“These older women must train the younger women… ” Titus 2: 4 TLB
This admonition from scripture was at the forefront of my thinking when I first started praying and dreaming about this blog.
My first blog was aimed at the young in China where suicide rates were high. So I chose the picture for the blog’s ID of a young Chinese woman. Each post I wrote was to her and for her.
As I focused on that picture, and talked to her via my laptop keyboard, I wanted to send hope into situations on the other side of the globe that seemed so hopeless.
That is also why I designed this blog the way I have; using photos of mostly younger women, and then featuring them in this blog.
I know the prevailing wisdom is that you should use photos of yourself, tell of your history, present your qualifications, so people will know who you are. But, that wasn’t my goal–or my writing style.
The message of this blog is primarily aimed at encouraging the young who are searching to find their God-destined purpose.
My target audience…
I like to think of this blog as if we are sitting together over a cup of tea, or coffee, chatting about what is most on our hearts.
And, as younger women are my target audience–not my contemporaries, although I hope some of my followers fall into that category, I wanted to obey the above scripture.
It helps me a great deal if I have photos that I can “talk to” as I write.
It helps me to focus.
Frankly, I didn’t believe younger women would be drawn to a blog with my old gray head as the primary feature! I am rapidly approaching seventy years of age. I have never married. I have no children or grandchildren. But, I wanted to leave behind a legacy of sorts, or at least some of the wisdom my bumpy journey through this life has taught me.
In short, I hoped to spare younger women many of the fears and mistakes that kept me paralyzed for years, and what I now believe, were wasted years that I spent wandering around churches trying to figure out why I was put on this planet!
Your tremendous potential
If you are a younger woman in the Church today, I dreamed of communicating to you a pathway, and the encouragement you would need to envision your God-given destiny, and then, inspire you to go for it for all you are worth!
You have tremendous potential–and YOU were born for such a time as this!
As you age, I promise you, you begin to realize like never before how precious and fleeting your time on this earth actually is.
Though my energies and abilities are waning with age, I did realize two very important things:
- I have, hopefully, been gathering some wisdom along the way, and I want to pass that wisdom on to the young.
- The other thing that God has made clear in His word, is that we must all stand before Jesus Christ someday, and give an account to Him for our lives.
I did not want to face my Shepherd with nothing to show for all my years, and what He has taught me, and brought me through.
Questions before COVID
Before this COVID quarantine I really began to wonder if I had “said” all that I needed to say on the subject of destiny. I wondered, “Am I becoming redundant?” Should I think about doing a “new thing?” Was I on the right path?
(I just wasn’t sure.)
Then, the accident happened. In the midst of the quarantine God seemed to be calling a halt to everything I had been doing. So, maybe it was time to stop?
I prayed and prayed about a new thing; a fresh offering.
Was I really making all the impact that God wanted me to make?
God bless Lana Vawser!
How her words encourage me at some of the most critical times in my life.
In this quarantine I felt as though I were living the Elijah-syndrome–huddled in a cave of isolation–broken and discouraged. I felt as though my enemies had beaten me.
I wasn’t depressed exactly, but man-oh-man, I was discouraged and full of doubts.
- Maybe I was done.
- Maybe God no longer had any use for me.
- (Yes, I was hurting and feeling very sorry for myself!)
Oh, Elijah! Come, talk to me…
God Speaks
Well, of course Elijah didn’t come, but the Holy Spirit did, and He spoke.
First, through a wonderful post from Lana Vawser.
She entered into my cave of doubts and spoke straight into my hurting heart. She reminded me (just like God had to remind Elijah) that my work was not finished.
The Holy Spirit (via Lana’s words) reminded me of a book I had started on Elijah over twenty years ago. A book manuscript I had laid aside because of great discouragement over a church split. Lana said, “Dust it off!” and I knew exactly what God was saying to me personally.
Oh, how sweet it is when the clouds part and the light dawns.
More to do
Lana said, “It’s time to write again.”
So, I pulled out the old manuscript, and read the first post I had written many years ago. I thought, “Maybe God does want me to finish this book.”
(I’m still praying about that one.)
I hadn’t written a word in six months and I wondered, “Would the words still flow the way they had before?” Then, the outline for this series began to flow out of my pen.
Wow, more posts for womenwithdestiny–okay God, we go on.
I fired up my laptop, and, I wrote and wrote, and yes, the Holy Spirit met me just as He had done before.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. 1 Thess. 5:24 KJV
Please listen…
He is ready to meet you, too!
I don’t know what has happened to you during this quarantine. Your life may be in chaos like mine was. You may have spent months and months praying, and asking God for direction, only to face silence from a brass heaven.
(I know.)
But… you ARE a woman of destined purpose. Your “answers” will come, because you are loved and treasured by a God who holds your life in the palm of His hand.
God will always have the last word.
Your dreams are in His loving hands, and…
“To all who mourn… He will give beauty for ashes. Joy instead of mourning. Praise instead of heaviness. For God has planted them like strong and graceful oaks for his own glory.” Isaiah 60: 3 TLB
Your help in on the way.
Women With Destiny 