{Five Minute Friday | Cheer}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {CHEER}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Dear Christians,
Why don’t we cheer for each other? Why is it ever-so-difficult to celebrate and cheer the successes of people we are supposed to love? It seems like, instead of cheering and celebrating, we compare and feel threatened. Have you ever been to a high school sports event where a parent only cheers for his/her kid? I know you have! It's awful.
It has to stop. The comparison. The exhausting competition. The ridiculous drive to succeed at the expense of someone else or perhaps lots of someones. Scripture says the world will know we (the Church) belong to Christ because of the way we love one another. Maybe we don't love each other well when we refuse to cheer. Maybe we don't love each other well when we make it all about our success without celebrating the success of others. How I wish we all understood that one person’s success doesn’t disqualify us from our own. One person's effectiveness doesn't diminish our effectiveness.

Besides, aren’t we all on the same team? Yes, we are. Be a big-picture kind of person who realizes there’s room for all of us to walk the path God’s asking us to walk and do the thing God has gifted us to do. In the end, isn't it better if we are all effectively influencing people for Jesus? And If I can do something to help you along the way, then why wouldn’t I? Let’s be Christians who are gospel-minded. Let’s cheer each other on like crazy. Yes, let's.

Stop.

{2 Things that Changed the Way I Lead}

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing! “Would you like to lead worship that Sunday?” Yes! Yes, of course, I wanted to lead worship! My heart nearly exploded with gratitude. When I had come back to church a few years earlier, there were no expectations. Zero. The calling I felt God had birthed in my heart had long been disqualified. At least, that’s what I thought; yet, there I was accepting the invitation to fill in in the absence of the worship pastor. It still blows my mind when I see how God has ordered my steps. I was part of a leadership team with two of the most gifted, highly-favored people I have ever known. I never quite got over being invited to the table,  you know? All the plans were in place.   Unfortunately, there was plenty of room for freaking out. Yeah, about that.

Sunday morning soundcheck went off without a hitch. We had a phenomenal team!  After that, though, it happened - the freaking out, that is. Self-doubt is not a kind, warm friend that comes alongside you to encourage you and keep you humble. No, not at all. It's a scheme of the enemy, whose big brother is FEAR.  Of course, I didn't realize that at the time. I was nearly frantic. I grabbed my Bible, went into a small room in the back hallway, and knelt down to talk this over with God. What else is a girl to do? My prayer wasn't elaborate. I was only stating the obvious, tears rolling down my face, "God, thank you for bringing me here and giving me this moment. But, I can't do this without You. I won't. Please, help me." I sat very still for a time and then flipped the Scriptures open to the Psalms. I was heading to the passage I would share that morning but stopped a few chapters short at Psalm 108. Here's what it says.

My heart is confident in You, O God; no wonder I can sing Your praises with all my heart! I will thank the Lord, among the people. I will sing your praises among the nations, for Your unfailing love is higher than the heavens. Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May Your glory shine over all the earth.

And, that's when I breathed a sweet sigh of relief. In that tiny room backstage, while I knelt on the floor, the Lord started teaching me two truths that profoundly inform the way I lead.

1. Leadership is about my position in Christ. It's not a performance. Do you see it there in the first verse of Psalm 108? My heart is confident IN YOU, O God; no wonder I can sing Your praises with all my heart! I lead from my position in Him. It's all about who He is and who He says I am. If I try to lead without having first established who I am in Christ, then I am squashing potential. All of my gifts, abilities, and influence come from Him. And, even more than that, He is with me. I don't have to take a step without His guidance. You don't, either.

2. Leadership is not about making a name for myself. It's about His name and His fame. The psalmist ends with both feet planted firmly in this truth when he says, "Be exalted, O God, above the highest heavens. May Your glory shine over all the earth." I want people to know Jesus.  The same gospel that compelled me toward Him is for everyone. Fixing our eyes on Him (positioning ourselves in a relationship with Him) will automatically move us in this direction. How remarkable that we get to be part of telling that story!  He's the lead story -- always.

