You can see I have some of the greatest women on the stage joining me today. And uh we’re going to have a seat. You all
have a seat. This is our executive pastors and our pastor’s teaching team.
And uh I was just thrilled to know that they were going to come alongside and some of you uh know them, but Pastor
Haley is raising toddlers right now.
She’s repping all of you moms that are toddler mamas that have sleepless nights
and babies sleepless nights. And then my lovely our I I always say my daughter and somebody said one time I just
figured she was your daughter’s and you know he just adopted her or something.
But it’s our daughter Pastor Jodie. She has got a teenager and another one who thinks he’s teenager.
Which of my grand she’s represented that side. And then Pastor Nicole who has adult children and soon to be grandma.
Two weeks people two weeks in counting. Lord bless you, Emma.
So, we’re just thrilled to be with you today and we’re going to share from our heart and uh we are talking about this
and and your stage. Tell everyone your stage.
Oh, I am I am uh almost to be retired but will never retire. Empty neester.
Empty neester. Oh yeah, that’s a fun time. All you all that cried all the time because you’re an empty neester. I’m sorry.
I enjoy the empty nest.
But I have grown adult children, child and grandb babies, and that’s the greatest thing of all. But um we’re
going to share with you today, if I can find my There we go. Um, we’d like to remind you that around
here, we really believe that there’s not just moms who have biologically given birth,
but I know for sure that there are some spiritual mamas, and there’s some adoptive sort of mamas.
Those are ones that they literally don’t have children, but they call many children. There’s And I I
told the story last year, there’s one lady who said, “I’ll do anything for you. Uh I’ll I’ll do the bathrooms. I’ll do anything, but I’ll never work in the
nursery.” And she’s never been a biological mama. I might cry when I talk about it, but you’ll find her now often
in the nursery in Belleview loving on those babies because she knows God has
called her to be a lifegiving woman in We have so many of those here at Champion Center. Thank you for mentoring
and being a lifegiving woman. And tonight, today we’re going to talk about God’s plan and your assignment.
God’s plan and your assignment. So, why don’t you repeat that after me?
Everybody say, “God’s plan and my assignment.” Can you do it? God’s plan and my assignment. And today, if you
don’t recognize any part in here, you’re like, “Oh, does this fit for me?” Just know that
whether you’re a mama, a youth, a man, God has a plan for you and you have an assignment.
And there’s something in this next few moments that is for you.
And you want to take that at heart and run with it because God’s got a plan for you. God’s got a plan. And you know, one
of the hardest things about being a mother is that God gives you something so precious.
When you see that baby come right there into that baby delivery room, in fact, for I think it was about 48 hours, we
had no name for this girl over here. We called her Precious.
And I I can’t imagine, you know, she was a basketball player in college. I can’t imagine. And here comes precious Gerald down low with a three-pointer. Thank God
we named her Jodie because it just fits her perfectly.
But it’s such a precious gift and I believe it’s a miracle what God does.
And he doesn’t hand you a blueprint. There’s no manual.
There’s no perfect instructions. There’s no guaranteed you’ll always feel confident.
There’s just a deep love and there’s an assignment.
I remember moments as a young mom where I wished that God would have handed me
an assignment and a mana a manual with, you know, Have you ever been to Denny’s?
Several years ago, I was in Denny’s and I was like, “Oh gosh, you don’t have to read. You just look at the pictures.”
And I feel like I wish I would have had that at times.
Just just show me, God. Because I felt so lost. I would feel afraid. And I was afraid I was getting it wrong. Right.
But there’s no different than when that angel appeared to Mary. Yeah.
Mary, she didn’t get a manual.
She wasn’t told that moment, this is how you’re going to raise the son of God, right?
She had no clue what to do after that. I mean, after all, does she feed him a special holy milk?
You know, there’s no clue. I mean, if if if he gets sick, does God himself come down and heal him?
Yeah. Right.
Literally when an angel appeared Mary all she turned and said and that you’ll
find that in Luke 1 verse 39 she responded I am the Lord’s servant
may it happen may it be according to your word and then the angel left
disappeared Mary simply made up her mind at that moment. I will take this assignment no
matter what it takes. This is your plan, God, and I’m going to do my best. So, your will can be done in this child’s
life. I am going forward. And she didn’t know about the heartbreak at that time.
She didn’t know how it would feel at that moment. She didn’t recognize even the pressures right
that would be upon her or the sacrifices that she would have to make.
