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Time With The Word

When we dwell on a word or phrase from the Word of God, the Bible, we are sitting with God because He is the Word. (John 1)

I just want to soak in that for a moment!

In that time with the Word, we are with a Person, THE Person, who wrote it.

It goes from being an instruction manual to a one-on-one coaching, teaching, encouraging, convicting, loving us to pieces session.

Because in that time with the Word, we are transformed by the renewing of our minds (Heb. 12), and we need that, since life is such a mental game.

Everything we care about in life requires us to have a strong mental component!

-to start

-to maintain

-to take breaks

-to get back up again

-to finish well

This is life, and there are so many pieces of the whole that we try our best to keep functional day in and day out. It’s actually pretty exhausting and I can get really discouraged, if not bored even sometimes.

But God has provided a way to keep our mental game strong, and to revive it when it’s lacking. (Not if, but when!)

That Way is the Word.

I love prayer and worship and fellowship, and if they are full of His Word, they’re going to be more powerful than ever – but the key here does have to be His Word. Why? Because:

His Word is where the power is.

His Word is alive, active, sharp, and effective.

It’s interactive without batteries or internet!

It’s speaking…now.

It’s God’s voice and all of His sides, all there, wrapped in perfection, poised to reach out and in.

When it comes to the mental games, we aren’t here in this world alone; He wants us to win and has provided Himself, through His Word, as the Way.

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Summer

Let’s start back into Writing Wednesdays with a big reality check!

My idea of a summer series about the different branches of health simply did not happen even though I outlined several blogs at the beginning. I thought I would have a time to get back here and at least schedule some out, but nope! And it has been a GREAT summer, truly.

Here’s what DID happen:

My book, Belonging & Behavior: 12 Weeks of Connection Training for Adoptive Parents, got put into high gear with a wonderful design/artist friend who is formatting the book. Now, thanks to her, we should have a book available on Amazon in September. This book is all about connection as well as correction, with five chapters of information/education/our story about what TBRI (Trust Based Relational Intervention) is. Then the second part of the book, which is the largest portion, is 12 weeks of:

-1 Bible Study Lesson for the parent per week

-3 Student Devos per week that could be done together or assigned to the student, depending on their age

-1 “Connection Time” Activity to do per week, with many to choose from

There is a packet of beautiful worksheets, again thanks to the designer I hired – happy to share her info if you love it! – that can be downloaded and printed off right here from my website and put in a binder for each child. You can print off as many as you’d like, and having those student binders made ahead of time will set you up for the best success along the 12 weeks.

Also, this summer, I ordered more Sister Bridge items and already sold about half of my merch, so it’s time to order more! I have beautiful handmade mugs, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, purses of all kinds, zipper pouches, and backpacks. Soon I will also have ornaments and Christmas-related items and would love to bring the shop to your house or women’s meeting for a party this fall!

Sister Bridge is a ministry I started over 10 years ago, and now that I have a home office/studio for lessons and coaching, I have a little international gift shop right here, open by appointment! I have items from Haiti (Papillon Marketplace), Ethiopia, and Swaziland (Timbali Crafts) right now, but I am open to carrying more from different countries and ministries. I am not making any income from this, but the “profit” is being put in a fund for my trips to Ethiopia to minister with Embracing Hope Ethiopia, which is very dear to my heart.

Our family had many birthday grill-outs, movie and pizza nights, and time to chill. My summer flowers are beautiful…the tiger lilies were my favorite but as soon as they left, the naked ladies (I know) popped up and took their place in the spotlight. I’m thinking about learning how to compost and get better soil for next summer. We lost two trees which has made some sunny spots and I’m contemplating a garden??!! Am I crazy?

Oh, one more thing, my dear friend Heather and I are almost done with our Life Coaching (and fully done with our Mental Health Coaching) Certification, and we will have the fun of being in a graduation ceremony in Nashville this September, complete with cap and gown. I’m so proud of us! It’s been a wonderful experience, and we both are busy already using what we are learning.

