Not just for others

The way vampires can't do light or the Wicked Witch can't do water, there was a time when I couldn't do "testimonies." 

It didn't matter if it was at church when I happened to have just enough courage to darken the doors of a place where I had wreaked relational havoc. It didn't matter if it was a spiritual rumor about someone “getting right with God” or even some book a well-meaning Christian passed to me or my parents. Some snippet of true story, some tale of turning back, some testimony of grace and life-change and I would wilt and shrink into the shadows half listening until the sounds of stories, where God was doing something good for a real person, finally faded. 

Like Rahab (Read here to see spiritually how our stories may mirror Rahab's), I was definitely in my own Jericho. I felt I was living in a place outside of where He was. I was far from Him and His people in life, heart, and actions. When bits of stories and truth would hum and murmur, coming closer and closer to the door of my heart, I feared that if I fully gave ear to them I was going to have to deal with the reality of where I actually was. And Who He actually is.

I also hid because I had been deceived. I knew enough about God to know that He was able to do things for others. He could save, yes. He could change people or make people better. He could forgive people. I had heard stories here and there of rescue and love and healing. But I believed deep down in the real spaces of my soul that that was for others. It wasn't available to me. Just look at all I had done and was doing.

For some of us, our Jericho was all we knew. We were just living life, when God began to reveal Who He is. It started as whispers, echoes, rumors, and glimpses. Then louder and clearer. Instead of fear, we leaned-in like Rahab, wondering if stories like this about Him are true. And if those are, could we experience such rescue, love, and healing from a God like that?

Through rumors and stories from Egypt and other nations Israel was conquering, Rahab had heard about God. Whispers and echoes about Him had swirled about until one day, through Israelite spies knocking on the door of her inn, God knocked on the door of her heart. 

How did she respond? Joshua 2:8-13 tells us. These were Rahab's words to the spies sent by God that she was hiding on her roof:  

"I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death."

The stories were powerful. Powerful enough to make an entire city feel fear that made them melt. Their courage failed. Yet instead of succumbing to fear, Rahab opened up. Why?

I believe it was because God had been calling to her, with ever growing clarity in the midst of the world's noise, so He could be Rahab’s God and rescue her. He reached into time and space, so she could know Him.

Rahab responded with faith: “The LORD your God is God.” She understood Israel was coming to conquer Jericho next. She believed God and used His name to go out on a faith limb. He was a God Who conquered, but also a God Who saved. What He did for them in Egypt, He could do for her.

When you have heard stories about what God has done for others, what has been your response?

Are open to hear about Him? Are you open to belief? 

Do you tend to deafen your ears or anesthetize your heart? Is that because of fear, shame, or because you feel excluded or disqualified from such goodness?

What God did for slaves in Egypt, God could do for a woman in Jericho. What God did for Rahab—for others—God can, will, and wants to do for you.

Will you listen? Will you go out on a faith limb? Will you believe?

Just another seed of my faith,

Ginny

10 Leadership Lessons...so far - #1: Change IS God's way

Seasons come and seasons change. And right now I am in the midst of a season change. I can say that with simplicity and confidence, but it hasn't always been that way for me. As a woman and a leader, I have learned a lot about change, and the biggest lesson is that change is God's way.

I love stability. I really enjoy when things stay the same. I am a creature of habit. I find something I like, and I keep it. I always order a #1 with cheese, no pickle, no onion and a root beer at Wendy's. I have for years. I love comfort and honestly, I hate change.

When I stepped in to leadership, things seemed to be what I would call stable. There seemed to be little change, a process and supporting document for everything we did, and a group of tenured staff members that had a rich history of serving together. We had a ton of fun and I found a comfortable place where I could find my feet in new leadership and serving, and any question I had, there was a path or a story they could bring alongside to help me in my experience. Truly, we weren't without challenges, but it seemed that we had a way of doing things and it worked well. I loved that season.

I say season, because I have learned it was just that. A season. Prior to me being there, there was change that precipitated all that stability, and those friends and leaders had had to weather that change together. That's the stuff great teams are made of, and they were a great team. The time came for a change in seasons, and I struggled. Internally, externally, emotionally, spiritually, personally, interpersonally - I struggled with change. I think in some ways we all do, so insert the details and thoughts of your own struggle with change here, even if your struggle is that you are a change junkie and people like me slow you down in enjoying change!

