Five years ago God began to brake through the walls of resident can’ts, which had built with in me. My lack of self-confidence was keeping me from stepping out in faith and stepping up to the plate of fulfilling the dreams he planted in me.
My brother in-law, in his 40s, suddenly died of a heart attack. At the same time God was moving us from our home church of 6 years, to a place we were not comfortable, church homeless. Our heart was not going in the direction our current church was taking us, and it was clear it was time to step away, but where to? We landed with my sis for a while at First Church of the Open Bible. It was good to come along side her and mourn with her. However, it was clear it was not our home God wanted us to take root in and grow to be a part of. When it was time we took on the new adventure of church shopping. For the first time God was not being specific as to where and what exactly we were meant to be doing for him. We were given a period of time to rest and just trust and know we were His and grow in the knowledge of His love for us personally. There is much to this story of how we came to find our new home at Life Center North. Perhaps God will have me write about that another time. The point of this paragraph is God landed the pilgrimage of our heart at Life Center North and this is where our church home has remained for five or so years now.
People at Life Center North were different toward me than at any other place I had served. They had respect for my passion for God and extreme desire to make a difference. Instead of my passion for Christ met with sarcasm and eye-rolling, I was taken seriously. I was able to jump into children’s ministry and teach. Instead of being met with words of discouragement saying “ Nora, anyone can do what you do.” I was encouraged with words like “ Nora, You have a gift God has given you!”
From Children’s Ministry God watered my heart and grew in me a huge compassion and love for all women. I was accepted, mentored and trained up in leadership through the women’s ministry. Each God step of faith I took I expected the worst, as I had encountered before from people. Instead of doubt, I was believed in. I am not sure if this is because I had finally decided that what people thought of me did not matter or if Life Center North leadership was just a different breed of people that knew how to build others up and not tare them down. It is probably some of both.
People who believe in themselves are seen as confident and able. People who don’t are seen as incompetent and unable. It is a sad reality. It is sad because there are those with God given dreams that will never be full filled due to the lack of someone believing in them. You see, sometimes, belief in ones self comes from someone first believing in you. Someone who dares to show you your God given potential and takes the time to love you where you are at and nourish you with positive words. This person for me has always been my mom and then my dearly beloved Husband. At Life Center North I met others such as Glendie, Elaine, Shannon and more. These people have helped me to find my identity in Christ and help me believe in who God says I am and can accomplish with Him.
Thoughts to ponder:
Who is it that believes in you? Who is it that needs you to believe in them? There are always people we need to thank God for in our lives. We are also meant to be that someone people are thanking God for, who take the time to believe in others the way we want to be believed in.
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