The past couple of years I’ve chosen a word and verse to focus on that year. I remember this past December when I was fighting a yucky cold and feeling achy, I was on the sofa reading and these words caught my eye.
“Do your best to present yourself to God as a women who is fully genuine, a worker unashamed of your mission, a guide capable of leading others along the correct path defined by the word of truth.”Define. That’s it! Define.
This year maybe I can define more clearly my calling or who God made me to be. While doing that, strive to live the instruction to present myself to God genuinely, be unashamed of my mission (although I didn’t necessarily have one) and lead others along the path defined by God’s Word. Um, that’s a tall order. Maybe I decided that because I was sick.
But January 6, 2014, I defined my reason for choosing “define” as my One Word in 2014. Then I put that verse on my bathroom window and wrote it in my notes on my phone and highlighted it in my Bible. I even put it here in my new blog in my vision statement.
In May, a friend gave me this book – Living Life Undaunted by Christine Caine. It’s thick with daily definitions of what it means to live life undaunted. Each day of the year there’s goodness to absorb.
But I was the type of girl who skipped to the end of the book to see what happens. I know sometimes it ruined the thrill of suspicion, especially when I was younger and read those Nancy Drew books. I could hardly stand the wait to see how it ended though.
I still do some today. And one of those times was when I first opened this book and thought, “I wonder what’s to be said on my birthday.”
I flip to October 26, page 351. I think my mouth fell open and then I laughed.
Really?!
The verse for October 26 is 2 Timothy 2:15.
The title is “Growing to be a Leader”. I had no idea where this was going, so I read what Christine wrote:
“In order to learn a new skill that would eventually give me so many more options in life, I had to be prepared to start at the beginning and make many mistakes doing something uncomfortable.
The degree to which we are prepared to place ourselves in situations where we are once again a novice is the degree to which we will learn new skills as we get older. So often we do not want to trade our proficiency or comfort at one level to learn something that will take us to a new level and open new doors of opportunity.
If we are to keep growing in our leadership capacity and avoid becoming stagnant, then we need to keep taking on things with a greater degree of difficulty. The more we increase our personal capacity, the more fruitful our lives will become. We all have more room to grow. That is what keeps us young in mind and heart. That is what keeps our spirit fresh and our passion for Jesus alive.
Trade my comfort to grow and open new doors? Not my cup of tea. But sometimes you have to do something that forces you to feel uncomfortable because you have to.
It can be uncomfortable to stretch and make an effort to figure out and understand your purpose in life. It can be daunting! We become too busy, overwhelmed, lazy, unwilling. We get comfortable and that’s how we want to be. Comfortable.
But God created you to stretch. To lead in some of your places some of your people. He didn’t create you to do nothing.
He instructs us to be “a guide capable of leading others along the correct path defined by the word of truth.”
Where are you places and who are you people?
She can be the one who works in the office beside yours. She can be your neighbor down the street. She can be your child’s friend’s mom. And you moms – it’s your kids – who need to be taught and led to be polite to adults, be nice to their classmates, love their siblings, and most importantly know and believe everything about Jesus.
So, I thought to myself the most important people I’m to guide are our children as they grow. But another passion had been forming that I tried to ignore because I was comfy on the sofa of familiarity.
What else should be done then? “God, what is it? I’ll do something. Actually, even though it’s scary to say, I’ll do anything.”
So I waited. Until February.
It was that cold, cloudy weekend when the unexpected happened.
I experienced this weekend. I experienced God moving women to lead. To take risks. To be uncomfortable with a purpose and with trust.
In the midst of it, a passion ignited inside: I want other women’s passions to be ignited, too. Girlfriends, I want you to feel God moving you to lead because He created you to. He wants you to lead your people in your places. Reach out of your comfort zone. Reach out to a new limb. Reach to the unseen trusting God will guide you. Feel uncomfortable with a purpose. For a purpose. For God.
And I’ll be right there with you, sister.
One way I want to help you with that is invite you to a weekend that will blow you away if it’s anything like it was for me this past February. It’s IF:Gathering 2015 — a two day livestream conference event February 6-7 for women who love Jesus and those who haven’t really met Him yet. It’ll be a time where us women will gather, be equipped and unleashed to live out our purposes.
It’s going to be all around the world. Literally. If you live in central NC, though, it’s going to be right here in Alamance County, NC because a group of us discovered we all have this same passion to reach out to women in our community. So go ahead and put it on your calendar now with a big red circle around it and protect it!
You can already go ahead and register for IF:Alamance here. To save your seat it’s just $1. Yep. One buck. Because we want everyone to be able to come. Please tell every woman you know to come with you! It’s going to be a blast and you’ll leave from it with a new flame ignited inside of you and be able to define more clearly your calling and who God made you to be and unashamed of your mission.
I thank God for the surprise birthday gift of my 2014 Word and Verse showing up on my October 26 devotion. What’s another awesome gift I’d like for my birthday? You to make plans to come with me to IF:Gathering at IF:Alamance February 6-7, 2015.
It would be my favorite!
See more Wait and See Series posts here.
