It’s Tuesday and you know what that means. If you are new (thanks for being here), round here we talk about stepping over our fears and moving forward on this second day of the week. I hope you will be encouraged.
This past month has been an incredible stretching opportunity for me. One I have to admit (since we’re friends and all) that I had been failing at. I wasn’t practicing what I was preaching. Can you see my sad, not so proud, face?
Fears are everywhere.
It was months ago when I told you I was just a scared little Texas girl. I knew God was calling me to deepen the places I went on the streets and to begin being intentional about reaching out to girls there caught up in the vicious world of sexual exploitation. Oh how I wanted to be brave.
But the truth was, I was flat out scared.
Fear was suffocating my soul and I found myself questioning God. Was this crazy adventure really from Him? I think deep down I wished I had made all this up, so that I could bow out. But the more I begged God for an answer the more He confirmed it was from him.
Then I took a baby step at being brave.
Heading to the streets preparing for an event, we invited women to come. And the came!! What? A crazy curly-headed girl took one baby-baby step over her fear and girls showed up. (God is amazing just like that when you do that crazy things He asks.)
I was thankful for that one act of braveness. Yes I was! I hung my hat on it. Stared at it. Before God, I patted myself on the back for it. I felt great.
That one small act of braveness was just the beginning. I went to learn from others how to step out and love women in the dark places of our city. The learning process alone suffocated me. I seriously couldn’t breath. But there was a responsibility that came with learning more and being trained. I knew I had to do the same.
And so I did. Coming home (y’all this was 4 months ago) I put together some teams. We began training and learning about the streets and girls in our city. Oh, we were diligent. We trained every Friday night. We were training up good, because one day there would be a rescue house for girls in our city and we’d want to stop and tell them about it.
We trained hard.
After a few months, God began nudging me. I could feel Him tapping on my heart like morris code How long are you going to train – I called you to GO love them.
I could never shoo away the thoughts. They lingered. They beckoned. They haunted.
But we kept on training. We had to be prepared for what God was calling us to do. This type of ministry is serious, dangerous, and you need an extra measure of discernment — training is a must.
Training became my excuse.
I woke last Friday and scriptures were alive and speaking (Heb. 4:12) in the wee hours of the morning. Everywhere I turned God was nudging (it kind of felt like pushing) me to go. I read, it’s not about getting ready – it’s about being ready. In Joshua He told me over and over do not be afraid. Be courageous.
Then He took my breath away with the words, “How long are you going to wait to inherit the land I have given you?”
The Lord and I did some wrestling that morning. Luckily I didn’t walk away with a wrenched hip, but I did leave with a bruised spirit as I realized that for months I had been hiding my fears under the influence of training.
I couldn’t wrap my mind around what my fears were, but they were there. Fear of the unknown. Fear of failure. Fear of fear itself. And fear of the responsibility that would come with seeing darkness at a deeper level.
How do you practice what you preach?
It was evident that morning, no matter what my fears were we were going to not only train on the streets that night, but we were going to stop and share God’s love with women out there.
As we met I shared my vulnerable self with the team. I shared how God seemed to be pushing me so I could more clearly understand what He wanted. And we all agreed it was time to be ready, instead of getting ready.
The evening was incredible. We were each a mess and I can’t wait to tell you about it. Please subscribe as I’ll be sharing the story soon and you don’t want to miss it. I’ll also tell you how you can be involved.
Was stopping for these girls easy? No. Was it scary? Yes! But God is so good and always blessed out obedience back with blessings galore.
Practicing what you preach is a way of life. How do you do it? You force yourself to gut it up and JUST DO IT! [tweet that, friend]
Is practicing what you preach this hard for you?
It is certainly difficult for me to practice what I preach. That’s one reason I really appreciate that God created us to walk with others. I often need accountability!