He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion (Philippians 1:6)

Whenever anyone finds out what I do for a living, the first question they ask is, “How did you decide to become a pastor?” I wonder if they’re disappointed when I tell them my story – when Sophie, my youngest, went to kindergarten, I felt like I should have a job outside of the home. I had been a stay-at-home mom until then, and the church seemed like a good place to work. There was no bolt of lightning, no voice of God telling me in what direction I should go. I just started thinking and praying and talking to people around me, and finally, I enrolled in my first semester of seminary, not completely sure that I was pastor material. Now, almost twelve years later, I am still not completely sure. I am not the smartest, the most prayerful or the most reverent person that I know. But every day, I am surprised at how God uses me to do God’s work. One thing that I have learned is that God uses each of us to do God’s work in the world and God doesn’t care if we are the perfect vessel. God created us – we are not only God’s children in this world, we are God’s workers, created for God’s purposes, whatever they may be.

Last week I came across an article about Denise Cerreta, owner of the Salt Lake City restaurant One World Everybody Eats, a pay-what-you-want restaurant that helps feed the world. Denise developed this concept when, while struggling to run an acupuncture clinic and a small café, she hit rock bottom, and God sent an unlikely helper who changed her life.

“Realizing that she couldn’t run two businesses at the same time, she folded the clinic, let the coffee shop staff go and ran Smoochy’s herself. She opened an hour earlier than before, hoping to bring in more customers. “I honestly wasn’t sure what was coming next. It was like throwing myself down the Grand Canyon,” she says. For the next four months, she struggled, doing all the food preparation, shopping and cleaning. She maxed out her credit cards and could barely pay her rent. Then came the lowest point: Her car was repossessed. Concerned friends told her she was crazy to keep the shop going. Still, Cerreta was positive that food was somehow in her destiny.

Although she isn’t a religious woman in the conventional sense, Cerreta says her faith and prayer allowed her to persevere. One particularly stressful day, when Cerreta had run out of sandwich meat and had no money to buy more, a local street person named Doggers entered the shop and handed her $50. “He said, ‘Denise, I have some money but no place to cook. If I buy you some food, will you make it for me?’ ” Cerreta remembers. She walked with him to the grocery store, and when she explained her predicament, Doggers offered to buy her the roast beef and turkey she needed. “Now he can eat at One World anytime he wants for free,” Cerreta says. “It’s amazing how the answers to your prayers aren’t what you think they’re going to be.” (copied from More.com)

Watch what’s going on around you, and inside of you. When God created you, a good work began. All we have to do is pay attention to whatever gifts we have been given. God will bring that good work to completion. Be open to the possibility that when God answers our prayers, we might be amazed at what happens, even if it’s not what we’re expecting.