Just Do It!

When Debbie had asked me if I would take over leading Women’s Bible Study, I confess to you I was speechless. If any of you have heard me teach, that would probably seem a tough nut to swallow. But it was true. Sometimes God just shows up out of the blue.

With as much mental acuity as I could muster, I blurted out something like “well let me pray about it”. Boy did I pray. One thing I have learned in my walk with Christ these past 14 years is that I am not going where He hasn’t asked me to go. My zeal to serve God has clouded sound judgment in the past and I have paid sorely for it. I wanted to make certain.

Over the next several weeks, I sought the Lord in the matter and He was certainly encouraging me in His direction. But there is another thing I know about stepping out in faith to serve Him, you can be certain what will follow...warfare. The enemy has been relentless since my husband came to Christ, and to be honest, I could really use the break. So as God was nudging me on, my heels were sinking deeper and deeper into safer ground.

There is a constant battle that resides in the heart of every follower of Christ. Am I or am I not in the will of God? It is always a frustrating dilemma for us particularly when things don’t seem so crystal clear. Truth be told, there were several solid reasons on both sides of this answer that were cause for hesitation. So I did what I often do when I know that emotions are driving my decisions rather then Godly discernment. First, I enlisted some counsel. Curiously as I asked each person what they thought God had for me the answer was invariably something like “Duh!” It would seem that my counselors are more in tune to what God has intended for my life then me.

The second thing was to enlist my secret weapon, faithful prayer warriors. Now mind you, God had repeatedly given me answers already through scripture, counselors, and coincidences and then, of course, there is the odds of someone like me even being asked to serve this group of women in such a privileged way. But I needed major convincing. My desire to serve Him with integrity of heart and purpose with the sole motivation of glorifying His name is so important to me that I don’t take these kinds of decisions likely. I feel His reputation is at stake. Not sure He really knew what He was doing to be honest.

Well one day I was leaving church and was feeling the weight of self imposed pressure to give a reply. I ran into a friend in this fellowship in whom I enlisted to a day of urgent intercession on my behalf. I can be so dramatic but I knew she wouldn’t mind and in fact she was all “over it”. I was believing God for an expeditious answer.

After service I went for a walk in the woods and sat at my favorite spot where I often meet with God. At that moment, I prayed out loud (I wasn’t even caring if anyone heard me at this point). “Lord, I am believing you for an answer before I leave here today. In fact, I believe that within 5 minutes someone is going to come down that trail with an answer. In Jesus’ name. Amen” For the next five minutes, with a mixture of trembling nerves (from the Holy fear) and an unprecedented boldness (my desperation for a response), I kept thanking Him that an answer was coming.

Within those five minutes a man came running down the trail wearing a Nike t-shirt and with big brazen letters across his chest it read “JUST DO IT!”. God has a sense of humor.

Perhaps you have been wondering if you should come out to Women’s Bible study or to become active on this blog. Maybe you just need to hear the same response God gave to me, “JUST DO IT!”

Love you guys!