Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa
What does it mean to be a woman of influence in the everyday of life's raw, good, bad, and ugly? Join Amber Weigand-Buckley and Lisa Burris Burns, authors of the #1 Amazon Bestseller and multi-award-winning book Leading Ladies: Discover Your God-Grown Strategy for Success (Bold Vision Books), for coffee and a messy bun conversation. Each week, we'll talk about how things we'd rather keep hidden can prevent us from moving forward in purpose. You'll receive insight and encouragement to be the world-changing woman God created you to be. No makeup, no pretense required. To find out more, go to www.coffeechatladies.com. Like, subscribe, download, and visit @coffeechatladies on social media.
Coffee Chat with Amber & Lisa
Sacred Refuge from Superwoman Syndrome with Lynne Rienstra
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Join Amber and Lisa for a heartfelt and enlightening discussion with Leading Lady Lynne Reinstra, the author of 'Sacred Refuge: Finding Unexpected Shelter in Your Crisis.' This episode explores key moments from Lynne's life, including her mother's resilient mindset that influenced her feminist foundations, which led her to attend the prestigious Smith College (whose distinguished alumnae include Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Julia Child, and Sylvia Plath) and her faith journey that transformed her worldview. Discover practical tips for navigating crises, balancing ambition with well-being, and breaking free from societal pressures like the 'Superwoman Syndrome.' Tune in for inspiring stories, spiritual wisdom, and engaging conversation. Explore more of Lynne's insights and resources at BraveBeloved.com and LynneRienstra.com, and join the community on Faithia for exclusive content and engagement.
Thank you for taking the time to like, subscribe, share, and comment. Visit leadingladies.life to find out more. Also, follow @leadingladieslife on social. Amber & Lisa are authors of the multi-award-winning book, Leading Ladies: Discover Your God-Grown Strategy for Success, which dives into the power of community and empowering women of faith to rise up and make a difference, using our gifts and faith to shine brightly in the world. Watch the Facebook Live edition on our YouTube Channel @coffeechatladies .
Sacred Refuge
Speaker 1Welcome to another Codley Chat with Amber and Lisa. And it's a lovely October day. I cannot believe it's October. How many weeks till Christmas? Oh, my goodness, it is coming fast. We've started football season, which is the most important, and we started sweater and spicy candle season. But look, I don't have it lit. I should light it. I have all forms of cozy around me and what you can't see is right underneath the desk is a little space heater, because it's chilly in this house. We have an amazing lady here, lynn Reinstra.
Speaker 1I don't know how to pronounce your name. I'm going to mispronounce it. I am just going to go with a messy bun approach to your name Reinstra, reinstra, reinstra. Okay, ladies, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. We just went over this right before we went live. Ladies, I think Amber needs more caffeine.
Speaker 1Amber, when I met my husband years ago, it took me three times to figure out how to save it. I said it took me three times. Yeah, this gal is wifty and then it stays. Later he asked me to marry him. So anyway, it took me three times. You're allowed. Yeah, it's all good. Yeah, did you tell him you had to get the pronunciation right before you actually signed the marriage certificate? She had or he should have, she would have a clause somewhere. You can have him Right. Right, thank you, lynn for coming to Copy Chat this morning. We love you.
Speaker 1You were a contributor to Leading Lady and wrote this amazing letter to. I just love this lady. We met, actually, at an AUSA conference and I was at a Men's Writers and Speakers Association conference and I'm like I can't believe I'm sending mix to this woman and I felt the same way about you. I kept making your covers. I was like you're a massively gifted woman. I know you have a cover behind you, but I have not only when you're celebrating the release of your book.
Speaker 1Yet Sacred Refuge, I have a copy that I have yet to open. Right here. It is number one bestseller. What is the category? We got up to seven on the broader categories of Christian women's issues, but we got to one in Old Testament biography. Six or seven women in this book are OT. They're Old Testament women. Wonderful, I was going to say to Amber. I wanted to know why that category. That explains it. Very cool, I'm doing some ASMR here, trying to open Amazon back.
