“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
If you've followed my blog for a while, you will find a recurring theme of My Plans/God's Plans.
As one of those crazy people who plans everything out & still keeps a paper calendar, God & I have a fun relationship. He lets me plan & dream & tell Him my desires, but we have an understanding that I do all my planning in pencil to ultimately allow His will. The longer I walk this journey with my Savior, the more I know that I absolutely want His plans over mine. I truly want Him as my Lord.
I give all this background because, as I look at my life, I'm amazed at where God has brought me. Some things in my life I could see coming a mile away, but other things that God has shown me about myself, surprise me. It's funny to still be learning about who I am, but it makes sense that my Creator knows me better than I know myself. The new thing God has shown me that I want to talk about today is my role in Women's Ministry. When I look back, I see how it makes sense. PreacherHubs & a few friends tell me how they could totally see God shaping me for this. It's strange how many times it's easier for someone else to see you for who you are than it is for you to see yourself.
While I'm a girly-girl, as well as a girl who is friends with girls, I often feel ill-equipped when it comes to dealing with girls. I am the only sister to one brother, I grew up as the only girl in my neighborhood, & frankly, there can be lots of things about some girls that scare me! I've always said that I'm not a "girl's girl," but when I look back, I have always been blessed with a great surrounding of godly ladies. When I dig into the depths of why I don't feel like a "girl's girl," I am able to understand myself a lot more. The only things that turn me off of girls are the ungodly, worldly characteristics. I don't do drama (I don't even know how to deal), I can't stand gossip, jealousy, husband-bashing, etc. After understanding these things, God is showing me that I am absolutely a "girl's girl." He has just given me a desire to be a "Godly Girl's Girl."
My entire life I have been spoiled by God's blessings of friendships with ladies that are Christ-centered. God gave me amazing girl friends in my Youth Group as a teenager, in college, & at every church/new town we have served in. One big prayer & desire of my heart when we moved to Petal was that God would send me ladies that I could "do life" with. I was a little impatient the first couple of months-getting tired of all the getting-to-know-you conversations. I was ready to dig deep, talk about God, have ladies to pray with, etc. When God answered my prayers with a great group of friends, I wasn't surprised, but I was amazed at what a good job He did at answering my prayers! One of my favorite verses about when God's plans trump my plans is Ephesians 3:20. "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us."
God gave me a group of ladies that I get to do life with in more ways than I could have ever imagined. We have love; we have trust; for fun, we share testimonies of God's great works; we pray over each other; we worship together; we fight for each other when have to stand up to the enemy; we stay on our knees for each other praying for the smallest or largest things; we are friends; we are sisters. Many times we would gather together we talk about how these friendships are something that we've longed for our entire lives (whether some of us knew it or not). As we praised our Maker for the blessings of these relationships, we were burdened with a knowledge that not everyone has relationships like this. We were burdened with a desire to be this to other women & teach them how to be this for each other. & out of this...the Women's Ministry Leadership Team for PHBC was born. God planted Women's Ministry in my heart & in the hearts of a few others of these friends. Since then, it has been beautiful how God has sent a few more women from all different areas of the church to this team-all equipped in different areas & different passions of women's ministry.
Just since January, God has done a mighty work in preparing this Leadership Team - adding to our group, raising up a leader, working on us by pruning our lives & cleaning us up, & showing Himself to us over & over again.
Later this week I will share a little more about what's going on in the ministry (how the Lord is equipping us, things we desire to do for the Kingdom, the road to our Ladies Retreat & more!)
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