Blog – May 20, 2015
Next Steps
We are in the middle of a great sermon series at church called, “Elisha…Ridiculous Faith.” Everything Pastor Jeff has been talking about has struck a chord with me. We’ve been talking about stepping out in faith and taking those leaps of faith God is asking us to take. Sometimes the requests can seem ridiculous and incredibly scary, but Elisha was faithful and was blessed because of his faith.
I wonder what “next step” God might be asking you to take? How is He asking you to step out in faith? Maybe it’s not something major like Elisha, but a little step that will bring you that much closer to His will and purpose for your life.
God has asked me to take many leaps of faith and lots of little “next steps” in this ministry, and this week is a culmination of many of those “next steps” and a very exciting time for my ministry as a whole.
Yesterday, May 19th, was the first anniversary of Kay, my assistant, coming to work full-time with me. She took a huge leap of faith when she left the security of her job at the Cancer Center. I had absolutely NO idea how I was going to pay her a year ago when I brought her on, but so far so good! I am grateful to her and her husband, Brian, for their faithfulness. We met as couples to talk about it and pray about it, and all four of us had total peace and knew God was calling us to take this “next step.” I think it’s pretty incredible I’ve been able to make payroll considering most years that I’ve been in ministry I’ve not even been able to pay myself because we have continued to invest everything back into this ministry. God is good, and God provides!
This is also a very special week because I just received notification that Butterfly Nation is now officially a nonprofit. Woo hoo! After the first of the year, God started putting the idea in Kay and my heart that we needed to take this ministry to the next level. We weren’t sure how to do that, but things started falling into place to help us take that “next step.” I was offered free help to prepare the paperwork for Butterfly Nation to become a 501(c)(3), I put everything together and sent it all in, and we received the necessary approval from the State last week. I opened my Butterfly Nation bank account on Monday, and I am now officially in business as a non-profit!
The third exciting “next step” is my very first radio blog aired this week! I recently did a radio interview on Victory Radio with host John Baldwin. After the interview, John and the president of Victory Radio contacted me about starting a radio blog. They loved my interview and told me I had a great voice for radio (I think I sound weird when I hear myself, but okay!). They asked if I would be interested in partnering with them via a radio blog. Considering the fact I had just started this blog you are reading that very same week, I couldn’t help but notice God’s amazing timing. Butterfly Nation is now a weekly radio blog as well as a written blog, another “next step” I never dreamed I would be doing when I started 9 years ago. I’m eager to reach a new and broader audience through the medium of radio.
I urge you to be open to the “next step” God might be asking you to take. It may seem ridiculous at first, it may push you way past your comfort zone, it may scare you to death, it may seem impossible, but I encourage you to take that leap of faith. I think of the beautiful quote by T.S. Elliott who said, “We have to risk going too far to discover just how far we can really go.” God knows how far we can and need to go, so trust Him and LEAP!
