In the kingdom of God, everyone plays! We are all presented with opportunities to participate in what God is doing. We are all assigned roles that use our giftings, talents, interests, experience, and education for His glory.

As our team of volunteers prepared to leave Rome, we reviewed the stories we’d heard about life in the attendees’ countries of service, the stories we witnessed as God met these ladies at the retreat, the stories we experienced as God taught us, and the stories that showed the need for this ministry that Thrive provides. 

We learned a lot about God’s kingdom this week. We learned a lot about the King. We learned a lot about His servants. And we learned how we can use stories to share glimpses of the kingdom with others.

One volunteer said, “Every story I heard in the prayer room was heartbreaking, but it brought me joy to bring those ladies before the throne and have a role in the kingdom!”

Another volunteer shared about how her small group valued that she, as a single woman, understood their singleness, something not everyone can fully appreciate.

Another volunteer talked about how we bore witness that coincidence is never coincidence in the kingdom, as one story of God’s providence after another unfolded during these four days.

Yet another volunteer related the impact the retreat had for her when she received word of her grandmother’s passing, and how “God knew I needed strangers in life but sisters in Christ during my deepest grief.”

During our concluding devotional, our volunteer leader asked us to ponder our roles in the kingdom. We are daughters of the King. We are princesses in the kingdom of heaven with royal duties on earth. 

This week, as volunteers and staff, we had a role in rejuvenating those who are serving on the front lines. For our supporters (both prayer and financial), you, too, had a role in coming alongside these ladies, reminding them of their value in the eyes of the King. Through Thrive, we demonstrated what it looks like to keep on sending well.

So as we say goodbye to one another and head back home over the next few days, we ask, what “next-right-thing” roles has God laid out for each of us? For me? For you? 

• Continuing to send the troops with love, prayers, honor, and support? 




• Mobilizing new forces and sending reinforcements? 




• Battling through intercession for unreached people groups and the lost? 




• Packing our (your/my) bags and heading out to a “Jesus-outpost” where we (you/I) can join God in bringing glimpses of the kingdom?

In God’s kingdom, everyone plays! What position is He calling you to? What race has He laid before you to run?

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:1-2