Thanks for this opportunity to just sum it all up and start back fresh into this semester of Writing Wednesdays! I am READY!

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Summer Series on Shalom: Peace with Yourself

Here are a few thoughts on developing an awareness of what you are feeling, thinking, saying to yourself, and eventually doing. I am a firm believer that everyone lives by their inner drive, and that inner drive is made up of their priorities and motivations. That is one of the reasons why people see things so very differently. Some people wake up thinking they are already behind and must go out and achieve, while others wake up thinking about how they can get the least amount of work in for the day! That’s a silly example, but what we tell ourselves (or what we are unknowingly listening to from others) is a huge part of how we end up living. Here are just a few pieces of how to grow in shalom with your own emotional and mental self.

First, feel your feelings and make space and time for them. Acknowledge the ones you are shoving down. Talk and pray and journal about them, and ask for help when needed! Guilt, anger, fear, sadness, joy, excitement-all of these are telling you something. Don’t be afraid. Through accessing your feelings, you are taking care of yourself and helping yourself move on. It’s the resistance to this that keeps you stuck. Keep a short record of wrongs and work through all negative feelings in an appropriate way.

Do you know what you felt today? Did you shove anything down that may need to be worked through?

Second, do something you want to do that is fun or relaxing, every day. If 15 minutes is all you can do, plan it and do it. Recommended: 2 hours! Have one hobby or thing in your life that is just your’s. Cultivate it and know it is a gift from God.

Do you have at least one thing that you love to do that doesn’t cost much money and can be worked into your schedule regularly? You are free to do that! Accept that freedom, brother or sister!

Thirdly, spend time outside every day at a minimum of 15 minutes! Feel the ground under your feet, get some sunshine if possible, and breathe. Take a walk, or go inside or on your back porch for some yoga. When I say yoga, I mean stretching, breathing, holding poses, etc. The kind of yoga I do is not a religious experience. Yoga in itself is not a religious thing. Yoga predates any Eastern religions and when it was brought over to the United States, it was brought over as Hatha Yoga which was not a religious form. To me, it’s a lot like music. Depending on what the artist is saying, it can take you somewhere you should go and truly be from God, or it can take you somewhere you shouldn’t go and not be from God. In my years of experience, I have never felt in my spirit that I was being led away from God, but rather toward Him as I let my heart be still and know that He is God, Lord over all my worries, and Giver of the life that I must learn how to calm, manage, and worship Him with.

Do you have some kind of exercise that makes you feel more alive? Are you glorifying God with how you take care of your body?

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Summer Series on Shalom: Week One

To celebrate the opening of my small in-home ministry called The Shalom Studio, this summer I am doing a short weekly series on SHALOM (peace, wholeness) in all the main areas of our lives. I hope it is helpful to someone out there who likes a lot of freedom but also wants a checklist, too. (That’s 100% my style, for sure!)

First of all, we need shalom with God. Let’s not let it be complicated. Here are three basics of having shalom with God, beyond accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior and giving your life to Him!

Be in the Word every single day, preferably doing a plan where you will know what to read, study, work on, daily. A great idea is The Bible Recap which is a chronological reading plan with any version you like, and then an 9 minute podcast that helps you understand it. I love TBR. Whatever you have been taught about “a quiet time”, any guilt you feel over that concept, remember God is not in a box. He is wanting to fill our minds and spirits with the best Life, through His Word. Things will still be hard, but we will have purpose, strength, and peace.

The main question is: Are you daily digesting and opening your heart to God’s Word?

Secondly, keep a gratitude journal and at least once a week (if not daily) jot down a few blessings you noticed. Begin to seek beauty and feel amazed again at God’s perfect timing, friends, and even the mundane parts of your schedule.

Are you living out Philippians 4:6-7 that says to present your requests to God with thanksgiving?


Thirdly, be in weekly community with other believers. The components of this should always include honest sharing, accountability, prayer together, meeting needs, serving, God’s Word, and fun!

