Growing up did you have a nickname? Over the years I’ve been called “Tidy-Heidi” or “Heidi-Ho” but my favourite one is what my friend Shaunie Brown calls me… “Heidelein.” It has no prophetic or profound meaning, but when Shaunie calls me by that name I feel accepted and cherished. I treasure that name in my heart.

The names people call us have an acute affect on our identity.

The names people call us have an acute affect on our identity. Sticks or stones may break our bones and disparaging names always do hurt us. If I were to tell you a story in the Bible about a “bleeding woman” you would immediately know whom I’m talking about. She was that nameless woman brave enough to push through the crowd to touch the hem of Jesus’ garment. The name of “bleeding woman” was her identify for 12 years and she was desperate for healing.

How about the lepers? During Jesus’ time lepers were condemned, cast away from society and were called “unclean.” In fact, leprosy meant that the diseased person had to tear his clothes, dishevel his hair and put a covering over his upper lip and shout “unclean, unclean.” Put yourself in the lepers shoes; isolated from society and your identity is “unclean.” It wrecks my heart to even write this.

What were some of things shouted out to you during your informative years? “You’ll never amount to anything.” “Why can’t you be more like your sister?” “Can’t you get anything right? ” “What is wrong with you?” Perhaps you internalized your own name of: stupid, incompetent, hopeless, disorganized or fill in the blank….

Back to the “bleeding woman.” When Jesus’ turned around and saw that the “bleeding woman” had touched his garment He said to her:

Daughter, be encouraged! Your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:22).

Wow, he called her daughter! This is the first time in the gospels that Jesus called someone “daughter.” Jesus did not see her as the “bleeding woman” but as “daughter.” This woman reached out to Jesus, was healed and her identity changed instantly.

The “bleeding woman’s” name was now “daughter.”

The leper? When he encountered Jesus he asked to be made well: “I want to,” he said, “Be healed!’ (Matthew 8:3). Immediately he was healed and was no longer “unclean.” His healing didn’t just change his name it changed his identity. Now he’s “clean” and allowed back into society to live out a normal life.

What about you? Do you also need an encounter with Jesus to heal you from self-imposed names of past shame, condemnation, guilt or failure? It’s hard for women to comprehend that our inadequacies and failures do not shape our identity. Shame is not your name. Failure is not your name. You are a daughter of the King, with a high calling and purpose. In spite of ALL of our inadequacies we are leaders.
Failure is not your name.

Through the power and authority through Christ we are to live out our prophetic calling and unclean names have no power to stop it. Jesus knows your name; he has it engraved on the palm of His hand, died for you so that you could be called his “daughter”. That’s who you are.

What self-imposed negative name do you call yourself?

Give it to Jesus so that you can be healed and know you are His “daughter.” Exceedingly, extravagantly and unconditionally.

Read about Heidi’s recent book Fresh Joy

This foolish plan of God (i.e. the message of the cross) is wiser than the wisest of
human plans, and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength. 1 Corinthians 1:25 NLT

Our church Mission Team was zooming with one of our Missionary families. In response to our sincere query about how they are doing now, six months into this pandemic, he said, “Truthfully, I’m feeling frustrated – just by all the uncertainty. We can’t plan anything. We can’t seem to get any momentum.”

A Pastor whose church has been pivoting brilliantly, first to on-line from their facility, to on-line from her living room, back to their facility then to both in-house and on-line, and now back to only on-line. All this while doing their best to be in touch with their seniors and those without internet access. “I’m a bit dizzy from the pivoting … I bought a little pack of Peanut M&Ms and sat down to catch my breath. Now what?”

We’re grieving the loss of SO MANY lives. We’re tired of waiting for things to return to normal. We’re fearful about the prospect of another lockdown, this time during winter weather, which will be even worse than the first lockdown.

Yet, we hear stories of unexpected blessings:

• people watching church services online who haven’t been to church for years, or maybe ever
• believers marvelling in the sense of God’s presence with them as they pray and worship in a small group – over Zoom!
• individuals reaching out with caring phone calls to others more than ever, not wanting anyone to feel forgotten and alone
• Christians banding together with other groups to care for those suddenly needing food
• learning new ways to minister under these circumstances
• realizing the benefits of more family time, more time to read, time to make home-cooked meals, even to bake bread or can fruit!

Unexpected blessings.

But, even more than these things, we ponder. Just as God’s amazing plan for the sacrifice of His Son to be the means of salvation and bringing many sons and daughters to glory, so might there be ways that God’s plan for these pandemic days is actually wiser than our human plans for ministry?

Might these wiser, stronger plans involve our learning to wait more in His Presence? Or our learning to trust Him more for amazing results?

Might they involve neighbours, impacted enough by our sense of peace and generous love, that they actually ask us about this?

As he was chafing under a thorn in his flesh, the Lord calmly spoke to Paul, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness”. Having come to understand this scripture, a beloved and frail old man noted, “Our inadequacies are God’s opportunities”.

How are God’s plans wiser than our best planning efforts? I don’t know.

Perhaps as His power works in our weakness, small coincidences happen, unexpected people step up to tasks, anticipation builds in our spirits. Maybe other things happen.

Let’s watch.

He may, yet again, accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think!

This foolish plan of God is wiser than the wisest of human plans,
and God’s weakness is stronger than the greatest of human strength.”

What makes a leader? What is it that defines the soul of the one who stands at the front of the line? There are many characteristics that one could use to describe the many facets of a leader, but time and time again I find myself pondering the same question when I lead or am myself led by those who have gone before me:

Do we lead by our opinion or our conviction?

