The Three Letter Word that Changed my Life
by Maggie Rowe
Director of Women's
Ministries for Vision New England 1991-1998
It's been nearly 20
years now since the call came, but
I remember exactly where I was standing in our former home on Cape Cod
when I picked up the phone. The Director of Women's Ministries for
Vision New England, Beverly Weinhold, was on the line. I was pleased to
hear from her but surprised.
In the two years since Bev had
pioneered the work with
the organization then known as EANE (the Evangelistic Association of New
England), we had crossed paths occasionally at regional retreats and
conferences. Bev's advice was invaluable when we began our ministry to
women at Osterville Baptist in 1990. She had also invited me to a
regional gathering of Bible study leaders, inviting me to share the new
work that God was doing in a nearly 200-year-old church. Other than
that, we had little contact.
Imagine
my surprise, then, when Bev called personally to tell me that her
family was moving out of New England within a few months. I recall
saying, "Then I'll certainly be praying for your replacement." Prophetic
words, for in the next sentence Bev came straight to the point. She
felt that God had told her that I was
to succeed her in the position. I could not have been more shocked.
Of
all the women Bev could have
called that day, few could have felt less qualified than I did to become
the new "adoptive mom" for the young ministry still in its toddler
stage. I told Bev that I would pray about it, but everything in me
wanted to say, "No!" No to
taking on a regional position when I was still a novice myself. No to assuming responsibility for
running a six-state-wide women's leadership conference when
administration was not my strength. No
to becoming a missionary, for all intents and purposes, who
would need
to raise the very funds needed to move the work forward.
I had
many reasons to say no, but
one compelling reason to say yes. As I studied my Bible in the next
several weeks, looking for validation so that I could turn down the
position, I discovered that many characters in Scripture
felt just as I did when God assigned them a huge task. Moses, Gideon,
and Jeremiah all recognized their own inadequacy, and yet each realized
that God would be with them. As I studied their stories, I knew -
against all reason - that I needed to say yes.
YES. The
three-letter word that changed my life. Joining the staff of the
organization that later became Vision New England was at the same time
one of the best and also most difficult decisions of my life. I had
three young children, a pastor-husband, little time and even less talent
for the task ahead. Yet in the process of saying yes to something that I
initially did not want to do, God granted the desires of my heart.
I
developed a passion for seeing
change come to New England churches as it had to ours. I experienced the
joy of seeing God bring amazingly gifted women alongside to partner
with me in the work: women like Betty Moberger, who designed the Woman to Woman newsletter, and Nan
Lingenfelter, who brought to the Women
in
the Word annual conference dynamic administrative skills. And
I made lifelong friendships with others throughout New England who
shared my hunger to see God at work in the lives of women.
I
shudder now when I think of how
close I came to turning down what became one of the greatest blessings
of my life.
What might God
be asking you to say "yes" to today?
Maggie Wallem Rowe was the Director of
Women's Ministries for Vision New England from
1991-98 and then Ministry Representative from 1998-2002. Following her
family's move to the Chicago area in 2002, she became a guest instructor
at Wheaton College and now works full-time in Christian publishing
while continuing her national speaking and drama ministry. Maggie and
her husband Mike have three young adult children. Visit her blog at
www.maggierowe.com.
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