Yet her response was be it unto me according to your word. God, if this
child belongs to you, then I’m going to do my part.
And I think we’ve forgotten often times that before our children are given to us, they are first God’s child.
That’s right.
You might go, “Oh, I’m an accident. How can I be God’s child?” No. You were
known in your mother’s womb. He knew you were going to be there and you were coming. And you are not an accident.
That’s right. You got a plan and God has a purpose for you. So Mary recognized
God had a plan and she had an assignment.
So as we were talking about this, we were like, how how can we help you recognize that right you have an assignment and how are we going to go about doing this?
You know, Pastor, you just talked about Mary saying yes to her assignment. It doesn’t matter if you’re a mother in this room. All of us are called by God
with in a moment like that to to say yes. In other words, it might not be that he speaks it specifically to you
what your assignment is, but you know he’s leading you in a direction and you have the same choice she did. Will you
say, “Be it unto me according to your will, God.” Or, you know, I’m not really feeling that today. You have, we all get
to choose that. You know, today we’re going to talk a we’re going to talk a lot to moms, but this message is so much bigger than for moms. This message is for anyone who will receive it today.
And we want to encourage you with that because we fulfill the the assignment uh once we decide we’re going to be in agreement with God’s plan.
And uh we’re going to talk about four areas uh the rest of our time together on how we can be in in agreement with God’s plan. And the first thing is just
through relationships. There’s four areas. And and the first one’s just through relationships. So relationally, the assignment God has for your life cannot be fulfilled alone.
Right?
Turn to somebody say, “You can’t do this on your own.” Go ahead, tell them. Tell your other neighbor, “You either. You need her.
You either. You need him.” I I laugh often times and I see uh I’ve been to different people’s homes and I’ll see this the sign that says, “All
you need is Jesus and coffee.” It’s true. So, you need both of those to get through the day and not kill a child. I’m very convinced of that.
Amen. Amen. Amen. But you also need other people. Yes. Come on.
And if you’re a woman in this room, you need Jesus. You need your coffee. And you need another woman in your life
because she’s going to convince you that you will go to jail if you murder your teenager.
Because there are days when you’re not really sure which one’s worse.
Living in this prison, in this house with that attitude, the truth.
Let it out, Pastor Nicole. Get it out. Get it out. Years and years coming out.
You said something earlier about the plan. God’s word gives us a plan or a vision for parenting. And I was thinking
about that because uh Proverbs 22:6 says, “Train up a child in the way he should go.” Great. It’s like, “And then
the angel left.” Train them up in the way they should go.
That’s really good. God, thank you for that. Feels a little bit like the IKEA putting together an IKEA piece of furniture. Here’s the picture and all
and no instructions, just pictures. You fill in all the blanks. And here’s the deal. The goal of us as moms and as
parents, and I want to say, I want to read this. The goal is raising a mature, God-honoring adult, someone who learns
to govern themselves from the inside and not just obey external rules. That’s the goal.
Yes.
So, you got to start with, no, you’re just going to have to do what I say, right? You’re going to have to start with your job is to protect those children. And you’re going to have to
start somewhere and teaching them to obey. But I want to encourage you, if you got teenagers in your house and you’re still treating them like they’re
they’re 5 years old, you are a problem to that child’s maturity.
I’m just I that’s not in my notes. Somebody really needed that today.
My point is you you need the wisdom of other women in your life. You need guidance. Hebrews 10:24 reminds us to encourage one another and stay
connected. Listen to this. Let us consider how we may spur one another on.
Somebody say, “Spur it on.” There it is. Toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together. Now, the
scripture is talking specifically about believers meeting with other believers in the context of church life and being a part of a church community. But this
goes beyond that, right?
Consider the principle. We need each other to be encouraging to one another to spur one another on towards good works. And oh, by the way, don’t stop
doing that. Get together on a regular basis. And I think that for women, sometimes we avoid relationships because we’re just too busy, right?
I don’t have time to talk to another woman. I could barely get myself together and get the kids out the door.
Or maybe you’ve tried that, been there, done that. I I was hurt. Not not doing that again.
Or maybe you’re a little bit, if you were honest, you’re a little bit embarrassed about the chaos in your home and you’re too proud to ask for help. Yeah.
or you’re spinning so many plates, right?
You’re so exhausted. And I got to be honest with you, I’ve used every one of those excuses myself.
But I’m here to tell you, isolation leads to discouragement.
