Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4:18 NIV
QUITYERBELLYAKIN was written in large letters across the front of the team leader’s t-shirt. Beneath the gibberish was the translation: “Quit Your Belly Aching!” and the words could not have been more appropriate.
The women’s outreach ministry was scheduled for a “Lessons Learned” session after hosting a city-wide event to welcome newcomers as a means of establishing points of connection and initiating efforts toward friendship evangelism.
The event had gone well but was poorly attended and some team members, disheartened with the poor return for such a great effort, had become quite vocal with their negative opinions. The “meetings before the meeting” had become a breeding ground of frustration and discouragement. Emotions ran high and the enemy of the church was at work establishing an underground watering system designed to nurture the negativity and leach the poison of discontentment throughout the participating churches.
Concerned team leaders prayed and the Lessons Learned session was re-scheduled for a time just before dusk. As team members arrived, they were directed to a hilltop and asked to watch as night fell and lights gradually illuminated the city below. When it was dark, everyone was given a flashlight and a printed piece of paper, and asked to form a circle to read the words aloud.
Let me tell you why you are here… You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world…Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine. Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.
I will never forget that night — the tears or the glow of faces as the beams from the flashlights swept the circle and we saw each other as light-bearers. We returned with renewed vision and focused on bright spots in our program rather than all the problems. Through prayer and faith, we began looking at new ways to move forward.
As children of God, our calling is to be part of the solution not part of the problem. When you are tempted to grumble and gossip, stop and ask yourself, “Am I being part of the solution?”
Penny Hunt, a.k.a., “The Bloom Lady”, is the wife of a career Naval Officer/Attaché and mother of five. Through her Blooming Where You Are Planted talks, seminars, and writing, she encourages and equips people from all walks of life in navigating the chopping waters of change. Penny is the author of an Amazon.com bestselling children’s book, Little White Squirrel’s Secret. She is the Faith Columnist for the Citizen News of Edgefield County, SC and a popular speaker with a motivational, humorous message. An active member of her church and community, Penny resides in the rural peach-growing region of South Carolina. Contact Penny at: thebloomlady@gmail.com.
