Youth ministry, any ministry for that matter, is truly a calling. However, to write about the stacks of cash we don’t make or the nights and weekends we don’t have off would be cliché and quite honestly, redundant at this point. Yet when you go to ministry conventions, conferences, or seminars there they are… paid or volunteer, part time or full… Ministers. Laborers in the field.
Too often there comes a point when a growing family and the viability of throwing yourself into ministry tend to collide. This is when the 15+ hour bus rides no longer pay the bills. This is where trust happens. Trusting in God can be particularly difficult when times are uncertain.
“May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith…”
― Teresa of Ávila
May I trust God that I am exactly where he wants me to be? Can I even afford this? Will this trust feed my family or pay the mortgage? It has to. It is in the times when we can’t afford to trust that we really can’t afford to doubt. The fact is: God is our Father, our helper, our advocate, and the sacrifice that is more than enough. Moreover, Mary is our mother and she is not one that would neglect her children. When it feels like we are walking to Calvary, our parents are there and they are watching out for us.
Therein lays the true beauty of being in ministry. When we make the sacrifice, step out on the water and move forward into the unknown what better place is there to be? Take heart in the physical encounter of the Eucharist, in Reconciliation when we doubt, and in the communion of saints when we desperately need intercession. The Church abounds in the grace afforded to us through Christ’s sacrifice. When we give ourselves completely to the work of the Church, to the provisions of Christ, we will not be forsaken.
Robert Barbry 
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