We need encouragement. We need companionship. We need wisdom. We need other women who understand the season of
life we’re in. The Bible calls women to strengthen one another. Listen to what it says in Titus 2. This is going to be a word for somebody in this first verse.
Older women, don’t selfidentify right now. Just older women are to be reverent in their behavior,
not malicious gossips, nor addicted to much wine, should be teaching what is right and good. Somebody say, “That’s the Bible,
y’all.” Bible. That’s the Bible.
Okay. so that they may encourage the young women to tenderly love their husbands and their children.
Come on.
I have a natural lean. The Bible talks about how don’t lean on your own understanding. I have a natural lean.
And my lean in my parenting is toward control. I hope my kids don’t say amen right now, but they probably should.
I lean towards control.
Some of you lean towards fear. Some of you lean towards passivity. Some of you lean towards self-reliance. And that
lean shapes how we apply the truth of God’s word.
You filter it through that. See, I want to protect my kids from everything. I don’t want them to have pain and mistakes they’re going to carry on to the rest of their life. And I remember
an older mom confronting me about the way I was raising my boys. Because here’s the thing, as a woman, you have three boys. You have a natural lean. You
know what it means to be a woman. You have no idea what it means to be a man. That’s right.
And yet, God has called you to be the leader in their life to raise up a man. Mhm.
If we’re not careful, we’ll lean on our own understanding. And this mom, she called me out and she says, “You know, I’m just noticing with your boys that
you’re really protective.” Well, of course I am. I I want I want them to live to see 18.
Boy mom’s here.
But her wisdom changed how I parented and help helped me. And I’ll tell you how she did it. I she began to tell me a boy a in a man’s heart. First of all,
she told me to read the book Wild at Heart. I’m tell you, every mom who’s raising a boy needs to read the book Wild at Heart. Wild at Heart.
If you want to know the heart of a man and you are raising the heart of a man, you need to know then you I would encourage you read that book. And that book talked about how every little boy
needs needs something to conquer that’s slightly dangerous and could possibly lead to death. It’s so true.
So when they’re leaping off the sofa, like that’s a part of their growing up experience where our mom’s just like, “Are you kidding me?” Well, my son Jack when he was about four
years old or is probably baby hedy’s age, uh he uh decided that instead of going around the deck like normal human
beings do to get down to the other side of the yard, he was actually going to be on the outside of the deck hanging on
for dear life, rung by rung by rung. And I remember thinking, he’s going to fall.
He’s gonna hurt himself. That’s like a three-foot drop. That’s like his whole body height right there. I mean, what if I drop my whole body height? I’m thinking all these things. I’m like, you
need to get down off of there and stop doing that. And I heard that little voice reminding me, Nicole,
your son has something on the inside of him that’s drawn to risk and danger, and he’s got to know he can accomplish it.
And instantly, I changed my language.
And I said to him, Jackson, when you go around that deck, make sure you hold on tight.
I want to see you safe on that other side. And I began to be the mom that encouraged that mighty task he had rather than stopping and interrupting
him because God put within him that little heart.
So, I want to I want to finish with this. I’m going finish with this. I want to encourage you. The assignment God has for your life cannot be fulfilled alone.
So, if you’re a younger mom in this room, you need to seek out women ahead of your season. Yes.
And I want to challenge some of these young younger moms in the room, don’t be quick to dismiss the previous generation or isolate yourself from your own mom.
There’s this trend right now to identify everything that your mom did that ever disappointed you and hurted hurt you as toxic. Now, I’m not suggesting that
isn’t true in some of your cases. Go get help. Seek a counselor. Get a wise counsel and decide what the relationship looks like. But some of you are cutting
people off because you don’t like to hear the truth.
And those moms are in your life to tell you and they’re shouting at you. Why?
Metaphorically, because they made that mistake and they don’t want to see the fruit in your kids’ life like they saw in their kids’ life. So I would encourage you, seek wisdom and guidance.
Every single mom in this room needs to build friendships with women in your same season.
You need encouragement. You need support. And if your mom cannot be that for you, look for spiritually healthy women with fruit in their lives. And I
would say this last thing to older women. Make yourself available to the younger women.
Look for them in this lobby. Encourage them intentionally. Notice what they’re doing. Well, some of you older moms belong in our children’s ministry.
Why? because you can love on and pray over those babies and give that mom a break so she can come in here and get everything she needs so she can go back and do it all over again.
That’s right. Yeah.
