[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, thanks so much for listening to this message. My name is Jason and I'm one of the ministers here at the Madison Church of Christ. It's our hope and prayer that the teaching you hear today will bless your life and draw you closer to God. If you're ever in the Madison area, we'd love for you to stop by and study the Bible with us on Sundays at 5pm or Wednesdays at 7pm if you have questions about the Bible or want to know more about the Madison Church, you can find us
[email protected] be sure to subscribe to this podcast as well as our Sermons podcast. Madison Church of Christ Sermons. Thanks again for stopping by. I hope this study is a blessing to you.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: I'm so glad everybody got to come out tonight. We are super pumped about doing this class again.
How many of you were able to come last spring when we did the ladies class?
Awesome.
So there's some newbies in here, Several. So that's awesome.
[00:00:54] Speaker C: We're.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: We're so excited that we get to have this class again as ladies. It's a special time to be able to be together and just speak to each other. So it's great. So we did the same class with this theme last spring, and so we titled it Words of Life. Because the whole premise of the class is for us to hear from each other, but also for us to hear from God's Word directly. And so, you know, we wanted it to be Bible focused and scripted Scripture focused, but also a mixture of that mixed with people's stories and their testimonies. And so we thought that would be a really special way to share God's Word, but also hear from each other.
I'm going to go into that in just a second, but we have 20 ladies that have said yes. Bless them to doing this, because I know there were so many last year that said yes, even reluctantly. They were like, okay, I'll do it, but that's not my thing. Or I'm very nervous about getting up here and speaking and everything. And so I completely understand.
But we really, really appreciate the vulnerability and the courage and just the preparation that goes into it.
So make sure y' all thank them because it is a big, big deal to say yes to do this.
It also takes a lot of trust in us as the hearers of these stories to be the keepers of these things.
And so I just want to say a big, huge thank you to all the ladies that did this last quarter and all the ladies who have said that they would do it this Quarter. It's a big, big deal. I made some notes.
[00:02:41] Speaker D: Let's see.
[00:02:43] Speaker B: I'd like to share with everybody, but we saw numerous blessings from last spring. You know, there were so many people that were connected through these stories.
These stories are going to be put on a podcast that you can actually share with friends.
And so a lot of these were very topical and specific. And so there were people that would come to us later and say, I'm so glad that she shared about this struggle that she had, because I have a best friend or I have somebody I work with that's going through the same thing. Is it okay if I share the podcast? I'm like, oh, yeah, share away to whoever you think would be able to use it.
And so it really served as a way to not only knit us together and to, like, see each other in the hallways and appreciate what each other has been through, but it also helped us to reach other people that we're close to. So it was a huge service for people last spring, and I know it will be again.
And so here's a few thoughts to kind of direct our thinking with this class as we go into it.
One of the sweetest ways that God builds community is not flashy or complicated. It's through sharing these stories and the scriptures that have held us up during these times.
Psalm 139 tells us that God knitted us together carefully in our mother's womb, and he knit us together intentionally. And so if he takes that much care, care to knit us together, then how much more care does he also take with us as a group and as a body knitted together? He knits our hearts together through these stories.
And when we share them, we're not just talking about ourselves.
Revelation says that we can actually overcome by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony. That means that the stories we're going to hear have power, not because we're impressive, but because God is faithful in these stories.
And what he has done for one woman can spark hope in another woman.
So the same is true about these special Bible verses that the ladies will share with us. Often these verses didn't come become their favorites in every season, they became anchors in the hard ones. Colossians tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly as we teach and encourage one another.
So when we share a verse that God has used in our lives, we're passing along something that's living, something that has been tested, which is very special.
Scripture also tells us to bear one another's burdens. But we can't carry what we don't know exists.
So stories create that understanding.
And these testimonies that the ladies are going to share will create empathy among us.
Suddenly, we're not just sitting next to each other, we're walking with each other.
And God comforts us in this. He says that we can comfort each other with the comfort that we have received.
In other words, these stories are not wasted time.
What felt deeply personal to you may be deeply personal for someone else.
We don't all have the same experiences, personalities or seasons, but we serve the same author of these stories. And as we listen and share and speak truth over one another, he is quietly and faithfully knitting us together into something strong and beautiful.
So whether you're sharing out loud or sitting there listening, well, know that God is using that and that's how he builds his people.
