Do it for the Lord!

“Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not people…” Ephesians 6:7

Ministry is often a thankless job. But that's okay, because if you truly love God and desire to do His will then your love for God and your love for His people (no matter how far away from Him they are) will far outweigh any lack of gratitude for your efforts in serving Him.

I believe true ministry isn't just about the results people can see or even hear about. It’s about the stories- acts of love- that may never be shared because it would break a person’s confidence or even potentially put them in danger:

The stories of a life transformed through hours of prayer. The stories of students facing a family crisis who you take out to dinner so they can talk and just know someone will listen who cares. Stories of driving to church but never making it to the service because you see a student walking in the snow and you pick them up and they begin to share some of the difficulties they are facing. The stories of a student asking you to call them every evening for a period of time to make sure they are ok because of a dangerous situation they are in. The stories of running into a student you haven't seen for a while at the grocery store with your family and taking time to encourage them and make sure they know that they are valued and loved! The stories of working with a teacher to find out how you can go and visit a student who has been transferred to JDC. The stories of those text messages, Facebook messages, FaceTime chats, phone calls, etc, where you are pouring out God’s love at any time- no matter how inconvenient- because you want to represent how much Jesus loves and cares about each one of those lives.

These simple examples and countless more represent just a few of the unheard stories about lives that have been touched by the love of Jesus!

I know many of you reading this email are serving in ministry of some description. May I encourage you, whether you have a "ministry title" or not, don't stop pouring out the love of Jesus! No matter how unseen or unappreciated your efforts are by man, know that God sees every effort to represent Him well and He is the only one we need to please!

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Romans 12:1 MSG

PRAISE:

• For the LHS outreach on Friday’s after school. The outreach has changed location from a small classroom to right out in the front foyer of the school. There are many students who are stuck there after school for a long period of time and many of them do not know Jesus. LHS student leaders have been serving them food and playing games with them in order to serve the school by helping those students stay out of trouble. The administration staff have made several comments about how much they appreciate this and how it has helped keep the students focused on something good and fun instead of fighting with each other and causing trouble. Although the student leaders cannot publicly present the Gospel in that setting, they are having fun and building relationships that we believe will lead to an opportunity for these students to see the light of Christ in the student leaders and open a door for them to share Jesus.

• For the Faithful ministry partners that continuously sow into the ministry of Collision. God is using your faithful prayers and financial support to impact the lives of so many students! Thank you! Please know that you are appreciated! We couldn’t do it without you!

Prayer Requests:

• For those untold stories, that God would continue to use our staff and volunteers to pour out love on every student we meet!

• For God to stir the hearts of the LHS student leaders and other students at LHS who love God, to be even more passionate about seeing their peers come to know Jesus.

• For the iThink Big School Assemblies in April. That God would use them in a fresh way to bless the school administration, teachers, and students.

• For The Annual Celebration Dinner preparations and for God to begin to stir the hearts of those that need to attend and sow in (time, talent, and treasure) to all that God is doing through the work of Collision.

#TabithaSadler