I stayed late after services that Sunday, later than usual. It was a good thing I did.
“DR. RAGIN?” ONE OF THE CHURCH’S stewards asked. “There’s someone here I think you should talk to,” he said.
It was a late Sunday afternoon, the October sky already growing dark. The service had long since ended. Normally I’d have been home by then. But for some reason, I was still in my office at St. Luke AME Church, lost in thought. Am I even making a difference? A question I asked myself again and again.
“Send them in,” I told the steward.
I had worked as a nurse for 30 years before retiring in 2010 and enrolling in seminary. But no amount of schooling could prepare me for the challenge of being a minister. Yes, I was still helping people—but not in the same way. As a nurse, I’d been able to see immediate results. People came in sick; we helped them feel better. Spiritual healing was different. You could encourage people to change, but you couldn’t change them yourself. And even if you did help someone, there was no concrete way to measure it. Sometimes it was hard not to be weighed down by doubt.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2018 من Guideposts.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة November 2018 من Guideposts.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 8500 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
EVERYDAY GREATNESS: Jessica Manfre
Uniting military and civilian communities through acts of kindness
The Cake Mixer Mishap
I should’ve listened to Mom
Star Turn
I worried about my introverted daughter. Then Olivia flipped the script
Unearthed
I pulled the overgrown remnants of my herb garden, putting it to bed for the season, and went over a mental list of all the things to do before winter began—change out the screens for storm windows, finish the yard work, bring down the draft blockers from the attic.
Confidence Builder
My five boys didn't need me to homeschool them anymore. Now I wanted to be good at something else. But could I?
Ordinary People
The story behind Norman Rockwell's celebrated painting
A Woman of Courage
After I was widowed, fear took over my life. How could I trust anyone if I couldn't trust God?
Keep on Truckin'
How to bring a couple back together: share a long-haul drive in an 18-wheeler
My Answer to Pain
Inflammation was wreaking havoc with my health. Was God trying to show me a better way to live?
Letters From Phil
My older brother and I went our separate ways: he to the Air Force, me to a marriage that didn't last. He lived a rough-and-tumble life, but that's not what really worried me