Hi, my name is Amy Jo Koonce. I grew up in Michigan going to a Catholic church and a parochial school. You would have though my trajectory would have been towards God, but when I went off to college and the years that followed, I did not think about God very much. I was confident with myself and felt that I was in charge of the events in my life.
I had been successful and confident as a teacher and here I was with a daughter - just one - and it was hard to manage everything. I knew it was important being with her but it was hard to get the day to day things done.
I heard about a mom's group at Door Creek Church called Mops and Moms Next and I thought it would be a good place to meet new friends, learn about Madison and get some parenting tips. The first night I attended, I felt instantly welcomed.
The leadership team from Mops does a Bible study and they pray together and they support each other's spiritual growth. To be honest, I wasn't interested, I wasn't totally buying it, but I recognized right away that there was something interesting about this leadership team. They walked and talked with Jesus every day. They had this authentic relationship with God and it showed in their friendship with me.
When we had a problem or a decision to make, they would say, "Let's pray about it." And I would be like, "What? I'm going to have it all done by the time you're finished praying about it." So here I was on a church ministry and I still felt that I was more in charge than what God could possibly provide. I was just going to get it done - just get it done my way. So when I say that my alignment with God was a gradual process, it really was. And these women showed amazing patience with bringing me to the Lord.
At one of the leadership team meetings, the team prayed for Olivia's health. They prayed for things I never thought to talk to God about and to pray about and I remember crying. I had never heard a prayer so genuine and so unrehearsed. A few days later we found out Olivia had Celiac's Disease and with the right diet, she's just fine.
I feel that motherhood is the most rewarding and challenging assignment of my life. I feel blessed that God thinks I'm worthy of that mission and I'm so grateful for my two daughters and my husband that we get to walk through life together and that I have Christ by my side.
I look at situations that are not good and try to figure out, "what is God teaching me here? What does he feel I'm equipped to handle? What does he want me to learn? What can I share with those around me?"
Psalm 46:10 says, "Be still and know that I am God." That's so much easier for me to say, than to do but I've found over the years that it's worth the effort. I know that God is trying to teach me that my significance is not based on what I cross of my to-do list. Putting His plans ahead of my own agenda is much more important and more powerful.