When God Tells You Where to Go...and It’s NOT Working Out! - Sharon Stults

I’ve known Sharon since I was a teenager. Our families crossed paths every summer on vacation. As a pastor’s wife, Sharon has seen her fair share of difficulties and trials, but her story of bravery involves stepping inside the four walls of a classroom. I’m sure many parents and teachers will relate to her experience and gather wisdom from it. Listen in as Sharon shares. 

Armed with her love of music and a teaching degree, Sharon stepped boldly into the classroom at an inner-city school. The previous teacher suffered a nervous breakdown and left mid-way through the year. These students would go through a teacher a year. They had learned that choir class was time to goof off and an easy grade.

With over 60 high school students in her classes, only half the kids were actually interested in singing and wanted to be there. The remaining students ran wild; climbing in and out of the windows, bringing in fast food, and displaying unruly behavior. Sharon resorted to “time out” chairs, in the beginning, to build structure in her class and allow the students who wanted to sing, to sing. Students who didn’t want to join in, but still wanted to pass the class, would flip desks over when Sharon gave them a bad grade. Some sent their parents, who were involved in gangs, to confront and threatened Sharon. It was completely out of control. 

But God didn’t give Sharon release to quit, so she kept pressing on. 

Pushing aside her remorse and disappointment in teaching, and dealing with health issues from the stress and exhausted from battling students all day, Sharon believed that God had a plan. He planted her in the situation and gave her peace in accepting the position, so she made the decision to accept her “war-zone” environment. Sharon pressed into bringing peace amidst her chaotic situation. The Lord began opening Sharon’s eyes to the students who were hopeful, and loved music, and wanted things to work out. She began praying for specific students.

Days and months went by and Sharon kept sticking to her plan of bringing calm to the crazy. When students would cuss her out and throw music in her face, Sharon would respond peacefully expressing disappointment in their sad choices. Students kept hitting her wall of peace and the tide began to turn. Students began trusting her.

God gave Sharon the strength to just keep doing the right thing. Truth will prevail. Rightness will prevail. 

Through it all, Sharon learned valuable lessons about dealing with difficult people that she didn’t have a lot in common with. For example, Sharon struggled with one student who was chronically late. Every morning, this student had to find her drug-addicted mother on any given street corner, drag her back home before she came to school. This was perspective Sharon had never faced before and stoked the fires of empathy within her soul. 

Sharon also had to learn to be authentic. She learned that kindness and caring will cross the bridge of any cultural divide. Take the time to learn why people are so angry. Find out what struggles they’re dealing with in life that makes their life challenging. The Lord was teaching Sharon skills and ways of connecting with people that served her in many other situations in her life. These students didn’t look like her, didn’t sound like her, but the Lord was teaching her ways to connect. 

If God has told you where to go and it is NOT working out, Sharon would encourage you to not quit too early. If it’s too much to handle, don’t assume it’s not from God. Perhaps you’re in the situation to acquire new skills and to reach a new people group for his glory. 

For example, when God led the Israelites out of bondage (Exodus 14), he led them in between water and the army. They didn’t have the street skills for the job. But the Lord tested their faith and wanted to bring them through something. They trusted him in an unusual plan to divide the Red Sea. In the same way, God was testing Sharon and wanted to know if she would trust him. Through her teaching difficulties, Sharon learned that she had some underlying behavior that kept her in her comfort zone, never venturing out to reach others that were different than her. 

Just like the Israelites, Sharon felt the Lord remind her they would go through this together and she would be amazed at what the Lord would do. Like he told the Israelites, “the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again” (Exodus 14:13). Sharon believed if she trusted God to bring her through this, then she would never have to deal with this struggle again. She trusted the Lord to bring her through the difficulty like he led the Israelites through the Red Sea. 

God does not promise that he won’t give us situations that we won’t feel under-qualified, under-skilled, and under-spiritual. God may put you in some fearful places, especially ones you wouldn’t go on your own. Gather prayer partners around you and find some verses to stand on. Believe that God will follow-through where He has led you. Don’t keep questioning his leading. Trust and follow. Press in and see what character development he’s building in you. 

Want to hear more from Sharon? Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Power-Infused Truth Bombs

In Joshua 1:9, the Lord tells Joshua to be strong and courageous. Moses has just died and Joshua was stepping into his shoes as the leader of the Israelites. Talk about an intimidating job. But the Lord, in his goodness, spoke words of truth over Joshua. His words were not empty fillers, but power-infused truth bombs meant to build Joshua up from the inside out. The command to be strong and courageous left his mouth and into the heart of Joshua giving him firm resolve to not operate in his own power, but to rely on the empowerment from the Lord.

