You Revive Me

“How are you doing today?”

This is a question asked daily in our office and, like a lot of things, has started to become normal.

After being placed on an iNFUSE team, I was so excited to be able to build strong relationships with young people that would hopefully lead them to a deeply-rooted faith in Christ. As St. Thomas Aquinas said; “To convert somebody go and take them by the hand and guide them.” I know for certain that my faith is only what it is today because someone chose to get to know me and guide me there. All I wanted, and still want, is to be able to do that for someone else.

After being so motivated for so long to join this mission, I never believed I’d see the day when so much of our ministry would go from exciting to normal. I never thought praising for an hour every day in the presence of our Lord would become unexciting, or that I’d get sick of so many praise and worship songs, or that I’d develop guitar calices on my fingers so thick that an iPod can no longer detect their touch. I knew that work or study could become menial, but for some reason I had the illusion that ministry could NEVER become that way.

Rachel's sisterhood (Rachel, Jillian, and Whitney enjoying a
team day in Moosejaw

I don’t know where I bought my rose coloured glasses, but somewhere along the line they have fallen off. I find myself asking God to give me the same zeal that I had at the beginning of the year, when I couldn’t wait to get to know people, when I was so ready and willing to do whatever it takes to bring someone to Christ.

All too often I get to the end of the day and I didn’t get a chance to call that student to hang out, but I made a bunch of calls to retreat centers and school teachers. When my heart desires to sit down with a cup of tea and hear of what God is doing in my sisters’ personal prayer, I find that my lunch break comes and goes, and whilst I may have finally responded to that important ministry email, I’ve missed my chance to grab the hands of those around me and gaze towards our creator.

After avoiding this song for a long time out of fear of normalcy, I felt led to play You Revive Me in team prayer today, and I fumbled my pick when I actually took in the words of the chorus:

You revive me, You revive me, Lord

And all my deserts are rivers of joy

You are the treasure I could not afford

So I’ll spend myself ‘til I’m empty and poor

All for You, You revive me Lord.

In the wake of Jesus’ resurrection, I have been asking Him to bring new life to all of the tasks that have become normal, to all of the things that I desire, deep down, but have no energy to do. Through prayer, God is helping me to see that by pointing any task’s intention toward heaven, it can go from ordinary to extraordinary. In doing that, God will be able to do everything that he needs to do in the hearts of those in Weyburn, whether He chooses to let me see the fruit of it or not in the little time we have left here. After all, "He doesn't ask us to be successful, he asks us to be faithful." (Mother Theresa)

In learning to rely on God’s strength rather than our own, we can return to asking,  “How are you doing today?” out of sincerity rather than habit, and hope that people will see the face of Christ in that small, daily surrender.

Ad Maiora Nata Sum

Rachel Hennessy,

iNFUSE Team 2, Weyburn SK