Speaker 1It's real sweet. I'm opening here. There is no preparation here. Okay, and if you guys need to relax. We are pretty close. Have you seen Elkvillian? No, I have. I'm just like I'm getting so bothered and they paint their little fingernails and tap their objects, whatever it is in the microphone. I'm helping you get all weird. I'm helping you relax. At which? The Sacred Refuge Finding Unexpected Shelter in your Crisis. What an amazing book. It's the Kregel, wow. Yeah, and is this your first full book? You're looking at it, you're holding it, sister? Yes, the story is a God thing.
Speaker 1I was at the Gospel Coalition Conference in the end of 22. And there was Samaritan's Purse. I work for them. I'm on a break, I'm walking around, I walk over to the creedal table just looking at their wares and I have one of these.
Speaker 1Oh, just happened to start a conversation with a woman who just happened to be on the acquisitions team and I was working on a book. I was working on book A idea and all of a sudden I start pitching without realizing an old book idea and she got onto it. Two weeks later she emails. Who emails a person without a platform and without an agent? That doesn't happen and it's critical. Yeah, I know, that's amazing. And they said we want the proposal. They only asked for two sample chapters. They were very gracious and then they emailed me and said we want your book. That's amazing. It's the same kind of divine appointment.
Speaker 1Sometimes you wonder why you go to certain events and such and then something flies out of left field that you're totally wow. That was why I was supposed to come here. And, lynn, I just want to know a little bit. We have talked about your gosh. How much intelligence do you have? You were trained in English at Smith College. You have a certificate in spiritual formation. You're a pastor's wife.
Speaker 1We talked in the pre-show about the people who went to your college. This is amazing. And she also serves as Samaritan's Purse regional director and has seen crisis up close. This is exactly where we are right now. Not to mention, you're a wife and a grandmother right, seen crisis up close. This is exactly where we are right now. Not to mention, you're a wife and a grandmother right.
Embracing Limitations and Compassion
Speaker 1You mentioned something in the pre-show about that college experience and I think, because we speak to women and we speak to women's issues, you mentioned there was something different about the university that you attended. You mentioned there was something different about the university that you attended. Yes, yeah, and this really ties in with Leading Ladies and why it was such a joy to have a small part in Leading Ladies. So I grew up with a lot of upheaval, dads coming and going, really in a feminist household. I would say my mom was a pretty strong feminist. We're talking 60s and 70s, gloria Stein writing this magazine. That's the social context, and God just graciously gave me the ability to get a free ride to a Seven Sisters College.
Speaker 1Now I now live in Atlanta and my family roots are in Missouri. Really, oh yeah, oh yeah. I know Y'all are in Springfield right, I'm in Kansas City area. That was the KC. Yeah, my father grew up in Marshall near City Island area and my mom grew up in Branson. Oh, dude, it was Branson, the Baldnobbers, and I remember one night I had gone out there after my first year in college. We'll get back to college and I'm working as a waitress at Rock Lane Lodge where my grandmother runs food service, and literally they had a house right behind Bald Knobbers. I remember hearing the music every night. Oh my goodness, all road fleet to Branson, that's all. They all off the music every night. Oh, my goodness, all road fleet to Branson, that's all. Or how about we all have a little bit of hilly belly. That's my family background.
Speaker 1I end up growing up because of a divorce and a move near Boston, and so the whole New England thing opens up and I end up on a full ride at a Seven Sisters College. It's the women's version of the Ivy League. Right. Never, ever would have been able to afford it. God provided for alums to do that. Anyway, who has gone to this college? Margaret Mead, nancy Reagan, it's all over.
Speaker 1Oris Sainz, julia Child went there. Betty Friedan, or a Sainz Sainz, julia Child went there. What a child. Betty Friedan, but very strongly feminist college. And I'm breathing that ideology in while God is calling me to himself through the word of God, through intervarsity. And it was quite a push me, pull me.
