Category: Ministry Integrity

Copyright 2015 Theresa Harvard Johnson

This phrase echoed in my hearing this morning, “Beloved, You are my beautiful footstool!”

Can you imagine a footstool being beautiful? I can. This morning as I celebrated the gift of 2016, I remembered a time when I was a little girl going with my mama to clean houses. I had to be about five or six years old.

I remember standing at the edge of this giant bed in one of the homes unable to hop up. At its base was this beautiful, elaborately designed “tiny table” – I thought – that I could use to climb up to get into this huge bed that was unlike anything I had ever seen. This “tiny table” was made of wooden legs and a cushioned top.

Mama said, “Baby, that’s a footstool not a short table.” For me it could very well have been both. This was an awesome memory to launch the first day of the New Year. Intrigued, I decided to study “footstools” this morning and the following passage of scripture jumped out at me:

Acts 7:49 NIV, “However, the Most High does not live in houses made by men. As the prophet says:Heaven is my throne,and the earth is my footstool. What kind (manner) of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be?”

Copyright 2015 Theresa Harvard Johnson

 

I have struggled with been socially awkward.

 

From childhood, if I was put in a situation that made me uncomfortable it would show visibly. People would say things like: She’s just shy. She needs more time to prepare. Give her a few more minutes, then she can do it.

 

Unfortunately, those conclusions were not always the case. Insecurities, identity issues and a whole lot of other conversations were actually taking place in my head. And while this kind of awkwardness is something we often brush off with children; it can be downright crippling for an adult who has accepted their awkwardness — often a false identity. So much so that it can limit our life’s progress and success.

Copyright 2015 Theresa Harvard Johnson

One of the things I love about being a scribe is the natural gift or inclination to research. Research, at least to me, is a kingly and scholarly activity that the Christ-believing community of literary warriors should dig into as often as possible. As I always say, our prayer and intercessory focus is not to simply pray over our books or that of friends, but to pray into God’s increasing scribal nation (Matthew 13:52).

I know, that was a mouthful, but I am so serious.

I want to encourage you to seek out the “literary roots” growing in your scribal city, state or region. I do this all the time by looking at historical figures that stand out to me. For example, the poets and writers who had the greatest literary influence on my life were Georgia Douglas Johnson, Margaret Walker, Langston Hughes, Sonya Sanchez and of course, Ida B. Wells Barnett. Yes, I know they are old-school. But my love for the voice they carried continues to resound in my creative writings today – regardless of what anyone might think.

Proverbs 25:2 CJB, “God gets glory from concealing things; kings get glory from investigating things.“

Copyright 2015 Theresa Harvard Johnson

 

Self-sabotage takes on many forms in our lives as scribes, artisans and just plain people of God. It is often drenched in chronic procrastination, extreme excuse making, a flurry of endless unfruitful activity and a host of other bomb-shells focused on self-directed implosion that work wonders in turning dreams and hope to dust.

 

How do I know? Well, because I have had to overcome them. I had to realize that God isn’t a time waster. He IS a finisher. Me, on the other hand, not so much without Him. I knew that if I was going to finish what he had entrusted to me that I had to do it in His strength — not my own. That meant Theresa had to recognize self, work at defeating those “Theresa-habits” and allow God to have his way.