We work hard. We work really hard for you to find women that you that can help you fulfill your assignment. And I would say to you if you’re isolated and you
feel alone, you are in a room full of women and you just need to step out in faith. And that looks like for some of you joining a team. For some of you,
that looks like serving in kids ministry. Why? I My best friends to this day, I met by because I was serving in children’s ministry with them and their
kids. I I invited their kids over. We built relationships. Prioritize things like she gathers. We’ve got some We have things happening.
She gathers this Friday. This Friday night. Yes. All summer long. Yes.
All summer long. We have things going on. So, ladies, my encouragement to you is that we need each other to fulfill our God assignment. Amen. I love that. I
love that. Are you guys ready to know your assignment? Yeah. Everybody has their assignment. Number two, we talked about the reps.
This is what she talked relationally.
This is what we This is our our champion center. It’s our reps. Relationally. Emotionally. And emotionally.
I believe that we as women have got to learn to That’s right.
be more even kill. I remember one one day walking. I was so frustrated with,
of course, she never did anything wrong, but I was so frustrated with her that I just let it rip like a potato chip. I just let it rip.
Now, mind you, I was raised Pentecostal, so I I I never really knew how to cuss, but I’m sure it was some kind of Pentecostal cuss.
And I walked out of her room and I slammed the door. And as I walked down the hallway, something dropped in my
spirit. I’m not going to say it was thus sayeth the Lord, but it was something that hit me that said, “If you don’t turn around and pick up that seed that
you just planted in your daughter, it’s going to grow into a rebellious harvest.”
And I mean, that was humbling for me. I had to go back in there and say, “Jodie, I’m so sorry. I am PMSing out.”
Poor girl. She’s like, “What’s that?” But there’s something about when you
recognize emotionally that you’re just not where you should be, right? Well, I remember I don’t know if
you remember, I used to go one Jesus, two Jesus, three Jesus.
Well, so counting to 10, right? One, not just one, two, three, but one Jesus, two almost as a reminder. But I I we’ve
learned even just years ago sitting, you know, with um different mental health counselors or, you know, preachers,
people that have studied neuroscience and learning that there really is a 10-second reset.
And a lot of times, I think you hear that maybe growing up and you just count to 10 and then you still feel all those feelings and you’re like, “It doesn’t
work. The 10 seconds doesn’t work. I’ve tried it. I’m not doing it again.” But the the science behind it, and there’s there’s this huge thing about it, but
the science behind it is basically kind of stepping outside of yourself for those 10 seconds. Breathing in, becoming aware of the situation. What’s actually happening? Why am I feeling this way?
And the more you do it, the quicker it happens. But that 10 seconds is like, okay, breathing in the awareness of what’s going on. And then as you breathe
out those last, you know, 7 seconds, you’re you’re repositioning your yourself. reminding your heart who you
are, who’s you are, why you’re here. So, my funny example is that Cody, our
youngest, is a whistler. He loves whistling. Like, he always has a song in his heart to the humming, making noise,
like, and it’s really cute until it’s not. And like it’s it’s so much in his heart that in the every year in the
teacher like get to know your kid I always write he always has a song in his heart. Please don’t get mad when he whistles. He doesn’t realize he’s doing it. Just encourage him to wait until
recess. Right? Cuz I don’t want to take that out of him. But it’s so much a part of him that I literally tell the teacher every year. He has a song in his heart.
Please don’t get frustrated. Sometimes as the mom, I get frustrated cuz in in the car or in tight spaces, sometimes
that shrill whistle just gets you right. And so, but I I read
somewhere that when a kid is whistling or humming or singing, it’s means they feel protected. They feel happy. And so, when I get in that moment of that anno
like once it switches over from like, “Oh, that’s so cute. He like is so musical. I love that.” And it switches over to like just stop. Um I just I on
my good days on my good days I breathe in and I become aware this means he’s happy. This means he feels protected. He feels safe, right?
Like I’m trying to remind myself like this mean this is a good thing. And I didn’t learn how to whistle properly.
And so I’m so excited that he knows how to whistle. Right? Like my whistle is horrible. I can’t whistle loudly. I can’t whistle a tune. And he can. So,
like in those three or four seconds, I’m trying to remind myself he’s happy. He’s protected. He can whistle and I can’t.
I’m so happy for him. And then as I breathe out, I remind myself like this is what I’m here. I’m here to be the mom and to help him with his gifts. And on
the good days, I am so good at just letting him continue whistling.
