Latest / The Rooted Woman Podcast / The Rooted Woman: Episode 11: You Are More Ready Than You Think
Transcript
- Courtney: Hello and welcome back in this wild transitional season, formerly known as the Mission for More podcast, moving into the Rooted Woman podcast. Changes are still happening, nothing is solidified, but we are here for it. And I'm telling you, while I was on vacation and I had not shared anything about the podcast, we had more streams. Within the first 24 hours of the episode coming out than we ever have before. So thank you so much for sharing this. Thank you so much for telling friends about it, sending links because it's working. Obviously, I'm not doing anything on the back end to try and grow the podcast. I'm just trying to solidify these changes over here. And I have found out that I am less tech savvy than maybe I thought I was. So thank you for your patience. Thank you for being here. And thank you for continuing to tune into the Rooted Woman Audio Series. Today we're on episode 11. And if you have not listened to the previous episodes, I say this every single time. But they really do build on each other. We are going through and we'll have one more final episode next week. And then we're launching something fun. I literally am like on the edge of my seat for real. because I'm just so excited about all that God is doing. He is moving in so many different ways. And there have been, it's like I will take a deep breath and then a new roadblock or a new distraction comes in. And if you're in my intimate circle of people, you know I've been asking for prayer because I'm like, what is going on? This is actually. Wild. I am in such a transitional and moving forward season, but in so many circumstances, I have to draw back and draw into the Lord. And I really believe that that pulls into today's episode. So let's just dive in. We're gonna be talking about you are more ready than you think. Okay? You are more ready than you think. I'm gonna talk about how God will use the willing more than the qualified. And I'm gonna go into a little bit of my story here. So I have been at a church that I've been at for a while now. Okay. Since right after things closed down in twenty twenty. They were the first church in my area to open back up. And we I had already been a part of this church for the mom's ministry and been attending that because my neighbor and I got connected. She was on episode like two, I don't know, of the podcast, one of the very first episodes. And yeah, it just man. was such a a unique season of coming into that church and knowing the Lord and having walked with the Lord, but realizing there was so much of the Lord and so much of the word that I was never shown. And I was living off of other people's faith. And I was not making my faith my own. And so in that transitional season, I really went through so much deep healing, so much growth, so much surrender, so much stripping away of all the things that were Holding me back and in the process, not when I was done with the process. Okay. In the middle of the process. And honestly, there were moments where it was like literally, I was probably in the worst part of my process where I was being called upon. I was being called upon as a leader. I was being called upon as a volunteer. I was being called upon to serve in different ways. I was being called upon. And I asked myself over and over and over again, God, what what's happening here? What are you doing? Should I be saying no? Because I mean, do you know who I was and who I still am and the hurt that I'm still processing through and the things that I still have to grow out of? And like, this doesn't make sense. There's no way that people can see me this way. And then moving forward, my best friend stepped out of running the mom's ministry and she passed it on to me. And I struggled so much with my yes to her. And I remember just sitting on the edge of my bed sobbing to my husband, like, I do not deserve this, nor am I qualified for this. I don't deserve it, nor am I qualified for this. And the Lord just continued to show up. And so in this process of kind of transitioning into running mom's ministry, things kind of paused at our church because there was a massive collapse of one of the parts of our building after a big storm in our area. And it was just so tragic and so, so hard to walk through that. I'm supposed to be leading. And to me, in my the back of my mind, I kept saying, Is this because I'm not qualified? Is this because I'm not qualified to to be leading this group and you literally had to tear down a building because I am not the right person for the job? And then in this, the the longing in my heart to serve and to grow and to help others grow was still there. And then I, you know, walked into the Holy Habits Challenge and in the process of growing on social media and sharing there and getting into, I think we were in 15 different countries, the one challenge, like downloads in 15 different countries, literally mind-blown. I kept asking myself, God, how am I qualified? I've never even been on a mission trip. And here you have me. Putting out this Bible plan and these habits that we're working on as a group together. And you've got me having people download this plan in 15 countries. Well, I am not qualified for this. Lord, what is happening here? I never imagined that it would grow the way that it has grown. And then he gave me the go for the podcast. And I was like, God, are you sure? Are you sure that I should be doing this? I don't know if I'm qualified to do