Happy National FFA Week!
I guarantee this is not what you thought you would be reading about on my blog this week. But please bear with me, because in my life, FFA and ministry are not totally unrelated.
If you’re here and asking, “What is FFA??”, let me answer that question! FFA stands for the Future Farmer of America, a youth association with chapters all over the United States as well as US territories like Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. There are also chapters in other countries. One year we hosted exchange students from the Future Farmers of Japan!
FFA is about Premier Leadership, Personal Growth, and Career Success. And it is so much more than just “stuff for farm kids.” I know because I didn’t grow up on a farm. I do live in a heavily agriculture-based area, but not on an actual farm. My path through FFA instead saw me participating in horticulture, forestry, parliamentary procedure, public speaking, and serving as an officer in my chapter.
FFA’s motto is “Learning to do, doing to learn, earning to live, living to serve.” And that is exactly what I learned during my time as an FFA member. I learned new skills, practiced them, and built them to the point that some skills are still serving me today.
You may be wondering now where I’m going with this, where ministry comes in. I believe God doesn’t waste anything. The years I spent serving in different capacities in the FFA really served as a launch pad for my ministry calling.
Public speaking and serving as a chapter officer became building blocks in the foundation I stand on today. I learned how to write out words and present them in an engaging and intelligent manner. I learned how to stand tall, carry myself confidently, and maintain eye contact when speaking to both individuals and groups. These skills have been invaluable in the direction that my ministry calling has taken me.
I won’t lie, the memories I’ve been reflecting on this are a huge source of nostalgia. And this on the heels of the other week where I wrote about Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt because she looked back in longing to Sodom as God was raining fire down on it (Genesis 19:1-29).
Isaiah 46:9-10 (NIV) has an invitation from God: “Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.”
This verse comes after chapters of God telling the people to look forward to the new things He is doing. Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) says: “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.” I have written about this promise from God before and it remains one of the verses I cling to when I have doubts about ministry and if God is really calling me forward to something new.
But the first time I meditated on Isaiah 46:9-10, I added this sticky note to my Bible:
This week, I am choosing to not get stuck in the nostalgia but instead, take the opportunity to reflect on God’s hand at work in my life through my years in FFA. God has been ordering my steps for many years, and sometimes it can take years before I am able to see how He has been setting the stage all along. This week, I choose to not look back longing for better times but rather to laugh at the good times and honor the people and the experiences that helped me get to where I am.
My FFA Advisors listened to me, saw my value, helped me work through hard things, and occasionally pushed me out of the metaphorical airplane to show me that I can indeed fly. Proverbs 27:17 (NIV) says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” I am grateful for those who invested in me and sharpened me, because from them I learned how to be that for others.
The events I competed in pushed me to work hard and brought out the best in me. And serving my chapter as an officer taught me how to manage my time, work with both complimentary and difficult people, think outside the box when one door closed but there was still an end goal to accomplish, and how to take a dream from the idea phase through to completion in reality. I know that I can meet future challenges head-on because I have done so in the past.
God’s purpose stands. Our life experiences are not wasted; indeed, many of them are actually the training ground that will equip us for the work that will be revealed later. God equips those He calls. And sometimes that equipping is already inside us, we just don’t recognize it right away.
I will always look back at my time with FFA and honor where I have come from. These experiences made me who I am. God works them together for my good (Romans 8:28) and I can face my future with confidence, knowing He has called me and equipped me for His good work.
Proud past.
Bright future.
Forever blue.
Blessings,
~Lynne
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