The Miraculous and the Mundane

Navigator Sarah Frick sat across the table from a friend on a summer evening of Italian food and deep conversation. She began to share some insecurities she had regarding her ministry.

“I was a mother of two young children with a husband deployed, and often felt my ministry was too small and insignificant in comparison to others,” Sarah says. “My friend responded with the parable of the talents. She looked at me and said, ‘The servant with five talents and the servant with two talents were both told—well done, good and faithful servant—by the master. Right now, you only have two talents, but you’re being faithful with what you have.’”

Years later, Sarah began discipling another mom of young children, Katherine*.

“She was pregnant with her third child, her other children were both under the age of three, and was married to a Navy man as well,” Sarah says. “Katherine was faithfully discipling a woman in the Navy, yet also struggling with similar insecurities. She wondered if she was doing enough. Remembering the impact of my friend’s words years before, I was able to encourage Katherine.”

For both women, discipleship looked different than it had in the past. But this hectic season of child-rearing was still one God could multiply impact through—it was just a different season of life.

“God had a plan to use us for His Kingdom purposes of making disciplemakers right where He had planted us as military families—and especially as we moved to new duty stations,” Sarah says. “Even in the midst of interruptions and temper tantrums, God determined to use this time for me to encourage Katherine in her ministry—and He determined to use Katherine to develop a young sailor, so she could be a light in her context as well.”

As moms of young children, women like Katherine long for camaraderie within discipleship.               

“It’s so comforting to know you’re not alone, and to see an example of how to do ministry in motherhood,” Sarah says. “There is also a need for accountability and spurring on to continue abiding in Jesus and keeping the spiritual disciplines. Rambunctious kids and sleepless nights can make it hard to keep pursuing those things. I think it helps to have someone else in the same season to give ideas and suggest ways to be creative, working toward that goal together.” 

It’s that kind of side-by-side, Life-to-Life^® ministry that helped Sarah grow in her own faith. Now, all she wants to do is pass on the gift.

“It was so impactful to see someone care enough to give me their time and walk each step with me as I grew in my walk with God,” Sarah says. “That’s the reason I do what I do. When you build that one-on-one relationship there’s trust and safety to sift through the difficult things of life. Jesus meets each one of us in a very personal way, and it’s a blessing to meet others in the same way.” 

Today, Sarah faithfully presses into the context God has her in, choosing to see Him in the miraculous and the mundane.

“God is pleased with His servants when He sees their faithfulness with what they have been given,” Sarah says. “Wherever I am, I want to be diligent with what God has entrusted to me, trusting that it will be used for His ultimate glory.”

Pray for young moms around the world to realize their influence as leaders right where they are in life—that God would encourage and empower them to invest time, encouragement, and hope into other moms in the same season of life.

*Name changed