Speaker 1But during the midst of that I had a lot of. I had a lot of. I heard a lot of the message you can be anything, do anything and you can have it all. Yeah Well, so with that message, and it just makes me, I like the fact that you went to a school like that and I am the mother of. It's funny. I was raised with brothers I'm the oldest and three brothers under me, and then God thought it was funny to give me four little girls to root for, and they're all beautiful women.
Speaker 1But I have to admit that there is a disconnect, a huge disconnect, and we see it play out in society, between women being able to stand in who they are as women and lead and be able to carry a load in the workforce and often in our more conservative lifestyle in the church. We disconnect that and I think we're just finally starting to, in the church, start to stand more fully in what God intended from the beginning as a female. But that is a really interesting split, because you go to a school that's telling you can do it all. Is that true? Can you do it all as a female? What was your experience? Yeah, I actually, before I left, knew that we were being I don't know how to say this delicately we were being said some truth but wedded to lies, and I was the chapel intern at the chapel at Smith College my senior year and they allow you to preach on the last Sunday before everybody graduates, and I still remember the name of my sermon was Smashing the Superwoman Syndrome.
Speaker 1I realized you know what that's a trap. You're going to either have exhaustion right Faster than a speeding van full of kids, more power, able to jump from the baby's room to the boardroom, blah, blah, blah. You're going to die an early death of exhaustion. And the thing that got me, was the thing that helped me through that process of growing up past the superwoman syndrome I called it was understanding finally who I was, in Christ, in union with Christ. Who does he say I am? Does my value really come from getting to the corner office and having 400 people in my downline or you know that report to me? Is that really who I am? Actually, it doesn't have a thing to do with who God sees me to be.
Speaker 1And once I saw that, there was tremendous freedom. And I haven't always lived in that. I'll be honest. I have struggled. I remember working in corporate insurance brokerage in Philly in my 20s and staying up really late to finish reports and saying this will please the boss. So I didn't walk in this consistently, but it was placed in me, it was rooted in me through scripture and it was a good gift. It really did safeguard me against a lot of garbage.
Speaker 1The reality is that we all will crash and burn if we run at that. It has nothing to do with we are weaker, mentally stamina, wise. We have our own tenacity. That is innately in us, god given, and I think the lie is a trap that you can do what will be all, but it's a trap for all of us, men and men. Yeah, this and men, yeah.
Speaker 1I think what this came to mind, as you're saying the running gun mindset is and I've thought this about myself if I cannot rise to the occasion that I prove myself weak, and what is really about? Having the security and the sacredness of knowing God fills up for what we don't have doesn't mean we go in and we do it. It says you operate at a level you can operate on, you be realistic about what you can do, and I come in and make up the difference. And we don't know what that difference looks like. I used to think, oh, if I'm overweight, I can't be leading people. If my house is messy and we've talked about this before I can't lead people. If I am not making a certain amount of money, if my house doesn't look like this, if I'm driving and this doesn't look like this, if everything isn't together, then it does not mean you're a success. And I realized the person that I need compassion to was myself, right? Yeah, you're one of the most successful people, I think, think probably Lynn and I can both say Nothing to do with weakness.
Speaker 1In fact, I think and this is tied to the message of the book crisis is actually a gift. Rogueness, right, it's what we're talking about. Not being perfect is actually a gift. We'll run from it until we remember the gospel. The gospel is not about doing more, trying harder, keeping it all together. That is not the gospel. The gospel is when you could not do for yourself, when you fell short of God's glory. He had compassion on you and pulled for you through Jesus what you could never do for yourself. So actually, the gift of crisis or brokenness or limitations in a post-war world is a good thing. It actually brings us to the end of ourselves and to the beginning of where God We've said.