Do you do these things alone? Do you always worship and sing to God alone? Do you understand and comprehend God’s Word alone? That used to be my tendency but I was missing out. Let’s not be afraid to risk differences of opinion or personalities. The Body of Christ is a huge part of relating to God and having shalom with Him.

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Thoughts about LIFE

I suppose there could not be a more vague title of a blog entry, but really, this is a blog about LIFE.

I’m hoping I can put into words what is coming together in my heart and mind, but I want to start with saying that three simultaneous things have been happening at the same time in my world.

One, there have been multiple deaths of young men (some babies, some teens, and some men) over the past few years in our community, and again thus far in 2023. While these deaths did not effect my family personally, I am praying for those families of course and pondering how they must feel. Waking up having to remember the shock all over again. Trying to understand how (or maybe even why?) they are to keep going. Photo frames never to be filled. No one has to explain to these parents that they need to value life. We cherish life and we fight for it. We do everything we can to keep it, and we do everything we can afterwards to honor it. We don’t even hesitate. Those lives were precious and everyone is broken when it is lost. At the funeral, the graveyard, and the hospital room, the gravity of the value of life tugs at us…and it should.

The second thing: Ethiopia is constantly on my heart and mind. I learned of a refugee camp there in a city we stayed in, where there are thousands of people who have been traumatized by tribal warfare, as well as newly orphaned children. Right now. 2023. Accessible people. Human lives. Sleeping on the ground without blankets. (Please see www.embracinghopeethiopia.come for more info on how you can help!) Traumatized by war, on the edge waiting for more possible fighting, lives are being snatched away because of greed and simply not believing that LIFE MATTERS. How can one life believe it is okay to take another life? What seeds of the enemy were planted to make tribes believe their lives matter more?

The third thing on my mind is our pregnancy care center here in Elizabethtown -Clarity Solutions. The abortion conversation (as the speaker reminded us last night at the annual fundraising gala) cannot be based upon feelings, desires, and opinions. It must be based upon facts, and specifically the answers to these two simple questions: “Is it okay to ever end a life?” and “When does life begin?” 100% of people (okay, minus some on death row, I’m sad to say) believe it is not okay to end someone’s life; 97% of biologists (not Christians, just biologists) state that mammalian life begins at conception. So regardless of the other factors on society, it is hard to rationally and reasonably deduct that ending life in the womb would ever be an appropriate answer. Calling it “reproductive care” is wrong. Abortion is death. In no other scenario do we say, “You are unwanted and therefore I have the right to kill you.” It is a tragedy. We have to find multiple other solutions and walk alongside women, their significant other, and their children in a holistic, long term way. This is what Clarity and many other ministries do.

These three scenarios and the thousands of people they affect are all tragedies. Some were preventable, some were not. But in going to the Clarity Gala, something sparked in me that brought all of these tragedies together. It is as simple and basic as it possibly can be, yet it is with a newfound strength that I say:

We must cherish all life.

ALL LIFE.

Zero exceptions.

Not tolerate, not coexist, but love, really love, souls – meditating on and believing the value and importance of each and every living human. The same grief we would feel at a funeral of a loved one…the same agony we feel at a hospital bedside…do we feel that for our enemies, for the unseen in our community, and in our worldwide community? We must not be afraid to love, feel, grieve, sacrificially give; fear of making no difference or just being a “one drop of water in the ocean” cannot be where we land and stay. After all, loving is about both a state of being AND doing. When we love and value others, we are lined up with His heart. When we see opportunities to serve others out of that love, we are doing it as His hands and feet.

I’m going to say it strong and clear: If we believe that any life is worth more than another, we are not aligned with God’s heart.

Christians are to be known by their LOVE. We have been so scared to be mistaken for agreeing with peoples’ choices and lifestyles that we have lost knowing how to love people. I think we can get back to that by agreeing with God that every single soul is beloved, made in His image, equal, and worthy to continue until He alone calls them Home.

