...inspired by the book Girls With Swords by Lisa Bevere...
Hi friends!
I don't know about each one of you, but I am certainly in a deep place...of birth...labor...transition...again. But this time? It feels good.
Oh, it hurts. Make no mistake about that. But whereas maybe five years ago, the pain felt like that of giving birth to a stillborn child, this pain comes with a deep knowing that I am pushing out the healthy life of many, many "babies". Multiple births. I am birthing relationally, creatively, spiritually, materially....manifesting grace on many levels.
So are so many of you.
For over a year now, I have been hearing The Lord calling out to our identity as warrior princesses in this day. Let me preface with this: I do not believe that in the natural realm, women should be put in combat roles. I do not. Okay??
You are free to disagree with me. (No hate mail, please. It makes me giggle, and that just makes you angrier. It's a waste of both our energy.) I do not think it bodes well for our nation, when we put our girls in combat.
But. At the same time, the natural reflects the spiritual. And it is a fact that in our nation, women have very recently been cleared for combat.
Girls.
Calling all girls. I have a word from The Lord for you!
You are cleared for combat. Approved. Backed by the full resources of heaven, to fight....not as a man, but as who you are...a woman. You have been given legal authority to kick some serious donkey.
So where are you? Here am I, looking like Annie Oakley in the Spirit....armed to my teeth...fighting my butt off....and I am wondering where YOU are! I see a few of you beside me, but every single one of you better get your sweet selves up here to the front lines, because there is no neutrality. Take captive every thought, or any thought will take you captive. Fight. Engage. Live free or die...
It breaks my heart to see so many of us live for nothing greater than raising daughters (or sons) who make it through high school or college with their virginity intact. As vital as that is, and I am not saying it is unimportant, it does not constitute purpose or calling.
Some live for nothing greater than to have a goat to show at a 4-H show...again, a fine secondary or tertiary thing. Some live to "go off the grid"...that goal consumes their time and resources. It might at the very least be a distraction. It can even be a form of idolatry. It keeps you from the battles that matter.
Milking a goat is not tied to my destiny. Planting a rich garden is a practice of mine...but it has nothing to do with the call of God on my life. The call of God on my life and yours involves His favorite creation...not nature...not livestock...but people. If we are using our resources to minister to people, then we are engaged properly in the combat between darkness and light.
Some of us are finding ourselves facing situations that are unacceptable. Our spiritual enemy has attempted to get us to compromise...reconcile ourselves...avoid declaring war, because war is exhausting.
Well, fight tired, then! Fight injured, then! But for God's sake, stop settling for a sweet little isolated life when there is a battle to be won. Stop setting goals that are beneath you.
This is the season to give up your right to sympathy...your right to hold a grudge (which you never had that right to begin with)....your right to be entitled to this or that middle age indulgement ("I've earned the right to take a break...look at what I have been through!")
hmmmmm. A king named David took on that middle aged entitlement attitude, and ended up undoing his kingdom.
I say we get up and get on with the business of fighting. Whether or NOT the men in our lives are with us. I say this very carefully, only in a manner of speaking. I can speak this way because I am one of the more submitted women you may know. I deeply respect male authority, even flawed authority, and always have - that is one of my God given strengths. I do not mock, disregard, or ignore authority.
Fight. With the boys or without them. Never against them....but with them or without them.
Stop treating life's difficulties as though they shouldn't be happening. This is war. This is training for reigning.
How do we fight?
By our worship.
With high praise in our mouth.
By being an integral part of church life.
With a smile.
By our prayer.
By enduring.
By holding our ground with the tenacity that only a woman can have....there is a reason WE give birth. We can endure.
By not carrying over yesterday's struggles into today. Every day we get to fight fresh. We get to be relaxed and refreshed and loaded with new ammo.
Patience is your weapon of mass destruction. Possess your soul with it.
Everything in your life...your family situation...your marriage....your church and its unique season...your place as a children's minister, nursery worker, musician, multi media person, greeter, encourager, meeter of physical needs....all of it is meant to train you how to be excellent, passionate, distinctly and amazingly feminine. An overcomer.
So go be awesome.
I will be looking and listening for my fellow girls-in-combat. Show up fresh. Show up ready.
Be ready to receive twice what you expect...battle spoils.
But know this: two times nothing is....nothing. You better figure out what it is you expect. Because God only commits His warriors to winnable wars. What would a win in your present situation look like? Strategize accordingly.
Written for you with love...
Sheila Atchley
All blog content is the property of the writer, including all "In the Middle" intellectual and visual art property...
2 comments:
Great word! I know I read most of it in your cafe e-mail a week ago, but I still needed to hear it again today.
Holding down the fort with you, Sheila, my friend!
janet
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