I’m getting ready to lead a women’s spiritual retreat this weekend in Ocean City, Maryland and I’m excited and a bit nervous again as is always the case when I have a big speaking engagement coming up; I guess that’s “normal” and I’m only human. I’ll be giving three keynote presentations on the theme “Second Chances” and I’ll be sharing some of my life experiences as well as tools that I’ve learned to give myself, others and even God second chances. I have felt the Holy Spirit encourage me in preparing for the retreat. But I believe the enemy has also started whispering doubt in my ear with words like, “Who are you to think you are a spiritual leader? What makes you qualified to do this?”
This is the time of year that our New Year’s Resolutions (if we made any) begin to wane or fade a bit and doubt starts to creep in when we don’t see progress fast enough (I’ve only lost two pounds when I need to lose fifteen, etc.) We come off the hectic holidays buzzing with momentum – and 2020 is not only a new year but the start of a new decade! We hear that we should have “2020 Vision” (I did finally finish my vision board in the works last year and post it on my wall.) And then life, always the roller coaster ride, starts to dip and we start to feel doubt and worry – forms of fear – enter in and we become anxious.
Are you qualified for what God is calling you to do in 2020? Your answer should be a resounding YES – as long as you try to stay in tune with God and his will and plan for you! Saint Paul tells us “…those He predestined He also called; those He called He also justified; those He justified He also glorified. What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:30-32). The Bible is full of stories about saints, prophets and disciples who started out anything but qualified – like the rest of us – and ended up being key people who helped build God’s Kingdom: Moses who had a speech impediment yet led the Israelites for forty years through the desert to the Promised Land; David who committed sins of adultery and murder yet became King of Israel; Paul who started out with a singular purpose of killing Christians, yet ended up writing over half the New Testament and spreading Christianity to the world. As Paul writes, it’s not how you start but how you end up finishing the race that counts. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.” (1 Cor. 24-25)
Are you facing something ahead in 2020 – a new job, new course, new event, new relationship, new home, new health challenge – that you feel a little bit anxious about? Don’t let the enemy get in your head with fear, but look to God, who equips and empowers you for your race ahead.
I pray that we may all know and remember deep in our hearts that we are qualified by the Lord for whatever dreams, callings, tests and challenges He lays before us in the year ahead.
Michele Chynoweth
Author, Speaker, Book Coach
www.michelechynoweth.com
