WINGS started while I was still at Circileville Bible College(now Ohio Christian University) the second time. In '79 I graduated the first time with a Bible Diploma, equivalent of an Assoc. Degree, in Bible, with a consentration in Christian Education. The second time around, '91 - '93, I was finishing my Bachelor's in Christian Ministry and preparing for ordination.
The idea of "women in need growing strong" - the acronym for WINGS had been swirling in my head at night for months. I was a woman that God was helping to heal and grow strong. I began to put the idea out there. Galion CCCU church invited me to do a women's weekend retreat. WINGS: Women In Need Growing Strong was launched.
Twenty year later, I realize that only certain layers have healed. Underneath, in my emotional suitcase, are more layers that await His touch. Sobbing, while sitting with 8,000 other Women of Faith in Pittsburgh last weekend, I felt some of the deeper layers begging for attention.
Suitcase in hand...Jesus, help me start unpacking again.
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Already Today...
Leaving Whitecliff today, after our weekly nursing home service, I told one of the staff to check out my new blogs. Already so many positive encouragememnts. Thanks!!!
What God Wants for Women ~ Chapter Two
Chapter Two: What Does God Want for Women?
"Many women have done wonderful things,
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!
but you've outclassed them all!"
Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised
is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!
Proverbs 31:30 – 31MSG
~ Visioneering WINGS
“With vision there is no room to be frightened. No reason for intimidation. It's time to march forward!” Charles Swindoll
Our culture asks “What do women want?” Movies, magazines, designers, and men spend billions of dollars annually on researching, advertising, manufacturing, and buying every product imaginable to satisfy the needs of women. WINGS, as a women’s mentoring ministry, wants to satisfy the true need of women. We ask the question differently. “What does God want for women?”
Originally, WINGS meant only “Women In Need Growing Strong.” However, as God has continued to develop the vision for this ministry, the emphasis has moved from need to potential. Instead of developing a service to women, starting at the point of their self-esteem and their felt needs, based on a culture that has shaped them, WINGS looks at women through God-esteem: His view of and benchmarks for them. WINGS is now - WINGS: Walk. Run. Soar! It’s more about equipping and empowering women to rise to the expectations of the One who understands them best, loves them most and created them with unlimited potential.
The Scriptural foundation-verse for the WINGS vision is Malachi 4:2 KJV:
“To you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go forth and grow up...."
WINGS envisions every woman embracing hope, help, healing and habits for holy living, become a model, mentor and minister in the Kingdom of God.
In our brokenness, we worship our fears. Not that we would admit to it, but a fear can become an idol, a god. Think about how we obsess: the time, energy and emotion that is offered at the sacrificial altar of our fears. They are addictive - ruthless cycles of defeat. Fear paralyzes. The only way any woman will be able to embrace all that God has for her (hope, help, healing, and habits for holy living) and all that God want to do through her (model, mentor, and minister), is to have only the fear of One. C.S. Lewis said, "He Himself is the fuel our spirits were designed to burn, or the food our spirits were designed to feed on. There is no other."
All other fears must be released to the only One for whom she need have a healthy and proper, respect, reverence, awe, or fear. It’s like teaching a child the right fear of electricity. Utilized, channeled, appropriated in correct ways and proportions, electricity can be a friend, a comfort, even a life-saver. So it is with “the fear of the Lord.” (Apdx. FOTL)
The sun rises and sets on those who chose One God, One fear. Malachi 4:2 is a beautiful picture of God rescuing, restoring, and releasing us through His healing power, when we choose to worship Him above all. Again we see the power of this Graceful Deliverer swooping down, scooping up, then gently nudging us to go when it’s the right time.
~Raising The Bar
“Treat a woman as she is, she will remain so. Treat a woman the way she can be and ought to be, and she will become as she can be and should be." Goethe
The last part of Malachi 4:2, the WINGS vision verse: “And you will go forth and grow up,” is where God sets the bar. GO and GROW . Simple to see and say. Harder to do. What keeps a woman from going and growing? The “lid” that has prevented her from “going forth and growing up” is fear.
Once that lid is raised, by fearing only His name, healing from “the Sun of Righteousness” will shine upon her. Going and growing be an automatic outflow.