And so I wanted to encourage us with a few of those thoughts that it is, it is a work that is living and it's continuing. And so. And we saw plenty of evidence of that last spring.
So we have two wonderful ladies that have said yes to doing this tonight.
[00:06:43] Speaker C: Thank you so much.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: You're the bomb.
Okay, this is a little bit about Beth Green. She's going to go first. Beth grew up on a farm in rural Tennessee. She got her undergraduate at Freed Hardman University and completed her master's degree from Middle Tennessee State University.
After teaching in various positions in the system where she grew up, she met and married her husband Mark on the island of Kauai, Hawaii.
I got that right. Okay. This is when she came to Madison. 21 years, two kids and 14 chickens later, Beth has found her place as a preschool co teacher at mkc, on the board of a nonprofit called Foster House Project, on the Madison City PTA board as the city's Reflection Reflections chair, teaching and attending wonderful Wednesday nights or wonderful Wednesday at Lakewood Church of Christ and co teaching ladies Bible class with Becky Kelly and serving you in the ladies ministry.
She loves teaching, baking sourdough, making cookies and cakes and hanging out with her sisters. Wowzers, you're a busy lady. And then Ann Marie Rainey has attended Madison since she was 6 years old.
She's married to Michael and mom to twin 5 year olds mack and Eliza Clay. Their family also has two dogs. She's a quality director for a national oncology company and gets to travel to some fun places for her job.
She is a recovering perfectionist, Diet Coke lover and loud laugher. I'm right there with you with that one. She's grateful for the opportunity to be part of the words of life this quarter. So thank you all so much. We can't wait to hear from you. And one more thing before I forget. Don't forget to sign up for Flourish groups that.
[00:08:32] Speaker D: Okay.
I put some things in my bio that, to me, I didn't want to put in because I thought they sound a little braggish.
But I am a very busy person. I do try to spend my time, try not to over commit myself, which I oftentimes do. Who does that? Does anybody else over commit? Oh, come on. There's more of you out there. Surely, surely there's more of you than that.
But I do really over commit myself. But I wanted to put that I have found my place.
That's something that was really important to me and that's something that I want to talk about tonight.
Because it's really hard in a place like Madison sometimes to find your place. Some people seem to show up and they just slide right into a place.
I didn't. I came from a congregation of about 50 people, and I stepped in here and there. I was doing everything.
I taught class for 10 years.
Never didn't teach a class, ladies, children, big children, whatever.
I never didn't teach class for those 10 years. And so when I came here, I was a little on the burned outside. I was thinking, I don't want to do everything all the time. And that was the wonderful thing about Madison was that there were so many things going on that if you did everything all the time, you'd never go home, you'd never sleep, you would just be here 24 7, doing all the things all the time. So it was nice because then I could kind of step back and think about, what am I good at? What do I want to do?
Where should I be?
And it took me a while, it took me several years to figure all this out, but I finally think. I finally feel like I'm where I'm supposed to be. Does anybody feel like right now they are exactly where they are supposed to be?
Okay, Not a lot of hands. So that means that you're still trying to figure that out, right? You're still looking, you're still searching.
Okay, so I'm going to tell you what helped me.
I have put Romans 8 up there. The whole chapter. Personally, since I've been teaching Romans with Becky, that chapter has just really spoken to me. And many times it will pop into my head and I will think, oh, that's in Romans 8. So I'm just going to Read the whole chapter. I'm going to do it really fast, so put on your shoelaces and tie them up good, because here we go.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.
For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. And for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. But those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot. For those who are in the flesh cannot please God. However, if you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit of life because of righteousness, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then, brothers, we are debtors not according to the flesh to live according to the flesh. But if you live according to the flesh, you will die.
But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
For you did not receive the Spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoptions as sons by whom we cry Abba. Father, the Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs. Heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits in eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we are saved. And now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for, as we ought that the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good. For those who are called according to the purpose, his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined, he also called. And those who he called, he also justified. And those whom he justified, he also glorified.
What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies who is to condemn Christ Jesus is the one who died more than that who was raised, who is at the right hand of God. Who indeed is interceding for us? Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Shall tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger or sword, as it is written for your sake, we are being killed all the day long we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love God and Christ Jesus our Lord. Who feels fired up by that that fires me up.
It brings me to tears when I think about how much love that God has for Me that this is what he did, that he gave us Jesus. He sacrificed his own son. He wants us to succeed. He wants us to find our place.
