Unqualified....
There have literally been times where from my eyes view I was going to sink, yet looking back those are the moments when God grabbed ahold of me and pulled me closer. He is still doing it.
This song is playing and I'm reading over 2 Corinthians my most favorite book of the bible. Just open up and read it friends. If God has brought you to any suffering in your life and you are wondering why and how, and searching to see purpose in it... He will tell you right there in 2 Corinthians better than any self help book you have ever opened up. Promise.
I'm reflecting on my day yesterday. God's goodness triumphing over overwhelming circumstances in this life. Over and over again. Worship and Prayer, hearing my best share of her life story and how God has called her into the ministry she's in. So good.
Do you feel unqualified for the week ahead?
I was just thinking of the adversity of my days. I have to often stop and sit to think through the pain that brought me to this place.
Running a business is no small task, said the women who never took a single business class, nor once dreamed about running about business. I never had goals or desires to lead an everyday ministry, maybe I still don't but God does. So when God laid Radiant Hope in my lap how could I ever look back? I am still in awe of how he chose me for this, pursued me, and has shown me what he has called and equipped me to do... Because of his deep love for me, and the deep love that is flowing out of me, I cannot help but say YES. There is great stuff happening, God is giving us way more than we could have asked or imagined.
We had our annual Board meeting. We gathered with notebooks, financial papers, plans, and lots of coffee. We prayed we would honor God with what he has called us to do, we thanked him for putting each one of us in the seat we sat in, no matter how hard it was to get to that place, we prayed that he would direct our steps as we lift up, encourage, and bring his hope into the lives of many in the coming year....
I'm unqualified.... but so was....
Pretty much every single one of the men and woman God chose. Including you, but how cool is that? We aren't alone in this life thing. Actually the trend seems to be that the less we are of ourselves the more we allow him to be...
Quickly switching gears, in apparently true Joanna fashion, I darted out of the house late to the cancer clinic. Most days it's about everyone else, some days it's still about my journey which got me to this point. This days juxtaposition is one perfect glimpse. The space between the two is blurred often. One day I'm sending Hope into the hard the next I'm walking right into it. What a tangible reminder God sent me, when I hadn't even asked or looked for it.
The hospital was an absolute zoo and it left a pit in my stomach with reality again that there is so much hard and hurting right in the place that again God directs me to. I do not ever wonder why I am supposed to be in those places anymore. I hate it. I hate cancer. In it I see God working though. For there is nothing, no hard place, no sickness, no sin, no suffering that He cannot use to shine his glory. So in that promise some days I have to rest.
I met a one women out of the hundreds I passed that day. From what I could see she was there by herself. Scheduling scans, looking shocked, I've been there. I hardly had a chance to talk to her other than to put my hand on her shoulder and told her I knew. She looked at me, half smiled, and I haven't stopped thinking of her face since. Those unlikely corners we walk into most days... I just want to sit in those places with the ones there, because I know.
I had one question for my oncology surgeon about some knee pain. 4 knee surgeries, and 2 major cancer surgeries later on one leg has left me with much pain some days. So I asked about some ways in which we could help that... the answer was long and complicated with charts and my eyes opened to reality again...I don't know why though, for the first time It didn't defeat me like most of the answers do. I felt HOPE. I am ok. God can choose to heal this part of my story too, but it can also remain as a thorn.. and I am content in whatever He wants from me.
I watched others on this day in such a worse place, wheelchairs, tears, silence, I walked away thanking God for this hard story in my life and again told him I wanted him to use all of me in these unexpected places in whatever ways he can.... he's done a work with my soul and he has delivered and healed me, yet he still drops me right smack in the middle of it, and all for a long time.... This is not the end of the story being written for my life, just part of today's journey.... I'm in no way qualified without the strength he's giving me for each and every day. When you realize you aren't either... that's where he will meet you....
This song is playing and I'm reading over 2 Corinthians my most favorite book of the bible. Just open up and read it friends. If God has brought you to any suffering in your life and you are wondering why and how, and searching to see purpose in it... He will tell you right there in 2 Corinthians better than any self help book you have ever opened up. Promise.
I'm reflecting on my day yesterday. God's goodness triumphing over overwhelming circumstances in this life. Over and over again. Worship and Prayer, hearing my best share of her life story and how God has called her into the ministry she's in. So good.
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire."
Hebrews 12
Do you feel unqualified for the week ahead?
I was just thinking of the adversity of my days. I have to often stop and sit to think through the pain that brought me to this place.
This past week there was much planning ahead and looking forward toward HOPE. In that I am also praying for more healing in 2018, and God using this life he has given me. Such good stuff I want you to know it too....
We had our annual Board meeting. We gathered with notebooks, financial papers, plans, and lots of coffee. We prayed we would honor God with what he has called us to do, we thanked him for putting each one of us in the seat we sat in, no matter how hard it was to get to that place, we prayed that he would direct our steps as we lift up, encourage, and bring his hope into the lives of many in the coming year....
I'm unqualified.... but so was....
Pretty much every single one of the men and woman God chose. Including you, but how cool is that? We aren't alone in this life thing. Actually the trend seems to be that the less we are of ourselves the more we allow him to be...
Quickly switching gears, in apparently true Joanna fashion, I darted out of the house late to the cancer clinic. Most days it's about everyone else, some days it's still about my journey which got me to this point. This days juxtaposition is one perfect glimpse. The space between the two is blurred often. One day I'm sending Hope into the hard the next I'm walking right into it. What a tangible reminder God sent me, when I hadn't even asked or looked for it.
The hospital was an absolute zoo and it left a pit in my stomach with reality again that there is so much hard and hurting right in the place that again God directs me to. I do not ever wonder why I am supposed to be in those places anymore. I hate it. I hate cancer. In it I see God working though. For there is nothing, no hard place, no sickness, no sin, no suffering that He cannot use to shine his glory. So in that promise some days I have to rest.
I met a one women out of the hundreds I passed that day. From what I could see she was there by herself. Scheduling scans, looking shocked, I've been there. I hardly had a chance to talk to her other than to put my hand on her shoulder and told her I knew. She looked at me, half smiled, and I haven't stopped thinking of her face since. Those unlikely corners we walk into most days... I just want to sit in those places with the ones there, because I know.
I had one question for my oncology surgeon about some knee pain. 4 knee surgeries, and 2 major cancer surgeries later on one leg has left me with much pain some days. So I asked about some ways in which we could help that... the answer was long and complicated with charts and my eyes opened to reality again...I don't know why though, for the first time It didn't defeat me like most of the answers do. I felt HOPE. I am ok. God can choose to heal this part of my story too, but it can also remain as a thorn.. and I am content in whatever He wants from me.
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Cor. 12:9-10
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