Oh, if we could follow this model. How different would our day be?

I’ve been meditating on this verse for a while and if I’m honest, it’s been a verse I’ve leaned on quite heavily this year. As I was meditating I pondered why both strength and courage are spoken. Aren’t they similar? Why say the same thing twice?

Be strong.

Strength is not something you can fake from the outside. It’s something that builds from the inside out, but it doesn’t build by accident. You have to lift weights or create resistance to build muscles. Our faith journey consists of moments of weight training and resistance training. Weight training is when you try something a bit harder, more challenging and taking more risk in your faith than you’ve attempted before. It pushes you to the next level of faith or reminds you to lift more frequently. Resistance training is when you experience push-back. When you’re rejected, or thought badly of, or something doesn’t go right when you’re brave. Resistance training prepares you for the mental and emotional challenges of stepping out in faith. This is what it means to be strong in the Lord - the internal fortitude that drives us to have courage.

Be courageous.

Courage is the external evidence that we’re stepping out in faith-going beyond our normal boundaries. You can be courageous on the inside, but if you keep it trapped inside, is it really courage? Being courageous requires action. It’s the first step on shaky ground where you don’t know what the outcome will be. Being courageous means you draw from the well of strength within you and pour it out through steps of courage. They are separate entities, but they work together. Being brave is the gasoline to the engine of courage.

What has the Lord been speaking to you? Is he asking you to go beyond your comfort zone and step out in an area that requires strength and courage? It’s terrifying, right? Here’s what sweetens the deal...God not only gives us strength and courage, but HE IS WITH US WHEREVER WE GO!

My 1,000 pound burden just got lifted. God doesn’t tell me nice things and then wish me good luck. He speaks strength and courage to me and then reminds me He’s with me every step of the way. His presence is everything! His presence is what gets me through the day.

Haven’t I commanded you? Strength! Courage! Don’t be timid; don’t get discouraged. God, your God, is with you every step you take. Josh 1:9 (MSG)

This is my command-- be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (NLT)

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified or dismayed (intimidated), for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. (AMP)

Small Adjustments to Big Change

I’ve been thinking about the large gestures and grand overtures in desiring change in our lives. With each new year we want to be better, faster, more kind, more resilient, and yet none of these things happen overnight. In order to reach our goals, we have to make small corrections, small adjustments to our rudder of life.

When my children were little I was overwhelmed with the thought of all that I needed to teach them. How can I possibly cram in everything they need to know in 18 short years?

Small adjustments.

When my firstborn daughter was about 16 months old, we began doing family devotions after dinner time. I found a book that had 365 poems about God and we used that to launch our time together after dinner, talking about God. She was adorable and always wanted to do motions to the words. Knowing that faith is personal, we let her take the lead.

As the years have progressed, our family has found different books to help us navigate through the years spanning from toddlers to teenagers. We’ve not been religious about family devotions, but it’s been a beautiful springboard for my children to talk about their day, the struggles they’re facing, and how the devotional from the reading impacts and/or challenges them.

As my children are becoming young adults the discussions have shifted from us modeling our faith, to them showing us their faith. It’s a thing of wonderment, as a parent, to sit back and listen to my sons discuss how they are sharing their faith at school, what challenges they face as they read the Bible on their own, and how they are including God in their everyday life. To me, this is a big change from when they were little, but it all started with a small adjustment.

Can I encourage you to make a small adjustment in your day? Take 5-10 minutes after dinner, or before breakfast, or whatever works for your family, and read through a devotional or a few pages from a book together. It just may change their lives.

If you’d like to see a collection of some of the books we’ve used through the years, click on this Goodreads link.

Don’t Think About Giving This Gift--Just Give It

I have a confession to make. I’m super analytical and sometimes an over-thinker. I don’t just think about something, but I’ll look at different angles of the situation and analyze the people involved, or the setting, or anything else that could possibly play a role. At heart, I’m my own version of Sherlock Holmes.

Sometimes overthinking can be a weakness when I don’t follow the nudge of the Holy Spirit. I’ll be in the store minding my own business and I’ll see a perfect stranger and I’ll feel the Lord nudging me to give them a word of encouragement. Sometimes I’m brave and I’ll tell them what the Lord puts on my heart. Sometimes I chicken out and I don’t.

