Discipleship Ministry International, Inc.

It’s a Denominational Thing!

October 7, 2012 Uncategorized Comments Off on It’s a Denominational Thing!

A month ago they called me.  I was surprised!  I was puffed up!  I was excited!  They called to ask if I would be their speaker for their annual women’s retreat….then I found out why.

My cell phone rang.  As I answered the call I heard my assistants voice on the other end of phone.  “Hello?” I knew it was her.  She has worked with me for 16 years.  Our numbers are securely and forever embedded in each others phones.  As I answered I thought she was probably calling about a bill or some work issue.  Instead of her normal easy style I heard something else in her voice as she quickly responded, “Would you like to be our speaker, because the very funny lady our state denomination had scheduled to speak had to cancel and oh by the way it is in 4 weeks?”  “What?”  “Well the lady who is really funny and we were looking forward to her sharing with us this year, well she got ill and can’t make it.  Something to do with her back and an infection.  But she is a really good speaker, and she is really funny, and we were all looking forward to her coming.  But can you speak at our retreat this year?”  She said all of this without taking much of a breath.  I knew she wanted to get it all said before I could hang up the phone.  I also knew she was really sticking her neck out for me because I do not think they ask many people to speak at their annual women’s retreat who is an ‘outsider.’  And I would certainly qualify for an ‘outsider’ since I struggle so much with the denominational idea of ‘church.’

Now it was out, into the atmosphere of voice waves, she had asked me.  As I gulped back my surprise, I was immediately enamored with my very good speaking skills.  Without missing a beat, I, with great pride in my chest, quickly answered “Yes” before she could rethink her denominations strategy of ‘outsiders’ and withdraw the invite.

The good news about this experience is God showed up at the retreat.  And I think He showed up big for the women who attended.  Although I found out later it was the lowest attendance of women at their annual retreat, probably, because they found out the funny lady wasn’t coming, and I was.

God is faithful, and the ladies that came received a good message from an ‘outsider’ and I think the ladies were blessed by what God gave me to share with them.  Although I wasn’t the funny lady, God gave us good humor.  I am learning how to trust God more by stepping away from my notes and inviting the Holy Spirit to speak as I share my life stories and experiences.

And you know what? ….they paid me!  I got paid to talk!  How about that……maybe, just maybe, I might pursue this.  Hmmm….

and suddenly they weren’t cool any more
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