Speaker 1Psalm 84 says Blessed are those who have set their hearts on pilgrimage. That's that daily walk. They go from strength to strength, till age, of course, before God is like and the strength ain't my strength. You know what I'm saying. It's I cannot See. There it is. I've come to the end of myself, but I trust on, I lean on you, lord. I cannot, but you can God, and that's the step-by-step dependence that changes everything. That's the step-by-step dependence that changes everything you said about. You were talking about compassion and that sometimes our lack of compassion for others sometimes is generated about from our lack of compassion for ourselves and who God says we are. In him, the strength that he provides. That I really admire.
Speaker 1I heard this one quote from Brene Brown and she said what if our mindset changed to the people we judge? What if we said maybe they're doing the best that they can, maybe they're doing the best that they can and that will change how we view people and how we view need, and that will change how we view people and how we view need. We go a step beyond. Maybe we're doing the best they can and recognize that everyone sometimes we look down on people if they don't do what our best would be. We don't think their best to be. So we need to recognize they may. Maybe they're doing the best they can, and their best and my best don't have to look the same.
Speaker 1We oftentimes are are called positioned to a different best. Oh, I love that. A different best. We don't have to. We don't have to. We don't have to have this. We're all about everybody rising to this level and the reality is the level I'm called to or the level I'm gifted, and the level you're gifted. It's not a matter of they've got more, I've got more. It's a matter of we're all different and the design at hebrews 12 it's run the race. Mark out for you, not the hoeing Sideways at her race.
Speaker 1We women are terrible at competition. We are. I'm not as skinny as she is, and my house is a mess and hers is a mess. We do that to ourselves all the time and we end up going to this cesspool. If you have sex with a woman, I'm going to call it, but anyway, I want to circle back to something else. You said Lisa Excuse me, amber, I think said it about compassion for yourself.
Speaker 1I think a lot of our issues and even I'm going to call it what it is self-hatred A lot of us, as women, carry self-hatred. Can I get an amen? I feel like it's an amen. I don't think we realize that's what it is. Yeah, but you know where that comes from, right, exactly Enemy of our soul. I think self-hatred will begin to crack and break off of us and I think we will begin to have compassion on ourselves.
Navigating Crisis With God's Love
Speaker 1When and if we begin to see ourselves through the lens that the Father looks at us, does that make sense? We become to see ourselves as the Father sees us. If we are in Christ, all the sin was paid for on the cross. There's no condemnation left for us. Right, we know this, romans 8. But it's not just that. It's not just do your best to keep your nose clean until you cross the finish line. It's way above that.
Speaker 1Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5.21,. God made him, who knew no sin, jesus, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in him. So that means when the Father looks at me, at Lisa, at Amber, at anyone listening in right now, he's looking at us through the lens of Jesus. Amen. We are beautiful, yeah, law. Beautiful, yeah, lawless, yeah, perfect in his sight, lacking nothing.
Speaker 1Yeah, one of our other ladies, stacey Sanchez. She said do you know that God loves you as much as he loves his son, james? Here you go and we are as beloved as him. The heart of God. And it's just like that reality just sunk into me. I'm like you see me as you see your son with this name loves, and he was flawless and I just, it just melts everything in you. If you can really come into agreement with that that God has for us. We can't help but realize our humanity is only righteous by the blood of Christ and how he came into the picture and how God allowed him to come into the picture and I just I realized that this bone and dirt is flawed, it's broken. It's crazy. But at the same time, god chose to breathe his breath into this bones and dirt, knowing full well he probably knew full well what the outcome might be. I think so. It also makes you think how vast and how big he is, because it's like he's never ending. There's no bottom to his ability to come in and take care of all that we see as lack. It's never ending. It's always going for not just you, amber, but for everyone. It's a going for not just you, amber, but for everyone. It's a crazy concept to wrap your brain around.
Speaker 1I want to make sure we make time for discussing in this book. You have some tips. I'm going to go through just real briefly the title to make sure people don't miss what we're talking about. Sacred Refuge is the name of the book. Finding Unexpected Shelter in your Crisis.