this number one on my own, let alone invite people in. Are people even going to say yes when I ask them to come and join me on this podcast? And I have connected with some of my favorite people because of the podcast. So how cool is that? And then come to find now, you know, my heart is still longing for that intimate connection with people locally and in person and just having the moments of of growth and ministry together in my home and under my roof. And I got the call from church, like, hey, while mom's ministry is paused, have you thought about doing a discipleship group with, you know, maybe some of the people who were leading before or just some moms that you have on your heart? And I came back, listen, with a list of eight women, first of all. A lot of people have many, much smaller groups than that. And so I've eight women. I come back, I'm like, you know, I really believe that this needs to be a little bit of a different format than what discipleship group usually looks like because this is such a unique season where we are connecting in. And I would really like to gear it towards these moms. And the word that I got was Courtney, we trust you. Send me the list of books that you have, send me the plan that you come up with, and just know that we trust you. And I literally dropped my phone after that conversation, dropped to my knees and sobbed because I'm like, how does anyone trust Me. I'm just me. And I lived a sin filled life. And I still have so much to to grow in and to walk out of. And Lord, are you sure? And I have asked, are you sure at every single one of these moments? And maybe right now you're like, I feel like I should serve and somebody asked me to serve, but I'm just a stay-at-home mom. And it's your first yes that you're giving to anything ministry-wise, or your first yes that you're giving in an area where you feel like I'm called, but I'm not yet qualified. Let me tell you, I don't know if you will ever fully feel qualified when you're walking surrendered and submitted and with a humble heart towards the Lord. Because I promise you it has not g gotten easier and I have said yes many times. I was the yes person for a while. And I say no now more often than I say yes. And even still, when I give my yes, when it's prayed over, when it's submitted before the Lord, when I process through it with my husband, when I get his blessing over my yes, when I go through all these steps and I really am so confident that the yes is a yes is a yes, I still don't feel qualified enough. And I think that's okay. I really, really, really think that's okay. If you read through in Exodus three through four, we read about Moses and the burning bush. And Moses is tending to the sheep near Mount Horeb and he sees a bush on fire. The fire does not burn up the plant, and Moses is walking closer to it, and God speaks to Moses only after he turns to look. If he never had turned to look at that and he didn't walk towards it, would God speak? No, he needed to be Drawn in, and so many of us feel that drawing in from the Lord in our own lives. And God tells Moses to stop, take off his shoes. The ground here is holy because God is here. Who has felt that way before? Like, stop, set everything down, take off your shoes, pause a moment because what the Lord is doing is holy right here. The ground here is holy. I have felt that in my own heart, in my own life, and I think. we don't have to necessarily like take off our shoes, right? But to recognize when the Lord is calling us deeper, like that's a holy moment. And not just like pass by it, but to really hold it sacred and to really pause there and to really process with the Lord. And that's what Moses did. God explains that he sees the pain of people in Egypt and God tells Moses that he must lead the people out of Egypt. And Moses did not feel qualified. Moses was like, God, you have to tell me. he says in Exodus four verse 13. He says, literally, please, Lord, send somebody else. Like, please, it cannot be me. And it just every time I read that I'm I think about me sitting on the edge of my bed crying to my husband, like, it can't be me. There is no way that it could be me. There it has to be somebody else. And I know that it is hard to process through the shame that the enemy wants to kind of cover us with, right? He wants to just have this like blanket of shame over us so that we feel like we will never be enough, we will never be qualified. We should have never been called on in the first place. And our answer should always be no. And if I listened to the shame that the enemy tried to bring over and over and over again, I would never have said yes to things that were monumental, not only in my life but in other people's lives. And not only in their life, but in my life too. Because it was this reciprocal Vice versa type of situation where I was growing through it and so were the other people. And their testimonies were spurring on my faith. And my faith or my testimony was spurring on their faith. And it was just such a beautiful moment. Would I not have gotten there if I didn't sit and process and then say, No, I know the voice of the Lord versus the voice of the enemy. And I'm not gonna listen to this shame-filled voice saying, like I there's no way that it could be me. And trust that, God, you can use me even if I don't think it should be me, right? Because the Lord knows where our heart is at. And we can share that with him. We can share our hesitation. We can share our fears with him, just like Moses did. So maybe you're there right now in the processing