[00:16:17] Speaker B: He wants.
[00:16:17] Speaker D: He is on our side.
Because if he's for us, who can be against us?
He also says in this passage to seek spiritual things. Now, this is something that I struggled with. I thought I was seeking spiritual things.
I was at every church service. I did everything that I thought I was supposed to do.
And yet my focus on, why can't I fit in? Where am I being served?
Why doesn't anybody ever ask me?
And it was very difficult for me because I thought, why not me? I'm good at this. I'm good at that.
But my focus.
So maybe my focus wasn't on fleshly things, but my focus certainly wasn't on spiritual things.
So I had to take a stop, stop for a little bit and think about it and think about submission. And that's something else that this section of Scripture talks about, surrendering to God. He's on our side, okay? He's not against us.
So when we surrender to him, which is so much easier said than done, is it not? Have you figured out the surrender thing?
No.
It's hard when you are not where you want to be in life. I thought my life was supposed to go a certain way. It was going from A to B to C to D to E. I watched all of my friends get married. I watched them all start families. I watched them do all these things, and I had none of it. And I was very upset about it. And I thought, why is God not doing this for me? I am going to church. I am nice to people. I am doing all these things. And. And he hasn't given me this. Why do I not have it? And they do. And that's where my focus was. A hot mess.
And finally, after seven years of watching everybody else do everything I wanted to do, I finally just sat down and said, you know what?
I give up.
What I'm doing is not working.
But this thought process that I have is not working.
So you know what, God, as my grandma used to say, I'm content.
I'm alive. I have my family.
I have all these things. I have a great job.
If this is what my life is going to be, then I'm happy right here.
I'm happy right here.
Have you ever been able to say that?
I'm just happy right here.
It's not where I want it to be, but I have to learn to be happy right here.
That's hard.
I Think it's hard. It's always been very hard for me because I've always been looking for the next thing.
Where can I be? Where can I go? What can I do?
But am I happy right here?
This is where God has put me in my life.
So finding my place. I need to be happy here. And that's when things started to move. That's when all the things in my life started to finally sort of go in the direction that I was wanting them to go. And they went at the right time, in the right place and in the right way.
So fast forward.
Many, many, many, many years.
I'm older than I look, so I've been told.
Fast forward.
I'm here at Madison, and I'm just like. I feel like I'm on the outside looking in all the time. Sometimes I still feel that way. I don't know why. Everybody's wonderful to me, but I have felt that way.
I've had different people tell me that they have felt that way, that they're kind of on the outside looking in.
But then I think about my mindset. Where's my mind? Am I happy where I am?
Am I looking at the gifts that God has given me? And I wasn't.
I really wasn't. I wasn't looking at it from that angle. I looked at it from what I wanted to do, not what God needed me to do.
So it's really hard to quieten your mind and sit where you are and think, this is where I'm supposed to be. This is what God has me doing now.
Opportunities will open up for me. I don't know if you've ever felt that way, but I have so many times in my life.
I was a PTA president for many, many years, or not president but on the board.
And that stopped. I got tired of that. I did not want to do that anymore. And I thought, where can I focus my energy? Where can I put myself?
Church?
Where can I work with this energy that I used for pta? That took up all my time and effort and all this experience?
Where can I put that to work? And I started to search for something, and that's when I talked to Amy. Random conversation about Foster House Project. So I jumped on that board with them.
And it wasn't long until I thought, what else can I do with my time?
Am I doing enough with my time? When you turn 50, that's something that you think about. You start looking backwards a little more instead of forwards, because you're thinking, have I done what I need to Do. Have I done things for God? Have I lived my life the way that I should have lived it? Have I done enough?
Like, we can earn it.
You start to look backwards a little bit. For those of you who haven't gotten there yet, you do start to evaluate. You start to go over it.
And I said, okay.
This is a hard prayer to pray. I sat down one night and I said, okay, God, I need you to help me figure out what I'm supposed to do.
Give me an opportunity and show me the way. Open a door.
And I kid you not.
The next morning, I got a message from loriann about going to teach at Lakewood.
And I was like, that was really fast.
Oh, my goodness. And then I thought, I don't know if I want to do this. I don't know those people.
I don't know. This was not what I thought. This would answer my prayer. Like, I don't know. But then I thought, wait, you asked for it. You said, open a door. And then you said, help me recognize it. Here's the door.
So I walked through it and I answered.
