Seeing Miracles Every Day

Trisha had grown tired of doing busywork as a volunteer. She sat in the church office sorting interview files. The names on these papers were getting placed into S.H.A.P.E. interviews, helping individuals discover how they can most effectively use their skills and gifts to serve others. “What about my own gifts?” Trisha thought. “What am I doing here?” She wanted to serve Jesus but was feeling unsure if this was the right fit for her.

Trisha slowly began to see more than just paperwork. She saw an opportunity to connect people with their purpose. Even though she was only sorting paperwork, she prayed for every single name she filed. Trisha began to discover that through her simple prayers, she was helping people find their purpose. She never expected that those prayers would bless her the most and help her discover a deeper purpose for her own life.

A few years later, when Trisha was asked to support the startup at Rancho Capistrano. She had mixed feelings. At that time, her volunteer work at Lake Forest had become more interesting and Trisha felt that she was quite productive. It would be sad to leave that behind, but at the same time she was excited to be involved in starting something new. She didn’t know exactly what work she would be doing, but she knew her first love and work was for Jesus and she trusted Him to put her to the right place.

Today, Trisha coordinates volunteers at Rancho as an extension of the S.H.A.P.E. ministry, serves on the prayer team, and assists the pastoral staff. She longs to see people living a purpose driven life and she often just “knows” the right place or task for someone.

Take Scott for example. He is blind but Trisha saw a lot of potential in his life. She asked him if he’d be willing to help out for an hour or two at the church office. Many more hours were to follow and today Scott not only helps run the church office at Rancho Capistrano but has touched countless lives in the process of serving the church.

Trisha feels like her main ministry is to show mercy and compassion. “I have been given so much mercy by God and I want to pass that on to other people,” she says.

Trisha is always looking to connect with people and encourage them, and prayer is an integral part of that. As her perspective shifted, she started to notice little miracles taking place. One Sunday, she saw a gentleman walking around visibly upset. Trisha prayed with the gentleman and encouraged him; though she wondered if she’d ever see him again.

Six months later, while out shopping, she ran into him again. “You have no idea how much your care meant to me that day,” he said. “That was one of the worst days of my life, and had you not given me that hug and prayed for me, I don’t know how that day would have ended for me.”

Keeping up the energy and reaching out even when she doesn’t feel like it is her biggest challenge and at the same time her biggest reward. “People think they don’t have the time to serve but you get back what you give many, many times over,” she explains. “It completes your life, it gives you joy, it transforms your life! And often the days I don’t feel like serving end up being the best!”

One Sunday morning she was sitting in service feeling like she didn’t want to be there. She noticed a Persian woman crying and approached her to find out what was going on. She took the woman aside and suddenly found herself in a one hour multilingual conversation that either of them could barely understand, but their hearts connected and this woman could feel the care and compassion that Trisha demonstrated toward her. Every time the woman came back to church, Trisha was always the first to be greeted with a hug and kiss from her.

Trisha says she prays constantly for God to show her someone in need of an encouragement, a hug, or even just a smile. And God answers those prayers. “Servants see the miracles,” she explains. “No job or position could have ever given me what serving at church has done for me. I get to see so many miracles firsthand, I see marriages healed, babies adopted, lives transformed.”

Trisha seems to frequently be in the right place at the right time to experience these miracles. This passion to encourage others earned her a Giant Killer Award for outstanding leadership at Saddleback Advanced Leadership Training (SALT) a few months ago. Every month at SALT, Saddleback takes the time to honor volunteers like Trisha who are making a difference.

“When you feel your current ministry is not right for you, try something else, but keep looking,” the volunteer coordinator advises. The greatest satisfaction Trisha gets out of serving is the relationships she developed. Her life is deeply connected to so many others, something she had desired many years ago.

Click HERE to learn how to use your own unique gifts and talents at our next Class 301: Discovering My Ministry.