Yeah. Amen. And if we apply that to whatever the situation is, even when it’s not a fun thing like whistling, when we take that 10-second reset, I
think it helps us to just maintain a more emotional um, you know, straight line versus going on the roller coaster
ride. The awareness of for women, when your cycle hits, being aware of it, it really is a thing. When you’re aware of it, there’s something that happens in
our brain when we can name it. I’m angry. Yeah.
Now we can fix it. Now we can approach it. I’m frustrated.
If I name it, if I become aware of it, it actually mental it it’s science. It neuroscience actually teaches us that
our our thoughts, they create trees in our brains like actual physical pro properties in
our brains and the more we think them the bigger they get. So if we always get frustrated, we always get angry and it just keeps growing. But if we become
aware of it and we say I don’t want to be angry all the time.
I don’t want to be frustrated. I don’t want to be sad all the time. I don’t want to be anxious all the time. If we name it and then we start talking to ourselves through the word of God, we
start declaring the word of God over our lives. Whenever those anxious thoughts come up, we memorize scripture. Do not be anxious about anything, but with everything with prayer and petition and
thanksgiving. I present my request to God. God, I don’t want to worry about this. Right? We’re declaring the word of. So, we become aware of it. We’re
able to name it. Our brain can do something about it. And um in Jeremiah 20 or in Proverbs 29:11 it says fools
give full vent to their rage but the wise bring calm in the end.
And Isaiah 26:3 it says you will keep God. God will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast on him.
So when you feel anxious, when you feel frustrated, when you get angry because your kid is whistling or fill in the blank, take those 10 seconds. Don’t just
count, but actually breathe in. Become aware. Why am I feeling this way? What am I feeling? How can I How can I not
react in the way that I’ve always been reacting? How can I react differently?
How can I react more like Jesus would if he was in the room? I mean, it’s what would Jesus do was like growing up the the wristbands. But it actually is a
great question to ask when you’re in the heat of the moment. If you can step back, become aware ask yourself, yes,
what would what would Jesus do? It on the good days, they’re not all they’re not all the days, but on the good days when I get it right, those questions really help.
And you know, that’s so good. And I think the biggest thing that I learned to do is when I did fall and fail, cuz
I’m, believe it or not, I I lived with the perfect man, but I wasn’t perfect.
And I just dust myself off and I start all over again. I mean, I can hear some of y’all say, “How could you have
problems, you know, raising a child and going through, you know, emotional thing when you do live with a pastor?” You know, the pastor was out oftentimes in the pasture dealing with the sheep.
You know, he had people that he had to take care of too when he was pastoring.
And so then for myself, I had to learn to get my environment, water the water the seeds that I needed to water that I
could be the mom that I needed to be and allow her to walk out in her assignment that God has for her. And so we got the
reps, we got the uh relationally, emotionally, and then emotionally. And now we’re going to talk
about the P physically. Yes. Everyone say God’s plan. God’s plan, my assignment, my assignment.
And you know, the Bible talks about how we can steward oursel well in our physical area of our life. So we can say
stay strong in this race. And you know, a lot of the times we don’t necessarily maybe view physical aspect of our lives
as important as our spiritual well-being. You know, you’ll hear people say, “Well, it’s it’s really about the heart.” And yes, the heart matters, but
scripture makes it so clear that this body is a vessel that God wants to work through. And your physical body isn’t
separate from your faith. It’s a place where God dwells. And caring for your
body is an act of worship. We see it in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Therefore, honor God with your bodies? That
honoring our bodies is a way that we can honor God. And and here’s the sobering reality of it is that we cannot fulfill
our assignment on this planet if our body is not able to carry us there.
Because where your body cannot go, you cannot go. That’s right. And there’s this connection between spiritual and
physical well-being. And God’s desire is wholeness in both areas of our life. You
know, we see this connection in 3r John 1:2 and it says this. Hopefully this is encouragement to someone today. I pray
that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you even as your
soul is getting along well. you know, this isn’t about vanity or or a certain size. And it’s so easy to get caught up
in that, especially in the world we live in. But really, if we look at the heart of the goal is building strength now
that will continue to carry you into the future for all that God has planned for
you. And you know, Jonathan and I, we’re living this out. Um, we’re in our 30s and we are having conversations these
days that we didn’t have in our 20s. Uh, for example, a couple weeks ago, we went with some young guns out to some pickle
ball and they’re moving. Yeah. Don was there hitting the ball no problem. And we get done, we’re like, “Babe, are your hips tight?” I’m like, “Yeah, they’re
kind of tight.” Oh, I felt that. So, we’re over there like stretching like, “You guys good?” We’re like, “Yep, we’ll be right there.” or we’re maybe buying
supplements that sometimes we we can’t always pronounce, but we know that our body needs them because apparently at
25, your body produces less collagen, 1% each year. So, we’re taking collagen, y’all. Getting it at Costco in bulk.
