Special Rewind Edition: Self-Service or Self-Less Service? A Devotional Thought.

If you remember , last week I told you I was going to be away for two weeks and well , I decided to do a little comeback . But , like I said , it's a little comeback . You are a part of a special edition rewind on selfless service , but this comes upon the heels of why I'm back . You see , I had the privileged opportunity to be a part of a mission trip .

It was an eye that went on a mission trip , but it was a mission trip of students from Indian Rocks Christian School who came to Shepherd's Village to serve the single moms and their children and not serve themselves . It was one of those blessing opportunities . You know where there is a lesson in the blessing .

That's a blessing , in my opinion , and I think the lesson and the reminder for us as a staff who work with single moms and their children was this , and it comes from 1 Peter 410 .

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others as faithful stewards of God's grace , and the gifts that these students left us with is that it is a gift to serve you .

So enjoy this episode on selfless service and be sure to stay to the end , because there is a sweet word of encouragement from one of our students and one awesome announcement you won't want to miss . Enjoy the show . Have you ever thought about solo parenting as service ? Now you might be thinking yourself you mean like a job or service I get paid for , girl .

I wish I got paid for all the time I spent picking up the miles and piles of toys , toiletries and trails of clothes all over my house . I mean , if that were the case , I wouldn't have to pick up an extra shift as an Uber driver to make you know the dollar , dollar bills to pay the bills . You know what I mean . Podcast host .

So I guess I could say I seriously never thought about solo parenting as service . But let me tell you there are days that it sure does feel like full time maid service . Welcome to another episode of . It's a Single Mom Thing . So if you know me by now , I like to make light of what is a heavy load as being a solo parent .

So today I want us to spend our time together around this devotional thought on service . Now , if you are a Christian solo parent listening to this podcast , trust me , you are in service . The question is , to whom are you in service to ? Is it to self or selfless ?

I bet you never thought about single parenting that way , maybe because , quite honestly , you don't have time to think , as you are always just doing or responding to what someone else is doing . But what are you doing and have you thought about the way in which you're doing it ?

As a fly and solo parent , you have been blessed with an opportunity to serve someone else besides yourself . You have been given the gift of a ministry .

As you minister to your minis , even in the solo season Especially in the solo season , as you have a captivated audience , you , as the primary parent , have the privilege to be the one who either pours into your kiddos or pours out on them all the drama and trauma . Now , trust me , I know at times being a solo feels more like a millstone around your neck .

But what if it didn't have to be that way ? Is it possible to stay afloat when it feels like most times you are barely keeping your head afloat as you tread water . And the answer is yes , girl , yes , self service or selfless service , being a single parent is a blessing , albeit at times . There are a lot of things to be stressing over , no doubt .

But I can say from experience , when I focused on how I could serve my son rather than myself , it did become easier . Now , mind you , the things I had to deal with in a day didn't change , but how I did them did change . So , if I'm honest , I didn't start off being this awesome single parent .

On the contrary , I was quite selfish and it took God getting in my way , revealing that getting my way was not the way I was to lead or serve my family . Only thing that served were some dirty dishes . I was led on my knees , removing myself from the situation , putting God , then my son , first in every situation .

And listen , I remember the day that happened . As per usual , I had a long laundry list of all the things I needed to get done to keep our household held together . And well , my son getting sick was a major holdup .

I didn't have time to stop the avalanche of errands and things I had to do and my son not wanting to take his medicine to help him get better didn't better the situation . In fact , it created a new situation for me , as I didn't hold it all together In that moment . I had me a moment and it wasn't pretty .

The selfish things that flew out of my mouth as my hand raised up weren't going to serve anyone well until my father stepped in . So , just as my hand wound back , did the Lord give me a holy holdup moment ? And back on my own childhood , seeing how a similar moment didn't serve me well . In fact , it took me out of service for a very long time .

Just like that , I put both my hand and my head down . In that moment I knew I didn't want to do to my son what was done to me , what was done to my mom , her mom and her mom before her . I wanted something different , and that's when God showed me how to do something different Serve someone other than myself .

