I have a confession to make. I hate the phone. I am simply not a phone person. I’m shy and not good at chit-chat. I rarely remember to take my cell phone with me, to charge it, or even turn it on. I don’t call my own children regularly. But I’m convinced that God delights in stretching us out of our comfort zones. So, of course, when I signed up for Bible Study Fellowship five years ago, they gave me the job of phoning the volunteers who were needed every week to help out the children's leaders. 

Although I never complained out loud, the first couple of years I did plenty of grumbling inside. Nevertheless, I stubbornly plodded through my job in my own power. I didn’t want to make those calls, but I managed to get them done. It was always a struggle and there was never joy in doing it. But then I started praying for the volunteers. I prayed that God would provide exactly the right ones for each class and that He would give them joy in their service. As I did that,I began to realize what a huge privilege God had given me to do this work in His kingdom.  I began thanking Him for trusting me. Thanking Him brought abundant joy.

This past year, we studied the gospel of John in depth. What a wonderful adventure to walk with Jesus through John's writing. Our last lesson of the year was about the disciples’ fishing trip in Galilee after Jesus' resurrection. It  reminded me of what happened with the phoning. After these experienced fishermen had fished all night, Jesus called from the shore, "Have you caught anything?" They answered that they had not. So Jesus told the disciples to throw out their nets on the right side of the boat, the side of power. And they obeyed. Because of their obedience, Jesus provided an abundance of big fish. 

This year, God provided an abundance of excellent volunteers. Not just any kind ofvolunteers, but always perfect for the classes. Full of joy, exuberance, flexible, and available to do whatever was needed, these volunteers blessed us in so many ways. Plus, from week to week, I got to see little miracles of God's provision. Let me mention just a few. 

One week, a volunteer didn’t show up. I stood in the hall wondering what to do. A lovely lady stopped to ask if I needed any more volunteers that day. 

Another week, when the scheduled volunteer got sick, an excited volunteer showed up waving her purple schedule sheet and asking if this was the day she was supposed to work. Somehow in her anticipation, she didn’t notice that the date on the paper called for her services a month later. 

Once I couldn’t find a volunteer for the 4-5 class. When Thursday came, both of the 4-5 teachers were absent, so we combined their class with the 2-3 class who already had a great volunteer. And that day, neither class had more than half of their usual children. God always knows ahead of time how He'll work out a problem.

Twice, I’ve come home to find two messages on my answering machine. The first was from someone scheduled to volunteer saying they could not do it after all. The second message was from someone who had turned me down earlier but their plans had changed and now they were available. Lost one, gained one. Immediate provision. Sometimes it feels as if I have no part in this at all. God provides the catch. I just pull in the net.

In January when we opened the Infant/Toddler program, we suddenly needed ten volunteers each week instead of only three. Plus one of the volunteers had to be willing to sit in the hall for two hours and monitor the outside doors, something I thought no one would want to do. But every week, God faithfully provided one lady who said something like, “I’d like to volunteer, but I’m not very good with children.” Or “I just had surgery and I won’t be able to work with the children.” Our door monitors have done their job with joy week after week. What an amazing sight to watch.

All volunteer jobs have been filled in the way God planned. Abundant catch.

I did not want to do phoning. But when I surrendered this unsavory task to God and began thanking Him for it, I got to see miracles. I am constantly filled with joy at watching God work. Perhaps you feel stuck doing something you think is not a good fit for you even though you know God called you to do it. Follow Him. Even if He tells you to throw your net on the other side of the boat after you’ve fished all night and caught nothing. God promises to provide in abundance if we will just obey.