On Friday and Saturday, February 3 and 4, I had the pleasure of attending a local simulcast event originating from Austin, Texas, called IF: Gathering. With locations worldwide, it was an incredible time of worship and speakers encouraging women to live in faith. If not us, then who? If not now, then when?
Predominantly referencing the early church in Acts, speakers advised, convicted, encouraged, and gave examples of how we can all best serve God right where we are. Speakers convicted with observations like: we have traded being with Jesus for doing things for Jesus, we are distracted by doing big things when Jesus has asked us to do the small things, and we should stop chasing blog or Instagram fame.
Speakers challenged us to think about what we needed to let go of in order to make room for Jesus, as well as looking for discipleship opportunities intentionally and not overlooking them because they fail to appear exciting. Discipleship might come in the form of your living room floor, in prison, in Uganda, in parenting.
We were advised to take notice of the “howevers” and “neverthelesses” in the Bible, realizing that they often point to times of sidestepping the plans God has for people because they thought they knew better than Him. We forget that He knows all that we don’t know.
The greatest encouragement for me came from Jill Briscoe. Growing up as a young child amidst WWII bombings, I cannot do her proper service, so I will leave you with some of her quotes.
“Go where you are sent. Stay where you are put. Give it all you’ve got if and until God moves you.”
When asked, “Where did you get your call to be a missionary?”, she answered, “I got saved.”
“After obedience, the courage was waiting for me.”
Lastly, when challenging us with how long we should continue to carry our crosses, she replied, “All the way home, child. All the way home.”