To encourage and strengthen one another through a tumultuous year, our sisters in the Champaign Church of Christ (Illinois, USA) wrote and shared their devotional thoughts through a “Women’s Ministry Minute” on their church’s website during 2020.  The quiet time devotionals were written by and for Christian women to build each other up in faith as we all focus our hearts on Jesus.

Here are a few of the devotionals from the series.  To see more, visit the Champaign Church website:  https://champaignchurch.org/womens-ministry-minute

Letter from Yolanda

By Yolanda O’Connor 

From Me 

Right Here in This Centered Space 

Deep Within the Depths of My Heart 

No Suggested Motive, Just My Reflections

On Any Given Day for A Minute 

To You 

Wherever You May Be 

In A Place Today That Is Your Journey

No suggested Outcome, Just Your Reflection

Dear Reader of This Ministry Minute,

I wanted to take time today to say it’s okay. I am learning to say it’s okay. I may not always like what has been placed before me, but I am learning to say that it’s okay. I am not always going to find the peace that I desire.  I am not always going to find the answers to my questions of why. I am not always going to be happy about the pain or confusion whether it be physical, emotional, or mental. However, that’s okay. There is a centering of the soul and heart that takes place when I am able to say it’s okay. Okay, may not mean that I agree. It simply means to me that on this day—maybe not tomorrow—but on this day it’s okay. 

This idea of being okay gives me great joy in that I do not have to pretend to like every event in my life.  The idea that It’s okay simply gives me freedom to go to God, my Father and acknowledge that I cannot control His plan. Now truly He doesn’t need my approval or words of affirmation, but because He cares for me, He allows me to wrestle within and get centered to the point where I can admit that it’s okay. 

Psalm  46:10 reads:  “He says, “ Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

You see. that scripture gives me the freedom to say and believe it’s okay.  I believe that this scripture takes away the power of my anxiety, my pain, my uncertainty about tomorrow. It allows me to say that it is okay. Whatever “it” is. I am told to BE STILL and to KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.

In 2018 a simple doctor’s appointment changed my life. I went in for a simple checkup and hours later I was being told that I had multiple small pulmonary embolisms in my lungs.  Because they were so small, operating was not a consideration. I was confused, angry and, let me tell you, it was not okay. This was not what I had planned for my life. I was trying to live a life for Christ and now this.  I was not still. The healing process was spiritual, mental, physical. and emotional. Others prayed for me because I really couldn’t pray. It wasn’t okay and I didn’t want to pray. Others prayed for me. They helped me to be still.  People following the scripture of James 5:16b was a saving grace. Their prayers were powerful and effective and I survived.

As time went on, even before I was told that the medication was working, I had to surrender to the point that I could say and believe that it is okay. My heart had to be trained to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD. As I started to say this out loud and to remind myself by writing it on post-it notes and in conversations, this scripture started to sink in. Honestly, whenever and wherever I started to believe this scripture, I noticed that I started to BE STILL and become centered in the fact that HE IS GOD.

Daily challenges, some big, some small, still arise and I am regularly challenged to BELIEVE that I ICAN BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD.  Do I still have times where I am not STILL and I don’t KNOW that HE IS GOD?  Absolutely. Those days and events scare me the most.  Between you and me I don’t like those times of testing, but it’s okay. I simply must (easier said than done) BE  STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD and it’s okay. To those who read this Ministry Minute, may you be centered today as you continue to BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD. Wherever you are on your journey, May you be still and know that today is not the final destination, for the direction of your path may change even daily. However, BEING STILL AND KNOWING that TODAY is simply a building block. Your journey?  To be Continued… 

Much Love and Prayer,

From Me 

Right Here in This Centered Space 

Deep Within the Depths of My Heart 

No Suggested Motive, Just My Reflections