Latest / Arise Women of God / Beacons of Light: Women Uniting to Answer God’s Call
Transcript
- 0:00When you see hard things happen in the world around you, do you ever feel compelled?
- 0:05Like, what can I do?
- 0:06What can I do as a woman of Jesus Christ, a follower of Christ, a Christian, what can I do to combat this?
- 0:14I don't know about you, but when I see hard things happen, sometimes I feel like I can't do anything.
- 0:20But today we're going to talk about what we can do to fight back against the forces of the adversary in these latter days.
- 0:27So stay tuned.
- 0:31Are you a woman who knows God is calling you to something more, but you're unsure where to start or how to grow it into something impactful?
- 0:40You are not alone, and you're in the right place.
- 0:43Welcome totheArise WomenofGodpodcast, ashowforChristianwomenwhofeelcalledtoshinehislightandstepintotheirdivinepurpose.Eachweek you'llhearstoriesoffaithful women,bothfromtheBibleandtoday,whoheardGod'svoiceandchose tosay yes evenwhenit feltuncomfortable oruncertain, tostepwithfaithintotheunknown.You'llwalkawaywithencouragement,spiritualinsight,andpracticalstepstofollowthoseholypromptingsinyourownlife.
- 1:17Solet'sarise togetheraswomen warriorsoflight.Let'sdoitGod'sway, God'sstrong.Helloandwelcometoanotherepisodeofthe AriseWomenofGodpodcast.I'myour host, TamaraK.Anderson,.
- 1:33Hello and welcome my amazing cohost, Bonnie Randall.Bonnie,thanksforjoiningmetoday.
- 1:39Thanks again for having me.
- 1:41I'm excited for this one.
- 1:42It's going to be a cool topic.
- 1:44It is, and I'm so excited.
- 1:46So, guys, for the last two weeks we've been talking about how hard things happen.
- 1:52Okay.
- 1:53And that we live in the last days.
- 1:56And so we live in perilous times.
- 1:59And so because of that, there seems to be.
- 2:03The forces of the adversary are increasing.
- 2:07They are trying to drag us down.
- 2:09Every day is a battle for our souls.
- 2:13We see hard things.
- 2:15We just like the prophecy in Second Timothy talks about, you know, that, that we're losing some of the common traits that we had for centuries of kindness and love.
- 2:28There's, it's being countered with, you know, pride and boastfulness.
- 2:32And there people are losing that natural affection, love in the community.
- 2:38It's.
- 2:39And so the adversary is sowing these seeds of disunity, of contention, of hatred.
- 2:47And we live in an age of where we are watching in social media and in real time, all the time stuff going on.
- 2:57And we're like, there's so much heaviness.
- 3:01What can we do?
- 3:03Now, Bonnie, we've just had a couple of weeks of crazy stuff going on.
- 3:08Why don't you kick us off by sharing some of the thoughts you have around how you have been thinking and feeling and what you feel like you're supposed to do to help combat all this negativity?
- 3:24It's a really good question.
- 3:26And I feel like when we are surrounded by evil, one of the best tips that a friend gave me that I feel like I should share is imagining myself surrounded by light.
- 3:41Because sometimes when we cast out, right, like when I first learned about spiritual warfare and I started casting out, I started noticing how much evil there was and it felt like I was casting out all the time.
- 3:58And I was just like, what is going on?
- 4:01Am I just like this unusually attacked plagued person?
- 4:05Like, who am I that Satan wants to like, just get at me all the time or my kids?
- 4:12Like, it just felt like I was casting out multiple times a day, every day.
- 4:17And eventually I was talking to a friend about it and she said, you know what?
- 4:22I think you're focusing on the wrong thing.
- 4:25She's like, yeah, we need to cast out occasionally.
- 4:27She's like, but it's almost like you're looking for the evil instead of looking for the light.
- 4:35So maybe you should try focusing on bringing in more light and enveloping yourself every morning in the armor of God and in God's light and do what you can to increase your environment and have it be more light
- 4:52filled.
- 4:52And so I did.
- 4:53I started thinking about, well, what can I do, right?
- 4:56So I ended up creating a meditation on putting on the armor of God that I would listen to every morning going through the scriptures and visualizing putting on that armor.
- 5:06I made my kids this, like, poster of them in the armor of God.
- 5:13And then I started really trying to create a beautiful, light filled atmosphere.
- 5:20And you know what's interesting is as I started really working on that, people would come over to our house and they would give me the best compliment I could ever receive, which is not that my house is clean,
- 5:34because it's not, it's never is.
- 5:36But they would always say, I feel so much peace, I feel at home here.
- 5:43Like, you have just such a calming home.
- 5:47And that just made me feel so good because I'm like, oh, good.
- 5:52Because before I thought there was so much evil here.
- 5:54And now people are feeling light and they're feeling calm and peace and harmony and they can feel the spirit and like.
- 6:02So I'd like to pose the question to all of you ladies.