Speaker 1When we say the word crisis, it doesn't exactly feel like refuge or sacred. So, lynn, you said you have some tips for us. Can you start to share with us what those might be? Sure, because we're all going through crisis bottom line and if we're not, we're going to right Exactly Effects of the fall and living in a broken world. So crisis is that sense of overwhelm, it's that sense that the rug is getting pulled out from underneath you and I'll share with you later, if you want, what my crisis was last year as I was writing the book, because you may or may not know that and probably listeners don't, but anyway. So the rug gets pulled out from underneath us. We just feel everything's shaking. I feel it shaking right now. Do you all feel that? Yeah, highly contested election coming up Highly. Have we had one more contested than this? In my memory, probably not.
Speaker 1Hurricane Helene just comes and wipes out people in Western Carolina, right, all Florida, et cetera. Then Milton comes and hits Florida again. It's just one thing after another. Wow, add to that, my husband just lost his job, says one woman. Or I just got the news that my child is not identifying as a Christian anymore. Or there are some gender confusion issues in my grandchild, whatever it is.
Speaker 1So three steps I wouldn't call them tips and I would actually preface this by saying the best way to walk through crisis is to already be abiding deeply in the Lord, scripture, prayer, connection to a local church and other believers, et cetera. Right, get that root system down deep and when the wind and the storm comes, you're not going to get pushed over as easily. Okay, but let's face it by its very nature, crisis surprises us. So the first step is to get our feet under us in the shaking. Get your feet under you, that is to say, get your feet under us in the shaking. Get your feet under you, that is to say, get your feet on the foundation of Jesus. We call him the rock of our salvation.
Speaker 1I was thinking about this recently. You could name any crisis in the world, and we just named a bunch of them, and there are many other possibilities. But the truth is that the worst crisis any of us could face is spending eternity apart from the God who knows and loves us. That would be the worst thing. Right, and in sending Jesus, god has dealt with that worst crisis. Think about that. That's the good news of the gospel that he had compassion on us, that he sent Jesus to take on flesh, become our sin on the cross, and he kept the law perfectly for us because we couldn't. That's imputed to our account. We're now righteous in Christ. We talked about it just a few minutes ago. That means the shaking can stop. We can get our feet on that solid foundation. Let them begin to navigate.
Speaker 1Second step after you get your feet under, you begin to navigate the crisis step by step, on two truths. I call them pavers. Like you can put your full weight on these scriptural truths and walk forward and move through the crisis with that. The first one is the scripture from Joshua, 1.8, matthew 28,. God promising I will never leave you nor forsake you. Yeah, I'm with you, beloved right, I am with you. And then make it personal God is with me. Step.
Speaker 1Second truth Paul says in Romans 8, I'm convinced that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Right, and make it personal. God loves me, not just theological. God is love. God loves me, he is for me. Second step Do you begin to see it? God is with me, god is for me, and you can move through any crisis on solid ground with those two truths. That's amazing.
Speaker 1And then finally ask for help. We keep thinking the gospel is about trying harder. That ain't no good. That ain't no good news. That's bad news, because I don't have this much that I can do, but God can do for me what I cannot do for myself. So ask for help from God and from others, ask him for the helpers. They're there and he'll set yeah, I love this, they're there and he'll say yeah, I love this.
Speaker 1And I love what you said about walking through crisis, because God put this word, two words, in my head and whenever I start getting anxiety ridden mental people who watch this really know I deal with mental health issues, anxiety, anxiety, bipolar and sometimes, when I get that feeling, god just spoke into my spirit and my heart and he said remember when. And sometimes that is the first thing we need to think about is remember when, and that is what puts us up on the seat. Remember when I did this. I didn't change since that happened. Remember when I did this. That doesn't change today. So when you feel confounded in a situation and where your heart is tied up so tightly and bound in pain, confusion, desperate, I just close my eyes. It's like, remember when? Yeah, god, I remember when it's good, and I'm going to walk in the mindset of remembering when God got me through this and realizing he hasn't changed.
