God always guides those willing to do what He says. I’ve seen this prove true many times in my life. Here’s one example:
Last fall I began planning a weekend getaway for businesswomen. This wasn’t an idea I birthed on my own; I truly believe it was conceived in God’s heart. More than a year prior, He’d challenged me from John 4, using the account where Jesus went into Samaria and sat down at the well where He knew the woman would come. Rather than waiting for her to come to Him, He went to her. He met her in her space and whet her appetite for Him.
That message convicted me. How many friends did I have outside my comfortable church circles? How much effort was I putting into getting to know other women whose beliefs didn’t match mine? What could I do to turn that around? Months passed, and the idea of a weekend getaway began to take root.
“Provide an event where women feel loved from the moment they arrive,” He said. And so I obeyed. I’ll confess, it was a scary venture.
At first, I feared no one would come. I questioned my ability to present meaningful workshop material in a format different from my norm. I doubted my ability to provide a package that would justify the financial cost. But I kept moving forward because I believed God was asking me to do this. One step, then another, and another.
One day in late December, my calendar reminded me that the event was a mere five weeks away. Plans were far beyond the point of no return. My heart raced every time I thought about how quickly the weekend was approaching. God knew my anxious thoughts, and He met me there. He did it through His Word:
“But now the LORD says: ‘Be strong, Zerubbabel. Be strong, Jeshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people still left in the land. And now get to work for I am with you,’ says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. ‘My Spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.’”
“Keep going,” God said. “I’m with ya all the way.” Those words dashed any lingering doubts about whether I’d heard His initial marching orders correctly. They confirmed God’s hand in this venture. They boosted my courage and planted anticipation about the event. From that day on, joy replaced my scaredy-cat emotions.
The retreat has come and gone. Thirty-six women attended, and we had a great time. No doubt it will become an annual event. I’m almost ready to book the dates for 2013, and plans are in the works for holding a similar event in another province this fall.
Has God given you marching orders? Are doubts causing you to question or hesitate? If He’s planted an idea in your mind, then His Word will confirm it. Just start walking, and He’ll guide you every step of the way.
Photo courtesy: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Grace,
I, too, have felt God nudging me out of my “holy huddle’. My comfort zone is definitely to be with my Christian friends and participate in activities with them. The last few years I’ve been active in our local newcomers group, but have let my participation slide. So I need to remedy that, and I’m also waiting on the Lord to show me where else He wants me to go, what He wants me to do.
Thanks for the encouragement to reach out!
Blessings!
Sue
I’d love to hear how God directs, Sue. Keep me posted!
Your story reminded me of how God lead me last fall. Ever since we moved to our place at the lake we have felt that God wanted to use us to reach out to people in our community, I have wanted to reach out to those outside our church family, yet in spite of efforts on my part it just seemed nothing ever happened, That has changed tremendously since we moved here thriough a number of circumstances, I just want to focus on one. I was praying one day about how God wanted to use me because i felt nothing was really happening, Then I had the idea that I should host a cookie exchange with women in the community. I have no idea whether or not any of these women are true believers – most go to church and would call themselves religious, but it doesn’t necessariy affect their daily lives. I had a wonderful response to my calls to invite women, and ended up with 12 confirmed!! Then I felt that the Holy Spirit was nudging me to share something along a spiritual line with the women. At first I was really excited about the opportunity, but as it got closer to the event I started to have doubts and be very fearful. But by then I had shared with a number of Christian friends what I felt God wanted me to do – so there was no backing out! The day of the event I really struggled, but I kept committing it to God believing that He would guiide me. Christmas is really an ideal time for this, and it was amazing how God worked out the events of the evening so that I was able to share in a very natural way what Christmas means to me – not only the birth of Jesus but the fact that He came to die and redeem us from our sins. I am hoping this will become a tradition at Christmas!
That’s great, Twylla! I hope it becomes a tradition for you, too. This year at Christmas, we tried something new, too. We opened our home on the Friday evening before Christmas Eve and invited the neighbors to come for cider and goodies. About 15 showed up, and we had a great time. Next, we hope to gather our neighbors for a summertime family movie night. We’d like to set up a BBQ in our townhouse parking lot, throw a potluck, and then project the movie onto an exterior wall. Doesn’t that sound like fun?