So how do we know when we get there - where we’re supposed to be “going?” How do know when we’ve “grown” enough? It’s a life-long process, but it does not just happen, by default. God wants our lives to grow by His design.
Ephesians 4:11-16, NLT, says:
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people:
to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.
Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.”
Again, these are lofty standards, high requirements, to be a “GOing and GROWing” woman of God. Raise the bar because God is calling us to forge the way upward. In Ephesians – 16, God put the weight of the responsibility of growing believing women on the shoulders of the leaders. If a ministry, such as WINGS, fulfills its’ calling, God can use it to produce fruit, in the individual women who receive lifecoaching, and in women’s ministry groups, that are equipped to grow women God’s way.The vision God has given, for the WINGS is to show how hope, help, healing, and habits for holy living, are do-able, within the reach of any woman. Why would God ask something of us that is impossible? The answer is, “He doesn’t!” He doesn’t dangle the carrot out in front of us and then yank it back further when we’re almost there, so that we’re always discouraged and never succeeding. However, God does want us to be progressing forward in our journey of faith. He wants us moving toward Christ-likeness in greater measures every day, month and year.
· “God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around but by working within us, his Spirit deeply and gently within us.” Ephesians MSG
· “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:8NIV
· “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10NLT
~A Mentoring Culture
“The reason most people never reach their goals is that they don't define them, learn about them, or even seriously consider them as believable or achievable. Winners can tell you where they are going, what they plan to do along the way, and who will be sharing the adventure with them.” Denis Waitley
Jesus created His Body or The Church to be a mentoring culture, where there is vulnerability and trust, where the truth is spoken in love(Eph. 4:15). Later, the Apostle Paul, in the second chapter of his letter to Titus, gave an explicit directive to grow believers in a mentoring culture:
“Older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things— that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.” Titus 2:2 – 4
We all learn better or more easily if we can hear someone say it, see someone do it, and then try it ourselves. Our “growing” spiritually and emotionally may happen in a professional lifecoaching partnership or within a trained volunteer mentor and mentee relationship. However, the most effective mentoring culture is established in the life-on-life, hands-on method of Titus chapter two. Whether, within a small group, or one-on-one, God intends His family to be an incubator.
After asking a friend if she and her husband had some goals for their life together, she said, “Yes, we have some goals. We want to go to _________ for our next wedding anniversary. Then we want to go to ____________ in another five years.” I ask if they had any strategies or an action plan to achieve these goals. “No,” she said. I felt like the bearer of bad news, but I had to tell her what she was calling goals, were really only dreams. She humbly agreed.
Dreams are a wonderful thing to have and one may get there by default. However, God has provided numerous resources for women to partner with Him. Every day can be an incremental victory that brings them closer to Christ-likeness and their God-given potential.
WINGS: Walk. Run. Soar! is about LifeByDesign. The masterpiece (Eph. ), that God is making out of every woman’s life, is fleshed out in daily themes to guide her. LifeCore, LifePlan, LifeRythym, and LifeSkill are each a piece to the puzzle that will equip and empower a woman to define, believe, and achieve.
LifeByDesign: Tranformational living that fulfills a woman’s God-given potential.
LifeCore: Foundational beliefs that direct a woman’s choices, thinking, and actions.
LifePlan: Biblical purposes that form God’s will for a woman’s life.
LifeRythym: Intentional practices that create an ebb and flow in a woman’s daily journey.
LifeSkill: Practical tools that assist the development of a woman’s outcome.
"The Author of nature appears deliberate through His operations, accomplishing His natural ends by slow successive steps." Bishop Joseph Bulter
Appendix A - The Fear of The Lord
Appendix A: “The Fear of The LORD” Study
WINGS Vision Verse - Malachi 4:2
“For you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness
will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go forth and grow up....”KJV
“Give instruction to a wise woman, and she will be still wiser;
Teach a just woman, and she will increase in learning. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom,
And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
For by me your days will be multiplied,
And years of life will be added to you.” Proverbs 9:9-11NKJV(italics MLA)
Definition of: Noah Webster 1824
“The Fear of The LORD”
A. In scripture, fear is used to express a filial or a slavish passion. In good men, the fear of God is a holy awe or reverence of God and his laws, which springs from a just view and real love of the divine character, leading the subjects of it to hate and shun every thing that can offend such a holy being, and inclining them to aim at perfect obedience.
