Leadership Tips & Training Choose to Celebrate

To be honest, I really do not feel like celebrating or writing an article about celebrations. I have been under a cloud and can't seem to come out from under it. This is not like me at all. My personality would be described as sanguine. I am usually the eternal optimist. I can be down in the dumps one minute or upset about what someone did to me, but hours later I have totally forgotten what made me upset. Yet, for some reason, I have allowed the negative, poor me thoughts to take over my thinking. They have crowded out all evidence of joy. I cried out to the Lord this morning and asked Him to speak to me and to break through these feelings of hopelessness. 

He did it!   He broke through the darkness. Psalm 18:28 - 29 says, "For Thou dost light my lamp; The LORD my God illumines my darkness. For by Thee I can run upon a troop; And by my God I can leap over a wall." I opened my last new email that I had received overnight and there it was, "Those Negative Voices," a devotional from my dear friend, Elizabeth Crews. It spoke right to my heart and I pray it will speak to yours as well. Are you preparing for a victory celebration and feel like there is really nothing to celebrate? Do you feel like you should step down from First Place leadership because you just don't feel like you will ever influence your members for good? Well, the answer is found in God's Word. Choose this day to believe the truth of His Word and choose to celebrate the blessings that God will bring out of any seemingly defeated situation. Thank you, Elizabeth, for sharing the light with us.

Those Negative Voices

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 10:5

    Three summers ago, my daughter Sheri, my twin grandsons and I went to Disneyland for a three-day vacation. Sheri had just completed a rigorous Master's Degree program, a dream we had pulled together to make reality. It was time to celebrate the victory! However, the morning before we were scheduled to leave, I woke up in pain. My arthritic right knee was inflamed and swollen. Walking without the aid of a cane was impossible. The negative voices in my head immediately began their litany: although I had been part of the work, I would not be part of the celebration. The hostile voices assured me that circumstances had once again intervened to keep me from reaping the fruits of my labors.   However, the voice of my Scottish mother also spoke up. We had already paid for the tickets--and there was a "no cancellation, no refund" policy included in our reservations. Reluctantly, I went on the trip, cane in hand, resigned to park myself on a bench and watch the others having fun, while I nursed my wounds on the sideline. As I walked through the turnstile, the attendant at the gate saw my obvious impairment. She told me to go to the Fire Station on Main Street where I could get a priority seating badge that would allow us to get onto the park rides without waiting in lines. As I limped down Main Street and walked through the Fire Station, I had hope. Perhaps those negative voices were wrong.   Maybe I was not resigned to the sidelines after all. For the next three days, the entire family enjoyed the benefits of Nana's priority seating badge. What could have been a limitation turned out to be a tremendous benefit for the entire family; all four of us were allowed to go to the front of the long lines, and sit in special places reserved for folks with limited mobility. My grandsons thought Nana's "bum knee" was a blessing. So did I; I was reminded that God gives priority seating to those who are willing to limp along and join in the celebration, regardless of the circumstances that threaten to steal their joy.

    Recalling that story also brought to mind a 12-step program saying: "When I'm in my head, I'm behind enemy lines"--and the words of the Apostle Paul about demolishing arguments that are against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought captive to Christ. It is so much easier for me to recognize false doctrine in others than to see it in myself! What I have come to realize is that the litany of negative voices that repeats itself over and over in my head is much more damaging than outside circumstances that threaten my faith. Had I stopped to challenge those voices before they convinced me I was once again destined to sit on the sidelines while the others enjoyed a victory celebration, I would have known this was not God's will, or God's way. One of God's universal laws is the law of sowing and reaping. The negative tapes in my head would like for me to believe that I had worked hard, but there would be no reward. God's Word tells me otherwise. He promises a reward for our labors, a bountiful harvest when we sow and diligently tend the field. My responsibility is to destroy the negative thoughts and begin looking for God's blessings. Blessings that often manifest themselves in ways that do not conform to my preconceived expectations of what a blessing "should" look like!

    Recalling that incident also made me wonder how many blessings I have missed because I chose to listen to the negative litany instead of bringing my negative thoughts captive to Christ--the living Word of God. Today, it is my prayer that all of us will have the courage to challenge those voices that tell us God's plans for us are not good and that He does not reward those who seek Him. Then, having captured the culprits, that we finish our work by quickly demolishing them, lest we miss the blessing God has in store for those who love Him.

    Taken From Crews Missals
    By Elizabeth Crews
    crewsmissals@cox.net


Lead on!

Nancy Taylor
Leadership Training Director



Nancy Taylor is the First Place Leadership Training Director and joined the First Place staff in 1997. Nancy teaches leadership principles to First Place Leaders throughout the country and at Houston's First Baptist Church where she coordinates all the First Place groups. Nancy also speaks at First Place workshops, rallies, retreats, and conferences, where she delights her audiences with humor and encourages them with boldness. She writes a monthly article, which includes helpful tips for leaders, for the First Place E-newsletter, and was a contributing writer to the Today is the First Day devotional book. Nancy is the resident First Place Bible Concordance because of her love for Scripture memory.