And it has been one of the most blessed things I've ever done.
Best decision ever. Every Wednesday morning, they have wonderful Wednesday. They have probably six or seven congregations. Represents a group of ladies that get together and a different person teaches every month. So I took one month and they said, but we want you to keep coming back. We don't want you to come and teach a class and leave.
So I went and we have bonded. They are my sisters. When I said I like to spend time with my sisters, I love spending time with them. Somebody's mother died. We all gathered at the funeral. Like, we have been there for each other. When somebody's sick, we're always praying for each other. It has been one of the best experiences of my life. And I keep thinking, but this is an opportunity for me to serve.
And I feel like I've gotten so much more out of it. So I have been continuously praying, help me to see open doors. Help me to see things. Help me to take this verse of Scripture and give it to other people. It's a lot.
Romans 8 is a lot. But if God is for us, who can be against us, right?
And he is for me. And he's only going to send me what's best for me if I just open my eyes and answer.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: I'm excited to be here tonight. I do a lot of talking at conferences and stuff for work, but that's a lot more technical and sort of program based. And so I'll be really honest, I'm kind of nervous because I feel like this is a lot more personal and, know, fairly emotional because we're kind of digging in around some, you know, individual experiences, but.
And I'm kind of more private. If you didn't know that about me, now you do. So there's that.
Before I get started, I. I do want to just give a big thank you. Some of, you know, my grandmother passed away earlier this week, and so it's just been a long week for our family.
And I appreciate everybody's prayers and, um, so many people have reached out and, you know, just. Just really appreciate it.
So tonight, the two verses that I want to talk about are Jeremiah 29:11 and then Isaiah 40, verses 30 and 31.
So let's read those together. Jeremiah 29:11. 4. I know the plans I have for you Declares, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not harm you. Plans to give you hope in a future. And then Isaiah 40, 30, and 31. Even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint. And listen, if you are a millennial, please tell me that you did not think of remember the Titans when I just read that verse. Because every time I read that verse, all I can think about is, remember the Titans, Okay? So please tell me somebody else did. I'm not the only one. Okay, let's talk about these verses for just a second.
You know, in Jeremiah, this part of the book is when the Jews are exiled in Babylon. And you guys know that cycle in the Old Testament, right? They.
They do a lot that they shouldn't do in terms of disobeying God the Father. And listen, I've been in fourth grade too long disobeying God. Okay? We say God the Father all the time in that class, but they disobey God. And there's always consequences to that, right? But this verse is really reminding them that even though they're in the middle of exile and they're going through those consequences, that God has not abandoned them. And there is still hope, okay?
And there is still faithfulness from him in all circumstances. And, you know, I've loved this verse for a long time, but it probably wasn't until, you know, Michael and I started going through our marriage counseling that it really became a favorite of mine. And we actually put it on our wedding program. We felt really strongly that Truly, you know, God does have a plan for us, whatever that is. And we don't know, right? We all know that we don't know. And it doesn't always turn out like we expect or hope, but we do know that there is a plan.
The verse in Isaiah has a lot of symbolism in it. And, you know, I think that really, I love that because it speaks to God's power and unchanging nature and the fact that he is always there and it doesn't matter what it is, he will pick us up.
He is there with us, and he's literally capable of anything.
And that's very powerful to me. And I'll tell you why these verses are my favorite.
It's something that, again, I think, especially in the last five or six years, has resonated with me a lot more. Michael and I got married in 2012, and within a couple months of getting married, we made what was called the baby bucket list. And it hung on our fridge for a long time. And it had a list of quite a few things that we wanted to do before we grew our family.
So some of them were like legit things we needed to do. Like I wanted to get my master's. We needed to pay off some debt, some student loan debt. Y' all here, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah, there were some things we wanted to do like that, but then there were some fun things we wanted to do too. Like we went snow skiing, and I almost died in Breckenridge, Colorado. That's another story for another night. That was not a fun trip.
We did a several week tour of Europe. We went on a bunch of mission trips. We went to Africa, El Salvador, we went all over the states with Becca Chaperoning and whatever else there was to do with the youth group.
We were really involved with fam groups. And all the while of that, we were really trying to get pregnant because we knew we were getting closer to the end of that list.
