Perhaps you don’t know this about me, but I didn’t grow up in a Christian home–at least not until I was 11-years-old. My dad was an alcoholic, and my mom loved to fight, which wasn’t a great mix. You don’t get used to that. You know it’s not right, you know it’s not good for the family, and so, you hope and you pray that somehow your life will change.
He wasn’t a nasty drunk, but even so, I needed that stability. I needed to know that someone strong and courageous was steering our ship.
As I got to thinking about that today, I was reminded of Joshua who was instructed by God, to be “strong and courageous.” What’s interesting to me is that the same words were echoed by Moses not once, but twice in Deuteronomy Chapter 31, and again by the Israelites in Joshua Chapter 1.
You see, after the death of Moses, Joshua was appointed to lead the Israelites into The Promised Land. Like me, they needed to know that someone strong and courageous would be steering the ship.
Moses knew what it took to be a strong leader. He knew it took strength and he knew it took courage. Yes, God would lead them, He would fight for them, and He would save them, but it would take strength and courage to follow the Lord.
We talked about courage yesterday and how it calls us to put aside fear to do the right thing. But what about strength? What does that look like in the life of a leader? It means we don’t waver. It means we hold fast to our confession of faith.
Perhaps you’re not a leader in the sense that Joshua was, but chances are someone is watching, and someone is looking to you for direction. For many of us it’s our children, for others it might be a niece or a nephew, maybe it’s a co-worker, or perhaps it’s a friend at church. Whatever you do, there’s a good chance that someone is watching and that you’re leading the way.
Ask yourself, if they’re following in your footsteps, where do those steps lead?
As for me and my dad, he gave his life to the Lord in 1976, and from that moment on, he never looked back. He taught us what it means to serve the Lord. And by his courage and unwavering strength, he showed us all what good leadership looks like.
Like I’ve said before, it’s never too late to get right with God, amen?
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Tilling the Soil
Read Joshua Chapter 1.
Planting Hope
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised). And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: (Hebrews 10:23-24)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
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You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife