Is your fear of disappointing others keeping you from your best yes?
You know that a new season of ministry is ahead, but it will leave an empty space you’ve always filled.
You’re supposed to move in a new direction, but that new move is discouraged by those you care about.
You’ve carved out space in your calendar for something meaningful and that means saying no to other activities.
This isn’t about throwing off all our responsibilities, but rather saying no to some things so that we can say yes to God’s leading.
Last year Richard and I moved from Oklahoma to Arkansas. We left several disappointed people in the wake of that decision. We had prayed about it. We listened.
We knew it was time.
Our pastor hung his head, happy for us but sad for him.
A couple of people we love a lot were disappointed to the point of anger.
So, so hard.
But that yes lead to a new ministry with a group of amazing women who battle hard circumstances and who love Jesus with all of their heart. Every week I get to meet with these women in my home, and we learn about Jesus together!
It’s absolutely where I’m supposed to be.
That best yes led to a job where my husband makes a difference in the lives of little ones who need an advocate. It also offered provision we didn’t expect.
What if I had caved into those fears of disappointing others?
What if I ignored my best yes?
What is God speaking to your heart?
Are you listening?
Have you delayed a yes because of the disappointment of others?
What is your best yes?
Suzie
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This post is part of Lysa TerKeurst’s “The Best Yes” Blog Tour which I am delighted to be a part of along with many other inspiring bloggers. To learn more and join us, CLICK HERE. (https://goo.gl/bQVJW0)
My best yes today will be trust God and His timing. Right now I am having a hard time understanding why certain things are/ are not happening. I must remember His ways are not my ways; and His thoughts are not my thoughts. And constantly recite Romans 8:28.
Lord, thank you for Courtney’s faithfulness. Thank you for her love for you, her trust for you, in the hard places. Thank you that her #bestyes is to find all that she needs in You. In Jesus’ name. {Reaching with a huge hug and the words, “you are so brave.”}
Ny best yes has been trusting God when I can not see the path through pain and loneliness. it is trusting one step at a time.
That is a beautiful #bestyes.
My best yes was taking on custody of my two grandsons who are now 7 & 8 years old!
Debi, what a beautiful #bestyes.
My best yes is leading a class on “Single & Parenting” this fall at my church.
My friend, Jennifer Maggio, LOVES single parenting and single moms. Have you seen her great resources? I hope you check them out! https://jennifermaggio.com/
My best yes was leaving the financial comfort of having a job to launch a ministry with my husband.
Although many questioned the wisdom of this decision, my husband and I knew the Lord was calling us to take this step in obedience. Once we did, God immediately started to put things in order for us to bring the ministry forward. Not only has God blessed our ministry, but saying yes to God in this also opened the doors for me to respond to the call to write.
Choosing my best yes was not easy, but once I did, I realized the blessings that I would have missed if I would not have respond in obedience.
I’m a girl who moved away when it made no sense, so I get it! We are exactly where we should be, and it wasn’t an easy process getting here, but God confirms over and over that we followed where He led.
Wow. What a beautiful powerful encouraging post this was. One of my best yes’s was saying no to the career missionary path I had taken to live in Nepal. I loved loved living there and serving there but I knew God was calling me to something else, something with a different scope. So He moved me back to my home where one of my best yes’s has been helping start a church plant in my home town and starting my dream ministry Coming Alive ministries.
Isn’t it hard to let go of something you’ve invested in? And yet it’s all part of it. We hold those things with open hands, and pass them to the next person in the next season when we’re called to do so. <3 Love this!
One of my recent best yes’s came when I followed through and obeyed God. He’d been leading me to do something, but it required stepping out with confidence in God and myself. Not always an easy thing for me to do! One night I prayed one more Gideon prayer asking God to show me what to do(one more time just so I was sure:). The next AM I woke up knowing He’d speak through His Word…I contemplated what devo to read and it was quietly impressed on my heart to just do my daily Bible reading…I was led to the book of Jonah. And then convicted of running from God and the assignment He had for me. I called up one of the gals on our ministry team shared what I was being led to do, she responded with her best yes and said, “We can’t argue with the Holy Spirit.” Saturday I did the close of our women’s event in stead of our booked speaker…who Satan assured me would have done better, but Sunday morning she posted a pic on FB of the promise she’s received after I’d led women to lay their messes down and said that she’d been blessed. That was one of my prayers as I lived out my best yes and God answered it and blessed me back!!!
Monday night I was with a group of friends and we all talked about our “Jonah” moments. Love this!