There is nothing new under the sun. Adam’s son Cain was a murderer. First family on the planet, homicide. Cain did not value human life. Our thoughts and beliefs determine our feelings, then our words and actions, and eventually generations…The most important “moral” we can pass on to our kids is that God loves, values, and cherishes people and so must we.

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Righteousness & Restoration at the Cross & the Empty Tomb

As soon as I understood the significance of Jesus dying on the cross for me and rising again, I was thankful. I was in awe. I knew it mattered, even if I hadn’t lived a lot of life yet.

Then after some times of wandering, when I truly saw my sin and felt shame for the first time, the cross held even more value. He was willing to carry my punishment and give me a clean slate. That amazed me and still leads me to amazed, thankful, worship today.

Now as I study trauma and try to reconcile what cannot be reconciled – a good God and the rampant abuse hurting innocent people – I stand in awe of the cross of Christ and His resurrection for new reason. And I want to elaborate on that a little bit today in an effort to explain what I’m beginning to grasp!

Jesus took our sins we have committed upon Himself, and that made us righteous – justified- just as if we had never sinned.

We know this and celebrate it well.

But He also took upon His body and psyche the sins committed against us, the things done to us, and that made us capable of total restoration.

How? How does the cross and the empty tomb promise total restoration of these griefs and traumas we endure?

Just as sure as we can believe in the total righteousness He earned for us on the cross, we can believe in the total restoration He earned for us in the resurrection.

Will we sin? Yes, unfortunately. Will we undergo trauma at the hands of others? Yes, unfortunately. So, yes, we do have these realities in our lives!

But the weight and the power that the sin and the harm had has been stripped of its life altering agony, in Jesus’s name.

That weight and power was placed on Jesus INSTEAD and He overcame it. He overcame the hopelessness. He overcame the shame. He overcame the despair. He was crushed, but didn’t stay down. He made it to where what should have ended us does not have to.

Because of the cross and the empty tomb, all wrongs are given the proper wrath from God.

That wrath either falls on the sinner, who is unrepentant, or it fell on Jesus. The rightful wrath of God is no longer upon any of us who plead the blood of Jesus over our lives. We are forgiven and can walk away from the heaviness of our own sin, and we can know that those who have wronged us are being held into account, 100%. When we want God alone to be the accuser, the judge, and the executor of His wrath, we have stepped into true forgiveness and can even pray for our abusers – Lord, have mercy, because He takes sin more seriously than even we do. He can take our wrath we are holding against ourselves and others, and fully execute it rightfully. When we stop carrying wrath and unforgiveness, we are already moving toward that total restoration that is ours in Christ!

Satan can no longer keep a victim bound to their brokenness nor can he keep a sinner bound to his sin.

He was reduced to merely lying to people about being a slave to the power of sin and the power of trauma. Oh yes, they’re real. But the weight of these things, the eternal baggage, was ALL put on ONE MAN at ONE TIME, thwarting Satan’s plans to attach sin, pain, and trauma to ALL MEN at ALL TIMES.

In the resurrection, Jesus showed He was able to endure this and literally get up and walk away – restored to new life! No one in the world could do that besides Him!

But now, because He did, so can we.

Will we? That’s up to us. Satan wants us to think we can’t, but that’s a lie. Our sins and the sins done to us do not have the power we thought they did, in Jesus’s name. Just as total righteousness can be ours in Christ Jesus, so can total restoration!

While I’ll never understand why some aren’t protected from the worst of mankind’s sins, at the cross and the empty tomb I see Satan’s plans for that sin and trauma declared empty and powerless for all who will believe in Jesus. As we suffer, we have hope; as we wait for the redemption of our bodies, our souls can be well as we trust in Him, the One who has felt it all, hit the ground, and got back up again.

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In Sorrow

Last night, I was supposed to pick some songs to lead at our Bible study at church. I chose Raise a Hallelujah and Goodness of God because they felt right in light of the chapter we were reading in our book, Rekindled Flame, that week. As our evening of talking and praying went on, someone spoke about the shooting in Nashville, and it led to such a somber time of acknowledging our sorrow, confusion, and even doubts and fears. And that was the exact moment the Bible study leader asked me to go into our worship through singing time…

I was thinking to myself:

Seriously?

