No More Dandelying Seeds
It’s been a few months since the Moms in the Making Conference in Dallas, and I want to share what God did in my heart. Much to my surprise, it’s taken much longer to compile my thoughts, gather my heart, and formulate words than I thought, but it’s time…
So the theme of the conference was Rooted. The theme was so beautifully incorporated into everything, from Rooted in Truth jewelry to a vial of soil to take home as a reminder of the state our hearts need to be in—fertile soil—for seeds of truth to grow (from the Parable of the Sower in Luke 8:4-8).
“A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.” Luke 8:5-8
The very first session of the conference started much like my Real Christianity course in Bible college. The very first class Pastor Adam said, “In this class, we’re going to tear down every thing you thought you knew about God and Christianity and start over. We’re going to start over from the beginning so you know God for you. Not for who your parents know God to be. Not for who your pastor back home knows God to be. He has to be personal, so we’re starting at the beginning.” You can’t be fully rooted in truth while lies are poisoning your soil. So Jessica Satterfield, the keynote speaker and leader of this session, started at the beginning: uproot the agreements you’ve made with lies in preparation for planting seeds of His truth—2 Corinthians 10:4-6,
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.”
To provide a visual—cause sometimes it helps to put external action to an internal choice—she instructed us to “uproot” these dandelions… PAUSE. There was a window garden box with handcrafted dandelions stuck in dirt like real dandelions. Dandelions look like flowers, but they are only imitators. They aren’t to be planted and grown in a flower pot or a garden. If you plant them in healthy soil with healthy plants, dandelions will essentially poison the health of everything in the pot until it is uprooted and removed. Dandelions are weeds that flower and, in the instruction given by Jessica, this weed represents lies we’ve been believing. PLAY. Once we “uprooted” the dandelion , we were to hold it, think about the lie we were uprooting, say “I replace the lie that __________ with the truth of __________”, then throw the dandelion on the floor and stomp on it.
When she gave the instruction to ask God to show you what lie you’ve been believing then to get in line to uproot the dandeLIEn (see what I did there? ), I had a really hard time. See, I’ve been working on walking in truth and realigning my identity with Him and who He has called me to be, so in my mind, I didn’t think there were any lies that I could be believing that I didn’t know about. Instead of waiting to be told the lie, I went ahead and got in line and prayed all the way to the front for what lie I’ve been believing. After all, I knew I wasn’t perfect and new there was potentially some truth I hadn’t been walking in which would mean there’s a lie I was believing.
Faithfully, God spoke to me the lie I’d been believing: false humility. Honestly, when He spoke those 2 words to me, my immediate reaction was a head tilt much like my dog, Winston, does when he’s trying to figure something out, followed by leaning in to hear more. False humility isn’t just when you’re given a compliment on a job well done and you respond with “oh thanks, it was nothin”. I’ve read somewhere “Real humility builds up. False humility tears down.” This lie of false humility has often shown up in my life usually when there’s a compliment given to me about right choices I’ve made that have led me to a better place than where I would be had I made poor choices. I have feared (in the past, as I am working on this) being seen as prideful. But the truth seed I sowed that day was instead of fearing pride and denying or rejecting a compliment, I will boast in Jesus and what He has done in my heart and mind. God’s proud of the choices I’ve made; those are not to be hidden, but to empower those around me.