1. This is filial fear.
Jer. 32:40 - “I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me.”
2. Slavish fear is the effect or consequence of guilt; it is the painful apprehension of merited punishment. Rom. “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear.” 1John “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.”
B. The worship of God.
Ps. 34:11 - “I will teach you the fear of the Lord.”
C. The law and word of God.
Ps. 19:9 - “The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever.”
D. Reverence; respect; due regard.
Rom. 13:7 – “Render to all their dues; fear to whom fear.”
Benefits of:
“The Fear of The LORD”
1. Unifies - 1 Samuel 11:7 “And the fear of the LORD fell on the people, and they came out with one consent.”
2. Victory - 2 Chronicles “Then they defeated all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the LORD came upon them; and they plundered all the cities, for there was exceedingly much spoil in them.”
3. Influence - 2 Chronicles “And the fear of the LORD fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah
4. Obedience – 2 Chronicles 19:7 “Now therefore, let the fear of the LORD be upon you; take care and do it, for there is no iniquity with the LORD our God, no partiality, nor taking of bribes.”
5. Faithfulness – 2 Chronicles 19:9 “And he commanded them, saying, “Thus you shall act in the fear of the LORD, faithfully and with a loyal heart.
6. Wisdom – Job 28:28 “And to man He said,‘ Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding.’”
7. Integrity - Psalm 19:9 “The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.” Proverbs 16:6 “In mercy and truth Atonement is provided for iniquity; And by the fear of the LORD one departs from evil.” Proverbs 8:13 “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverse mouth I hate.”
8. Understanding - Psalm 111:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments. His praise endures forever.” Proverbs 9:10 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”
9. Teachable - Psalm 34:11 “Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD.” Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, But fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 15:33 “The fear of the LORD is the instruction of wisdom, And before honor is humility.”
10. Knowledge – Proverbs 2:5 “Then you will understand the fear of the LORD, And find the knowledge of God.”
11. Longevity – Proverbs 10:27 “The fear of the LORD prolongs days, But the years of the wicked will be shortened.”
12. Confidence - Proverbs 14:26 “In the fear of the LORD there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge.”
13. Life - Proverbs 14:27 “The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death.”
14. Contentment - Proverbs 15:16 “Better is a little with the fear of the LORD, Than great treasure with trouble.” Proverbs 19:23 “The fear of the LORD leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction; He will not be visited with evil.” Proverbs 23:17 “Do not let your heart envy sinners, But be zealous for the fear of the LORD all the day.”
15. Honor - Proverbs 22:4 “By humility and the fear of the LORD Are riches and honor and life.”
The WINGS Vision based on Malachi 4:2
“For you who fear My name” (“the fear of the LORD”) | “the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings” | |
“and you will GO forth” | “and GROW up” | |
LifeCores – foundational beliefs | Restoration, Wholeness, Maturity | |
LifeDesigns – biblical purposes | Model – Healing & Holiness | |
LifeRythyms – intentional practices | ||
LifeSkills – practical tools | Minister – Hope & Help | |
Experiential Benefits | Evidential Benefits | |
Teachable Knowledge Understanding Wisdom | Critical Thinking Problem Solving Decision Making Action Planning | Integrity Unity Victory Influence Longevity Honor |
Obedience Faithfulness Confidence | Risk Taking | |
Life Contentment | ||
Research source: Noah Webster’s 1828 American Dictionary, Biblegateway.com
Version: NKJV - Unless otherwise stated
Walk. Run. Soar! Chapter One
Things about WINGS
“The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply that they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.”1 James Matthew Barrie, Creator of Pan, 1860-1937
~Fly Or Die
Wings are necessary for flight. Flying with broken wings is possible, but painful. Broken wings healed are stronger and strong wings inspire others fly. Most will fly or die trying!
We’re not talking birds though, but people. Women in particular. There is an insatiable longing to take flight. To rise above. To be more than.
Transcending, rising above, over, or out of, is necessary in order to become what God intends us to be. It is something, however, that we cannot do on our own. In Scripture, this process is pictured as the power imparted by “the wings of God.”