Speaker 1Even though my circumstances of crisis may have changed, god doesn't change Elizabeth Elliot, after the death of her first husband, jim Elliot. You know that storyed about experiencing God's everlasting arms. That's what you're talking about, amber, right? He is saying yesterday, today and tomorrow he is trustworthy, he never changes and the loving kindness of the Lord never fail, right? I think that's the thing that makes us different. When you go through crisis something that I had to learn very you learn it the hard way, really when you go through those really earth-shaking moments for me it was the loss of a child when you go through those moments, you realize every woman on the face of the earth has the potential to go through the loss of a child, if they have one. We are not alone in that. But what does make the difference is recognizing just exactly what you said that we are basically experiencing God's love, his ability to come around us and walk with us through those moments. That's the difference. That's the difference.
Speaker 1You can be a person who walks through the crisis of life and being shaken to your core and not have that. And we need to do everything we can to help others recognize, in this world we live in, most people don't even recognize they have a need, that there is. Yes, the church is all around, but obviously they haven't all got the message that truly there is a God that loves us so much, he is so compassionate towards us that he can make the difference and walk with us through it. Yeah, I can't imagine going without him. I think the only stability that we have in this life positive thoughts and that's a loaded bowl. No, it really isn't. It isn't about thinking positive. It is about knowing the originator of all that is good, all that is love. Yeah, we don't have to wish that, yes, no, that, yeah, and we don't even, we don't even have to know where he picks up and we drop off in the equation. We don't even have to know that part of it at all Because, as you were saying a moment ago, lisa, he is that near right.
Speaker 1He sent Jesus, emmanuel, god, with us. He proved his love in sending Jesus. But then Jesus said just before he left he goes. It's good for me to go, but I'm not going to leave you as orphans. It's good for me to go because I'm going to send you the best helper. And now the spirit of the living God lives with that. We are literally temples of holy God. He is as near as our next breath. Yeah, amen, yeah.
Speaker 1And sometimes the greatest encouragement we can be to people is simply sharing that. This is not just my story. Even I know that God cares about people, that God cares about people. I'm convinced people, if they really look, can see how God seeks after them and has preserved them in this life, and that's because he loves us before we even have a reality of who he is. And if we can just take that, if we realize those moments of sharing how compassionate and being moved by his compassionate spirit, and not only sharing hope and not only but being activated in hope that we are his angels, when skin that can reach others to meet them where they are in their crisis. Now, one of the things that I have a hard time with is when you see somebody struggling on the road. I want to help the world. It hurts me, but sometimes I can't be the one. But there's more than me and it's not that I'm usurping responsibility for those. I just have to realize that God hasn't called me to reach everyone, and that's why we are the church. It's impossible, yeah, it's impossible.
Speaker 1And Ephesians 2.10 says once Paul settles the question of how we're saved through faith right through works, then he says your christ workmanship, creating christ jesus, to your god's workmanship, creating christ jesus, to walk in good works which he's prepared in advance for you to walk in. All we have to do each day is say, lord, show me my lane, show me what good works you're trying to me, and it takes the guilt away. I don't have to, I'd have to solve world hunger. I don't have to write all that, just be very aware and word open my eyes and my heart to whatever you're putting in front of me and then, at the end of the day, rest and rejoice in what he put in front of you that you were able to respond to with compassion. Exactly so good, so good. I know, lisa, you're the note taker. You are the note taker. I do write notes because I like to go back and write so much. She's the teacher.
Speaker 1I just really think there's so much value in hearing other people's experiences and if we really are seeking after God wholeheartedly all the time. I think, amber, you and I are so blessed to get to do this. We have received the best, biggest blessing out of all of it, because we get to just sit and take in the wisdom and the influence of God in other women's lives, other people's lives, and so one thing that I really appreciate about this conversation today is that it gives me faith and it gives me hope because, as we said, we're all walking through crisis. It feels like the other shoe is dropping every five minutes. It's dropping on a level, an international level, around the world. There's upheaval within our country, within our families, within our churches and just internally. The shoes are constantly dropping, and I love that.
