Guest Blog: Stasi Eldredge

 Stasi runs Ransomed Heart Ministry with her husband John, and is the author of  'Captivating' and 'Becoming Myself'.

It has begun.

    So here you are reading a blog.  Hi there!  I'm writing on a Wednesday afternoon and the God of the universe knew you would be reading these words today.  How crazy is that?  How does he do that?  I love that about him.  So, take these words as you will - maybe they are for you today. Maybe not.  But either way, know that you are seen by the King of creation who knows what you just ate, what you just thought and what you were just irritated by.  And he is madly in love with you.  Right now.  Yes.  Now.

    As a woman in her mid-50s (ok, 54 if you want to know), I became the older woman that scripture talks about a while ago.  And sometimes I get asked for guidance by younger women who are trying to find their way in what is at times a confusing world.  They want to be living in their calling.  They want to be doing Kingdom work!  They want to be somewhere else.  And sometimes, they want to be someone else.  Do you ever wonder how to get where you want to be but aren’t? How to offer what you feel you were meant to offer?

    Here's the good news.  You get there from here.  You get where it is you long to go one small step at a time and you are on your way.  Zechariah 4:10 says, "Do not despise these small beginnings."  Women in positions of leadership, out and about visible to the world, impacting lives for the Kingdom of God have been doing that for decades with most of those decades being spent away from the eyes of others.  They began small.  One faithful hidden step at a time.

    Like you, they went to Bible Study.  They brought their neighbors meals. They asked questions of the teenagers hanging around the park.  They dove into the Word of God desperate for Jesus.  They longed for intimacy with God.  They sought healing.  They cried a lot.  They poured their hearts out to Jesus in worship.  They opened themselves up to the eyes of others to help them grow into the woman they longed to be.

    The question isn't how do I get to the place I long to be or to the position I long to have.  The question is, how can I love Jesus today, move more deeply into his heart and love those he puts in my path?  

Do that.  

Start small.  

Seek Christ.  

    You may not be traveling the world, speaking to stadiums, or even getting a pay check.  But you are a believer so you are an ambassador of Christ.  God is beseeching others through you to be reconciled to him.  Your life isn't waiting for you to get to a certain place, it has already begun.  You are living it.  It has begun.  And that, my dears, is very good news.