What God taught me along the way as I lived and led others through a series of organizational changes is this: Change is God's way. Think about it. From the moment of salvation, His promise is change. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17) I love it that He puts an exclamation to that. How exciting is that change! From there, all of God's work in our earthly lives - personal, loving, skillful, effective work - is to change us to look more like His Son Jesus. We are in a state of constant change with God. It's His way with us and for us. It's to our benefit that we go through change.

As I started to walk a journey of understanding change, God reminded me of something He taught me in a different season. We had been through change as a couple, having a baby and moving from Lubbock, which we had known as home, and had had a significant door shut for Chip on a career. We were left with little money, a little baby, and all of our things in storage, living with his parents. I brought my heart to my mother-in-law, who is a tender, grace-filled, godly woman, and shared my burden with her. I had the simple yet huge question of, "What do we do?" She responded to me with words of truth. "Honey, what I have learned over the years about God is this:
God is good.
God is loving.
God is faithful.
God provides.
When you don't know how to view your circumstances, those are the truths you recount and recount until you see Him move."
I hung on to that wisdom and made it my own. God carried me through that change and grew my faith with those truths.

Later, we had gotten comfortable and had deeply embraced a different season of life. We were convinced that it was so fruitful and so good, it was certainly God's will that the season continue or last. Within that season there were challenges for sure. And each time a challenge came, I ran back to those words:
God is good.
God is loving.
God is faithful.
God provides.
During that time, Chip was training with an airline and one morning was a big morning for us. The airline would reveal what city we would be based in; where we would live and from where his trips would all start and end. We were certain he would be based in Dallas. God was active and things were going so well. I was thrilled when the phone rang; I knew it was him.
I answered the phone with, "Well?"
"Ok. I have some news for you, are you ready for this?"
"Ok! What did we get?"
"San Juan, Puerto Rico," in a dead pan voice. Then there was silence.
Chip is known for his humor and I am known for my gullibility with him. I warmly scolded him.
"Chipper!"
He replied, "No, there's no punchline. I am being serious."
He began to unravel this story of anticipation he had experienced as bases were awarded to the oldest man in his training class first, all the way down to him, and a guy named Jeff, the youngest in the class.
"And the only two cities left on the board were San Juan and San Juan."
Now there was silence on my end. At that moment, faith and Jesus Himself, I am convinced, grabbed a hold of my heart and my response surprised even me.
"Well,
God is good.
God is loving.
God is faithful.
God provides.
We're in this together, I go where you go, so San Juan it is."
Chip had to get back to class, our call ended, and in that moment, I was left sitting by myself, with nothing clearly in front of me but Who God is.

Fast forward into leadership. I had to sit with a group of people I was serving and leading and shepherd them through a season of change. I was feeling it too. Change is not easy. Now I was not having to follow someone in change, but lead others in change. God added a fresh lesson to this truth I owned as we walked a journey in change. We gathered together and I shared the above story with them. Then, God laid on my heart to share this: Often times we struggle to move ahead in change because it's good here, it feels safe here, and at times, what we have experienced here has been profound. The Israelites experienced that at the foot of the mountain with God in the wilderness. And yet God had for them to move, or change, because He had something better waiting for them. For the Israelites, it was the Promised Land. They couldn't know it, know Him more, or receive it without moving, or changing. Change. then. is letting go. It's letting go of this place and this time to move or grow. God does not allow us to have anchors. We don't get to stay the same or stay here. Change is His way. So we can't hang on or lay anchor. What we must do instead is recount in the midst of change Who God is:
God is good.
God is loving.
God is faithful.
God provides.
If I hang on to this season, I have a clenched fist. If I will recount these truths, these experiences I have had with God, then one by one, it opens my hand. The last thing we have to say is, "I choose to believe this." That's the last part of letting go. That statement, that act of declaring faith, opens my hand. Once my hand is open in faith, I am free to receive what it is that the Lord has for me. If I go to Him about change and stand there with a closed fist, or even shake that closed fist at Him, I miss out on what He wants to offer me. With a hand opened in faith about Who He is, I receive what He wants to put in it instead. I'll only know the goodness of that gift, the goodness of change, if I open my hand in faith. We'll do this together, I'll go first, even though this is hard, because this is the stuff great teams are made of.

And, by God's grace, He used His ways and His words that He had taught me to shepherd us all through change after change in a season marked by change.

God is good.
God is loving.
God is faithful.
God provides.
I choose to believe this.

I am certain I said that this morning as God leads me into a new season.

No anchors, only open hands of faith, because God's way is change.

Just a seed of my faith,

Ginny