· Exodus 19:4 NIV, “…I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you to Myself.” God delivers His people from slavery so they can go in and possess the Promise Land
· Deuteronomy 32: 11 MSG, “He was like an eagle hovering over its nest,
overshadowing its young,
Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,
teaching them to fly.” Moses recounts how God protected their grandfather Jacob, whose name was changed toIsrael
overshadowing its young,
Then spreading its wings, lifting them into the air,
teaching them to fly.” Moses recounts how God protected their grandfather Jacob, whose name was changed to
- Ruth 2:12 NLT , “May the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge, reward you fully for what you have done.” Future husband, Boaz, compliments Ruth on her faith and faithfulness.
- Psalm 55:6 KJV, “Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I fly away, and be at rest.” The younger David prays for deliverance while fleeing for his life.
- Psalm 91:4 NKJV,
“He shall cover you with His feathers,
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” King David testifies from his experience of God’s power.
And under His wings you shall take refuge;
His truth shall be your shield and buckler.” King David testifies from his experience of God’s power.
- Isaiah 40:31 NASB,
“Those who wait for the LORD
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.” The prophet Isaiah comforts and directs God’s people.
Will gain new strength;
They will mount up with wings like eagles,
They will run and not get tired,
They will walk and not become weary.” The prophet Isaiah comforts and directs God’s people.
- Matthew NIV,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” Jesus’ judgment of the religious elite turns to intimate sorrow for His Jewish kinsmen.
This picture of the Almighty as a graceful, gentle, yet powerful Enabler has spoken to me many times in my life. I have taken cover under and ridden high upon the wings of God. I have learned to fly because He showed me how. Most often, though, these “flying lessons” were taught by substitute teachers, God’s right people who were in the right place at my right time.
Mama, Daddy, Aunt Shirley Ulman-Queen, Miss News, Pamo, Pastor John Maxwell, Richard, my own kids, Dr. David Lattimer, Rev. Dorothy Meadows, Paul, Jodi, Frank, Greg and Linda, and Sissy. These all tutored, mentored, and coached me along in flight school. They either pulled me to safety under His wings, when I was being too risky, or pushed me out to fly high when I needed that extra little shove.
~Can’t Fly into Flying
"One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman." Simone de Beauvoir, 1949
We’re mostly in a hurry. Can’t wait till we’re allowed to date, get our driving permit, or graduate.
We want it yesterday. Not content to savor the moments, because there’s always something illusive calling from the distance.
Once, when trying to threaten my teenage daughter into obeying, I said, “If you don’t do it, I’m gonna knock you into next week.” Very seriously she replied, “ Mom, I’ve already been there and back and it’s not what it’s all cracked up to be!”
So how do little girls grow up?
What kind of women should they want to be?
Who are their role models, I wonder? And
If they don’t have real ones, do they pick one from TV?
What if they’ve never heard of Jesus?
That he came to set men and women free?
That women were last at the Cross and first at the Tomb?
That in Christ there’s no male, female, Jew, nor Greek?
If only there were more older, godly, women
That had time to spend and wisdom to share?
It would surely change the outcome
Of how those little girls, blossoming teenagers, and young women would fare.
We’re born with a broken wing…baggage…issues. It’s that inevitable ability to make wrong choices, even if we’ve had the best this world offers in family, education, social status and money. “For all have sinned; all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Romans NLT
We crash and burn time after time. Yes, we’re capable of doing good, and boy do we try to religiously. The take away, of our Greatest Grandparents’ choice to eat of the fruit of “The Tree of The Knowledge of Good and Evil,” is that it’s just easier to do the wrong. Take the path of least resistance.
So, how do we break that cycle? Get over the hurdle? Stop the downward spiral? We’re in need:
- Of a biblical set of boundaries or directives.
- Of an understanding of consequences: “If…,” “then….”
- Of a compassionate environment offering accountability.
~Enter WINGS: Women in Need Growing Strong
“To you who fear My name, the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings. And you will go forth and grow up….” Malachi 4:2 KJV
There’s something humiliating, and at the same time very liberating, about saying it. “I’m needy!” “I’m a needy woman!” It’s like having the courage to stand up in an AA meeting for the first time and say, “Hi, my name is _______. I’m an alcoholic.”
Recognizing our need is the first step to emotional and spiritual maturity. It’s the first step to thinking-critically, problem-solving, and decision-making. It is saying, “I can’t save myself.” “I can’t do it alone.”
