Once a month, Passion City Church hosts a women’s worship evening called The Grove. I’ve been several times and I’m now on a three month streak which is I have to say is pretty awesome! The Grove is an incredible evening of worship and inspiration for women of faith. They never announce who will be leading worship or who will be speaking – you just show up and get surprised. And, seriously? It never disappoints. Not ever. So, if you are a lady in the metro Atlanta area, let me encourage you to check out The Grove. It’s such a blessing!
This past Monday evening was April’s evening for The Grove. On that evening, Hannah Brencher was the speaker. I had never heard of her, to be honest, but I had also never heard Christine Caine until January when she came and spoke such passionate truth. What an amazing warrior for Christ and for people!
If you visit Hannah’s blog, you can learn more of her story. I won’t go over it in detail here, but I will say that she has such a sweet and powerful testimony. When she first came out to speak and was introduced as being 28 years old, I’m going to just go ahead and admit that I thought to myself “What can she offer to this over forty wife and mom?” I look back now and I cringe at my initial thought, y’all. Sure, Hannah isn’t even 30 yet, and she hasn’t been married a long time, but she had some seriously incredible insight and wisdom to offer through her testimony. She is willing to be transparent about her journey, including having gone through the depths of a serious depression, and she has such insight to offer anyone at any phase of life as a result of being willing to just open up and SHARE. I admire her faithfulness to follow the call God has placed on her to reach people. She has inspired me to reach out better and to more tangibly let people know they matter. What a beautiful thing to offer, right?
One of the statements Hannah made on Monday night that stood out to me the very most was when she said “Be where your feet are…” In other words, don’t get bogged down in the past and don’t get stressed out about the future — be where your feet are and that’s in TODAY. How many of us struggle with past failures? The “if only” things, the “what was I thinking” occurrences, and the “I wish I hadn’t” aspects can get to all of us. We have to remember that the past is in the past. We cannot change our past mistakes, but we CAN learn from them and grow. Sometimes we deal with things in our past that were not our fault, but affect us just the same and that’s also a heavy load to carry. But, we don’t have to carry the past. We can leave it. And, we should. Just as a seed has to be broken within the earth to grow, we can grow from the brokenness in any situation. I’m not saying it’s easy to leave the past in the past, but what I am saying is that Jesus is restorative and we need to trust Him to take away the blemishes of the past. We are called to move forward in our faith not harboring grudges, but freely offering forgiveness and that includes forgiving ourselves and others for wrongs. We are also instructed in Scripture not to worry about the future. Matthew 6:34 states “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” In other words, we are to be present in each day going about life as God leads and provides. I don’t think that means we can’t somewhat plan for the future because, let’s be honest, we all do that by nature. But, what I take it to mean is that we can’t fixate or focus on the possible future when we have a very real today in front of us. We also shouldn’t put off things because that future may not come. Offer that forgiveness…send that note…tell your family and friends how much they mean to you…give a meal to the person you see that seems to need one…BE PRESENT IN TODAY. There are SO many ways to make your days matter for the good. Like Hannah said so beautifully – be where your feet are. Your feet are in today. My feet are in today. Let’s use them. Let’s go after making every “today” we get the best we possibly can, chasing God’s plan for our lives. It’s not always pretty, it’s certainly not always easy, and sometimes it’s not even clear what our today plan should be, but be in that day. Don’t let insecurities about the past or the future mire your purpose for the day you’re given.
I want to be clear here – I know that it’s not always as easy as deciding to let go of something. I get that and I’m very much not trying to over-simply anyone’s process of dealing with what life drops on us. There is no “one size fits all” way to move past things, especially if they are painful or traumatic. Please don’t think I’m glossing over the hurt that life can and does inflict. I’m really not doing that and I hope it doesn’t come across that way. What I want to offer is HOPE. Hope in the redemptive nature of Jesus, hope in a better today, and hope in healing. I know it’s not nearly as simplistic, many times, of just wanting to move along, but I do know, without a doubt, that Jesus can and does restore. Restoration might not look like what we think it should, but He is faithful. Trust that. Lean into that. Live in that. Each today can be a new beginning and a step toward healing.
And, as we go forward, I want you to know that YOU MATTER. However your today goes…you matter and you are loved God more than any of us could ever imagine.
From my heart,
Kelly
Well done Kel !