The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.” Judges 6:12 NLT

Hey yall! I realize it’s been almost a year since I have written a new blog. I would like to let you all know what’s been up. I have been undergoing a lot of transition since the last time we spoke. I want you to be aware that I continued serving in my home as a wife and a mother. In addition to serving in my community and in my church. I didn’t have capacity to do everything that I was doing in my single season while growing through these transitions. I had to be obedient to God by reprioritizing as He saw fit. This required me to put some things down.

Therefore, I realize that my online ministry has suffered. I would like to thank everyone that has continued to support this ministry and pray for me while I was away. Although that was painful, my obedience was rewarded. Anyhow, I’ve been wanting to share this story with you all for over a year now. Let’s get into it!

In May of 2020, God began to deal with me about serving at my new church in a way that was very different than I was used to. I had only been attending this church for a little over a year at this point. Prior to attending my current church, I was very active at my last church. So much so that I would often get burned out while serving in the children’s ministry.

I decided that this time around I would take my time, focus on my online ministry (blog), and only participate occasionally. Besides, my fiancé (at the time) was called to ministry not me. I just enjoyed serving the Lord’s church. God had other plans.

Ok back to 2020 during the time that God was dealing with me about serving in a new space and a new way. For nearly three months, God told me it was time for me to start serving at my new church. But what would I do? We didn’t have children so I couldn’t serve in the children’s ministry like I did at my last church. I could sing, that’s what I could do! I love worshipping the Lord especially with other Believers but that is not all He was telling me to do. During this time, I asked my Pastor a few times if there was something I could do to serve the church. Right now, I cannot remember what my Pastor said so charge it to my head and not my heart. LOL. However, at that time I knew in my heart that I wanted to spend more time with my church family studying and discussing the Word of God.

Ok cool. So that means I can ask the Pastor whether he or one of the other ministers could teach on Wednesday nights. I took that to the Lord in prayer. Still not what He was telling me to do. Ok Lord what is up? I felt the Lord ask me why don’t you teach on Wednesday nights? Immediately I knew I had to be tripping. Was I hearing from the Lord? I couldn’t have been hearing from God! Then I felt overcome by fear and anxiety. Me? Teach? Lord, I can’t be hearing you right. That is not my lane?!!!

Looking back, I had a lot of nerve questioning what I felt I heard from the Lord. The one who created me. My online family you can’t see me but I am chuckling right now at the fact that I….. the creation had the nerve to question the Creator. But isn’t that what we do? When God calls us out of our comfort zones, we try to reject the notion that He could want more for us than we want for ourselves.

That’s what Gideon did, read the passage below from the book of Judges:

Then the angel of the Lord came and sat beneath the great tree at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash of the clan of Abiezer. Gideon son of Joash was threshing wheat at the bottom of a winepress to hide the grain from the Midianites. The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!”“Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are all the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘The Lord brought us up out of Egypt’? But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.” Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go with the strength you have, and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!” “But Lord,” Gideon replied, “how can I rescue Israel? My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!” The Lord said to him, “I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.” Judges 6:11-16 NLT

At that time Gideon was hiding from the Midianites in order to secure something to eat. He was sneaking to thresh wheat in an unusual place when an angel of the Lord appeared and called him a mighty man of valor. I can imagine that Gideon felt anything but mighty at the moment. Then things got even more interesting, the angel informed Gideon that he was being sent to do the miraculous! God told Gideon to go in the strength he had and rescue his people from the Midianites. But Gideon responded with his reality. Gideon’s reality puts me in the mind of what we might call excuses today, telling his Creator that he came from the weakest tribe and that he was the weakest in his whole family.

As Believers today we read Gideon’s story and say that our brother was tripping. Not realizing that we do the same things today. Not you, maybe someone you know 😊 .

I remember having so many excuses that I offered up to the Lord when he was leading me to serve in a new place and in a new way. I had just gotten married and was required to postpone our larger ceremony. This was also a couple months after COVID shut down and around the time of the murder of George Floyd. I wasn’t ready. It was not my lane. I was not a Bible teacher. I didn’t have any experience. At our church we had some younger people that had recently started attending but a majority of the members had been in church longer than I was alive. What could I teach them? Not one of those excuses could stand up in the presence of God.  

During that time, I felt the Lord led me to Judges 6 and call me a mighty woman of valor. God told me to go in the strength that I had. God told me that all He had given me was more than enough. Then a door opened. A sister in Christ wanted to collaborate on a program. So, we talked about it and decided to combine our ideas. We then presented our collective idea to our Pastor. The Pastor allowed us to have a 4-week test trial and the congregation responded very well to it. The trial was a success, and a bi-weekly program was implemented as a result. The program is still in place today! We have been told that the program has been a blessing to our church family as well as to visitors who have been in attendance.

Taking this step wasn’t just beneficial for my church family and those who attended the program, I benefited greatly. I learned so much from the additional time with my brothers and sisters in Christ. I learned more about the Word of God by spending more time in the Word.

The program was also a catalyst for healing and deliverance in so many areas in my life. I grew in the areas of organization, speaking, boundaries, collaboration and biblical love outside of romantic relationships.

I don’t know what God has in me. I don’t know all of what God has for me. But I do know that I won’t know if I don’t take the necessary steps in obedience. There is no growth in a comfort zone.

Now let’s talk about you. Are you called? What are you called to? Are you sitting on your gift? Are you carrying the names that others have called you and ignoring the title God has given you? Take your limits off of God! He is unlimited! He is not merely a resource. God is the Source. We are not where we come from. We are not what others have called us. We are who and what God calls us.

The Word: The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said, “Mighty hero, the Lord is with you.” Judges 6:12 NLT

The Story/Lesson: Dare to do it afraid! Whatever it is get it done for the Glory of God. Even in difficult times. Be who God is calling you to be no matter how uncomfortable.

© 2021 THE LOVE JC MINISTRY, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Resources for additional information:

• Take a listen to The Last Jesus by Kirk Franklin it blessed me so I hope it will bless you.

• Who was Gideon in the Bible by Got Questions – https://www.gotquestions.org/life-Gideon.html

• Article written about the murder of George Floyd – https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/31/us/george-floyd-investigation.html

• COVID Shutdown Info – https://www.ajmc.com/view/a-timeline-of-covid19-developments-in-2020