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May 01, 2008 >> 3:07:32 PM
Teri Lucas' Calling
Each of us are called to be a minister; to live the Christian life and do God’s work in the world. These past few years have been incredible as God reveals his plan of how I am to spend the rest of my life serving him. I have been asked to let go of what I am familiar with and step out into true faith and trust, knowing that God will provide me with everything I need to fulfill what he is asking of me.
As an adult, with children of my own, I always felt that something was missing from my life. I was fearful and anxious most of the time. It seemed that alcohol eased those fears and helped me to cope with life in general. When alcohol began to get the best of me, I went looking for a “cure.” I started to shop around for a church. I would attend one a few times, didn't feel it was right, then go on to another. I also seemed to have this fascination with a beautiful white country church. I would drive down country roads late at night until I came to this church where I would just sit and stare feeling a strong sense of peace come over me.
Over time, I finally had enough of my obsession with alcohol! I got down on my knees and asked God to help me. It was a few days later that I received a "nudge" from God to call Alcoholics Anonymous. I attended my first meeting in 1985 and I have been sober ever since August 30th of that year. I had become spiritually active again. In 1990, after five years of sobriety, my first husband and I divorced. I met Tom, my current husband, and we married in 1992. Tom and I moved to Iowa in 1999 after living in Louisiana for two years.
Another spiritual turning point came in 2001 which was an extremely bad year. Tom was let go from the job that brought us to Iowa. He hoped to sell life insurance for that year but it just didn't work out and we struggled financially. During the latter part of that year, Tom met an assistant pastor for a Pentecostal church and we started a home Bible study. We renewed our baptism together in January of 2002 as confirmation of our commitment to Jesus Christ.
Later I received a new nudge from God to further my education. I enrolled at Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) in the Human Services field for an A. S. degree with the intention of being certified as a Chemical Dependency Counselor. I also began the School of Lay Ministry, Class of 2007. I now understand why God directed me to take the classes at DMACC. I had assumed his purpose was for me to complete the A. S. degree when what he really wanted was to assure me that I was capable of being a student after all these years. I was able to maintain a 4.0 grade point average in each of my classes. God was, again, preparing me for what lay ahead.
God continued to reveal his plans to me. I became a member of the United Methodist Church and began the Ministry Inquiry Process which I completed in September 2005, and then started the Candidacy Process. I became a certified candidate in December 2005. It was during this process that I was asked to state in one sentence what I believe God’s call on my life was to be. I still feel strongly that I have been called by God to help bring His broken people into wellness and wholeness through the love of Jesus Christ. As a pastor with an emphasis in pastoral counseling, I believe I will be able to do all that has been asked of me with the leading of the Holy Spirit.
I am so humbled that God brought us to Asbury Theological Seminary in the fall of 2006. My first year was fruitful as I listened to God and discerned more clearly the call he has placed on my life. I have been trained as a Stephen’s Minister for the seminary and was commissioned in the fall of 2007. I am also a member of a prison ministry that provides a worship service every Sunday night at Blackburn Correctional Facility in Lexington.
Tom and I are so grateful to be on this journey together and look forward to our graduation in May of 2009. Everything I have experienced in my life has been in preparation for this time. I am in awe of God’s mighty power and grace and I trust completely that his Holy Spirit will equip me in study and service as I walk the path he has chosen for me!
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We left Wilmore in 2002 to come to IOWA- we are southerners who just love this cold weather! Bless you as you continue your time @ Asbury!
Cheryl
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