We’re drinking water intentionally throughout the day. And are these things exciting? No. But is physical discipline
necessary? Yes. Because if you don’t position yourself for strength today, then you can’t fully live out your assignment for tomorrow.
So, we got to take care of our bodies.
But I think it’s it’s important to remember that another aspect of our physical well-being is that the Bible specifically talks about rest and that
God tells us to rest. And the Bible references rest as the Sabbath. And
Sabbath means to cease to produce and rest in God. And oh church, in a world
where it tells us to work harder and longer and faster, gosh, how can we make space for Sabbath
in our lives so our body can be physically restored so we can keep going strong? I’m so encouraged by the verse
in Mark 6:31. It says this, “Come with me by yourself to a quiet place and get
some rest.” Like that just feels good to say, “Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” You know, rest
is not laziness. It’s obedience. And God designed rhythms of restoration for our
physical and emotional well-being. We see it in Genesis, right? That God took six days to create the heavens and the earth. And then the seventh, what did he
do? He rested. In Exodus, God gave Moses the ten commandments. You know what the fourth commandment is? To remember the
Sabbath and keep it holy. It’s important, especially if it’s written in the Bible. And sometimes we can think of
rest as maybe just mindlessly turning our brain off and just mindlessly scrolling or, you know, oh, I des I
worked hard. I deserve to binge watch a show for a day. But the problem with that kind of rest is often we leave
feeling depleted. That true rest is what refreshes our soul when we get time with
our creator. Like coming to church and connecting with God or going on a walk and enjoying God’s creation or maybe
eating a meal with your family and just asking like, man, what what’s God doing in your life? Something that creates
space to rest in God’s presence. And when we get away with God and we wait on
him, Isaiah 40:31 tells us, “But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew
their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk
and not faint.” That’s great.
And there was a season in my life where I found myself really tired. And not
just like I need a nap tired, but more so that my soul was weary. And you know,
we had just had our third baby and if I was honest with myself, I felt stuck.
Like I was confident that God had this great plan for me, but I didn’t feel strong because I was was overwhelmed. I
was over stimulated. I was probably covered in in applesauce and um spit up at the time. I mean, you name it. I was feeling just really stretched thin. And
so I thought, well, Haley, if you just try harder and be better and and do more, then maybe I could bust through that lid. But nothing was enough. And
can I tell you, oh, church, feel like this is for someone today. Can I tell you that the Lord met me in my in my
weariness? And it was through fighting for my faith and and running to this altar right here and confiding in my
leaders and getting prayed for and creating space to rest in God’s presence. My soul was restored and God
has delivered me from a weary soul, from anxious thoughts, from fear of failure, and so much more. And I just feel like
there might be someone out there today, whether it’s a mom, you’re feeling weary, like you don’t just need a nap, but your soul is weary. And I just want
to encourage you. If if he can do it for me, he can certainly do it for you. But it starts with giving God.
It starts with giving God space to go there. And so often we moms, we find ourselves running from one thing to the
next and we’re like, “Hey God.” He’s like, “Come here. Come here. I got something for you.” Okay. Yeah. One minute. Five minutes. Five minutes.
Right. Like that’s what he said. One minute.
But it’s in God’s presence that he can fuel us to keep going strong.
And that’s only found in him because we know it’s not by might, it’s not by power, but it’s by his spirit that we
can accomplish and keep going strong to accomplish our assignment. Amen.
And I love that because it Yeah, we can clap. Let’s clap your hands.
I love that because it it goes right into our last um our last our fourth our fourth thing. The S. So, we’re talking about reps relationally, emotionally,
physically, and spiritually is the last one. And a lot of times women ask, you know, am I am I doing enough
spiritually? And what we want to encourage you in this se in in this setting right here is that every season
can look different spiritually, but Jesus is still with you in every season.
So there’s some seasons as a mom that you have all you feel like you have all this time with Jesus. You can spend as much time as you want in solitude and in God’s presence with no distra
distractions. And other times as a mom, you go in the bathroom to pray by yourself and you just can’t get through a prayer without somebody being mom
underneath the door, right? Um, and that’s just that’s the season that you’re in. And we want to encourage you that your job is not to copy somebody
else’s rhythm in the season that you’re in, especially if they’re in a different season because they have a different rhythm. That’s right.
