What I Learned

For the past several months most of you know that I have been going through a season of transition and trusting the Lord to bring me to a new place that He desired me to land and serve. I am happy to tell you that He has absolutely orchestrated my steps and has given me an incredible place to serve Him in Texas. At the end of this month I will be starting as the Associate Director of Table at Gateway Church. (table.org) (gatewaypeople.com) I am joining an amazing team of innovators and dreamers that are leveraging technology for the Kingdom and using it to help people grow spiritually all over the world. My hope was to serve a grand, God-sized vision and the Lord has delivered. I am honored to have this opportunity to be part of such an incredible ministry and look forward to how God will use it to change people and change the world.

I’ve had several friends and family that have walked with me through this process, who watched as I left my comfort zone and were instrumental in praying and supporting me as I stepped out in faith to see what God would do. Through this journey I have experienced so many emotions. I have laughed and I have cried. I have been filled with hope and felt completely alone at the same time! Today, as I prepare to leave South Florida and make my way to Texas, I wanted to share with you three things that I know better from going through this transition season. Maybe they will become part of your transition too.

#1 God knows us better than we know ourselves

         One of the difficult things I had to do was leave Tulsa; a town I have lived in since 1985 and home to my three grown children. I knew the Lord was speaking to me and challenging me with this “Abraham” moment but it still took me several months to actually go. Once I pressed through the boundary of what I thought was comfortable, He began to show me things about myself that I have never seen before. I was learning all about faith…the kind of faith I preached about for the last 30 years. Now it was more personal. It was liberating, exhilarating and a bit scary too! But every day as I acknowledged what I was feeling and surrendered that to Him, He helped me continue on. Though I thought I was being disassembled, I was actually being rebuilt! He knows me so well

#2 God really loves us. I mean REALLY!

         I could never have survived the many months that I was “waiting” without divine intervention. Faith without activity just isn’t faith at all and I needed more than kind words and simple prayers. God would speak to people that I know, and even some I didn’t, asking them to participate in His plan for ME! People wrote me lovely notes of encouragement and made sacrificial donations of love. Some of them even bought all of my belongings before I left town! It was miraculous and I was overwhelmed by God’s love. I could see it and personally feel it in the people that He had placed in my life. He knew right where I was. He knew what I was going through and He knew exactly what I needed.

#3 All things work together for our good…in His time

         I’ve taught Romans 8:28 hundreds of times and though I believe what it says, I have to be honest and say that it is very hard to imagine some of the challenging things I faced serving any good purpose. Add to that the fact that my timetable is completely different than His. Those tough things have a way of developing us and adversity seems to bring our true character to the forefront. At the end of the season, when all is said and done, everything divinely comes together for our benefit and His glory. Someone once said, “in the end it will all be OK. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end”.

Every part of the journey I have been taking so far has had purpose. It has helped me to draw closer to Him and He has definitely felt closer to me. I want you to know that if you are waiting on a new career, the right relationship or some other situation to occur, God knows YOU better than you know yourself. He really, really loves you! And those things or people that make you want to shake your fist and scream? Well, He is using them to solidify your relationship with Him. So be of good cheer…the best of YOUR life can actually be the rest of your life when you place it in His hands. For all of you friends and family that have been there along the way, thank you for taking this journey with me. The best is yet to come!