Ministering with Awareness

In this episode, I’m talking about one of the Christlike attributes that touches my heart—ministering. I share a few personal stories (including one from the grocery store!) and reflect on how the Savior always made time for people, even in the middle of busy or urgent moments.

Whether it’s a quiet nudge or an unexpected conversation, small moments can become sacred when we slow down and follow the example of Jesus. My hope is that this episode will encourage you to pause, listen to the Spirit, and show up with love and intention for the people around you, even when you feel rushed.

Quote:

“When you are truly ministering, you follow your feelings to help someone else experience more of the Savior’s love.” -Pres. Russell M. Nelson

Journal Prompts:

• When have I paused to help another person when I was in a rush? How did everything turn out in the end?
• Is there someone in my life today who could use 15 minutes of my time?
• Ask the Lord: “Whom wouldst Thou have me help today?”

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Transcript

Becky: 0:00

Welcome back to the Shine On podcast. Today I'm going to talk about a special characteristic of Jesus Christ. One of the greatest examples that He is to me is His way of ministering to people. There are many examples in the scriptures of the way He ministered. I particularly love the stories where He's on His way to help somebody or to do something, but He gets interrupted. He is On His way to heal somebody, but a woman grabs His robe and He doesn't ignore her. He doesn't say,"Oh, I don't have time for this." He doesn't rush on and pretend like it didn't happen. He actually stops. He feels her touch. He feels her need. And He pauses in His rush and He serves her. I love that example. Years and years ago in a stake meeting, our stake president talked about what 15 minutes could do in our lives. He used examples of when he was on his way and he comes across somebody that just needed to talk or get caught up or share experience. And he's thinking,"Oh, but I'm in a hurry. I don't have time for this." But he had learned through his example and his practicing of pausing and giving that person even 15 minutes. Now it's made me reflect on that a lot. Like when I'm in that situation, which happens often, in fact, it happened yesterday. When I am at the grocery store, it seems like it's always at the store somewhere, and come across somebody who I could tell needed to talk. They needed a hug. They needed somebody to listen to them. They were feeling very lonely, very vulnerable after losing loved ones recently. And they wanted to talk about it. And that thought came to me,"do I have 15 minutes?" I just listened to the Spirit and said, it just feels like this person needs you more than what you were rushing off to. And I think about Jesus and how He took time for that. I want to share a message from President Nelson as he was introducing ministering to us in 2018. He's talking about ministering and what it means. He said,"when you are truly ministering, you follow your feelings to help someone else experience more of the Savior's love." I think about that, that ministering is about the Savior's love. It's a two way love. I need to feel His love for me, and then it overflows into loving others. I know that when I've taken time to pause and really listen to somebody, or to offer advice if they need it, to counsel and making decisions. I know that, especially when I'm in a hurry and those things come up, that I try to be much more attentive to it, realizing that God places people in our path that needs us and I need them too. I just wanted to leave this question that President Nelson asks in his talk. He says: whom wouldst thou have me help today?" There are women who start their day off asking the Lord, who can I help today? That's a great reflective question. I want to add a couple more journal prompts to this that you can think about. They go like this: When have I paused to help another person when I was in a rush? How did everything turn out in the end? And the last one, is there someone in my life today that could use 15 minutes of my time? I just want to leave that message with you about the power of pausing even for 15 minutes and giving somebody our full attention that they feel loved and that you know, that God had placed you in their path right in that moment.