Good morning…
A few months back, the leaders on the computer screen above asked me to be the 2020 kick-off speaker for the Lovett Moms In Prayer group, a group of mothers who pray weekly for our school and our community, our teachers and our administrators, our world and our children, kindergarten through twelfth grade. Speaking with this group is an annual gift I love to give, but usually we meet at school, face to face, voice with voice, digesting together fresh wisdom God creatively unpacks in our midst.
As we all know, this unprecedented fall is decidedly different. Many unchosen, unpredictable, uncontrollable influences scare us, the threat of spreading the virus to our loved ones, the possibility of closing schools for online learning only, the political, economic, racial upheaval saturating this season. For me, the first time experience of teaching by Zoom to over fifty “muted” women felt daunting, disconnecting, discombobulating. I had been praying for weeks, “God, what would You have me teach, how can we make it meaningful, will it be possible to not bore them from behind my screen?”
Then one night last week, I happened upon a short conversation about this year’s political conventions. The experts agreed, “When events are held virtually, it is important to offer variety, to use pre-recorded material to capture viewers’ attention.” So I thought to myself, “God, what do I have pre-recorded that might be useful?” Immediately I thought of the YouTube recording of me reading a book we produced at church in 2010, a book entitled Scared to Soar? I wrote the book to process myself after God invited me to crawl away from my familiar crowd, to leave behind my cozy comfort zone, and to take a transformational adventure that has changed my life and the life of many others.
One of the kind group leaders came to our home to act as technical director, showing me how teaching by Zoom works, teaching me how to share my screen with the YouTube video of Scared To Soar? Yesterday morning I spent a delightful Zoom teaching time with God and a bunch of prayerful moms to begin my day beautifully. Some takeaways included:
- This unprecedented time is no surprise to the God, the Almighty who is in the charge of everything.
- We have what it takes to do this school year well, resting on the power of the Spirit at work in our inner being.
- Strengthened from within, we will be carried each day on wings of trust to the places, the people, and the purposes our God intends.
- No need to fear, I AM is here, today, tomorrow, forever.
Later in the day, my focus completely shifted as another important YouTube video broke open my heart. Virtually I watched Jacob Blake, a Black man who was shot multiple times in the back by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, as he tried to enter the SUV containing his three young sons. (Blake is still alive but his own father reported this morning that he is left paralyzed from the waist down.) Tucking me into bed last night were prayers for this family, for our chaotic world, for our transformational daily adventure being orchestrated by God.
I woke twice in the night, trying diligently to write this morning’s blog post, but my jumbled thoughts, my overwhelming feelings, and my feeble words would just not come together. When I woke the third time, these words quietly poured onto my journal page:
“God, it was the eighth birthday of one of these little boys seated inside their daddy car when the tragedy took placed. The shocking sound of gun shots, the ugly sights seen by helpless eyes, and the scary memories seared on vulnerable minds are a horrible, unforgettable birthday gift. If there were no boundaries between us in life, right now I would kneel at the bedside of this dear birthday boy, reading to him aloud, skin to skin, soul to soul, the pages of Scared To Soar?“
Take a deep breath as my wish sinks in. My momma heart yearns to instill God’s hope and healing in the heart of these three hurting Black boys.
When you are ready, please touch on the link to the book reading below while you join me in prayer for this family, for our world, and for this transformational adventure we are all taking with God. Our only life-giving way forward is to rest on the power of the Creator who made-from-scratch our unique wingspans and the uplifting wind. On complete trust, we are each designed to fly.
- Trust in the Lord with all your heart (surrendering your whole heart daily, not just a tiny corner of it once).
- Do not depend on your understanding (in this tumultuous time, we are pushed beyond the limits of our own understanding).
- Seek his will in all you do (our own will pitifully pails in comparison to the will of God).
- He will show you which path to take (the path you take, I take, we take together matters immensely right now, as we are empowered as healing agents in our hurting world).
- With this wisdom from Proverbs 3:5-6 beneath our wings, may we be carried to the places, the people, and the purposes for which God has uniquely designed us today.
Resting on God’s power, my friends, we are destined for this hour.
…Sue…
