Stay The Course...Around the Bend

A slightly overexposed IG pic of the She Tent at the 2017 Seeking His Embrace conference.  

The paper flowers were all handmade by volunteers and were A.May.Zing.

The answer to my last post's questioning was repeated...in Friday morning prayer, in the Session Messages, in the sermon by our guest speaker on Sunday following the conference and again in our Pastor's sermon this past Sunday:

Don't let the discouragement that you are experiencing distract you from the purpose God has for you.


I don't think it could have been more plain to me if someone had called me out of the congregation for a prophetic word.

And, I really and truly am on the edge of New Stuff.  Not that I need to walk away from anything now, but that I need to buckle down and  be ready because I'm about to be stretched.

Item one...the Life Group semester has found me teaching a half a dozen or so folks who want to be able to get into the Bible for themselves.  We just had our second class last night and they amazed me...they had all done the homework!  And they were finding applications for themselves!  After just one week!  I was blinking back tears, which kinda surprised me,  as I watched the lightbulbs flash on.

I didn't do that.  I just opened the door.  They walked through and the Holy Spirit made it real.

I had forgotten what it was like to watch that happen.

Item two...we're about to kick off a new ministry in the evenings, twice a month during life group semesters, for women.  A chance walk through the fellowship hall during the life group sign up in the spring landed me in the position at the end of the summer to be invited to join the team to make that evening study happen.

And I'm going to have to go out on a limb and build relationships.  If you've been around here long, you know I've backed away over and over again from that relationship thing. But this is where I am and that is what is needed and...I can do all things through Him who gives me strength.  I've got to push past that gut level retreat into that new place of service.

And I saw a floorplan of the office space in the high school that we're renovating.  One whole classroom 'pod' (yeah, the high school dates from that era...lol) is being dedicated to staff offices.  I really figured I'd be in a large classroom with 3 - 5 other folks, but I saw my name on an actual office with a door.  I won't have to pack my office decor...pictures and stuff...up.  I'm going to on be on the hall with the IT crew instead of the Finance ladies, which is going to be a little different.

It made it feel...almost scary close...the move is coming.  Instead of being out there on the horizon...it's actually closer than the horizon now.    Conversations are starting to not be 'when we get to Butler' but about events that are going to happen after the move.  Deep breaths.

Change is coming. And I'm not going to let the enemy throw discouragement and frustration at me.  Not at this point.

But I still need a new phone.

When Change is Coming

Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Sunrise from the suspension bridge at Turkey Run Aug 17,2015

It may just be that the cold front went through and the air is cool and clear instead of hot and muggy.

Or it may be that I'm tired of letting things pile up in the corners...allegorical corners and real corners...and it's time to shift focus and deal with it.

Or it may be that I've run into a virtual brick wall one too many times and now I've stepped back and begun to wonder if I'm moving in the right direction.

Or it may be that I've run the course and done all I can do and it's time to put down the tools and move on to a new challenge.

Or it could be that the Enemy is having a heyday throwing discouragement at me and I'm letting my perspective be skewed by subconscious cynicism.

Or it could be that the Spirit is just beginning the whisper saying it's time to step out of something old into something new.

Or it could be something I recently told a friend...change happens about every five years and it may be there is a five year cycle that's coming to a close.

Or it could just be that it's time to give up the flip phone.

I honestly don't know.   I just know that there's a restless angstyness that I haven't felt in a while.

This weekend is our Women's conference.  It's a bit abbreviated this year, as we are in a huge building program (yes, change IS coming...).  I don't have any major responsibilities; I'm hoping to just soak and listen and see if there is more to this unrest than just sticky keys on my old phone.