What we finally found out after a lot of tests, a lot of procedures, was that we were some of the not so lucky ones who had a 1% chance of possibly ever conceiving our own child. And that was really devastating for a lot of reasons. You know, we're not the only ones who've been in that situation by any means, But I think it did really shape us in a way. And looking back at those verses, guys, like, they were everywhere. They were in my office, they were on sticky notes at my computer, they were on my bedside table. It was the lock screen on my phone. And that really, you know, sustained me in a time that we didn't know what the future looked like for us, you know.
And so, long story short, we did finally go through IVF in early 2020. It was a disaster. I'll be pretty frank with you. It all happened at the start of COVID So once everything kind of progressed, my first ultrasound was actually the first week of April, so it was, like, shut down. And Michael wasn't even allowed to come in the office with me.
And we had had a lot of complications. And our doctor was very frank and said, you know, you don't need to expect to see anything today. It will likely be loss. And so, you know, imagine my surprise when there wasn't one heartbeat, but two. And the nurse took my phone from me because Michael was sitting in the car on facetime watching all this unfold. And she said, you need to take a breath. And I sure did. I needed to take a breath, because we were shocked.
And we could not believe that that was the circumstance, and that was certainly not our plan. And that was very hard for us. Of course we were excited, and of course we were thrilled, but it was really tough. Everything about it was tough. So Mac and Eliza Clay arrived in November of 2020. They came about five weeks early.
I went preeclamptic at emergency C section, had an allergic reaction, had a week long hospital stay. It was a really tough situation, and we had a really hard time in the hospital that week and a hard time coming home. And the babies were in the nicu.
It was just tough. I don't know what else to say to you guys, but there were people from church who were calling us every day, who were texting us every day, who were reminding us that even though we were there at the hospital by ourselves because, hello, Covid.
Nobody else could be there except us. We weren't alone.
And, you know, it was awful. But I want to tell you, like, we were so happy. I mean, look how cute and squishy they were.
They're just so cute. And they still are. I'm biased. I know. They're just the sweetest things. You know, we planned and prayed and hoped and we spent an awful lot of money for a chance to be parents, maybe. And we finally were.
And alongside so much of that happiness, unfortunately. And you guys can laugh at this because I can laugh at it now. You know, the reality is that our postpartum experience was a lot more like this.
You know, Matt came home from the nicu. Eliza Clay was there another week or so. And, you know, looking back after counseling, after everything, that was really the beginning spiral of my postpartum anxiety and depression. Depression, and it was miserable.
That was not part of our plan.
And we were tired and we were weary and we didn't know what to do.
I wasn't okay. In fact, this picture, Michael had gone back to work, this was early February. And he said, how's it going?
And I sent him that we weren't okay.
And so that's really what I want to spend a little bit of time talking about tonight.
Postpartum depression and postpartum anxiety are very common.
And the reason I wanted to talk about this is because if you look at these stats, postpartum depression affects 1 in 8 and postpartum anxiety affects 1 in 5 women. And it's under diagnosed.
So thinking about all of us in this room, it's impacted somebody.
And maybe you didn't admit it and that's okay. Maybe you weren't diagnosed and that's okay.
The reality of it is also that other people are going to go through this too.
And I got news. It's really a taboo subject and we don't talk about it enough.
And we should. Okay. It's an opportunity for us as sisters to really support each other.
So, you know, these are long lasting mental and physiological issues, right? You know, you're thinking about symptoms that are really difficult to manage.
Things that make it very difficult to make it through, you know, a normal day.
And for me, you know, with the anxiety, I had some components of OCD that made that very difficult with the babies.
I also had, you know, really severe bouts of depression where I was fully convinced and fully believed that Michael and the babies would be far better off if I wasn't even here anymore. And, you know, thankfully there were people around me who noticed that that was not normal for me and that was not how I would normally process something. And that is not what needed to be happening in that moment. Right. And so, you know, Michael, my mom, my sisters.
I remember a very specific phone call with my aunt where she said, when is, you know, when is your next appointment with your doctor? Because you need to talk about this. And we all need people like that, right, to be in that moment with us, say, hey, something's just not right. And we need the courage to say that because so many times don't we just stay quiet and we don't say anything at all. Okay? So there's kind of a little push for all of us.
You know, I started medication, I started going to counseling and back to those verses that we just read back in my prayer journal, back on my lock screen, in my prayers that night before bed.
Ease my mind, ease my body, help me do the right thing by my babies. Right?