Finding Comfort and Strength in Crisis
Speaker 1You've brought us back to the truth, the foundation, which is ultimately just this relationship with God. It makes all the difference. The tips that you gave us are very helpful Just get your feet underneath you. When crisis hits, you preface it by saying from the beginning have an abiding relationship with the one who made you, have a relationship with your God, so that, when crisis hits, you can get your feet underneath you and establish a foundation of okay, I'm steady, now I've got my feet underneath me. You mentioned navigate the crisis on two pavers. The first one you mentioned never. He's never going to leave you, he's never going to forsake you.
Speaker 1You gave a scripture Joshua 1.8, and, of course, matthew 28. You also said nothing can separate us from him. Just take us back to Romans 8. And we need those reminders. My goodness, those scriptures are impacted those of us that walk with Jesus. Those scriptures are always in there. But when we're in the midst of crisis, do we pull them out and say, okay, wait a minute. He says this. That is a good reminder. That's not dogmatic, that's just life-giving, that gives us the breath that we need to breathe deeply in assurance that he is who he says he is. And then you said ask for help from God, ask him to send helpers and don't be afraid to ask for help with those helpers. It's not about trying harder. You said and I just love that so much, and Amber even brought up that remember when, for those of us that walk with God, there is a pattern of God in our life where he has shown his light on us, worked through us, with us, carried us.
Speaker 1If we will just pull those memories out when the going gets really tough, remember his faithfulness, remember his compassion towards us when we didn't deserve it, that he was there anyway. His faithfulness. Remember his compassion towards us when we didn't deserve it, but he was there anyway. Remember how he's as an adult woman now, with grown, adult children. I even look at how he answers. It's so funny. I'm like it's so cool to see God answer my prayers to provide for my children, when the reality is they're praying their own prayers now and God is answering them. That builds my faith. So remember when, watch his goodness, watch the way he's moved among us. I just really think this has been an amazing time together. I love this. I've loved it, one of the things that I always.
Speaker 1I consult with a lot of authors and speakers and we're always trying to figure out mission statements. What do you do? What do you hear? What is your lane? What is your lane? And when we hone in on what the lane is, I have them write it down and put it in front of where they can see it all the time. I have them write it down and put it in front of where they can see it all the time and say, okay, if I can see this, am I out of my lane? Not that everything in your day is in your lane, because goodness knows when everything's crazy. That wasn't your mission today. For the dog to eat a bunch of marshmallows and get sick and have to run to the vet Absolutely that wasn't in the mission of today. But if you can pull yourself back to, this is what, even though statements up on your wall like is my feet under me? Is that happening right now? Am I evaluating those, keeping those core concepts in front of you Right and moving in those in your mind, even when you can't move with them in your feet? That's good, even when you're meddling into the vet, yeah, that's good, doesn't it start here? And then it migrates that critical 18 inches south to our heart and then the body can follow. He's with me, he loves me, he's with me, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1Lynn, would you just take some time here and let's pray for the women that might be listening, the women that might be out there right now hearing your words or maybe on the replay. Would you take a minute and pray for them? Because there's one thing we always say, there's one thing we can all count on death and taxes. We can all count on crisis. We can all count on life happening. Life be life, and hard sometimes, I have to remind myself. None of us get by without coming right up against it. So would you pray for those women? Now I would. I'd like to, just before I pray, say this During the writing of Sacred Refuge, I went through breast cancer, found out a year ago, may.
Speaker 1Wow, in the moment when I get the call from the radiologist, god enveloped me in a piece that I cannot explain in a tangible, logical way Wait six weeks, go into surgery, clean margins. I believe he, just I think he's healed me. But it was like a living laboratory for the book right Crisis. This thing could get me out. On the way home from surgery. My husband's driving me home, somebody runs a stop sign, plows into our car. I was like neat because I thought I might take a nap If I'd been in the front seat. I didn't want to think about what might have happened. But again, in the moment of impact, god's saying I've got you and all will be well. This is love for us, his compassion for us, which we can now pass on to others.