How do I do that?

I don’t feel like worshipping right now!

I feel like sitting at His feet, yes. I feel like asking lots of questions in His presence, yes. But worship? Praise? Raise a hallelujah?

So I prayed. I reminded my heart and those in the room of truth. We decided to bring a sacrifice of praise. We decided to focus on His sovereignty, His place on His throne, and ultimately, we decided to have faith…the messy, real faith that acknowledges our feelings but also acknowledges our decision to trust the Lord.

I was rightly convicted when the Bible study leader asked us if we could share a time that we praised God and worshiped Him through thanksgiving in the middle of pain and suffering. I felt like I really didn’t have a time to say, because in the worst of times, I will fall to my knees and pray – I will speak truth, I will trust – and I know this is worship, too – but do I praise Him then and there? No, not really. It feels inauthentic. But I see there is a difference between celebratory praise (which may truly feel inauthentic in grief and I think we need to hold space for that) and worshipful adoration of Him through reading Psalms, praying our thanks, and even singing.

We are in such a sad time of history. But I don’t know that any other era was better. It’s just incredibly hard and sad. So what do we do? There are many ways to express it, but for me, here are 3 things I want to be faithful to do.

I want to run to the Father. I want to take my real thoughts and feelings to Him, rather than turn from Him, letting my mind get stuck on the “whys”. Our hearts are breaking. We either take those broken pieces to Him, or we take them somewhere else. The people who will take their fears, doubts, pain, and anger to Him will find healing, joy, and comfort. We are promised trouble, even though God is good. We are promised suffering, even though God is sovereign. And we are also promised peace, His presence, and that He will make all things work together for good for those that love Him and are called according to His purpose (John 14 & Romans 8).

I want to submit to His sovereignty. Part of the beauty of genuine worship is that in His presence, often with the help of scripture and songs, we are once again reminded of the truth of His wisdom and power. Does it take away the pain and questions? No. It doesn’t always do that. But when I submit to His sovereignty, His authority, His choices, His ways, I am enacting my faith and my identity as a child of God. I am not saying I’m okay. I’m not saying I understand or like what is happening. I’m not saying I’m over it. But in submitting to His sovereignty, I am humbling myself and taking my rightful place, which does change my perspective on the big picture.

I want to activate my spiritual gifts for the good of the Body. We all want to do something in times like these. So, we should. Pray. Ask the Lord how to pray, who to pray for, where to pray. Encourage. Ask the Lord how, who, where, when. Teach. Ask the Lord how, who, where, when. Give. Ask the Lord how, who, where, when. Serve. Prophesy. Show mercy. In my class on Tuesday, which is a Women’s Ministry training time, our leader used her teaching gift to lead us in a precious time of learning and surrender regarding the Nashville shooting. She shared how even in this horrific story, God shows His “metanarrative” of creation, the fall of man, redemption, and restoration. We are easily focused on the “fall of man” part, an easy piece to grab onto with our focus and fears. But we know His heart is for redemption and restoration, too. Maybe it will be redemption on earth – Jesus trading sorrows for joy, Jesus touching people’s lives with the seriousness of life and death and bringing them to salvation. Maybe the restoration will happen in Heaven, or here on earth as He displays His love and might through healing these broken hearts, I don’t know. But I know He will do it. How can you and I be a part of this redemption and restoration?

Lord Jesus, may Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Turn us to You. Mend our hearts. Send us out. Amen.

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ethiopia, here i come…

In less than a week, I get to go to Ethiopia and be with Jesus and precious people He loves.

I feel so excited, and also a little sad because I will miss my family. As friends prayed over me today and mentioned my husband and children’s names individually before the Lord, I was struck, again, by the beauty of my LIFE that I get to live here with them.

As I have said in recent posts, family life is hard. Sometimes I’m grieving, sometimes I’m confused. I am not saying it is smooth or easy. But it is beautiful.