Thank you so much for this posting today! I too have just experienced my best yes by moving my family to another state with leaving behind some people who were disappointed to the point of being angry. In the midst of everything my husband & I know we have obeyed the calling of the Lord & he is unfolding his plan slowly but surely and we are absolutely overwhelmed with joy & gratitude for everything he has done.
I pray that as they watch God move in and through You, that they begin to rejoice with you in this new venture with God.
My best yes today was just taking the time this morning after i was dressed to walk outside and appreciate God’s beautiful sunrise. Lingering there this morning as I silently prayed and gave my day to Him was my best yes for today. Often life and ministry pulls me in all kinds of different directions. My best yes today? Being still enough to receive the beautiful gift of His sunrise. Just taking the time. Just taking that time this morning.
Love this!
You are the winner of The Best Yes! Can you send me your mailing address? suzieeller@gmail.com
Yep, I’ve been right there with you. I haven’t moved (because my husband will never be moving this farm 😉 but I did say yes to quitting my very good-paying job to be home with my children and yes to homeschooling, both decisions which a lot of people didn’t quite see as the best choice. Yet here I am almost a year later and we are surviving and thriving as a family in ways that we never could with our previous situation. God is good and He always provides…especially when we get out of the way. 😉 Love this post and love your heart for saying YES!
I love seeing your pictures and following your stories on the farm. <3
I’ve had several Best Yes moments and probably most of them were taken in fear and finally in Faith. My latest is a new blog I’ve started from the encouragement of many Compel Training friends. It’s been fun setting it up and sharing with others. I’m excited about where this Best Yes to God will take me. Love you Suzie.
Yay, Barbara!
A recent best yes was a difficult decision. I served as a Client Advocate at a pregnancy center for over two years, ministering to women in crisis pregnancies. After much prayer and confirmation, God led me to leave my position there to lead Women’s Ministries at my church. It was made clear to me after several meetings between the center and Women’s Ministry began to conflict. I could not do both with excellence. I can see now God’s hand in the transition; He can now use me to minister to women of all ages and life seasons. He also allowed an opening at the pregnancy center for another woman to answer her best yes.
hello.. thank you so much for having this great chance at winning this great book. i’m not sure what my best yes is i don’t really do much in my life, im a stay at home mom, with 5 children, I think my best yes is being brave raising my children, I know I have some fears, and I don’t like thinking about them. I’m trying my best at my best yes.
I think the #unrushme message in The Best Yes is so critical for brave moms like you. It’s slowing life down to enjoy those little ones, even in the harder moments. I hear you, Amber. It sounds like a huge #bestyes to me!
My best yes. Suzie, was taking a sabbatical from all electronics/Internet/cell phones and getting away and investing with my family last week. It was a priceless time.
I have marked my calendar for December 10th through the 30th as a no-electronics sabbatical. I truly look forward to it!
My best yes was when I decided to sell my house and move in with my daughter and her family. It has been such a blessing to be there and help out with my new little grandson who was born after I had been there about 8 months. Truly a blessing for them , because I am able to help out so much – but oh what a blessing for ME! I am so thankful the Lord made the path clear for this to happen. Thank you for your encouraging blogs and may God continue to guide and bless you!
I lived with our daughter and SIL and little one for a short time as we were transitioning. They loved having a built-in sitter so they could just go to WalMart and hold hands. <3 Sometimes we forget how hard it is just to have me time when you’re a young mom.
My best yes is pursuing the call God has placed on my life to write. It hasn’t been easy getting by on only my husband’s income, but God has been faithful, and I know I’m intentionally pursuing my best yes : )
It’s not easy, but God provides in such a rich way. Not in excess, but in daily needs and that’s all we truly need, right? What a beautiful thing to run after God’s call on your life.
I believe that if you are in fear of disappointing someone with your no it is easy to become confused about what direction the Lord is actually leading you to do or pursue. Sometimes you could begin questioning yourself in what you are truly hearing. I am currently in a situation where I am questioning and feel as though I am at a fork in the road. If I go the direction of saying yes, I know what decision is going to look like and its not necessarily a bad thing. If I say no and begin to move in a new direction, I am choosing the path that leads to a place that I don’t know what it will look like or how people will react. I am at the fork. I am at that point where I choose to say yes and go with what is familiar, or step out into the water and have faith that Jesus is there to take my hand when I step out into the water.
Either way I go, I have to trust. I have to trust not only God, but myself. #truth
This is a good blog…. feel like God is reading my mail. 🙂 And I do enjoy the fact that your blog gets emailed to my inbox. #score