and you're like Feeling like Moses, send somebody else. Will you trust that if God is called upon you, that He will equip you in the process of being called upon? That if you just say yes and if you just show up, and that doesn't mean never prepare for something. That doesn't mean pray over it and surrender over and over and over again. I was just talking to somebody yesterday who is doing something in ministry and was saying, like, I take I don't take this lightly. Like before I show up on, you know, a Tuesday night or whatever it is, you know, I'm practicing this over and over and over again for like two weeks ahead of of time to make sure that I am so prepared because I want to serve well and serve with excellence. So yes, there's a preparing in it, but we can prepare and still trust God that He holds the pen, that we could prepare and we could still feel unprepared even through all of our preparing and trust that God is going to show up and He is going to give us exactly what we need. There have been so many times where I've written down like sentence by sentence and then not even read off my paper and realized I went in a completely different direction than what was on my paper just to have people come up and say that is exactly what I needed to hear. In this moment. That is the exact thing that I needed this week. I can't believe you said this thing. I literally was praying before I got here. God, if you want to do X, Y, and Z, then I need to hear this, this, and that. And you said it out of your mouth. Like, how crazy is that? And I'm like, well, it wasn't on my paper because that's what it looks like to just trust the Lord, even in the moment when I don't feel qualified, that if He shifts my direction mid-conversation, that I will listen to it, that I will submit to it, and that I will trust that His plan is better than mine because it always is. I will tell you that much. It Always is I also wanted to read Second Corinthians three, five. It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God. So can you trust that it's not anything that you have to offer that you have prepared that you have come up with? It is the Lord and our adequacy will come from him. And when you submit and you surrender and you ask, okay, God, what do want me to say? And you just have the pen in your hand and you write when he says right and you stop when he says stop and you pray when he says pray. And it doesn't look like this like big audible voice being like, write this down, right? It's this feeling in your heart. It's this knowing in your spirit, it's this this pausing and this go. In in a supernatural way that I cannot explain, that you will experience as you surrender to God. There have been times where I've sat down and I'm like, God, I have no idea what I'm even talking about. I have no idea how to prepare a message on blank. And then all of a sudden, it's like a download just comes into my brain, and I'm like, my goodness. And then I will write it down. And then the verse that I was planning on using just directly coincides with that anyway. And it's like, my goodness, this is all coming together. And every single time I do that, I can look back. And say, no, God prepared me. I didn't prepare it. I didn't come up with it. I didn't draw this plan from the ground up. The Lord gave it to me because there's no way that I could have connected this in the amount of time that I did without the Lord. And there's no way that I would have come up with this fitting with this thing and like the way that this testimony just kind of blended in here. No way that I could have done that on my own. It only could be the Lord. And so don't let this fear of feeling like you're unqualified tell you that you're outside of God's will. Don't let this fear Be a stop sign, like, no, you know, I I don't know if this is right for me. Don't let this fear tell you that you cannot do the things that God is calling you to do. Sometimes fear is just evidence that you're standing literally on the edge of obedience. Like if you are going and doing something that is scary for the first time, think about the first time that you ever rode a roller coaster, okay? And you're standing in line, you're like, I already gave my yes, but standing here like feels crazy. I don't know if I should get on this ride. What if something happens? I don't know how I'm gonna feel. What if I get super dizzy? Will I be the person like throwing up at the end of The ride, like I don't know, you're just going through all these thoughts, and maybe that wasn't you, but that was totally me. My first time going to Six Flags, it was and being in line for the raging bull. I'm like, I don't know if I can do this, but I was in line and I got in the seat and they strapped me in. And once I was strapped in, like, imagine this you're strapped into the ride, like, you don't get to undo that. Somebody else has to hit the button to like undo your seatbelt and your strap, it locks you in, right? And so just imagine that as your submission to. The Lord, like you're locked in. Like now you're along for the ride. There's no backing out. Don't let the enemy talk you into backing out of the thing that the Lord is asking you to do. And once you're done with that first roller coaster ride, like yes, maybe you're a little dizzy, or yes, you're like, whoa, that was wild. But many, many, many times it's like, whoa, that was amazing. I could totally do that again. And even getting on the next time, you're like, no, I know that big first drop is like really crazy. I don't know if I'm ready for