And our job is to stay connected. Yep. To Jesus.
Yep. staying connected to him in the season that you’re in. In John 15, Jesus said, “Remain in me and I will remain in
you.” He didn’t say, “Perform for me.” He didn’t say, “Have the perfect rhythm.” He didn’t say, “Spend an hour with me in prayer.” He said, “Remain in me.” That’s it.
Yep. Remain in me and I will remain in you.
And so we want to we want to encourage you to recognize the season that you’re in spiritually and and find your rhythm with God in that season.
So recognize the recognize the season that you’re in. Okay? You if you’re young, uh if if you’re single or if you
don’t have kids in the house, you you can spend more time with Jesus.
You have more margin to do that. you can build deep foundations with Jesus with getting into the word and and doing
those those study Bibles and and having it, you know, those extra time of prayer and worship where you’re not distracted and and you can make time without little
kids or teenagers, you know, asking for all the things and that’s your season.
So, recognize your season. But maybe you’re a mom of young ones or or kids in the house and your season, your rhythm
looks like, “God, help me right now.” Yeah, right.
Give me patience right now. Maybe you’re making dinner and you’re like, “God, I did not handle that situation earlier.
Great. Please help me do it better next time.” Or maybe the worship is playing in the car. I know for me it when I was driving, you know, drop off and pick up
for school. Instead of listening to podcasts, I would listen to the audio Bible because I was that was the best way for me to get the word of God in my heart in that season.
So recognize your season and then find your rhythm. Find your rhythm in that season because Jesus is with you in that season.
And he’s not asking you to to spend an hour uninterrupted if you if you haven’t made that if you can’t do it.
He’s not going to judge. Nobody’s judging you, right? You but you can remain in him throughout the day.
Jesus is with you when you’re in the in the car parking lot picking up the kids in the school lot. Jesus is with you when you’re at work. He’s with you when
you’re folding all of the laundry for the seventh day in a row. Jesus is with you.
So, we can pray while we’re doing the laundry. We can pray while we’re driving with our eyes open. We can worship. We can have worship music. There’s
something about having worship music playing in your house. There’s something about the kids listening to you. Listen to the Bible because they’re listening
with you. Instead of listening to Harry Potter on the drive, listen to the audio Bible.
There’s something about find recognizing your season, finding your rhythm. In Psalm 37, the Lord directs the steps of
the godly. When we’re when we’re walking in step with him, he’s directing our steps. He’s giving you that nudge in the
Holy Spirit. He’s saying, “Hey, go back and pick up that seed of bitterness. Say you’re sorry.” The Holy Spirit is with
you. Jesus is with you. So recognize the season that you’re in. Find the rhythm that you can be in spiritually in that
season. Because whatever season you’re in, Jesus is with you. And connection with God might look different today than it did yesterday.
And that’s okay.
Just keep remaining in Jesus. Don’t give up just because your rhythm looks different. Just keep showing up however
you can and Jesus will meet you. I’ll I’ll I’ll finish with just a challenge.
If you feel like you don’t have time for prayer, if you feel like you don’t have time for the word of God, maybe just do a little audit of your time.
How much time are you spending on your phone? How much time are you spending on social media? How much time are you spending on Netflix or all of the other things that you can watch? If you feel
like you don’t have time, just do an audit of your life because I know it’s busy. I know life is busy, but sometimes we have more time than we think because
we just haven’t stopped to think about it yet and audit it and say, “You know what? I actually can make more time. I just haven’t yet.” And so, find your find your rhythm and uh and keep going.
I love that. Isn’t that beautiful? Today in closing, I just want to remind and
I’ll speak directly to moms and those that you might not be biological moms, but you are a lifegiver.
Paul looked at Timothy one day and he said, “I’m reminded of your sincere faith
which first began in your grandma
and then your mother Lois.” his grandmother was living with an unbeliever
and that grandma didn’t have life really easy.
It was a mixed marriage and at times uh she really struggled as she raised her daughter Lois.
But she must have done something right.
Because when Paul’s talking to Timothy, he literally says, “You’re the greatest partner that I’ve ever had in ministry.
You’ve been there with me. You’ve walked alongside of me. You’ve been my encourager. And it’s because of your grandmother. It’s because of your
mother. what they put in you that is going to live from generation to generation to generation to generation.
