A New Chapter

Spring semester 2010 began a new chapter in my life. I began to speak to classes on campus and start to tell my story and lecture. This is a ministry that I hope to grow and do more of. I feel like the Lord is moving my life in this direction and it is exciting! We should always be excited when we see the Lord working.

One of the things that comes with being a lecturer/guest speaker is a fee. The speaker has to decide if she is going to charge for her time. So far, I haven't, but since this is something I want to do more of, it does take away from work time, so maybe I need to come up with a fee.

But how much do I charge? It seems sort of arrogant to say "I think I'm worth ______ amount/hour." For some reason charging to speak seems weird to me, a counselor. I charge people as a counselor, so it strikes me as weird that I find charging people when I speak as daunting.

I guess the other option would be to just go with whatever people want to pay me. But, if I don't set a fee it seems like people would just assume my services are free, and as much as I wish I was independently wealthy and could afford to do it for free, I'm closer to welfare than I am to being monetarily rich.

Money questions aside, this new chapter in my life is daunting and exciting. It isn't something that I do apart from prayer. As Doc J. Falwell is known for saying, "Nothing extraordinary was ever accomplished apart from prayer." If I want to do the extraordinary, if I want to touch people's lives, to share Jesus' healing comfort, I have to approach each engagement with prayer (before, during and after).

For years now I've wanted to be able to allow the Lord to take what men and Satan meant for evil and use it for good, for God's glory. The things I've been through I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but it happens all too often in this filthy world. If sharing my story will help even 1 other person to turn to the Lord and receive His love, than all the pain, fear, anger, depression, confusion and hurt that I have experienced (and still do) was worth it and I would go through hell on earth again, if it meant helping someone turn from going to the eternal Hell. It is all about helping others see and receive the joy that I have been given.

May this new chapter be blessed and filled with God receiving all the honor and glory.