When the Lord Gives you a Vision: Choose Obedience
Dear Momma,
Joyce Meyer once shared that her ministry began as the most beautiful picture and vision from the Lord, comparing this vision to those pictures you’d see on the front of a puzzle box. She could see the vision and the picture in her mind before ever living this picture out with the Lord. As she said ‘yes’ to the Lord, she then realized she was opening up a 6,000 piece puzzle and spoke about how living out her walk with the Lord was like laying all of the pieces of the puzzle on the table and putting one piece of the puzzle together at a time, with Him, throughout her entire life. Staring at the thousands of pieces and at the same time seeing the vision from the Lord are two totally different experiences. After decades of walking with Him, that picture has come together. While I’ve been in the process of saying ‘yes’ more to my Heavenly Father, I can relate.
I believe the Lord gave me a beautiful vision. This small puzzle, I’d call it a 60 piece puzzle vision-maybe not a 6,000 piece puzzle at the moment, that was something only God Himself could have orchestrated. Whether it’s a 6,000 piece puzzle or a 60 piece puzzle, the impact for the Kingdom is eternal. As I sit in the quiet of my living room with Him, I’m jotting down a few beautiful lessons I’m learning, while leaning into obedience with Him, staring at my 60 pieces of puzzle on my table, and seeing the vision that Lord has placed on my heart and mind.
If we remain obedient to Him, the picture or vision that He gives us will come together in only a way He can make happen. He will help us put each piece together with the right people at the right time. That picture He’s given is so beautiful and this particular vision was not meant just for my eyes to be seen. It is for Him and the Glory of His Kingdom.
Jesus’ first “I am” statement was “I am the Bread of Life” in Scriptures. During the time Jesus was walking on earth, bread was a person’s sustenance. It was needed to literally live off of. People need nourishment for their bodies. People literally need food to survive, and this is true of Him. We need to keep coming back to Him every single day for more and more and more. Without Him, we can’t be sustained and it’s impossible to be spiritually nourished.
Much of Jesus’ ministry occurred around a table. I believe He wants us to make that part of each of our lives as well. Lives can be changed around a table. Making uninterrupted time with the Church family brings a smile to our Father’s face.
Being obedient isn’t as much about me as it is about Him.
Whether your puzzle piece is 6,000 or 6, the vision matters and walking it out matters.
The enemy is trying to throw more arrows of lies at me now, even more than before I said, “yes” to my Heavenly Father. I’m reminded that through being obedient, though:
Young girls were able to hear from and ask questions of Godly women
Godly women were able to witness to girls and mom’s and share stories about how and when they came to the Lord, how they cried out to the Lord, how they were also once lost but have been found.
Mothers were able to hear others pray over their daughters and pray over their own daughters as well, perhaps for the first time like this
Women were not only teaching, but showing what it looks like to be a hospitable woman
We were able to have a slice of Heaven, “on earth as it is in Heaven”, coming together to fellowship, pray, listen and laugh
The enemy has already lost this War and has no hold on me or you
I’m reminded that God doesn’t owe me or you anything and truly, even if He never did another thing for me, He’s already done everything.
The vision He gave me was of a woman of many years in her kitchen, surrounded by a few girls and their moms, sharing a favorite recipe and sharing an experience pointing every girl and woman in the room towards our Heavenly Father. I could smell the beautiful aromas of the foods being made, hear the laughter filling the kitchens, and see how the Lord would catch every tear shared around that kitchen island or table. I envisioned girls and women learning about a different side of their Heavenly Father they never quite knew. It was so sweet. The vision centered around Titus 2:3-5 and women opening their homes, being hospitable, teaching young girls how to be Godly women and modeling in real time what that looks like, feels like, and sounds like.
This was the most beautiful vision.
I shared this with my husband. He reminded me that there are two paths to take:
Be obedient or don’t.
I felt just a small slice of what Joyce Meyer described as her ministry with the 6,000 piece puzzle as she poured it on the table. I could see the beautiful picture, but I felt overwhelmed in the moment with which piece to begin with as I kept seeing the beautiful picture in my mind.
It’s funny how the Enemy circles back around with lies and doubt, the same lies mind you that he has been trying to share for centuries: Who do you think you are? You think God really called you to bring people together in His name? What kind of mom are you really? Don’t you remember all the times you’ve failed?
Have you heard these thoughts of doubt before? I’ve learned that even if we make the slightest agreement with any of the doubts or lies the enemy sends our way, it holds us back from that beautiful picture God has painted for us, even though we can’t even fully see it yet.
These arrows the enemy was sending my way reminded me that I’m absolutely on the right path and taking the path of obedience, no matter what comes with that. Believe me when I say, there were quite a few arrows.
The next step for me was to call a sister in Christ, my good friend Brittani. She said, ‘let’s do this’! What a blessing to have a sister in Christ! We began dividing up what our next steps would be, so I called Jen, one of our pastors at church and Brittani reached out to one of our youth pastors as well. Funny enough, when Jen answered the phone, she shared that she was with the entire Pastoral team and asked if it was ok if I shared the vision the Lord gave me with the team on speaker phone. At the same time, the youth pastor’s phone was ringing with Brittani following up from our conversation. After sharing the vision, Jen along with the team said, “Do it!”
