Lessons
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The Cost of Leadership Part 8
Please start with the first 7 posts in this series if you haven’t already. This is the final segment. Cost 5: the cost of giving ministry away. As some point, the Lord will ask us to leave behind a place of ministry we have led. He may ask us to serve differently, or He may call us home to eternity. The question is, what do we leave behind? We must ask the question now: have I invested well so that God’s work continues even after I am no longer around? Our job it to obey and serve the best we can, then step away when He directs us to do…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 7
Please start with the first 6 posts in this series if you haven’t already. The seventh aspect in the cost of going deeper is battles. Followers of Christ have an adversary, and his name is Satan. His desire is to keep us from knowing, serving, and trusting Christ as we walk with Him. At times we will carry scars from the battles with him. Ultimately Christ has won the war, but this side of heaven the enemy still has influence on earth that we will face continually. It may come through painful relationships, failure, criticism from others, health…any number of situations in which we face spiritual warfare. Even when we…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 5
Please start with the first 4 posts in this series if you haven’t already. The second aspect in the cost of going deep involves laying down our fears through our faith in Him. For me, the deep, was when He first called me to speak in front of my church. If you know me, you’ve heard me say, I’d never be a public speaker. Deeper was when the Lord called me to LifeWay to continue serving out the call to disciple women, this time training church leaders across the country how to effectively develop ministries for women that help them grow deep! Laying down fear takes courage. Just look through…
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The Cost of Leadership Part 4
Please start with the first 3 posts in this series if you haven’t already. Cost 4: the cost of going deep. Although similar to cost 3, this is specifically talking about depth in our relationship with Christ. Just a heads up, I won’t finish cost 4 in one post, but will share 8 aspects of this cost. Hebrews 6:1-2 reminds us to leave the elementary things, let go of shallowness, and go on to maturity. We are warned to be careful not to become lazy in our spiritual life. Therefore, let us leave the elementary teaching about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance…
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Who Do You Imitate?
How would you answer the question in the title of this post? A celebrity? Best friend? Sports hero? What about the “cloud of witnesses” we see in the book of Hebrews in chapter 12? When I was in elementary school, I played “teacher” after my all time fav teacher. Mrs. Evans was so kind to the students. My fondest memory was when she gave me a peppermint candy in class because I was coughing. I felt loved and cared for, and quite special since I was the only one who got one that day! She was always smiling. In my teen years sometimes I would imitate friends I thought were…
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Two Book Recommendations
I recently finished reading two amazing books I want to recommend to my readers. The first is When Strivings Cease by Ruth Chou Simons. My D-group did a slow walk through this book. I wrote one post on it in Perfect? For Who? since I am a recovering perfectionist! Ruth takes us from a “self help” mentality to a grace mentality as she reminds us of who Christ is and what He has done for us. Because of His grace we can walk in confidence in His image and stop striving to work our way through self-help methods. Yes, there are things we do to become disciplined disciples, but even those things…
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The Blessed Limp
Ever had an injury that just wouldn’t heal? Or surgery on a part of your body that took forever to heal. Maybe, like me, you never were the same after an incident. I’ve had 3 foot surgeries. Each time I’ve had numbness from the procedure that I’ve never fully recovered from. The last surgery took the longest to heal. I limped in a boot for a while, then limped as I favored it when the boot was removed. Lasting issues, although minor, continue to bother me. But what happens when the “limp” is a spiritual one? Those sometimes last a lifetime, and yet, they can be some of the sweetest…
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Who Hates Disruptions?
Task oriented people like me! You know, gotta get the job done…today…now! No matter what. What about you? All of us have experienced them. Most of us do not like them. Over 2 years ago the entire world experienced disruption to life as we had known it. In addition to the pandemic, many others also experienced a disruption in their good health, close relationships, face-to-face community we relied on, satisfying jobs, and income that goes with that. And this is the short list. Some experienced continual losses, one after another, along with, and in the middle of, the pandemic. But, what if, for whatever reason, this was God’s plan for…
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Perfect? For Who?
Any other perfectionists out there? Oh, we use the cop out, “we just want to do a great job for the Lord.” But is that really the truth behind our perfectionistic tendencies? I was raised by a perfectionist dad who was a great father, but perhaps his expectations, even of me, pushed me this direction. Add to that I am an enthusiastic, optimistic, Type A, Enneagram 1 personalty, and that’s the makings for trouble if I’m not careful. I can truly say, I’m not as bad as I was in the past, I still struggle to some degree with perfectionism as I was made aware of in reading Ruth Chou…
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Easter & Romans 8:28
As you celebrate Easter, remembering what Jesus has done for you through His crucifixion and resurrection, I just want to challenge you to consider Jesus’ obedience and the truth of His Father’s plan in light of Romans 8:28. If it’s true that…. We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. …then, we know Jesus truly understands what it is to do what God asks, no matter how hard it is. He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for a different way to accomplish our salvation, but submitted to His Father’s “no” to this request so that…
