4 minute read
Meet Sara and Eric Miller: Everyday Stewards Serving the St. Paul Community
Before books, before scrolls, even before the written word, there were stories. For all of human history, people have listened to and passed on the stories of their families — the excitement, the challenges and the narrative of a culture. For Christians, a significant part of this is recognizing the role that God has played in our stories, and the way in which He is inviting us to take part in His narrative. For some parishioners, one way to serve the parish is by telling their story and inviting others to share theirs.
“I did some speaking with the kids because of life’s lessons I’ve learned,” says parishioner Sara Miller, who has shared her story with our youth ministry teens. “When you’re vulnerable and you give them ideas of what your faith has done, it’s pretty cool. [They appreciate] when somebody tells the truth and says, ‘It’s not easy to believe all the time.’”
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Sara and her husband, Eric, both grew up in Sauk Centre, and have attended St. Paul’s their entire lives. High school sweethearts who recently celebrated their 22nd wedding anniversary, the couple has a 19-year-old son, Brady, and 17-yearold daughter, Paige.
The Millers serve in a number of ways in our parish. Sara is a lector, and is involved with Handmaids of the Lord and the intercessory prayer group. The whole family has served as ushers, been involved in youth ministry, and often works together to clean the Adoration Chapel. They have found that the more they serve, the more connected they feel to the parish community.
“It’s always been our church, but it really feels like our church when we help clean it and are more a part of it,” Eric says.
“You can go to that church, but when you do those things, you actually feel like it’s your Church,” Sara adds. “You take pride in it a bit more.”
Throughout their lives, the Millers have grown closer to God by making Him the center of their lives and family, and inviting Him into the struggles.
“Everything we’ve gone through has brought us closer to Christ,” Sara says. “I’m so proud to have a husband who can pray with me. You can’t fail if you’re keeping God at the center. We have grown a lot together and being part of the Church has brought us closer to God, too. If you have God at the center, He will help you get through those storms.”
Prayer — whether memorized or spontaneous, on the way to school in the morning or at home in the evening — is something they’ve worked hard to integrate in to their everyday lives, and pass on to their children.
“We have taught our children to pray,” Eric says. “We taught them how to have a personal relationship with Christ.”
“Say you had a best friend, and after a long time you got busy, and kept pushing them off to the side, never really called or talked to them, or let them know how your life was going — how long would that friend stay there?” Sara says. “God wants to be part of your every day, every minute, every second of everything you do. Involve God and God will never turn His back on you.”
In their careers, both Sara, a beautician, and Eric, an account manager at a bank, find that they have opportunities to share their stories and give a witness of faith to the people they encounter.
“God has given me such a great platform, being a beautician,” Sara says. “With people in the salon, people may be having issues and I just ask the Holy Spirit, ‘Say the right words.’ I hope that being vulnerable makes them feel like, ‘She’s dealt with these same things and made it through it, maybe there’s something on the other side.’ I don’t have it all together, but when you’re broken, that’s when God is doing the best fixing.”
“We pray that God uses us to be good role models and mentors,” Eric adds. “I like to tell people that we go to church and we pray, because I think people are shy to say it. It’s okay to go to church — it’s okay to pray and have a personal relationship with God.”
The couple encourages other families in the parish to consider becoming involved in service.
“The more you give, the more you get back,” Eric says. “It feels good to help out and do our part.”
“We need to change our mindset and think, ‘We get to do this,’ not ‘We have to do it,’” Sara adds. “The gift of service is that it actually makes us happy.”
