This is Miss Christy - the one surrounded by children. And that's exactly where she belongs.I thought I'd take a blog to share our family's love of one of God's biggest blessings in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. We started out hiring her to watch our kids (when we arrived at this church, ours were the only children) on Thursday evenings at church during Bible study. We thought we had hired a babysitter. The person who came through that door, however, was Miss Christy. She came with her own Bible lessons complete with flannel graph and crafts!!! After a few weeks we asked her if she was interested in a change of venue (she was at the time involved in children's ministry at a large church next door). While we do not like to "steel sheep" from other churches, she considered that her vacancy could be easily filled by many other volunteers at the church next door; however, there was no one with a passion to teach the children in our little church. She said, "YES!"
At first I was shocked that she accepted. After all, what could we offer her that would be better than what she already had? But it didn't take long to see that she didn't just see a job opportunity. She is one of those rare finds who doesn't just fill a need because no one else will. She has a deep passion for teaching God's Word, and she has a true joy and love of children. Her excitement at seeing my kids walk in the door every Sunday and Wednesday is genuine, and my kids know it. She has such patience with them, and is so gracious. It is such a blessing knowing that when I drop my kids off at Children's Church or Kid's Praise, they are not only getting good solid doctrine and theology (like every good little Presbyterian child needs), much more than that - they are seeing Jesus in action through the adoring eyes and constant praise and encouragement from such a devoted teacher!
I know what Paul means when he writes to the Ephesians: that God is "able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine" (Eph. 3:20), for He surely gave us more than we asked for and more than I imagined my family needed in this sweet friend of mine...Miss Christy!
p.s...Christy, you're right where you belong!!! =)