You see , it wasn't really about the checklist , you know . It was about me , me and well , me doing it all by myself . Look at me , I'm all alone . Now that's called a pity party that nobody wants to go to .

You see , every day is an opportunity to choose either self-service or self-less service , by asking yourself things like this Is my family all about me or is it about the we ? Am I raising a future husband or am I raising a future has been ? Am I teaching my daughter to do something different or am I teaching her to do the same thing that was done to me ?

Am I teaching my kids to be selfless or am I teaching them to be selfish ? You see , when we accepted Jesus , when I accepted Jesus as our Savior , we died to self .

Ephesians 422-24 says it this way you were taught , with regard to your former way of life , to put off your old self , which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires , to be made new in the attitude of your minds , and to put on the new self created to be like God and true righteousness and His holiness .

You see , when we died to self , we didn't become self-made . We made a choice to serve the one who made us . Get yoked , not woke . Here is where I will close . So how do you perform in a selfless service ? Well , first off , it's no longer about performing , it's about perspective . It's what you focus on that counts .

Are you focused on your kids or are you focused on yourself ? Secondly , it's about having a holy hold up moment . Focus on Him , jesus , to help me , hold my household together , to hold me together . It's not about the world's way of getting woke . It's about you getting yoked with the one who wants to serve alongside you , and that is Jesus . Matthew 11 , 29-30 .

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me , for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls . For my yoke is easy and my burden is light . To serve selfless , you have to be yoked to the one who is equipped to carry the burden with you and for you .

At no other time in my life did I really embrace this until I became a sold out for Christ single parent . Quickly it became apparent I couldn't be of service to my family if I tried to parent by myself . I needed the Father's help . You see , when I didn't enlist His service , everything became lip service . I just got tired , frustrated , worn out and weary .

But when I picked up His yoke as he commanded together , the weight of the service was equally distributed between the two of us as we walked out parenting together . No longer did I have to do it all by myself .

Yes , I still have my laundry list of things I got to do and I'm not telling you to get rid of yours either , but I would suggest keeping both Jesus and your family at the top of your list so he can prioritize the area he wants you to serve first . And guess what ?

It might even be a day of rest for you so you can continue to serve selfless instead of self-self . So I hope you enjoyed this simple devotion on selfless service .

As promised , I said I would end this podcast with a little word of encouragement from one of our students , and this comes from Miriam , who is a ninth grader , and this is the reflection that she shared with us , that she also wanted us to share with you , and it's titled Shepard's Village Reflection .

She says I had heard of Shepard's Village before I came to serve here . I thought it was housing for single mothers and not more . That was until I went to serve myself . I saw that Shepard's Village was not just housing for single mothers but a community . Education , resources and God were just some of the many things offered .

Shepard's Village wanted not only to help single mothers but to help build them up with love and spiritual guidance . After spending time at Shepard's Village , I can say most definitely that my perspective has changed Another aspect of mine that had changed was my perspective on single mothers and just how much they struggle .

Over 45% of single mothers live below poverty level and , with rising costs , this has caused them to resort to living out of their cars or couch surf from one place to another .

As part of one of our learning opportunities , the staff had us go through a single mom obstacle course that was built for our mini-Mr Teen so that we could see the struggle of being a single mom before and the growth of mom after going through Shepard's Village .

The obstacle course , though fun and stressful , showed us a sliver of struggle , of raising kids all alone , until help was offered . To all my wonderful single peeps listening you are not alone . For more inspiration and useful information , visit shepardsvillagecom . Helping single mothers and their children face their future with confidence .

Did you know that we're turning 100 ? Well , turning over to the 100th episode on Easter Sunday , march 31st . It's a special edition with a special message for you . Have a wonderful week and remember it's a single mom thing and not the single thing that stops you . Thanks for listening to it's a Single Mom Thing . I hope you enjoyed our time together .

If you have more questions on how to have a relationship with Jesus or need prayer . Visit us at wwwshepardsvillagecom . Backslash prayer . For more information and resources , check out our show notes .