- 6:05Put in the comments.
- 6:06And please share with us what are the ways that you bring in light and you combat the dark?
- 6:14To fully answer your question, Tamara, I feel like lately, over the last little bit, I've really been focusing on that, spending time with my children to make sure that they're okay and that they are processing and letting go
- 6:32of any, like, nerves and anxiety they may have about what's going on in the world and stuff like that.
- 6:39We're reading our scriptures every single day.
- 6:42We're doing scripture studies together as a family.
- 6:44We say our prayers.
- 6:47And something that I haven't felt called to, that I know other people have called, felt called to, is I have not felt the need to use social media or any whatever, but I have felt the need to tell
- 7:00other people who are influencers to go and do that, to use the tools that they have.
- 7:06I personally have felt I need to focus on my little family and my little community and shoring up that.
- 7:15Bonnie, I love so much of what you've said here.
- 7:18Feeling called to shine light.
- 7:20And I think that is the main thing that I feel women are being called to do.
- 7:26In these latter days before the second coming of the Savior, There is a lot of wickedness, but we are being called to shine light in different ways.
- 7:37Right?
- 7:38Like Bonnie was sharing, being called to shine light and in her home and to change the entire atmosphere of her home.
- 7:48Isn't that beautiful?
- 7:49She's also felt prompted to to work with several groups that are bringing light into her community.
- 7:58And for me, I, I, I, I just want to tell a story from a couple of years ago.
- 8:04I am one of those people who does not like social media a lot.
- 8:09I know that may be a shock to those of you who see me on social media and doing podcasts all the time.
- 8:15I could get off social media and I would be just happy as can be.
- 8:19It wouldn't bother me or anything like that.
- 8:21And a couple of years ago, I had started preparing to launch my podcast and I took the summer off to be with my kids.
- 8:31I wasn't on social media at all.
- 8:33It was so great.
- 8:34And I remember coming back in the fall and I felt God, really, he was centering me.
- 8:42I'll just be totally honest with you.
- 8:43He was centering me.
- 8:44Tamara, you can't do that again.
- 8:48You need to be on social media and you need to be a light to the world.
- 8:53And I was just like, oh, okay.
- 8:56Well, that was what I was being called to do.
- 8:59I was called being called to podcast to put myself out there, even though I was so Uncomfortable doing it.
- 9:06I was being called to step up and to speak out and to be a light counterbalancing all the evil that is going on now.
- 9:17We happen to be recording this episode shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk.
- 9:23And I was walking through my bedroom this morning and my husband was listening to some of the commentary on that.
- 9:29And the people were discussing social media and how the.
- 9:36The person who murdered Charlie Kirk was on social media and the negativity of all of that and how sad it was and.
- 9:48And they called the social media a cancer.
- 9:51So, my friends, I'm just going to throw this out at you.
- 9:54Everything has good and evil to it.
- 9:56I don't think social media is going to be going away.
- 9:59So what can we as Women warriors of Light do to combat this darkness?
- 10:06We can be voices of light.
- 10:08And each of you are going to be called to do it a different way.
- 10:12I have some friends who are also being called to do podcasts.
- 10:16Other people are being called to write or blog or publish a book.
- 10:22Some are being called to speak.
- 10:24I have a friend who's, who was just asking the other day, what resources can you give me for if I'm feeling like I need to be a speaker?
- 10:33Because I feel God has a message that he's given me to speak.
- 10:37Some of us are being called to just work on ourselves in our home.
- 10:42I know one of my sisters, I was talking to her a couple of years ago, and she was sharing with me.
- 10:48She was concerned about the environment in her home.
- 10:51That with teenagers there was a lot of sometimes anxiety and contention, especially around certain times of the month.
- 11:01Right.
- 11:01And as she was praying, what can I do to solve this in my home?
- 11:07God prompted her, if you work on you, it will help the environment of your home.
- 11:12And she.
- 11:13She was originally praying, what can I do to help my kids?
- 11:16But the answer she got was, start with you.
- 11:20And so I think that is actually some really good advice.
- 11:24Start with you, but then keep that communication going, open with God.
- 11:28God, what do you want me to do?
- 11:32Where do you want me to shine my light?
- 11:35I have friends who are working in the community and doing service in the community.
- 11:40Each of us has unique gifts and talents, and it's so cool that God can use each of our unique gifts and talents for good.
- 11:51One of the cool things we have as a resource on the back end of the Women warriors of Light website, which is a free resource.
- 11:58If you go to womenwarriorsoflight.com and look in our store, you will find this clarifying my calling workbook and in this, you will find a place where you can journal about and do surveys about your gifts and talents and
- 12:17feel what God is calling you to do.
- 12:19It's.
- 12:20It's a really, really a fantastic work rate.
- 12:22It's completely free.
- 12:24You can download the jpeg and get it free and it's fantastic.
- 12:29We're going to be teaching classes on helping women step into their calling as well.
- 12:34And Bonnie's involved with that as well.