We don’t have to go much further than the local news or any online media outlet to see those in leadership and come to our own conclusions favouring one side or the other. But we’re not responsible nor accountable for the decisions of others. We’re responsible and accountable for our own.

If we peel open the onion-skin pages of scripture we will find, buried deep nearly to the end of the Old Testament, a leader who must have battled his pride over God’s will to bring truth to the light.

Haggai was a prophet of the Lord given the task of preaching to the Jewish people. It was nearly 20 years after their exile from Babylon and they were vulnerable, disappointed, and greatly discouraged as they began the difficult process of rebuilding their lives in the land of Judah. The Jews became very self-focused on their own tasks and interests as opposed to the rebuilding of The Lords temple. And Haggai had a most challenging task of speaking and preaching truth in order to bring the people out of their emotional famine into a spiritual feast.

Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai:

Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says:

Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

As a preacher and leader of the people, Haggai would have witnessed much. He would have counselled much. He would have certainly listened much as the people poured out their hearts lamenting about all they lacked in their lives.

I venture to make the assumption that because Haggai was of flesh and bone, he would have wrestled with the truths he was commissioned to declare. And perhaps he would have doubted his words thinking the people of his fold would shun him believing he was speaking of personal opinion and not declaring the Word of the Lord by the spiritual conviction to do so.

But alas, the Word promises to never come back void for a convicted heart cannot go unchanged. Conviction is a firmly held belief and if it comes from the Holy Spirit, it will be received and accepted by the hearts God has prepared to hear it. Our personal opinions have the ability to stand in the way of God’s truth and, more often than not, God’s timing when moulding the delicate soul of another.

As we lead, let us learn from Haggai and powerful testimony he left for us. When we lead and desire to lead well through times of vulnerability, disappointment, and discouragement, let us set aside our personal opinions seeking the conviction of the Spirit who is constantly at work within us.

I recently finished a novel entitled Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson. In the last pages, she depicts the old preacher who paints a beautiful portrait of the prairie sunrise and sunset with nothing to distract the view. To absorb the beauty of a sunrise or a sunset, one must stay focused as once it hits the horizon it does not take long to disappear. He likens it to a passage of scripture from the book of Job, ‘when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God sang for joy.’ We only have moments to captivate the beauty of such experiences as they last for such a little time.

We will long remember 2020 when COVID-19 took over the world and everything changed. One of the more significant commodities was time. As a result, items such as bicycles, pressure-treated wood, puzzles, flour and yeast, to name a few, were hard to find. Why? There was TIME!

Many of life’s experiences can only be measured in moments.

Missing a moment can be the difference of seeing your child smile for the first time, or the first step on his journey in life.

It is the little things that make special moments. Paying attention and practicing gratitude can give us the most extraordinary moments.

Live for the moment, never a dull moment, just a moment. If we could only have this life for just one more day, one more hour. Moments on mountain tops and moments in despair. Solomon had learned some deep truths about moments … “a time to dance, a time to mourn … ”

There are no ordinary moments.

Moments with God can change the entire perspective of the day. I have experienced special moments with God where I discovered something new about who he was and who I am. Nothing earth shattering. Simple things like seeing him in my flower boxes on my balcony. Listening to the trees clapping their hands in the gentle breeze on my daily walks. Listening to the song, “We Are Standing on Holy Ground”. Waking up to a summer thunderstorm.

There are special moments that should not be shared with anyone, just between you and God.

2020 has given us an amazing opportunity to stop, reflect, prioritize, and become aware of just how fragile and out of our control life can be.

This moment is a miracle and it is always the right moment to do the right thing.

For what is your life? It is even a mist that appears for a little time, then vanishes.” James 4:14

You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”  Genesis 50:20 (NIV)

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

Joseph’s life experiences in the book of Genesis are an example of how God can work things out for our good. As a young man, he grew up having dreams. At 17 years, hell broke loose on him and he found himself in the hands of strangers who ended up selling him to Potiphar’s house where he also became a victim of unjust imprisonment.

But while Joseph was in prison, the Lord was with him. He showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. God took the disorder sown by the devil upon the life of Joseph to fulfill His purposes through Joseph’s life. All that happened to Joseph in prison was God’s preparation for him to rise up to a higher rank of service in Egypt – an indication of God’s good intention for His people in any crisis including the pandemic we are experiencing now.

It is important to note the following:

1. In every challenging season we go through, God’s good intention is to shape us to become who he intends us to be.The experiences Joseph went through at the hands of his brothers and the Midianite merchants, as well as in Potiphar’s house and even in prison, explain how God uses challenging situations to produce persevering people that have hope in the promises of God.
2. There is no situation that has the power to destroy you.
   We serve a mighty God who will not allow the intentions of your enemies to be fulfilled. He will turn the tables around for you so as to glorify himself through your life.
3. In every crisis, there are opportunities for good.
   Joseph, at Potiphar’s house was raised to be a leader, in prison he was an interpreter of dreams and in charge of other prisoners. During such challenging times, we need to pause, reflect and re-evaluate, asking God to open our eyes to the opportunities that we do not see. There is a miracle in every storm and Christ is in every crisis. God will not lead us to a place where his grace will not keep us. Recognizing these opportunities in a crisis will enable us to be better today than we were yesterday and to be better tomorrow than we are today.

Eunice Monda – Kenya Programs Coordinator