Here’s a perfect example. I was traveling for work and I felt like the Lord wanted me to encourage the man sitting next to me on the plane. I was enjoying solitude while reading my book and sipping my coffee and didn’t feel like encouraging the man next to me. What if he thinks I’m hitting on him? What if he thinks I’m a weirdo and has to sit next to me the rest of the plane ride?

With a bad attitude, I said to the Lord, “Fine, show me how you see this man.” Instantly, I saw a picture of this man’s burden. Compassion pressed against my heart. God’s love for him filled my eyes with tears and I was so grateful to hear the Lord on this man’s behalf.

But did I tell the man? No.

I chickened out and walked off that plane with the beautiful picture of how God sees him tucked away in my imagination. I felt guilty, but not guilty enough to go chasing after the man.

But God, in His infinite wisdom and graciousness, saw fit for the man to show up at my conference. I shook my head and laughed when I realized God was giving me a second chance to partner with Him. So, I repented and asked God for another opportunity, and of course, He created an opening for me to share with the man the image God showed me.

With tears in his eyes, the man thanked me for giving him the word of encouragement. He didn’t run in terror of my awkwardness, but humbly accepted the words I shared from the Lord. I was merely a conduit connecting him to the heart of God.

What a tremendous privilege.

Who is God asking you to encourage? Will you be brave and do it? Don’t overthink it. Take a risk. Be brave. Give a word of encouragement to a perfect stranger. Telling them God loves them is a beautiful thing. I can’t think of a better gift to give this season.

You’re Not Alone in Your Loneliness

When I was growing up, my family moved around a few times which meant I switched schools more than once, six times to be exact. I got really good at making new friends and adjusting to the world around me. It was never easy, but I managed.

My family and I recently relocated to Florida. I’m not in grade school anymore, and I’ve paid my dues with reaching out to people, but finding community here has been far harder than I was prepared for. At the encouragement of a dear friend, I’ve crossed the street and introduced myself to my neighbors. I’ve visited over a dozen churches. I’ve been friendly, but loneliness follows me around like a shadow I just can’t shake.

It’s gotten to the point that I wonder if I’m invisible. It sounds stupid, I know, but after attending the same church for 9 months I felt completely anonymous. So, I quit. My disappointment with the church has made me question the modern-day Christian community/clique. But that’s a different blog topic.

I know I’m not alone in my loneliness. It’s something everyone struggles with at some point in their lives. How can we be surrounded by people, yet not feel connected? So, what’s a girl to do? I love Jesus – he’s my favorite, and yet I struggle to find a community that loves Him and acts like him in reaching out to others.

We make connections through vulnerability. No one makes connections by “having it all together.” I teeter on the edge of being vulnerable and reaching out to others, but fear holds me back from being rejected. And yet I hold on to hope and continue to put my heart out there. I see glimpses of Jesus at Bible Study and I remind my soul to not be discouraged.

I don’t have deep words of wisdom to share today, other than if you’re battling loneliness – you’re not alone. Have courage, dear heart.

Stop Being a “Nice” Christian

Think for a minute about the promises God has made to you. Maybe you received them through scriptures or through a prophetic word. However you received them, have you attained those promises yet? Or are they still beyond your grasp?

Joshua 12 lists the names of kings that were kicked out of the Promised Land; the land promised to the people of God. It’s not a riveting read, but as I was studying, I was trying to put myself in Joshua’s shoes. I mean, after all, these kings had been there a long time! I began asking myself if I would ask politely for the land for fear of offending the inhabitants? Or would I tip-toe around them and try to convince them that God gave me this land?

And then it hit me. I’ve tip-toed around many established “kings” in my life. They are standing in spaces that God has promised to me and I need to STOP being a “nice” Christian and take what is rightfully mine!

For example, all my life I’ve dealt with a patriarchal viewpoint that I’m lesser because I’m a woman. Maybe I sound ignorant, but I never knew any different. The “king” that stood in my way needed to be removed, and it wasn’t going to voluntarily budge with me being a “nice” Christian.

In our lives, we don’t battle physical people like Joshua did, but we battle things in our minds; wrong ideas, poor images of ourselves, lies we’ve believed. What “kings” are standing in the way of the precious real estate in your mind? What will it take to conquer them?

For me, I had to remove the belief that told me I am not valuable as a woman. I asked for God’s perspective on how He sees me - I am His beloved daughter. Period. I am valuable. I am loved. And I will take the ground that God has promised me. I’m not going to be “nice” anymore. What are you tip-toeing around?