So often, we are quick to give sole focus to all the things we need to work on and the areas that need improvement, but not on the things we do well or the areas we have grown in. When you live yielded to the Spirit of God, however, to deny the areas you’ve grown in, the areas you used to be weak in that have been strengthened, to deny the improvement and the areas that have come into alignment with truth and His Word is to also not testify to His power and the testimony of His transformative and restorative power and ability. Revelation 12:11 says this:
“And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”
We conquer the enemy not by staying silent to maintain the heir of “humility”, but by telling our stories and sharing all the places in our lives that God has taken the broken and made whole, all the places we used to believe lies, but His truth became rooted in its place, all the ways we’re beginning to look more like Jesus. So where I once believed the lie of false humility, I uproot that and replace it with the truth that there is hope to be shared through the testimony of what Jesus has done in my life, that Jesus is revealed in the testimony that I am not who I used to be. Instead of fearing pride, I’ve decided to pray Galatians 6:14 instead,
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
Reflecting on the conference the days that followed, I realized there was another lie I’d been believing: inferiority. Now, only in writing this did I look up the actual definition of inferiority, which is this: the condition of being lower in status or quality than another or others. Have you ever had something clearly written out after you’d been pondering on it for a while, then you experience an “aha” moment? That’s what this definition has provided… an “aha” moment that says, “Of course that’s what the enemy of my soul, my future, and my destiny in Christ and the antagonist in my story would want me to believe in the midst of walking with God on a journey to discovering my complete identity in Him. Of course.” I’ve heard for much of my life, that our greatest battles will be our greatest victories. I’m gathering it’s quite possible that the same is true for our fears or the lies we allow… those fears and lies aren’t placed or given by God, but by the enemy, so what are his intentions? To keep you from the destiny awaiting you? There is a calling on each of our lives, but, friends, your choice to accept the lies and cower to fears instead of uprooting the lies, replacing with truth, and courageously walking forward despite the apparent fears will keep you from stepping into all God has for you.
Ironically, it’s never been individuals in high-ranking positions, not presidents or vice presidents or CEOs who trigger this inferiority I’ve fought. Nope. It’s Boss Babes. It’s women in ministry, most but not all of the time, who flow confidently in the gifts of the Spirit, that bring that message that comes like fire. Powerhouse women that don’t have to complicate the Word of God to drop truth bombs. The women who carry boldness and courage and compassion and tenderness, who carry the fruit of the Spirit, and from whom you can see the fruit from their lives and choices as evidence of a constant “Yes” to God, sometimes whispered and sometimes resonating, but always “Yes”. These are the women I’d love to sit and have coffee with and glean from… AND around whom I lose all words when I’m close enough to speak to them. It’s legit ridiculous. I lose all chill, y’all, and ya girl goes speechless. For real. But after months of marinating post-conference, I’ve come to realize from following blogs and posts shared from the hearts of some of the Boss Babe women I follow is that they too are human with real lives, with real struggles and battle scars; they are women who have been obedient and maybe sometimes weren’t, but they’ve learned to walk in His grace and forgiveness; they are women waiting on miracles and answers to prayers; they are women who God handed them the mic at the appointed time and, after stewing in the Spirit in private, specific, intentional words came out in public; they are women who have been given a choice, daily, situationally. What about these women sounds just outrageous? Isn’t the call to each of us to walk in obedience? To trust Father with everything? To accept God’s forgiveness and forgive others? To accept His grace and to be gracious? The enemy of our souls is real, y’all! And I’m done giving him the upper hand and rolling over dead in inferiority.
I don’t want to be a different version of some other Boss Babe; that’s not who God’s called me to be. I want to walk in the will of God for MY life. His calling for ME. There is something beautiful in you and something beautiful in me that the world needs, that the people in your sphere of influence need to be graced with. God has called you by name. God has called me by name. The gifts He’s given me aren’t just to be used in communion with Him, but to worship Him with these gifts as they are shared with those around me.
Pride is a heart issue. Inferiority is an identity issue. And Jesus is the answer to both. So, on this adventure I’m on with Jesus, I will “boast in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” as I share who I am in Him and what He’s done in my life. Though it’s still being written, I have a story to tell and so do you. So adventure on and tell your story!
“Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.”
—Colossians 2:6-7
“For consider your calling, brothers:
not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.””
—1 Corinthians 1:26-31 ESV
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
—Matthew 5:16 ESV
“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”
—Colossians 1:9-14
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
—Colossians 3:17
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
—Philippians 2:1-10