what you need to know is that this list is the bare minimum.

L is for the Lavishness of LPM

I may hear the word “village” around here a lot, since we do refer to ourselves as The Village, but more so than that, I hear the word lavishness. I don’t know a word that describes LPM more accurately. Not only does the Lord lavish His love on us, but His lavishness towards us means that we can generously give to others. Living Proof gives more than anyone I know. And I mean that in every sense of the word. They give of their time, their love, their resources, their energy, their wisdom, and especially their prayers. You can’t walk through the doors of LPM and walk out without receiving a blessing, which is their goal. They do it with intentionality and grace. And lest you think for one second they do it to make a name for themselves, think again, it is all to make God’s name great, because He is the one that so lavishly and generously loves and gives to us.

P is for Prayer Warriors

My very first day of work happened to be on a Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. On any other given Tuesday, you would find us scurrying out the door at noon to head to lunch, however, on this particular day, since they had missed their typical Monday prayer time during lunch, they dove into prayer time on Tuesday instead. I think you know where I’m going with this. Instead of eating out on my first day of work, I prayed with my new found co-workers. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared and intimidated out of my ever-loving mind, and sometimes I still am. What in the world had I gotten myself into? I was sitting in the red room with 10 other ladies I barely knew and they were praying their heads off. If I can say one thing about these ladies, it’s that they’ve taught me how to pray. And not just pray, but pray with boldness, belief and for heaven’s sake, a little bit, or a lot of faith. Are my prayers eloquent? Heck no. Do I soak in every word they say and pray? You bet I do. I’ve witnessed miracles because of their mighty prayers. One thing I know to be true, you want these ladies praying for you.

M is for Mothering and Mentoring

September 6th, 2011 I gained 14 mothers and 14 mentors. Please note, I have a wonderful mother who I love dearly that lives 20 minutes from me and we talk often, but this was a no brainer given the territory I stepped into. I am the youngest on staff and each of them could be my mother. I say that in the most endearing, respectful way. The way the care about the little details of my life, the way they scratch my back, they way they send texts because they can’t bare to wait until the next day to hear about a certain this or that, are all things any mother would do. Do I hate it? No. In fact, I consider myself ridiculously spoiled in the spiritual realm. I’ve been known to confess during prayer time just how unique my situation is. What 27-year-old girl gets to be surrounded by this much wisdom? Does it mean we sit and chat over coffee on a daily or weekly basis? Well, not really. Unless you take into consideration our lunch hour, but what I mean by mentoring is I get to watch (and watch I do) the way these godly women handle their husbands, their children, their times alone with the Lord, their reaction to all manner of circumstances and so on and so forth. I get a front row seat to their daily, personal lives, and not one of them has left me disappointed. Are they perfect? Far from it. But they’re real. They’re authentic. I want to be like that.

The Lord has extended His faithfulness to me in more ways than I can count. I will boast in the Lord alone, because He alone did this.

Working alongside these women is one of the greatest privileges of my life. It’s life giving and water to my soul nearly every day. Not one day goes by without receiving encouragement, truth, wisdom and you better believe it, laughter. When I leave, I feel like I’ve been near God. Not to mention, we can talk for hours without gossiping, a miracle for 14 ladies if you ask me. Thank you, Jesus.

I don’t want to fool you into believing that life here is perfect. We’re human, flawed, we are all but a vapor, dust, bereft, and deeply in need of Jesus, without Him, every minute of our work here is in vain. However, it is my greatest desire to honor God and this ministry by celebrating God’s faithfulness to us.

Thank you, LPM, for accepting me from the minute I walked through those front doors. I feel like I’ve been here for ten years. And I hope I’m here for ten more, God-willing.

Thank you, Lord, for planting me here for such a time as this and doing greater than I could ever ask or imagine. You alone are to be praised. You are what LPM is made of.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Proverbs 27:17

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 6th, 2012 at 10:26 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.