Speaker 1There's a story arc in Sacred Refuge. The first three chapters finding that's getting our feet under us. Finding Sacred Refuge the middle is abiding. Let's not just visit Sacred Refuge the night our kid is in a car accident, we go to the ER. No, this is our inheritance in Christ. We can live from this place. And then the final part is what we've been also talking about sharing Sacred Refuge with others, with compassion.
Speaker 1Right, I'd love to pray. Thank you, father. You are a good daddy, you are our Abba. It's amazing to us that the God of the universe, elohim, the Lord of hosts, jehovah, god, invites us to know and experience him yourself as our daddy, god, and we come before you right now and rest in your presence. Thank you for the gift of being able to cease striving and just be still and know you. And, father, you know who is on this call today. You know who will hear it on the replay Each one, a precious child in creation of yours. Your compassion is upon your people. Your compassion is on each of us and on each woman who's listening to this now or in the replay, and I pray that by the power of your spirit, you would release that strong sense of your compassion, your presence, your power to heal, to save, to change, to lead through crisis.
Speaker 1God, I pray for women who've just gotten the same diagnosis I did last year. Who are afraid, who are saying this could be it, what's going to happen? Would you quell their fears right now, in Jesus' name? Would you fill them with the Holy Spirit who speaks peace to the storm. Peace be still to this anxiety. We pray, lord, that you would speak truth to them in the days ahead. God is with me, god is for me, god loves me. God is for me, god loves me.
Speaker 1Father, we pray for those of us who are learning how to comfort others with the comfort we've received. The brokenness in our lives has actually tenderized us and softened us, tenderized our hearts, so that we now look at others' needs and want to help. Would you show us where and how you're calling us to express your compassion for a broken world, whether it's the neighbor across the street who just lost somebody dear to them, whether it's people who are in famine in Sudan, whether it's folks who got wiped out by these recent hurricanes, whatever it is, father, show us and give us the ability to say yes, lord, send me, use me. Father, I pray that Psalm 91 would be true for all of us in the days ahead, regardless of what happens with the election, regardless of the personal crises we're walking through. Would you give us the ability to dwell in the shelter of the Most High, in your shelter, to abide in the shadow of the Almighty, in your shadow, help us to say, with the psalmist I will say to the Lord, my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. Thank you for Jesus, who makes all of this possible, who sheltered us under his wings Even as he raised his arms out on the cross. He covered and sheltered us. How grateful we are. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen, amen, amen. Thank you, thank you so much. Thank you, thank you so much. And it was amazing that as you were praying, I just realized I need to get my mammogram.
Speaker 1It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. We need how mine was found, early detection right. Yep, found it. Yep, lynn, just tell everyone where they can find you, where they can find Sacred Refuge. Let us know where they can connect. Yes, so bravebelovedcom will take them to the book and to my ministry, lynnreinstracom Again, I spell it right, it's L-Y-N-E-r-i-e-n-s-t-r-acom will take them to my speaking and some free resources that are on my website. Thank you so much for letting me be here today. Oh, we loved it. Thank you so much. You guys.
Speaker 1Just remember we're gonna be, we're gonna be back, but remember we're over on Faithia now, our new in-faith app, faithia. You can find us over there. All our live stream, everything. We're also on streaming on all the podcast networks. We would love for you to like, subscribe and pass it on. Share it with your friends. Subscribe and pass it on. Share it with your friend and Lisa. Anything else besides? It's a reminder that if you haven't picked up our Meeting Ladies journal workbook to go with your book, or if perhaps you are interested in doing a book study, we are so excited about the InFaithia app because there are some really cool things that you can do there that we can't do everywhere else, and so we're going to be doing some book studies and we're going to be hitting you up to join us. Yeah, so if you go to the app store on your smartphone, it is F-A-I-T-H-I-A and you can find Leading Ladies on Faithia, so we want you to join us.