You know, my mom worked remotely at that point in time, and she quite literally picked up her workstation and planted herself at the kitchen table at our house for eight or 10 weeks. When Michael went back to work, Becca spent her whole holiday break home from Auburn with us and the babies. And, I mean, I know she wanted to see the babies, but she was also very helpful to me, which I appreciate. And I'm sure she have much rather been sleeping or spending time with friends.
You know, people brought food, People sent care packages for months and months and months. I'm talking, like six and nine months down the road. People were supporting us in ways that, you know, I don't even think I realized were possible or ways that we needed. And truly, friends and family, church, family were the hands and feet of God. So here's what I want as kind of a takeaway tonight. You know, there are people who need help, and there are people who need support, and we're really well positioned to offer that to them. Okay? And first thing I want to say, like, very clearly, is that there is no shame in seeking help from a counselor or taking medication, Full stop.
I don't know who needs to hear it. Probably somebody in this room needs to hear it. I needed to hear it when I was in that moment, and I'm glad somebody told me.
So there's that statement, okay? The other thing that we really need is a support system. And look at everybody in this room.
There's all these women in this room. There's tons of women teaching around this building, right? It's our job to be there to support each other as Christians and just as women, right? Like, who needs a man? That's how I feel sometimes, right? Like, we really need each other. You know, we need each other. We're going through that in a different way than a man would, Right? We need each other to support one another and go through those things.
You know? The other thing I want to say is that sometimes we want to be really quick to support a new mom, but we don't know what she actually needs. So new moms, here's the hard part for us. We got to ask.
We got to tell people what we need. Who likes to ask for help? Not me, okay? Not at all. That's really hard, right? It's hard to be vulnerable, and it's hard to say.
I can't do this right now, and I need someone to do it for me.
The other thing I think that's so important, and, you know, those verses that I've already mentioned were so instrumental in getting us through those several really tough years. But, you know, find a song, find a verse, find a podcast, and that needs to just be on repeat. One song that I think about so, so often that for me was so powerful, specifically in 2020, is the goodness of God. You know, and it really pairs well with those verses that are some of my favorites. And, you know, God is faithful. He is going to take care of us. It doesn't matter the circumstance, right? Can be good or bad, but he is going to take care of us. And I just need to surrender myself to that, which is also a really hard lesson to learn.
And this is laughable, but we all need to find time for ourselves. Whether this is a postpartum mom or just any of us in this room, we all need to find time for ourselves to rest. And that can look different for different people, right? You know, it could be a new hobby. It could be reading a book. For me, sometimes it's just like hiding in my pantry from my kids for, like, two minutes, you know, so everybody needs time to sort of reset and be ready to go back and face whatever's going on in their stage of life. And then finally, I just want to encourage everyone to find ways to support our sisters. There are so many different ways that we can be involved here at Madison in the Wings ministry. But what I want to challenge you to do is find ways outside of those ministries, too, because there are people who are hurting. There are people who need help that we don't even recognize.
And I also want to encourage all of us to start asking when we need help, because too many times we try to handle those things alone instead of being more transparent and open about what's going on.
So just to close, I'll put those verses back up there for everyone to see.
You know, I really do believe that God has a plan to take care of us.
It doesn't matter the circumstances.
Our job is to lean on him, use his word, and connect with his people so that we can make it through those difficult times. That's all I have tonight. Thank you.
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Thank y'.
[00:39:14] Speaker C: All.
[00:39:14] Speaker B: Y' all packed so much good stuff into that 30 minutes. That was very rich. I really appreciate y' all so much, and that's going to help a lot of people. That definitely spoke to me.
[00:39:25] Speaker C: Obviously, I really needed Anne Marie's because.
[00:39:28] Speaker B: We know what's coming. So you see me looking a little bit rough. Just remember this lesson.
But anyway, I will say a prayer and dismiss us and then y' all can come. Give them hugs.
Dear Lord, thank you so much for allowing us to have this time set aside to come together as ladies to learn more about you. And and we're just so thankful for the ways that you have knitted all these stories and these experiences together in order for us to see your glory through these.
And I pray that that's how we will view all of our experiences, is that we can use them for your glory to support each other and help each other and that the scriptures that you, by the power of the Holy Spirit, will stay in the forefront and that we will take your word and hold onto it tightly.
Thank you for Beth, thank you for Ann Marie for sharing and I pray that you will give them a peace and help them sleep well, knowing that they have served us in one of the best ways they could. We love you so much. In Jesus name, amen.