- 12:36So we are so excited to help women who are feeling called to combat the evil in their day, to bring in light and to shine their light.
- 12:48Bonnie, do you have any final thoughts before we wrap up this episode or anything you would like to share?
- 12:56You were put on this earth at this time just like Esther of old, because you have unique qualities and you have unique talents and you have unique weaknesses that will be turned into strengths that your family, your community,
- 13:17our community, needs.
- 13:20And as you start to heal and come unto Christ for that healing and ask him how to heal, you will become that strong, amazing beacon and you will find the strength within to arise.
- 13:38I promise you that.
- 13:41Bonnie, I love so much of what you've said here.
- 13:43I'd like to leave you with a few Bible verses that I think go along with women stepping into their calling from proverbs, especially Proverbs 31, where it talks about who can find a virtuous woman, her price is far
- 13:59above rubies.
- 14:00These are some of the things that we as women have qualities of greatness and goodness that make us unique warriors for God in these latter days.
- 14:13It says in verse 11, there the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her.
- 14:19Isn't that great?
- 14:21We can be trustworthy not only in our families, but to God.
- 14:26She said she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
- 14:32So we can do good and not evil.
- 14:34We women are, I think, are God's secret weapon in doing that.
- 14:38In verse 17 of Proverbs 31, it says, she girdeth her loins with strength and strengtheneth her arms.
- 14:46Isn't that beautiful?
- 14:48Girding your loins mean you are ready to go to work.
- 14:52And we gird it with strength.
- 14:54Not our strength, but God's strength.
- 14:57I love that we can gird our loins with God's strength and go to work and strengthen our arms.
- 15:04So we're strengthening our whole body.
- 15:05We're ready to combat the darkness with light.
- 15:09I love this other part.
- 15:11Verse 20.
- 15:12She stretcheth out her hand to the poor.
- 15:16Isn't that beautiful?
- 15:17God calls us to minister to the poor.
- 15:20Not always the poor in money, but the poor in spirit.
- 15:24People who are feeling sad, discouraged, weighed down.
- 15:29That's who God is calling us to minister to.
- 15:32Sometimes shining light is as simple as following a prompting to call someone or text someone, or visit someone.
- 15:41Those are ways God can cause to do little things on a daily basis.
- 15:45Verse 25 Strength and honor are her clothing, and she shall rejoice in time to come.
- 15:53Isn't that beautiful?
- 15:54We stand in strength and in honor, and we rejoice in time to come.
- 15:59And that time to come is the second coming of our Savior.
- 16:01We look forward to that.
- 16:03That is the bright spot on the horizon and we can see the signs that it's he's going to be coming quickly.
- 16:09Her children arise up and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her.
- 16:15Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them.
- 16:18All favor is deceitful, beauty is vain.
- 16:22But a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.
- 16:26Give her the fruit of her hands and let her own works praise in her gates.
- 16:32Those are verses 28 through 31 My dear friends, my dear sisters, this is a call to you.
- 16:39There is enough hatred in the world today.
- 16:43We need more heart and women have heart.
- 16:48There is enough contention in the world today.
- 16:53We need more women who are kind and loving and uplifting.
- 17:00There is enough division in the world today.
- 17:05We need more women who delight in unity, in finding commonalities, and in bridging gaps.
- 17:16My dear friends and sisters in Christ, will you stand up?
- 17:21Will you be a warrior of light?
- 17:23In these latter days you are needed.
- 17:28You are wanted.
- 17:30We need you as part of the Lord's battalion.
- 17:33Will you stand?
- 17:34Will you arise and be a woman of God as this podcast implies, no matter where you think you qualify, if you think I am the least person God could call, he has room for you and his army of
- 17:52light and we need you desperately.
- 17:55Every person.
- 17:56It is an all hands on deck type of thing.
- 17:59Please join us.
- 18:01Join God and being a warrior of light, ask him each day what can I do for good?
- 18:10Listen and then act on those promptings and you will beat back darkness because you are shining God's light and love to the world.
- 18:20God bless my dear sisters.
- 18:22We love you.
- 18:23We pray for you.
- 18:25May you arise.
- 18:27Do it God's way.
- 18:28God Strong.
- 18:31Thanks for tuning in to the Arise Women of God podcast brought to you by Women warriors of Light.
- 18:37If you're feeling unsure how to move forward in your calling or just tired of doing it alone, visit womenwarriorsoflight.com you'll find resources, accountability, and a community of women who get it.
- 18:52Sometimes the calling feels bigger than you.
- 18:55That's when you need steady reminders of the powerful God who called you.
- 19:00Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and the courage to keep going.
- 19:05Because with him, nothing is impossible.
- 19:08And you're not the only one God is calling that friend on your heart right now.
- 19:13Share this episode with her.
- 19:15Your small act of obedience could be the breakthrough she's been praying for.
- 19:20Until next time.
- 19:21May you arise, walk God's way and stand God strong.