It is also the first step to expressing hope. “I can be free!” “I will find help.” Healing begins with vulnerability.
My first husband, Pastor Richard Oliver, and I had been married six years. Our five year old Stephanie had just come through open-heart surgery. I was surviving a nauseas nine month pregnancy when Richard started getting sick. After eighteen months and no diagnosis, a surgeon began a series of surgeries that led to the removal of Richard’s complete stomach.
I was trying hard…to keep Richard alive, to be a PTO mom for Stephanie, and to keep track of toddler MaryAnn. I wasn’t sleeping. I hurt all over. One morning I just couldn’t get out of bed.
This was after several grueling weeks of Jesus telling me, “Just move your leg over to the edge of the bed. Now, let it fall to the floor…there you go! Put one foot in front of the other. That’s good. I’ll lift your foot up. Take a step. Do that again. Go over to the sink. Turn on the faucet. I’ll help you make the coffee.”
It took my OBGYN months to convince me that it wasn’t a sign of weakness to take an anti-depressant…and that if I didn’t, I would end up in a hospital. The ladies in our church brought in meals every day for weeks. They did our laundry and swept my dirty floors.
For six years, God’s people at the North Street Wesleyan Church Talladega , Alabama
I remember the Lord talking back to me talking back to Him, “If you don’t let these ladies help you, you’re going to rob them of their blessing of obeying me.” Pride melts when the Almighty puts it that way.
On July 29, 1991 , Richard courageously stepped over the threshold into Heaven. Three weeks after his funeral, with Stephanie and MaryAnn, now 11 and 6, I started back at Circleville Bible College Ohio Christian University Christian Ministry
It was during those years of grieving and growing that God birthed WINGS: Women In Need Growing Strong, in my heart. There had to be a way to give women hope, help, healing and habits for a holy life. WINGS began to take shape:
· In 1993, the first WINGS Weekend was held in a local church at Galion , Ohio
· In the late nineties, the first WINGS Discipleship Cell met, during the Sunday School hour, where I pastored in Lebanon , Pennsylvania
· Today, WINGS is “WINGS: Walk. Run. Soar!” and is expanding to become a lifecoaching business for individual women and a consulting and leadership training service for women's mentoring ministries.
~Safe Haven
Georgette was internally wounded. La Nina did not have a proper sense of boundaries. They both ended up in a sanctuary. Now we’re not talking about women, but birds; and not a church, but a safe haven for fowl.
January 2, 2007, Reuters reported on the Raptor Trust, near the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge west of New York City. Len Soucy, the founder, said that every bird has a story. Impact with wires, windows, cars, bullets or poisoning to name a few.
In 2006, the center cared for over 3,500 birds. Sixty percent healed and were returned to nature. Some who could never make it on the outside are permitted to live in the facilities open-air cages. “The sanctuary accepts hurt birds 24 hours a day. It has a small operating room equipped with an X-ray machine, gas for anaesthesia and a narrow operating table. Heated cages serve as intensive care units.” Georgette, a peregrine falcon, and La Nina, a barn owl, along with 60 – 70 other birds, showcase the Raptor Trust’s effectiveness to an estimated 40,000 visitors a year.
Women, too, need a safe haven. A place that takes them just as they are and where people really do care. This place is the Body of Christ, the church, or an organization reaching women with the love of God. A place where women can find restoration beneath His wings.
Under His wings I am safely abiding;
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me;
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.
Though the night deepens and tempests are wild,
Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me;
He has redeemed me, and I am His child.
Under His wings, what a refuge in sorrow!
How the heart yearningly turns to its rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort, and there I am blest.
How the heart yearningly turns to its rest!
Often when earth has no balm for my healing,
There I find comfort, and there I am blest.
Under His wings, O what precious enjoyment!
There will I hide till life's trials are over;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me;
Resting in Jesus I'm safe evermore.
There will I hide till life's trials are over;
Sheltered, protected, no evil can harm me;
Resting in Jesus I'm safe evermore.
Refrain
Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings, my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.
Under His wings, under His wings,
Who from His love can sever?
Under His wings, my soul shall abide,
Safely abide forever.
William O. Cushing/Ira D. Sankey
1. ThinkExist.com, quotes about “wings.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)