Learning As They Did

I spent the morning with six beautiful, godly women. We came together to pray, learn, and tend to the fire within each of our personal calls to be leaders. It was a lovely time sharing our callings, venting the hard parts we are experiencing that comes with leadership.

We talked a lot about the word suffering. It's a scary, overused verb. Today, in our little group of women, I saw a positive connotation of this word being created. I realize that suffering, happens to all of us in various forms and degrees. What one feels when suffering, may not effect another.

There is always someone in our life who seems to have it all together. They appear to be perfectly joyful and content with life. I feel bad for people like this. These are the kinds of people who are right where Satan wants them: comfortable and independent. I find that the most Jesus-like people in my life have hurtles to leap over, higher than what they can leap alone.

How can we be really used in an atmosphere that is comfortable to us when we are serving a God that is so much bigger than we can grasp? Seeing sufferings as blessings because we are seen as a threat to the ultimate Liar, is an honorable thing to accomplish.

As I was with these women today, I couldn't stop imagining woman during Old Testament eras, sitting in a circle with troubles as we were -- a little different, although not a lot -- praying and praising God for letting us be used for His Kingdom.

There's nothing like it.

(photo from www.imdb.com)