About four years ago, I got my first tattoo and it was a step of faith – not the tattoo, but what it said and meant. It says “life is beautiful”. It was a time in my life where my daily existence didn’t feel beautiful, but I was proclaiming what GOD said about it! A year later, I went back and added three more lines to the tattoo, each saying “life is beautiful” in the three other languages that have greatly blessed and affected my life: Bambara (Mali), Amharic (Ethiopia-adopting Yemi), & Haitian Kreyol (Haiti-adopting Eva & Zoe).

Although I will keep it covered in Ethiopia most likely, the Amharic line goes with me next week as I live and abide in this truth: Ethiopian lives are beautiful. Each are created in the image of God. The ones living in the garbage dump in Kore, the ones working at the daycare, preschool, and kindergarten, the ones begging on a street corner. I am already overwhelmed (with heavy gratitude and awe) to foresee how many eyes and faces and hands and souls I will come in contact with, and I have ONE prayer…

That through the power of the Holy Spirit, my eyes and smile will convey that I value them, that Jesus loves them, that Creator God is for them not against them, that they are seen and known by Him, and that this Holy Spirit interaction will indeed enact desire for GRACE BY FAITH in Jesus.

Other than my last time in Ethiopia, I can’t think of a place I have gone that I could not speak at least a preschool version of the language. In Amharic, I’ve got nothing! How awesome to know that my lack and inability will be so deep and wide, making lots of room for Him to speak in the spirit realm.

As was confirmed with my sweet friends this morning, it is my lack and inability that truly is the “new wineskins” that Jesus needed me to prepare for Him to fill with new wine. Maybe the old wineskins were my laws and my self-righteousness, my abilities and commitment level and strengths. Now, both in this Ethiopian trip and in my new desire for the counseling and prayer ministry, I only have this to offer: Me (weaknesses & all) plus the grace and presence of Jesus. And how clear it is in this moment that my beautiful life was not meant to be anything but that.

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Coming Close

This morning, the thought crossed my mind that if I have done anything “right” in following Jesus (which is in itself by the grace of God) I have always believed I needed to come to Him, physically as well as spiritually, rather than expecting Him to come to me.

This sounds really simple, because it is.

This looks like a daily quiet time of reading the Word, praying, sometimes journaling, and very often singing His praise and my surrender. I meditate on Scripture and pray it over people. I go to Him in prayer about my problems and continue to learn to trust Him, whether I feel like I have answers or next steps or not. Just time with Him is enough. I’m coming close to draw from His life and perspective of life. My conversations almost always lead to the Lord and how people are growing in His love and acceptance.

But coming close to Him is more than daily choices like these, it is also a posture of the heart–For example, coming close looks like not being cynical when I am given the opportunity to participate in different worship styles or creative worship ideas such as nailing a post-it note with my sin written on it to a big wooden cross or asking Jesus for miraculous healing or, like last week, going to a “revival” knowing full well that the same Jesus-power at Asbury was also at home in my prayer closet. If I can come to Him in these ways, I absolutely will.

I am simply not afraid or embarrassed to believe, ask, enjoy His presence, forget myself, and be a little ridiculous. When it comes to Jesus, I never really know for sure how He is going to show up! But He says to come near. He says to ask. Through time with Him, we begin to share a mind with Him, share a heart with Him. Is there any greater thing? Life with Him is a treasure hunt…We are the seeker.

He has already come near to us, He has already sought us, by sending Jesus and then by sending the Spirit to dwell in every believer. But sometimes we think He is supposed to do more and more and more to get a hold of us! By His kind grace, He does. He seeks us like the lost coin, the prodigal son! But He also tells us to COME TO HIM.

If you want more, come more.

I think of the act of walking down the aisle to pray with a ministry team, and I know my church doesn’t do that anymore as part of the service. For awhile, I thought that was cool because “why make people uncomfortable?” But I feel now like the step of faith of coming down the aisle matters. Hopefully people are doing that, in just a different way, like in small group settings or taking the risk of calling someone to meet for prayer.

