Living By Faith

Sometimes when I post about my faith, I am a little frightened, not by my faith, but how others may perceive me when I say, "I have felt God's calling" and that I feel "led by the Holy Spirit." I tuck those feelings of fear for others reactions way deep down inside and push through my post knowing that I have a wonderful Heavenly Father who loves me and who daily shows me his love in creation, the blessings in my life, and his guidance of me in my journey of faith. I know he is there, and I have felt his calling. I felt it when I became a teacher and I fought it tooth and nail refusing to go into a profession that was not monetarily lucrative. But when I said, "Yes, I will be a teacher," the riches God showered upon me through the children I taught was greater than any amount of gold. I have felt God's calling in other ways too and most recently shared with you about my feeling called to go into children's ministry. Before leaving for our trip to New York, I had spoken with Father Howard at our church, who used to live in New York, about a church to visit while we were in New York. He told me of St. Bartholomew's in east Midtown New York. We did visit the church after our morning walk in Central Park. It is a beautiful Romanesque church which was very welcoming, and I was very glad we stopped by, even though it was brief.

That was an intentional visit to St. Bart's. What I did not intend was the detour that a more "spirited tour guide" took us on while we were walking in New York the day before. Howie and I had just visited the High Line and we were walking back towards our hotel down a rather busy street. I said to Howie, "Hey, can we walk down one of these more quiet streets back to the hotel?" Howie agreed and told me to choose a street to go down. I decided upon the very next one. As soon as we crossed over the busy street and entered the more quiet side street, I looked up and saw this.

 Then in the window, I saw this.

 This encounter with the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in New York was completely unplanned on my part but I believe completely planned by my "Spirited" tour guide. These are the things that show me in a concrete way, God's calling of me to children's ministry. It is something that brings me such joy and for which I am so thankful for. I know that God calls each of us in different ways and it is such an awesome thing that he loves us all in such a glorious way!