God Has a Plan
Bam… Everything stopped. One day I was at a conference and the next day I was quarantined and considered “elderly.” What happened in 24 hours? I had places to go, people to meet, women to minister to. Everything came to a crashing halt. I had never considered myself as elderly…. maybe a bit in denial. I retired to answer my calling which is to reach women for Christ, helping them to find their purpose in every season. I am doing this through nancyospeaks ministry. I was living alone, no longer able to see my family or friends. I can tell you I was down in the dumps. I was prepared to do this in person. This put me in a tailspin.
You see I love serving people. How was I going to do this when I could not leave my home? My life verse is Jeramiah 29:11. “For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you, not to harm you , plans to give you hope and a future.” Did God have a plan for me? He sure did! Jeramiah 29:12-13 goes further on to tell me, “You will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart.”
One day as I was on my knees crying out to Jesus in loneliness and emptiness, he answered me and reminded me that I needed to grow right where He had planted me. He would equip me for this season. In Psalm 32:8, God gave me the promise I needed. “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you and watch over you.” I knew I had to go way outside my comfort zone and embrace social media. This was the way I would be able to connect and minister to women.
I started engaging with a social media coach. I set up a Facebook group called Women Inspiring Change. I started writing short devotionals and posted them on-line to encourage women. By delving deeper into God’s word, I became less self-focused and was so encouraged and uplifted. I learned how to Zoom and facilitated a Bible study on prayer. I was able to get our Stonecroft Ministries Hub group to meet through Zoom as well. We normally met one Saturday a month for brunch to fellowship and to share a devotion. For now, we are meeting virtually.
I interviewed my children and grandchildren virtually during this time. They loved it. What an amazing experience this was. I am gathering their Covid experiences and am going to put a short book together to give to each of the families for Christmas.
I attended the 2020 Speak Up Conference virtually. Some incredibly wise mentors told me I had to get a nancyospeaks web page and Facebook page. I did not even know where to start. You see these technology things come easy for some but not for me. And boy was my pride trying to keep me from reaching out for help. When I investigated professional people to help me, I found it was too expensive. After 8 weeks of fighting pride, I finally reached out and asked for help. And guess what…God provided two fantastic people to help me. Just as he promised he would in Psalm 32:8:
“I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”
I am looking forward to continuing to develop inspirational talks and workshops virtually, to be able to minister to women…until we can meet in person again.
Never believe for one minute that God will not equip you to carry out your calling in any circumstances.
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