A mop and a bucket

It always astounds me how God uses ordinary people, things and circumstances to teach an extraordinary lesson. Yesterday, I went to the "His House" orphanage to help prepare one of the buildings for the arrival of Haiti orphans. For the next eleven hours I either had a mop in my hand or a broom or a toilet brush. The experience brought me back to one of my early lessons as a new believer. When I was first saved, my mother was hired by our church in Trinidad to do the cleaning and preparation process for each service. After school my brother an I would assist her in any way we could. Soon, my father gave his life to the Lord and the entire family roamed the halls, bathrooms and stairs with a mop and a bucket in hand. We counted it a privilege to serve in any capacity since our focus was to do something for God in gratitude for our salvation. As I once again held a mop in my hand, it brought back memories that were not so pleasant. About two years later our family received the devastating news that my mom would spend the rest of her life dealing with Rheumatoid arthritis and that she would be bedridden. I watched as my father, a shift worker and new Christian struggled to take care of his wife and do her tasks at the church as well as care for two teenage boys. Finally, I had to do something. What was once a family job would have to become my responsibility. After swinging a mop for hours I would pray at that altar for God to heal my mother and take the pressure off my father. Prayers of desperation turned to worship and worship developed into a relationship with God. I sought God and He found me. Sometimes God isolates us to change us. What seemed like an ordinary after-school labor of love for my parents became the forging ground for my faith. I look back at those precious moments and I thank God that He changed me. Those times of prayer had no rush order status because I refused to leave until I sensed God's presence and peace. I truly believe that I am ministering today because of my faithfulness in those little tasks when I was a young Christian. God can use anything and anyone He chooses to fulfill His great plan. I never thought in a million years I would be a minister of the Gospel while I was using that mop and bucket.

Zechariah 4:10 (New King James Version)

¹⁰ For who has despised the day of small things?

Reader, never despise the day of small beginnings for God sees everything and uses the crisis situations to form you into what He wants you to be. When you feel insignificant, under-appreciated, overlooked, belittled, stereotyped or mistreated, just reach for "Mop and Bucket" experience. Though the circumstances seem overwhelming use it to get closer to God.