As a believer for over 30 years now, I walked down an aisle at a service to receive prayer last week and that was an act of humility, and it was so so good. God blessed it. Could I have prayed alone? Sure. But it required radical humility to step out and God gives grace to the humble.

So…Yes…It matters.

Getting out of our seats to go up and take communion.

Bringing a friend with you to your knees.

Going to God every day with open hands and open Bible when no one else but He knows.

A posture of the heart and body that says “I don’t demand from God; I come to His altar to connect with Him.”

Is your inner and outer life hard enough to where you need Him every hour? Mine is. If it wasn’t, I probably wouldn’t come to Him like I do. So praise the Lord for the constant need!

Come just as you are. The best words!

The reason I am writing about this today, so boldly even, is that after having this incredibly random thought, my Bible reading for today held these two passages:

Leviticus 10:3

“Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what the LORD meant when he said,

‘I will display my holiness

through those who come near me.

I will display my glory

before all the people.’””

Psalm 65:2-4

“All of us must come to you.

3Though we are overwhelmed by our sins,

you forgive them all.

4What joy for those you choose to bring near,

those who live in your holy courts.

What festivities await us

inside your holy Temple.”

Lord, thank You for allowing us to come near. You are good and Your love endures forever!

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I Get to Serve the Lord!

I am so thankful! I am so thankful that God hears our prayers and wants to walk this life with us. I’m so thankful His Word is true and His heart is love.

Last Thursday, I finished my courses in order to be a Certified Mental Health Coach with the American Association of Christian Counseling. It was a wonderful program and I am continuing, working to add on a specialization in Biblical Counseling now. So far, every hour has been incredible, both for my growth and edification and for being equipped to help others.

Later that day, my daughter and I were scheduled to visit Asbury University, so we went and ended up spending a lot of time in worship and prayer as REVIVAL had broken out on campus! While there, I was wrestling with the Lord about several things regarding this “new calling” of counseling ministry. Here are some of the particular wrestles:

-I am just a coach, not a licensed professional counselor. Will anyone take me seriously? Is this just embarrassing? Is this humbling on purpose? (If so, I’m glad!)

-When I pass around a business card or meet with someone for coaching and prayer, am I trying to make myself sound “all that”? Am I prideful? Or am I actually just being obedient and faithful?

-Is it wrong for me to be SO EXCITED about using my gifts in this way? Is that annoying? Is that going to feed any part of me that is self-centered?

-What will this look like? I know the Lord told me to prepare new wineskins for Him to fill and I feel like He is telling me what those are, but how much time and availability do I actually really have? I don’t want to sign up for more than I can do while remained super-centered in abiding in Christ, my own health, and my home/family.

I could go on, but you get the gist of the anxiety.

As I wrestled with God and all my questions, the speaker at the front of the room said if you would like prayer for being salt and light in the ministry God has set before you back home (as many of us had traveled to be there), come up. So I did.

All my circular, messy thinking converged in that moment of just walking up for simple prayer.

It was a simple prayer. But I agreed and believed along with every word, and sometime in that day or the next, a joy bubbled up inside of me that said: “You get to serve the LORD!!!!”

I felt the Spirit saying: Stop apologizing. Stop talking about it. Stop making less of it or light of it. Stop making more of it, too. Every believer is called and commissioned to do this! Millions of us are to be filled with the Word, the Spirit, His body and blood, and with our spiritual gifts, edify the body and bless the world!

No, it isn’t about us. But knowing our gifts, knowing ourselves, knowing our God, knowing where and to whom He is sending us, is not self-centered or bragging. “It is not by might not power, but by My Spirit”, says the Lord. This has been covered. This is old ground.

Here are the precursors to serving. Do this and then GO in Jesus’ Name!

-Abide in Christ and His Word.

-Trust in the Holy Spirit and lean not on your own understanding, reputation, or self-image.

-Be still and know that He is God.