In another 23 days I will be spending my final day serving as the pastor of The Way Middleton. It seems my life is turning a corner and I am not sure what is around that corner. (Except to know that my LORD is there so it will be all right.)
Being a woman in ministry since 1985 has had its delights and its challenges. There are many in Christianity that do not think a woman should pastor a church, and they often raise their concerns to me through emails and on social media. Those concerns are frequently voiced in language that can be hurtful. I learned a long time ago to not argue but to remain silent and pray instead.
Luke 8 opens with the news that Jesus was traveling from one town to another with the twelve disciples. He was preaching and telling the good news of the kingdom of God. As Jesus traveled with the twelve, there were others with Him.
“The Twelve were with Him, and also some women who had been healed of evil spirits and sicknesses: Mary, called Magdalene (seven demons had come out of her); Joanna the wife of Chuza, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others who were supporting them from their possessions.” [8:1-3 HCSB]
We seldom think of those women who were touched by Jesus and subsequently supported Him in His ministry. They supported His ministry in the only way they could in that culture … with their possessions. They provided the means behind the ministry.
All four Gospel writers record that except for the Apostle John, it was women who stood around the cross as Jesus was crucified. It was women who gathered the supplies to anoint His body after the Passover ended, and it was women to whom the glorious message of Resurrection was first announced.
Jesus set women free to be all they could be in Him. He alone, through the power of the Holy Spirit, anoints people, both men and women, to serve Him as He directs. I am so humbled that He would choose to use me, but how can we refuse to serve Him with all our might after having been set free by Him.
Thank you, LORD, for the many years of ministry. I will never be able to repay You for the freedom You have given me.
