"If I have to tell my faith story one more time, I am going to scream!" At least that is what I thought during the process of becoming ordained in the PC(USA) as a Minister of Word and Sacrament. From 1995-1999 I told my story to the Session of my church, again when I was interviewed by the presbytery's Committee on Preparation for Ministry, again when I was introduced to the presbytery, on my seminary application, when I became an official candidate for ministry, not to mention the numerous times in between and afterwards that required me to explain my call to ministry. Eventually, I got to the point that I got a little sick of hearing my own story - as amazing as it is. I thought, "Enough of me is enough of me!" Yet, here I am, telling my story once again. Why? Because I believe God has called me to do so - and that must mean one of you needs to hear it. I pray God will make it clear.

All my life I wanted to be a piano player. As a child, I spent hours at the piano. I accompanied, what seemed to me, every musical group in town before I left for college. At Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, I majored in piano performance. Even though I planned to spend four years studying piano, I soon discovered life alone in a practice room simply wasn't what it was cracked up to be! Discouraged, and looking for a new plan for my life, I took several years off of school, worked as a secretary, married my high school sweetheart, and brought our first daughter into the world. Unwilling to give up the dream of a college education in music, my husband and I, along with our three-month old Katy, moved to State College, Pennsylvania, so that I could complete a degree in Music Education at Penn State. Three years later, diploma in hand, we moved back home where we had two more children and I taught piano lessons in the little side room of our house. However, during those lonely days in the practice rooms and many more lonely hours in the piano studio teaching one child at a time, another dream surfaced. I began to pursue something bigger and more collegial. In 1990, my husband and I and another couple, founded a nonprofit community music school in our town. Within six months, we were serving over 300 students with a faculty of more than 20 musicians.

As the executive director of the school, I discovered (sometimes by fire), that God had given me gifts for administration and team-building that I didn't know I possessed. At the music school, I oversaw a $250,000 budget, payroll, class-scheduling nightmares, fundraisers, and recital schedules. I was energized by what I was doing, and found that I was successful. But the pressure to succeed in a role God had not meant for me, in long-term was too much. I knew something needed to change ... and it did!

After five incredible years, I gave up my position at the music school for a position at my church as Director of Music. How I loved that job! Although I didn't realize it at the time, my choir became my "practice" congregation. Choir members began calling me "Rev. Boozer" or "the preacher" because, as they said, I kept preaching to them. I realize now, that was exactly what I was doing. After a time with the choir, the music became secondary and the condition of the musician's hearts became my primary concern. God spoke so clearly through those wonderful people, through the Scriptures, and through the Holy Spirit to encourage me to follow His call for my life. As I look back on the past 36 years, I now realize that there had been a natural progression of seasons in my life. Everything makes sense. With a great sense of joy I know God had His hand on me from those earlier years as piano student to the moment I received my first call to ministry.

I know it doesn't sound very spiritual, but seminary was a means to an end for me. This is just the truth. I learned all I could, and I did well. I was certainly committed to my education because I wanted to be the best pastor I could. But my main objective was to get that M. Div. so I could do what God was calling me to do ... minister to His people. I didn't worry over papers or assignments nearly as much as some other students. I had to keep my priorities straight. I didn't want my children to remember the time their mom went to seminary as the worst time of their lives (Or mine!). Seminary was a gift to me from God. During those years, I kept in the forefront of my mind, that this was God's call to me; I did not want to move out ahead of Him.

In September of 1999, when I stepped into the pulpit for the first time as an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament, there was an incredible sense of everything having "worked together for good for those who love God and who are called according to God's purpose." I have been blessed to be in churches where my musical gifts have been respected and appreciated as I am willing and able to offer them. I believe God is smiling as we remember together all those years of practicing! I have also been blessed to be in churches where my life story as a wife, mother, entrepreneurial businesswoman, adult student, and daughter of aging parents has been incredibly helpful to those with whom I minister.

That first day in the pulpit, I knew without a doubt, it was only God's hand that had gotten me this far. I knew my gifts. I knew the steps I had taken to be there, but I had been humbled by life's ups and downs. Thankfully, I had grown enough to know that it would only be by the power of God's loving hand that I would be able get me through whatever lay ahead.
As much as our denomination needs younger ministers, I believe we also need women and men who bring to our pulpits years of experience dealing with life's challenges. People in the pews appreciate knowing that their preacher has walked in shoes like theirs.

I am currently pursuing a Doctor of Ministry degree at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Massachusetts. This, too, has been totally arranged by God. It is another step in the natural progression of my life. My track of study is entitled "Effective Ministries to Women" and includes extensive biblical and theological reflection on how women find strength in the roles where God has placed them. I am currently the solo pastor of a rural congregation in south central Pennsylvania. It is wonderful for me to see how sweetly and clearly God is illuminating the amazing things I am learning at Gordon-Conwell, by giving me the opportunities to put into practice all the things I have learned in my life up to this point.

I know God has directed my steps. When I am honest about who I am, when I am clear about what gifts I have and what gifts I do not have, when I can laugh at myself - then I can see my way clear to minister with a congregation so that we can grow in faith and love alongside each other. Together, we will find the Lord when we seek him with all of our hearts. By God's grace, I now realize that is what I've been doing all along, and by God's grace, it is what I hope to be doing for a long time to come.

Meagan Boozer is the pastor of the Upper Path Valley Presbyterian Church in Spring Run, Pennsylivania. It is a church that has been in re-development since September of 2002. Prior to this call, she served as the associate pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Shippensburg, Pennsylivania. Meagan and John have been married for 25 years and have two daughters and one son.