And I’d love for all the moms to stand in the room and those that are even just women, your lifegivers. Would you just stand to the room? I’m going to pray over you.
And one day these young girls that are sitting in here, someone’s going to look at them and they’re going to say,
“You’re here in this ministry. You’re a youth pastor. You’re a a a teacher.
You’re a speaker because of what your mother did, what your grandmother did.
I’m just going to speak a legacy to flow through you like never before.
Father, I just thank you for each woman here. May today may they just recognize that it’s not through their perfection,
but it’s through your Holy Spirit working through them that as they go dayto day that you’re going to be right
there alongside them. You’re going to help them find the right relationships.
You’re going to help them find the right older women in their life. You’re going to help them, Father, to contain those
emotions to pick up the seeds that they might have put down in the in the ground and they pick up the wrong seeds and
they pour out the right seeds for the harvest for them to flourish, for legacy to move on spiritually.
And I declare today, God, that they will see their part
in putting out the assignment that you have for them.
They won’t see it all at once, but day by day, God, because you’ve got a perfect plan. You’ve got things to do on
this planet Earth, and you’ve chosen them. You’ve chosen them. You’ve chosen them. May they dust themselves off and
may they get up and start all over again when there might be a failure because we’re believing God
that good things are just around the corner. Thank you Jesus.
Thank you Jesus and the children and your children. May his favor be upon you
and a thousand generations and your family and the children and
their children and their children. May his favor be upon you and a thousand
generations and your family and their children and their children and their children. May
his favor be upon you in a thousand generations
and your families. Thank you, Jesus. And the children and their children.
Can we just give all the moms in the house a great big thank you for all that you do,
how much you mean to us, each and every one of us.
So, I wanted to just take a minute while these four are up here. I just told them they can’t leave yet. Uh because these
are the these are the lady leaders, the female pastors of Champion Center. A
lot of churches don’t even have the blessing of having that. Um some by choice, some by chance. At Champion
Center, we count it a great privilege and joy and honor that we have to be able to have women like this that are
part of our leadership team. And and uh I want to I I want to just say to
all of you how much we appreciate you and how much we thank God for you. Uh you are beautiful,
you are faithful, you are God-loving, you are all gifted in very unique and
somewhat different ways. And so on behalf of our church family, we wanted to take a moment and just I I feel like
I might be uh I don’t know, a giftgiver right now, but um this set of flowers is for you, Pastor Haley. You can take that home.
And and Pastor Jod, th this set of flowers is for you. And Pastor Nicole,
this one over here is for you. Okay. And I think we have something for Oh, turn around. Pastor Sheila, look at this.
Okay.
We love all of you. And you were wanting to get off stage, so go ahead and do that.
at every location, Yakama, Defant, Belleview,
online, right here in Tacoma. I’m going to ask you if you would to bow your heads for a moment because the Holy
Spirit is in this place. God is here and we have felt his presence throughout
this day. And I thought while they were talking to us about God’s plan, your assignment, I just thought, wow, what a
message for all of us. Scripture says, God says in scripture, I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Can you
just even quietly say me? Just say me. I know the plans I have for you. God has a plan for your life today. Whoever you
are, however old you are, whatever the gender, however you came into the world and whatever
um occupation you have, God has a plan with your name on it.
And I want to invite you today to understand that that plan is to do you good. It’s to prosper you and to bless
you, to give you a hope and to give you a future.
If you’re here today and you’re not in relationship with God, you’re not connected to that plan. I want to give you a moment. I’d love to pray with you
today a prayer of salvation, a prayer of a prayer of new beginnings. Maybe today you could say, you know what, God’s been quickening my heart like I’ve been
sensing and being drawn to God. And if so, that’s that’s you. So, every location, I’m just going to ask you to in this sacred moment, just if I’m
talking to you, boldly raise your hand up in the air. Just boldly raise your hand. raise it high and say, “I want a new beginning in my life today. I want I
want a fresh start in my relationship with God.” Good. Good.
Good. God bless you. Fantastic. Hold your hand up high. We’re all going to say a prayer together.
Say it with me if you would. Lord Jesus, welcome to my world. Come into my heart. Into my life.
Forgive me of all my sin.
and make me a new person. I receive you now as the leader, as the Lord of my life.
I’ll never be the same again in Jesus name. I want to give you a great big welcome.
Welcome.
Welcome to the house of God. Come on, let’s thank God for every new decision that’s being made in the house today.
Turning it over right now to the location pastor.