As soon as I connect with a Pastor, we get the Pastoral TEAM right away and we get the go ahead?
The Lord makes the way, doesn’t He?
We began praying about this. We began planning. The Lord told my husband that it needs to happen at the beginning of November. Well, I don’t know about you, but planning anything with mom’s who have families can be challenging due to the number of events already on a calendar. Planning the week or two before Thanksgiving also makes me a little nervous. Brittani and I tried for the first week of November, without realizing our church had a women’s event that Saturday as well. So, we adjusted to the next weekend in November. Once we decided on this date, it seemed as if we would be good to go. However, within a day or two we were hearing through the grapevine of birthdays and other things going on within the church. I felt a little bit discouraged, but knew what the Lord placed on my heart and knew that a couple of scheduling conflicts with a few wouldn’t hold us back on action steps we needed to take, for whoever was supposed to receive this blessing.
We continued to pray. Lord, make this experience Yours. Make this plan Yours. Make everything about this process, Yours.
The Lord continued to make a way.
Brittani and I spent about 4 hours together at a coffee shop beginning with prayer, sharing laughs, sharing frustrations and planning out what this can look like. I’m so thankful for my sister in Christ. During this visit, the Lord brought some beautiful women who poured over us words of encouragement while sitting in this coffee shop.
During this step of the process, He brought more sisters in Christ to pour over us with words of encouragement as we were getting started. He continued to remind us that this is for His Glory and His Kingdom and that more girls and women will come to Him because He will make a way.
I began writing letters to every girl and woman who would be coming to the event. We began organizing who would be going to whose house and specifying the logistics. Brittani created beautiful invitations and finding the most beautiful decor, definitely a gift of hers! We believed it was important for everyone to have an idea of what the purpose of this time together was. We believed it was important for women to begin praying well before the experience and for girls to have language with how they’d be spending their time.
With the first time you do anything, you learn quite a bit. Taking steps with the Lord is no different.
We continued to pray and invite others into praying, too.
As I began studying Titus, I was reminded of how crucial it is for our girls (as well as our moms) to have other women in their lives teaching the Word and modeling what that looks like, too. I was reminded of how important it is to have women open their homes to show girls what a Godly woman of hospitality looks like, sounds like, and how she operates. We prayed specifically over women who could pour into these young ladies, and the Lord showed me how many amazing women we are surrounded by in our very church and our places of work.
I realized that for one night, these women will be able to share a small slice of their story, a slice of their time, a slice of their homemade amazing pies, but truthfully they’re sharing an experience that is a little slice “on earth as it is in Heaven”.
One of the lessons I’ve learned is that what’s even more important than preparing for the event or preparing the dish, is preparing and posturing my heart to and for Him so I can be a vessel for His Kingdom.
How powerful is it for young girls (and moms) to spend time with and talk to women of God who are living their lives for Him? So, you’re wondering how this all went? Well we had nearly 60 girls and women join together in fellowship, teaching, praying and breaking bread together. I think it had to be similar to the Church described in Acts! Girls and moms were in the homes of women baking. All of the girls and women joined together and brought their dish to Brittani’s barn for more food, fellowship, teaching, conversation and memories of a lifetime. This was a Holy Spirit filled time and I’m so excited for our next one!
My sister in Christ, Brittani, has always wanted to use her Barn for Kingdom work, and that barn was filled and beautiful!
Girls were able to listen to the women in the Church share their stories with some powerful questions. This time was Holy Spirit inspired. After the women shared their stories with each of these questions, the girls were then able to ask the women of the Church questions. The questions went on for nearly an hour or more it seemed and girls were on the edges of their seats wanting more and more wisdom from these women. What a powerful move of the Spirit before we began praying over the girls. For some, this was the first time a daughter heard their mother pray aloud for her or heard other women pray aloud for her daughter. Talk about impacting relationships and generations to come!
Sisters, when the Lord gives you a vision and a heart on fire, listen to Him and open up that box of puzzle pieces. I don’t know anyone who can put a puzzle together any other way than one piece at a time. He will show you the first step. He will open doors and make a way. He will place the right people with you along the way. Be confident!
The world needs you to step into His vision, that ministry He has placed on your heart. Our children and households need you to step into His plan with Him. Our neighborhoods and Church family need you to step into that vision with Him. Whether your ministry impacts six people or sixty million, it will have an impact on all eternity and THAT is the story I want to be part of!
A week or so after this event, I was dropping off laundry in my daughter’s room. I noticed a piece of paper on the small table in her room on top of her books and next to her alarm clock. Mommas, you never know the impact of saying yes to the Lord, but I believe it’ll impact generations to come and have a ripple effect on eternity.
Go ahead! Take that first step!
Let’s turn our Eyes to Jesus because it’s all for His Glory.
In love,
Kassie Leigh