You Just Never Know

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On Wednesday night, Curt and I got to tape a segment on The Satisfied Life radio show. This show is number one in the Sunday morning market and I can't believe what they are able to say about God on this general station. I have caught the show several times and enjoyed it. When we were asked to be on it, I was excited about the chance to tell our story this way, to this audience. We would love your prayers that the interview is encouraging to others when it airs this Sunday.
One of my favorite parts of doing the interview was chatting with Sharon Decker (one of the co-hosts) before we started. I asked her how she got started doing this. Sharon came out of the corporate world and always shared her faith there openly, with great results. She became passionate about teaching women to walk with God and to share their faith. Eventually she left the corporate world to begin her own ministry, The Tapestry Group. God had given her a vision to start a talk show, like a Christian "The View" but she had no idea how she would go about it. One day she was serving breakfast in the B&B she and her husband owned when Ramona Holloway, a popular radio personality in our city, struck up a conversation with her. They chatted about her idea and Ramona liked it. But Sharon never expected anything to come of it.

Two weeks later, she got a call from Ramona proposing what became The Satisfied Life. Two years later, Sharon shook her head as we talked, reflecting where that one conversation led her. "You just never know," she said, "What God has planned." In Sharon's case, a random meeting became a divine appointment. A little dream she had barely even spoken aloud became a reality.

As I thought about this I realized that Sharon was brave enough to utter what she wanted. She didn't think that anything would come of it, but she also wasn't afraid to put it out there and see what happened. I am learning that God wants that from us. That it's part of having faith. I always lived my life like I needed to cover for God-- not giving voice to my dreams in case God decided not to show up and breathe life into them. I didn't want Him to look foolish, you see. I needed to protect His reputation for being the answererer of prayers. What if people got the wrong idea about Him by watching my failures?

I loved Sharon's story because it backed up my own discovery that part of having faith is uttering things before you ever see them come to pass-- being bold enough to say, "Here's what I believe God is calling me to." I am not talking about a "name it and claim it" faith. But I am talking about "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I have learned this a lot from the church I go to. The pastors there are bold in their proclamations and, I have to admit that when I first heard them do it, I would cringe because I worried-- again-- that God might not make what they were proclaiming possible and then what would they do? What would people think of this God they serve? But instead I watched as God did show up. He did make it possible. They did not suffer shame. (Isaiah 54:4, I Peter 2:6) Watching them inspired me. Perhaps my life could look that way if I would start speaking up and start moving forward instead of being paralyzed by fear.

You just never know, Sharon said. But if you don't try you will never know. I lived life in fear for far too long. I am learning to give voice to what I hope for, to let go of this need I had to cover for God. Will my dreams always come to pass? No. But I finally decided that a risky faith is worth it. It pays off in unexpected ways. Just tune into The Satisfied Life if you don't believe me and listen to the voice of a woman who never expected to be where she is and smiles as she remembers how she got here.