Submitted by Alyssa Grace
McKenzie, Ukraine
Let the word of Christ dwell in you
richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus,
giving thanks to God the Father through Him. Colossians 3:16-17
Growing up as the
child of a pastor and missionary, I thought “missions” meant leaving everything
and moving to a foreign country to live for a long time. Nothing else
qualified. Until moving to Ukraine, I never fully understood just how much God
uses the little things. Quickly after we arrived, I became involved in my
church’s choir and began helping with several ministries in the church. It is
incredible to travel with my choir to different evangelism events and see just
how much the Lord uses music to open the hearts and eyes of people. I love
being involved in this kind of ministry.
A few months ago, I
was asked by a leader in my church if I could wash the dishes at youth events.
He repeatedly told me how much of a ministry it would be. I gladly said yes,
because I actually love to clean and just help out in general, but I really
didn’t buy the whole ‘it’s a ministry’ thing. I thought maybe that was just a
way to convince me to do it! Nevertheless, I gladly washed dishes at several
small youth events within our church.
Once a month we
have an event called “Coffee House”. To our surprise, at the first one of the
season, over 500 nonbelievers attended. They packed into our small youth area
and were able to hear the gospel, many for the first time. I realize that many
of them just came for coffee and food, but through this they were able to hear
the Good News. It was at this moment that I realized just how much washing
dishes and making coffee really can be a ministry! If we didn’t wash the
dishes, there wouldn’t have been coffee, and over 500 people wouldn’t have
gotten the opportunity to hear the gospel! This humbled me so much and now it’s
a pleasure for me to be used by the Lord in truly ANY way.
