God's Timing Is Always Right
When I was a teenager, I felt God call me to be in God’s service. I studied psychology in college to prepare myself to work with people that God might ask me to serve. For many years, I found opportunities in secular settings to work with people who were “the least, the last, the lost.” Adults and children with mental illness and developmental disabilities needed guidance and love. I found myself able to love those people with the love that only God provides.
In 1995, I recommitted myself to finding a place where God might specifically call me. Through exploration with my pastor, district superintendent and the General Board of Global Ministry, I learned of an opening at Rebecca Williams Community Center in Warren, Ohio. Even after living in the East Ohio Conference for 20 years, I was not familiar with this United Methodist ministry. Within three weeks, I was asked to come to this center to direct programs for inner-city youth of Warren. God had been preparing me throughout my life with skills that would be important for this position: understanding of program possibilities, staff supervision, public speaking opportunities, strategic planning skills, and familiarity of The United Methodist Church. God’s timing was just right in preparing me for God’s service at this time and place.
I had lived in small towns and large suburban areas but was challenged by the lives of these youth in the economically struggling Mahoning Valley. This presented opportunities to use skills I had learned but, most of all, it was a challenge to my understanding of how God can provide what is needed at a given time. As I faced situations that were new to me and encountered needs that I did not know how to meet, God was there – usually ahead of my awareness. When Christmas approached and the needs of families to provide for their children became apparent, the family of God known as United Methodists began to walk in the door with hats and mittens, toys, clothes and a variety of items that exactly matched the needs of our families. During the summer as the children enjoyed our activities, I, too, was enjoying the relaxed days of summer. Suddenly it was time to prepare for school enrollment. United Methodist Women began to bring school supplies on the day before a mother came to my office asking for help in providing the supplies her children needed. As I talked with her, I knew that God had been prepared for the things I had forgotten about. God’s timing was just right.
It wasn’t only in material things that I realized God’s provision. In facing challenges with the youth, the staff and community members, God gave me strength to address issues and solve problems in ways that were not of my own doing. Reliance on God was a lesson that I needed to learn and God’s timing was just right in teaching me that lesson. This lesson continues with me as I find opportunities to be in God’s service in my retirement days.
Jean Forbes, lay member, Wooster UMC
