The first official day of Spring was a chilly one here in North Florida but the temps are slowly rising as the week is progressing and the signs of Spring are being felt and seen.  I know many of you living in other places are still experiencing cooler temps so hang on …it’s coming!

Before we jump into today's episode I want to say another big thank you for your excitement in getting your She is Awakening Seasonal Journal! I will have a link in the show notes if you haven’t ordered one yet and are interested in grabbing one to walk through this Spring. If this is the first time you’re hearing about this and are like “what journal” you can go to susanbeth.com and check out some of the journal details. I’m excited to see you already downloading the free downloads from the weekly focus in the journal. It’s exciting and I love that you are loving it as much as I do!

I have a question I would love for you to think about as we are heading into this season of Spring.

What is dying to spring up out of you?

I can still remember where we were in the house when I had this conversation as a teenager with my Mother that I want to share with you…

As a pastor's wife and a mother to 5, my mom was always busy taking care of something that needed to be done. So many of my memories of talking about something took place while I followed her around the house or church office doing what she needed to do. If something was on my mind I pretty much wanted to talk about it then so I would find a way to have the conversation haha

I remember sharing with her how I was feeling like I wanted to be a missionary in another country. She listen to me share all I was thinking and then proceeded to help me process those thoughts and feelings with some questions.  I don’t remember all that was said that day but I do remember her talking to me about how sometime in our sincere desire to serve and honor God with all of our lives we choose to do that in a way that appears more noble or sacrificial. 

I think we can all admit we view someone who has left all that is familiar to them to serve in another country at the top of the sacrifice list. She encourage me to continue to pray about it and reminded me that I could still travel and do mission work without doing it full-time.

It made sense to me what she said and I didn’t realize at that moment but in my heart instead of becoming a missionary I now would begin to choose the path of full-time ministry in the local church.

I now understand that I just substituted a path that was deemed sacrificial and obedient with another path that represented those same things in my worldview.

Hopefully, that makes sense…if you grew up in the church world then you probably get what I’m meaning…for those that didn’t I’ll clarify by saying phrases like “accepting the call” and “going into the ministry” were seen as being totally sold out for God and as totally abandoning any other gifting or profession was seen as noble and sacrificing for the call of God on your life.

I won’t go fully into this story in this episode but I remember excitingly sharing with someone how alive I felt during my time in this production I had been part of and how I felt God had been working so powerfully in my life during this time in many different ways. During my sharing my excitement turned to honestly feel a little shame as this person I loved and respected begin to warn me that a path in that direction would pull me away from the church and into the world.  I can still remember how confused I was after that conversation And trying to reconcile what I had been experiencing in my walk with the Lord with the shame I walked away with after that conversation.

I didn’t pursue any natural giftings down that path because I felt to walk towards anything in those areas would eventually lead me away from God.

I honestly can’t remember a day in my life growing up not loving God and having the desire to share his love with those around me. And it’s interesting looking back I “unintentionally” always did that. Most of my friends from school didn’t grow up in Christian homes and I never preached at them or gave them a tract but I did do life with them and obviously, the Holy Spirit is great at drawing people to him. Because in each of those friendships, even one of my closest that was from a Jewish family would begin to ask me questions and want to say yes to the life of faith and hope they saw in me just being me.

In no way am I sharing that for you to think of me in some super spiritual way. In fact, it's quite the opposite…I’m sharing it to remind you when God formed you he designed and created you in his image. And the best way for the world to see him is through you being who he made you to be.

God is not threatened or diminished by who we are. In fact, you being who he designed you to be, brings him great pleasure. We were his idea or we wouldn’t even be here!!

When I am in awe watching a beautiful sunrise or a breathtaking sunset it doesn’t take away from my adoration of God. In fact, it pulls out adoration 

and praise of his magnificence and skill as our Creator.

Your life totally surrendered and living fully alive in the power of all that he is, is a peace-filled-powerful force.

So back to that question, I mentioned a few minutes ago…

What is dying to spring up out of you?

Are there parts of you you’ve ignored or pushed down because you didn’t fully understand them and they didn’t appear significant or spiritual?  Or you just couldn’t see how they could bring any glory to God. 

So those parts of you have laid dormant for so long that they appear lifeless and dead.

I get it… sometimes it’s easier to let dead things be…and sometimes the dead things needed to die, so how do you know…

That question can actually go a couple of ways…

One way, meaning, there are things that have died that God wants to awaken within you.

And the second way is asking what is dying to be expressed and released through you.

The anxiety and tension we can experience in our life so many times come from us living out of alignment with who we were designed to be.

We are living our life according to what everyone around us is doing instead of being led to live by the still small voice within us …the voice that knows us better than we know ourselves.

The personal story I shared was an example of me choosing the only path I could see in front of me that made sense to me in honoring God with my whole life.

A beautiful path that I have experienced God on and a path that he continues to break out of any box I might try to put him in.

The truly beautiful thing is that God is committed to finishing what he started in us when we keep choosing to say yes to all that he has for our lives. 

Maybe you feel you’ve made some choices that have taken you down paths that you are having trouble finding your way on.

You’re never too far that you can’t be rescued and found.

You are so loved and his love for you knows no bounds.

This is the season we celebrate dead things awakening to new life.

Let’s trust the Holy Spirit within us in this season to breathe fresh life over us.

That we would rise up strong in the beauty and goodness he breathed into us from the beginning that will draw people to him

Love you guys and don’t forget to check out the link in the show notes or on the website susanbeth.com if you’re interested in getting a journal. I truly believe it can be a transformational tool in your life in creating the space this spring to hear that still small life-changing voice.

Talk soon!