it because I don't know if we'll ever feel fully ready. I think there will always be this like little bit of nervous anticipation about what the Lord is going to do because we don't know the full story and we can't see it all for ourselves, but the Lord already does. So don't let that fear hold you back from doing the thing that God is asking you to do. Faith is not meaning that, you know, fear does not exist. Faith does not mean that if you have a little bit of hesitation, like your faith is somehow less, right? Faith is just choosing that I'm going to continue to obey, I'm going to continue to show up, and like I can tangibly sense. that yes, the Lord has got my back. The Lord has got my back. And how do you get to that point? If you're like, okay, I I'm saying yes, but I don't know if I feel like the Lord has got my back yet. Like I'm like a nervous mess over here about this thing. Okay, if you don't know if the Lord has your back, then you're not spending enough time with him. Spend time with him, get in the word, get in prayer, get in worship. If the lies of the enemy are swirling around, you shouldn't be doing this, you should back out. I can't believe you said yes to this. You're not qualified. If that's what it's sounding like in your mind, in your heart, and you're like toiling over this, you know, and you're you're nervous and it's not a good nervous, it's like an anxious nervous, and you're afraid to see what the outcome is. You think that you're gonna ruin everything. I've heard people say that before. I'm just gonna ruin everything because I'm not the right person for this. No, not true. The Lord is Going to equip you, but have you worshiped to silence the voice of the enemy? And have you continued to pray over this? And have you gotten into the word? And do you trust that God is going to equip you? And hopefully in your life, there are leaders around you that are going to walk with you through it. Because I think it's good for everybody to have feedback and to have somebody that's like, hey, I'm your right-hand person right now. Like, if you feel like in the middle of this, I need a little support, I'm going to be here for you and I'm going to walk you through it. I'm going to jump in with you. And we've got this. And that cheerleader champion. Friend or ministry leader or you know that Titus II woman in your life that's going to walk you through it. I just pray that you all have that if it's something that you're serving in ministry specifically. But trust that God can also be that person too. And he is going to show up. And all you have to do is say yes and trust that again, like 2 Corinthians 3 5 says, that we do not have to be competent in ourselves, that our adequacy truly does come from God. And you are equipped if God has called you, because He's going to equip. You in the process. It's not this planning and being like, yes, I am fully equipped, I'm fully ready. I'm I'm saying yes because I know exactly what I'm gonna say. I've been waiting for this moment my whole life, and I have journals of being prepared for this thing. Most of us, it doesn't look like that. Most of us are just saying yes and praying for the best of the best to happen as we just partner with the Lord in what he's doing. So I want you to ask yourself here, what have you been postponing because you don't feel ready? Like, is there something that you've been asked to do or something that you've been praying about doing and you haven't done it because you're just like, I'm not ready, I'm not qualified. And there's a difference between really processing through, am I ready? Meaning, like, am I submitted? Is my heart in a good place? Am I, are my first things first? You know, God and maybe if you're married to your husband and your family, those things, right? Like that's good to make sure that we are keeping things in order. But there's a difference between Ready and qualified, right? So if I'm ready, I'm in a good position. I know that everything that I need to like put in order is in order, my priorities are in place. I just don't feel equipped. I'm not certain that I'm the right person for this. That's okay to process that with the Lord, but don't postpone just because you're like, I'm not qualified for this. And then where is God asking for your obedience over your clarity or certainty? Because you don't have to have full clarity before you say yes. There are many times, most of the time, I would say. Say that my clarity comes quite a while after I say yes. I'll say yes to something and then I continue to pray over it because I'm like, God, I don't know what to do here. And I need you. I need you in this moment, Lord. I need you to show me what this looks like. I need clarity. I often pray for clarity, wisdom, discernment. Clarity, wisdom, discernment over like everything. Lord, I just need wisdom and discernment. I need clarity here. I need you to show up because I don't feel confident in this thing. And over time I get little pieces of certainty. little pieces of clarity. I will have three people say the same like reassuring thing to me that have no idea what I'm processing with the Lord. And I'm like, okay, I hear you, God. You're sending people to tell me the same thing that you are telling me. I hear you loud and clear. Will you Ask God to give you clarity, to give you, to give you wisdom and discernment, and to give you direction as you're being obedient and trust that he's gonna give you the confidence and the certainty and all of those things as you continue to process with him. And then ask yourself, what