Being a Women of Influence

I read a quote over the weekend that I want to share with you this morning...

When I stand before God at the end of my life,

I hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left

and could say. "I used everything You gave me."

~Erma Bombeck

Now that describes a women of influence, don't you think? So the big question for this week is, "Am I using everything thing, every talent God has given me, to influence others towards God?". Does my life speak of one that would define what it is to be a contagious christian, a women of influence? Do I constantly stretch myself towards the heavenly? Am I growing each day to be more like Him? Do I make myself available to Him, seeing life as He has called me to see it? Do I believe that God can do anything in and through me?

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine,

according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory...

~Ephesians 3:20, 21a

No matter the journey we have been on and the journey we are in, God knows us, He knows our needs and He is motivated on our behalf. He cares about our heart, our ministry, our family and He will lead us in each of these. When our family or friends let us down, He will be there. When we are feeling struck down or in despair, He is our strength and our power.

But we have this treasure in jars of clay

to show that this all-surpassing power is from God

and not from us.

We are hard pressed on every side,

but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair;

persecuted, but not abandoned;

struck down, but not destroyed.

We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus,

so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.

~2 Corinthians 4:7-10

Only in God and God alone can we find our satisfaction in life. Only in God and God alone is contentment. It is in relying on Him, laying ourselves down before Him and admitting we are nothing without Him that we can experience His true workmanship in our lives and be an influence for His glory. A women of influence is a women of integrity and integrity is measured not by other peoples standards but by God's standards. When no one else is looking and God is, what does He see?

"It's never too late to be what you might have been"

~George Eliot"

This weekend my husband and I had a wonderful time of renewal in each other as we celebrated our anniversary in a remote log cabin but we also had a wonderful time of renewal in Christ as we spent many hours in spiritual study. Satan was quick to hit us with his ugliness once we returned home-but I have to be careful to not let these obstacles of Satan sidetrack me from whom I am in God. He has called me to first of all love Him with all my heart and mind-and I do. He has also called me to serve Him and my family as a women of grace, a women of influence, a wife, a mother and a stepparent. He has called me to be Jesus in this world, despite the obstacles, despite the roadblocks, despite anything negative I am faced with. God loves me. He has shown me His mercy and grace and it is only in this I can move forward and know that I can be a women of influence through Him! I can refuse to be blindsided by Satan's actions against me and live in the joy of Christ. Today, I choose to be Jesus in this cold and ugly world. I choose to be a women of influence to all those I am around.

What do you chose today? Will you allow Satan's negativity to ruin your day-the kid's attitudes, the housework that seems to never give you relief, the illness that is trying to steal your strength, the weariness of the weather or those hormones we have been blessed with? Or will you choose to be a women of influence and be Jesus in your world today?

In His Graces~Pamela

"Preach Jesus. If necessary, used words"

~Jo-Anne Cinanni