Everything was as it should have been that Sunday. And, now? There is rarely a time I step onto a platform, large or small, that I don't whisper these verses as a prayer right along with Isaiah 26:8. See, leading well means being firmly positioned in Christ.  It means saying follow my example as I follow Christ's example. Isn't that when our influence will be at it's best?  I think so. Here's the thing: I simply want people to see Jesus in everything I do and say, both on and off the platform. After all, He's the one I love the most. And when people see Him, it changes everything. I am infinitely grateful that He doesn't leave us to go it alone.

Questions to ponder: Do I have a tendency to depend on my gifts and abilities more than on God's power in my life/leadership? How do I define success in leadership?

{Five Minute Friday | Grow}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {GROW}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Just a few weeks ago, dandelions had overtaken our front yard. Seriously. It was bad. My husband, hoping to be thrifty, researched DIY solutions. The most promising solution: pull the weed up by the root. I'm going out on a limb here in saying whoever suggested this as a solution didn't have a hundred dandelions growing in their grass. If you're wondering, we skipped the process of uprooting them all. One pass of the lawn mower and they were gone! But, they can still grow because the root remains. So, I was thinking.

 We all grow throughout our lives. Growth means there's life, breath. Trees lose their leaves and regrow them each spring. Long after we stop growing tall, we still have the capacity for growth - we get smarter, stronger, more mature in our patterns of thinking.  Yeah, it's good to keep growing. I don't want to stop growing, but I want to grow in the right direction. There's something I can do about that, you know? See, what goes on beneath the surface hugely affects what's visible above the surface. Likewise, what goes on above the surface can either encourage or hinder healthy growth. There is verse after verse of Scripture that applies, but here are two of my favorites:

Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will be strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7

Then Christ will make His home in your hearts as you trust in Him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. Ephesians 3:17

When you are rooted in Him, growth will be in the right direction. Why? That's easy. He's trustworthy. He's good. He makes it His business to grow us into something beautiful for His glory. And, He is ever so patient as He tends to my heart. For that I am grateful.

Stop.

{Five Minute Friday | Miss}

It's Five Minute Friday. That means unplanned, unedited, straight-from-the-heart-to-the-paper writing. Yep, you just write whatever comes out based on a word you're given. If you have five minutes, you should give it a try!  Find out how here.

This week the prompt is {MISS}. I am a day late to the party, but I made it. Woo!

Ready? GO.

Is there anyone else out there who loves a good plan? Yeah, me too. Sometimes, though, things happen that I couldn't have planned. Hiccups. Bumps in the road. Difficult seasons. Transitions. In those times, I find myself often looking up asking, "Is this part of the plan?" or "Lord, can we get past this point as quickly as possible?" There's something about the hard spots that make me want to rush through. It's like a head-down-running-as-fast-as-you-can kind of feeling.

Thankfully, the Lord is patient, and He taught me that I was asking the wrong questions in those moments. I learned that a better question was "Lord, What do you want me to see that I'm not seeing? What am I missing?" Yeah, that's the better question.

It's not that I stop praying for a change of scene or a swift resolution to the challenge at hand. I believe our conversations with God should be honest. But, Here's the thing: if we trust He's always working on our behalf, then we have to believe there's always something in every season that will be for our benefit. And because I know that He is good, and He's trustworthy, I don't want to miss the thing He has for me. I don't want to miss what He's doing or saying because I have my head down running toward the next thing as fast as I can. Besides, He always delivers on His promise to use everything for my good and His glory. You know what the best piece is? Lean in a bit so you don't miss this. You can always count on Him to reveal more of Himself, something more about His character, or about His love. And isn't knowing Him worth any momentary, light affliction? Yes, I'd say that it is. That's certainly not something I'm willing to miss. I don't ever want to miss Him.

Stop.