is one yes that I can offer to the Lord this week? And I think when we change our perspective there, I'm offering my yes to the Lord. I'm not looking for ways that I can give my yes to other people so that they are pleased with me, right? We have to begin to sift through that as we mature. Out of being the yes person, we mature out of our feelings getting the way of what we're doing, you know, and and whether or not this is our calling or. This, that, and the other. Okay. You need to ask, How can I say yes to the Lord this week? And that will change the way that you process, that will change the things you say yes to, and that will change the way that you feel called and equipped because you're not putting yourself out there and stressing and striving to try and be the yes person to everybody. Your yes is truly a best yes, a yes for the Lord, and it's trying to glorify him instead of putting yourself in positions where people are pleased with you and essentially you're glorifying yourself in those moments. Okay, and then take all those answers and pray over it. Pray over it every single day. God, I I wanted to give you this yes this week. Help me to do that. Help me to say yes in this area. Help me, Lord, to understand what it looks like to say yes in this area. Help me, God, to have wisdom and clarity and discernment in the direction that you have me going. God, remove the the enemy's lies and the shame that's coming over me, saying I'm not qualified. Pray those prayers. Pray over it every single day and watch what the Lord will do. I love to hear your testimony, so make sure you send them in to me too, so I can read through all that God is doing in your life. I want to encourage you as we've been going through the Rooted Women audio series. I try to break down like what does it look like to live like a rooted woman? Well, the woman that God used throughout scripture, right? Women, I should say, were just regular ordinary women that God trusted, right? And so your calling is not built on what you can do, what you have to offer. It is built on your faithfulness to the Lord and also the Lord's trust in you, saying, Okay, I want to partner with you. I want to partner with you, and I want your yes here. I want you submitted here. And I want you to obey me here and trust that if God has got called you up, then he's already started preparing you for what he is going to do. Okay. Trust him. Trust him. That's the key theme here this week. Let's pray. God, I just pray for the woman that you are calling upon, whether it's in her home, in the workplace or in ministry or somewhere in between, Father. I know that you are equipping her, that you are calling her up for such a time as this. Lord, and that you will give her wisdom and discernment and direction and clarity as she continues to just pray over it, as she continues to submit and surrender, as she continues to remain humble. And I thank you, God, that we are not just automatically confident, that we don't always feel equipped, because it gives you room, Lord, to fill us in a new way, to guide us in a new way, to stretch us and grow us in. New ways, Lord, and for you, Father, to get all the glory at the very end of it. That we're not glorifying ourselves, we're no longer people pleasing, that we are really stepping back and saying, okay, God, step in and show me the way. God, I always want to be right behind what you're doing. I don't want to run in front of you, Lord. And I pray that over each and every woman who is listening here now, that we're not trying to plan and prepare and run ahead of you, but that we are submitted to you, that we are surrendering to you, that we are being guided by you, and that in the end of all of it, that we trust you. Even when we don't feel that we are called or equipped, I should say, even when we feel like the shame and the voice of the enemy is is really heavy, that we could just put all of our trust in you, Lord. I just pray a blessing over all these women as they go about their week, Lord. In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Thank you so much for tuning in to the Formerly Mission for More podcast, soon to be officially called the Rooted Woman Podcast. you can find me on Rooted with Courtney on social media. And there's also the Rooted Woman Connection. I encourage you to connect there. This is going to be a page where I am training and equipping other leaders. And so I'm very excited about what the Lord is doing there. I've had so many people reach out, like, do you do mentorship? Do you do one-on-one calls? And I am not going to be doing like this full one-on-one mentorship right now. But what the Lord has me doing is some really cool things in the back end to prepare for what's going to launch in the fall. And I am just saying you want to stick around for it. make sure that you're following me on social media because we will be doing another holy habits challenge. I'm getting everything ready for that as I'm also transitioning all of this over. So again, I thank you for your patience. I thank you for your excitement. I thank you for sharing because again, I can't believe even the views that I got while on vacation and my phone is bricked, and I shared nothing of the podcast. And here you are showing up, tuning in, and just supporting me and what I'm I'm doing but also supporting the Lord in what he's doing through me, which still can't believe. So I just appreciate you all more than you know. I will see you back here next Thursday for our last and final episode of the Rooted Woman audio series.