Stand On Me

I believe women in ministry are at a pivotal point in history. Both within my own movement and outside, women are receiving recognition for their contribution to the Gospel moving forward, while organizations once closed off to women are taking a new look at their stance. I receive messages constantly from young women searching for guidance as they accept the Call to preach, and I can't help but notice a special outpouring. 

Something is happening in His daughters, and something amazing is about to come through them.

This blog is not being written to pat us on the back or bring attention. Instead, it's a plea that we not mess this up. 

Too often in the world of women in ministry there is undue competition. Of course, there is competition in both sexes, but there's this idea that there are only so many spots for females, and thus, if you've got one you better fight to keep it. 

And I do mean FIGHT.

Instead of embracing the sisterhood of this calling, we turn on one another. We like the idea of God calling young women, but we want them to wait on the edge of the stage watching us, waiting until we are done with the spotlight. I've watched it play out over and over again, as anointed women stoop so low as to gossip, lie, and even sabotage those they consider a threat. 

So I say to those of us already on the battlefield, we have a sacred duty to encourage our new soldiers. We should be their biggest supporters, because no one understands the struggle like we do. And if we should ever be tempted to keep them on the sidelines, I pray another sister would rise up and correct us. 

I pray a prayer over the young women I mentor that they would take the Gospel farther, faster than I ever dreamed. Do you know how that will be possible? By letting them stand on my shoulders. And what does shoulder standing entail? It's me, being vulnerable, telling them all the missteps and pitfalls to watch out for. It's time spent together in the Word. It's consciously taking the conversation from gossip to prayer. It's teaching them how to be true to their calling without compromising their equally important callings at home. It's deciding the goal is God's glory and not my own. 

How can they assume that position atop my shoulders if I'm constantly stepping on them trying to get to my next pedestal? 

I want the testimony of my generation of called women to be that we were gracious to one another. I want it to be said that we lived lives worthy of emulation by the girls behind us. The work is too important to be petty. 

What exactly is He about to do? I'm not sure. But buckle up, buttercup. This is going to be an amazing ride.