In the past couple of weeks, there have been an overwhelming number of you out there who have praised me for my writing once again. I’m so thankful that this column has touched you and helped you or even just entertained you. However, I cannot take the credit for it. God 100 percent gets the glory for these messages, as He strikes me with them. Some weeks I get in the way, and they take me awhile, but when I am focused on my place in it all, I can write them effortlessly in such a short amount of time. He leaves me in awe!
This week, I’ve been thinking about a t-shirt one of my dear friends got for me that says, “Grace, Grit, and No Quit.” She got this for me after I started this column, and it’s just so perfect and appreciated. At the bottom, it references Proverbs 31:25 (NIV), which says, “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come.” I’m finally there! I was so far from this just a short time ago. I cried and panicked at the thought of the future because I was trying to futilely control it. I still have my share of freakouts over silly things, but I seek God pretty immediately, and that has made all the difference. “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 NIV)
No one can convince me that God does not have a flair for the ironic and an incredible sense of humor. Too much of my life is proof positive of my stance, I assure you. He has used the very things that took me to my knees and used them to build me up into someone I never knew I could become—and He’s still not done! I was always looking for the comfortable life; I thought that was the proof that I had “made it.” That was just lazy living and turning a blind eye in order to keep the peace. Of course, I didn’t realize what I was seeing because I didn’t want to see it. Hindsight has made me really take stock of my own shortcomings and what I have needed to work on through Him who strengthens me.
I have cried so many tears over the fact that I know God put me on this earth to be a wife. I know that might sound so small and silly to some of you, but the calling of being a wife is so very special to me. Just today I was scrolling TikTok, where I follow a pastor named Brooke Keith. She’s a soft-spoken yet feisty southern woman, who I just love. She’s so down-to-earth and gets that no matter how much we love Jesus, we will always be human and fall extremely short, but I digress. I landed on her page right after praying about what I should write this week, and she definitely inspired me. She quoted Max Lucado (a great author and minister from Texas) as saying something to the effect of how a woman who is a wife should be so hidden in God that a man has to seek God just to find her. I almost cried. That’s who I want to become.
Society would have us believe that being a wife is no big thing. Most critics of God and His word point to all the submissive statements in scripture, but they don’t research the deeper meanings or any Hebrew translations that speak of how strong women are in that submission to a Godly man (not just any male). The English language states “helper” as the translation, but a little research shows that “lifesaver” and “to rescue mightily” are more accurate meanings behind the original Hebrew. Now, I’m not saying He put me in the world to only be a wife, but I feel in the depths of my soul that is an enormous purpose all on its own. I’ve felt very out of place being single yet terrified of ever being that vulnerable again…just something else I’m working on (the list is long).
Back to Brooke Keith’s video—she talked about being patient in the waiting and enjoying the alone time with God because someday when our prayers are answered, we’ll miss that time. I was dumbstruck; I know my mouth hung agape as I watched on. She went on to talk about how God will prepare us in the waiting, but that He is also preparing the man who is to find us that is most assuredly in his own similar growth journey. I have been so self-centered and made this all about myself at times. God has a lot of work to do on me, and part of the difficulty is getting me to realize it’s just the tip of the iceberg when I think I’ve arrived after one little gain.
In the end, all the trials and battles have helped God to tear me down in order to build me into someone new. He’s had to course-correct me on top of all of that. I’m pretty hard to get through to sometimes, so He has His work cut out for Him, but he already knows that. All kidding aside, I truly feel blessed to be in a place where God has me in His everlasting arms. I still don’t know what the future will bring, but I know He has an adventure planned for me that I cannot wait to embark upon. I keep praying that I seek His will, not mine. He delivers on this for sure, and I’m better for it. So, as much as I am humbled by the kindness of so many of you and your appreciation for what I’m doing, please know that when you see something beautiful in me or what I may have done, it’s God. I’m so blessed that He is using me while in the midst of molding me into something more.
