Notes for women’s retreat talk
God's Abundant
Gifts/ Celebrating the
Seasons of Our Lives!/ Story of Faith
Psalm 19:14 “May these
words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your
sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.”
Good morning! My name is Karen Dawson. This morning, I am
going to tell you a bit about my spiritual journey, introduce you to a friend
of mine who I consider to be a hero of faith,
reflect on a scripture passage from Matthew 16, and tie
together my thoughts. So first,
let me tell you a little bit about myself:
I grew up in New Mexico as a Christian in a non-denominational
church. As early as high school, I recognized my “cardinal” sins – pride and judgment.
One of my favorite books that deals with this subject, Repenting
of Religion: (subtitled) Turning from Judgment to the Love of God by
Gregory Boyd says:
“The goal of
creation is for people to participate in the eternal love of the triune God.
How we do this is not by performing good deeds, successfully conquering certain
sins, holding all the right theological opinions, or becoming ‘religious’
people. These may be bi-products of the change in reality that takes place in
us, but they are not the cause of the change. We participate in the eternal
love of the Trinity by allowing ourselves to be placed in Christ by faith. It
is simply a matter of saying yes to
God’s desire to relate to us.” (pg 38)
Back to my story, I went to college at a Christian
liberal arts university in Arkansas where I studied social work and family
ministry, and I am married to Mark who is in his last semester at UT law
school.
After college and before I was
married, I lived in Zambia for two and a half years, where I was a missionary,
teaching American kids and discipling street kids, who had been kicked
out of their homes or run away and were surviving
by begging in the city. I was just as surprised
as anyone that I ended up in Africa, and even working
with teenage boys who are addicted to sniffing glue! I have lived
a very blessed life, but hadn’t grown up thinking I’d be a missionary. At times
I was a bit anxious about
Luke 12:48, which says
“From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one
who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
Maybe that’s one explanation of why
God called me to Africa where the discomforts of life are a bit more prevalent
than in the US. Although I’d never been to Africa before, in 2007, I moved to
Zambia, and it changed my life.
For one thing, that’s where I met Ruth, a Zambian lady who’s
a few years older than I am and who became my best friend. I’m
going to share some of her story, starting with what she wrote to me recently: “My
sister, it’s time for me to tell people what God has done in my life. The time
has come for me to tell the world what God has done! They need to know that we
serve a mighty, powerful God. What he has done for me, he can do it for them
too.”
History: Ruth had grown up without parents, moving
around among extended family members, eventually landing in her sister’s home. She
still has only a ninth grade education. At
16, just after choosing to give her life to Jesus, she became
pregnant by rape and became suicidal. Because of a number of
complexities, mostly cultural, Ruth did not tell the people at her church that
she had been raped. She became an
object of gossip at her church as a young mother with
a child and no one to provide for them.
When I met Ruth,
her daughter, Gina, was 7 years old. The three of us were housemates for a
year, and the way Ruth lived her life amazed and challenged me. I would hear
her up praying in the middle of the night. She was so involved with neighbors
who were in difficult situations and was a powerful mother figure and preacher
to the street kids we worked with. She has
had many health issues, possibly caused by the rape: painful menstrual cycles, surgeries,
uterine
cancer… Funny story: one time, I picked her up after a surgery.
She was still under anesthetics, and she said “Karen, is that really you? I
will know it’s you if you’re wearing a headband.” I realized one of the ways I
was coping with the ruggedness of Africa was by wearing my hair tucked back in
a headband everyday!
Through these and so many more hardships, Ruth has trusted
God to defend and provide for her and her daughter. She lives by Matthew
6:33 which says “Seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you
as well.”
2008
Last semester, my husband was studying at a university in
southern Africa, and by God’s providence, Ruth and Gina were living in the same
city so we got to reconnect!
Now: Gina is a beautiful teenage girl with incredible
potential, Ruth has found her passion in doing women’s ministry. Her
message is simple. She wrote: “God has laid something big on my heart. He told
me ‘Ruth, it’s not about you; it’s about
the souls that are out there.’ God has been teaching me how to be
humble and to serve others. It’s not me time; it’s others. God wants me help others. Remember,
my sister, God is faithful to you. The Bible says you can do all things through
Christ who gives you strength. Joshua
1:7-8 ‘Be strong and courageous.’
Don’t worry about anything; pray about everything. Don’t
allow the devil to steal the joy that God has given to you, my sister. He makes us focus on ourselves. This joy I
have, the world didn’t give to me.”
Ruth isn’t perfect.
She’s a lot like me. We had normal conflicts when we lived together, like how
late was okay for playing music and whether I had told her I didn’t
have my key so not to lock the door. She yells at her daughter and
gets scared. She’s a normal, sinful
human, but God has given her a much harder cross to bear than many of us and
He’s given her the faith to follow Him in the midst of hard stuff.
[Picture]
During my first week
in Zambia, Ruth and I went on a walk after dinner. It was dark, and the road
was in bad condition with lots of potholes. My eyes couldn’t see the potholes,
so I was walking very slowly. Her eyes had adjusted and she walked much quicker
than I because she knew where they were. God
calls us to different places and experiences. He gives us what we need and the
grace to sustain us in the unique circumstances He calls us to.
2013
Matt 16:24-27
“Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life
will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it
be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a
man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his
Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according
to what he has done.’”
There are a few things I want to pull out of Ruth’s story,
overlap with my story, and challenge you with.
We each have our own role in the Body of Christ. Of course,
we are all to bring glory to God, but it looks differently from person to
person. We must be doing what he has uniquely called us to. Ruth’s testimony
resonates deeply with some people who wouldn’t even want to talk to me.
Likewise, I am able to talk to people who would, to their own
detriment, brush her off as uneducated and therefore not worth
listening to. We must each take up our own cross.
Coming from a person who struggles with perfectionism and
judging, I’ve found helpful understanding in looking at the different stages in
our faith journeys. Examples of these stages are recognition of God,
discipleship, productivity, inward journey, outward journey and life of love. Often
depending on how long a person has been following Christ, their
life will look differently from mine. Some people go through the same stage a
few times throughout their lives. God is leading each of us in our own
spiritual timeline. We must not judge others because they are called to
different things or at different times than we are. This means accepting denominational differences
and working for unity within the church body here in our relationships at St.
Richards and in the church worldwide!) BUT that doesn’t mean sacrificing truth
for grace; where Scripture is explicit, we must stand firm even if it is
unpopular.
As God has given us unique strengths and life experiences,
he enables us to do the things he calls us to and his Grace is sufficient
for our weakness. (2 Cor 12:9-10) we may not have a life of convenience
and ease. We may be unpopular. We are called to take up our cross.
As women, we are especially prone to comparing ourselves
with others, physically, in our housekeeping or professional lives, how we
parent, and just about every other possible subject. When I lived in Zambia,
many ladies at my sending church would compare themselves to me and say “Oh, I
could never do that!” and put me on a pedestal of which I was NOT worthy. When
we look at what others are doing (even good people, even missionaries) and try
to emulate what they are doing instead of their relationships with God, we
compromise our own calling. We are not all meant
to be Amy Carmichal or Mother Teresa. But we can learn
from the way they loved people where God put them. We can sharpen
each other by sharing stories and learning from similar situations or mistakes.
As CHRISTIAN women, we are free to to
remember that our success is not based on how we measure up to anyone else but
it’s about our being faithful to God and obedient to what He’s told us to do,
what He’s called us to.
Some of you who know Mark and I are asking about our future.
We are living in a season of faith and hope, waiting on God to show us what
comes after law school as we pursue our callings.
