Doing What God Has Called Me to Do…Begrudgingly

Hi, friends. Today’s post is sort of off-the-cuff since my brain feels like a pinball machine lately, ha!

For the last few weeks, I’ve had my nose to the grindstone working for United Methodist Women, a women’s mission organization in the UMC. I serve as the Communications Coordinator for our district, which includes about 150 churchs–half of which have active UMW units. I’ve been merging a 2019 spreadsheet with the names/physical and email addresses/phone numbers of local unit officers (Pres, VP, Tre, Sec, etc.) with the spreadsheet of new 2020 info. If that already seems tedious, imagine the extra facet of complexity that comes with units who don’t send us updated info for years at a time. On top of everything, I have to decide how long to keep a unit’s non-updated info before deleting their unit from the spreadsheet (2 years? 3 years? Ugh).

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A few pages from the newsletter

I use the spreadsheet to determine who/where to send our quarterly newsletter. Given that we are a MISSION organization, I wanted to make some changes going forward that will save money on administrative costs. So, I decided we need to create an email group through which we can send forms, flyers, and other things we’ve been (superfluously, in my opinion) printing in the newsletter. [One of our newsletters last year was 24 pages–is that not overkill?!]

So, long story short, I’ve been merging the spreadsheets, compiling a newsletter, AND creating an email group–which has left me with only a few brain cells left to rub together. Some days, I fantasize about quitting because some of those I work with don’t share my vision (“But we’ve always done it this way”) or grasp how long things take (*someone asks nonchalantly if I can make a huge change to the newsletter when I’m almost finished*). In response to my griping recently, my sweet fiancee asked me a perfectly logical question–“Why do you volunteer to do this if it makes you miserable?”

In the midst of my work, I read a devotional based on Colossians that talks about how we should willingly, even eagerly work for the Lord in all we do (whether church-related or not). Then, this past Sunday, my pastor made the statement that if God puts a burden on our hearts, WE are being called to bear it. Applying this to my situation, God is calling ME to urge change in the face of inertia, to bring this organization more fully into the twenty-first century, to move us to a point of using less money wasting natural resources.

This is the answer to my fiancee’s question; I NEED to do this. But I should quit complaining and bear this cross with the grace of Jesus Christ. Plus, if I’m being fair, I know many ladies, including some of my teammates, see and appreciate my efforts. Also, I do enjoy what I do overall despite the frustrations.

Really, I should view God choosing me for this task as a blessing; it is a blessing to be a blessing. In the newsletter and in emails, I remind us all that what we do at the bottom of the totem pole enables those at the top to carry out ministry and mission projects that truly change people’s hearts and lives.

Thanks for reading! Do you have tough things God has called you to bear/see through/deal with? Let me know in the comments.

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