FRIEND FRIDAY | SARAH STOLTZFUS
- Terra Wagner
- Jul 1, 2017
- 5 min read
I cannot express how grateful I am for my friend, Sarah. I've only known her for a few years but it feels like so much longer than that. Sarah is probably one of the kindest people I have ever met. Her heart is extremely generous and she gives God all the glory for it. She truly is amazing!
The video I filmed for Sarah is compiled of little sneak peeks into her daily routine. When she called to tell me of the ideas and visions she had been getting from God, it was complete confirmation because the Holy Spirit had already begun to show me those exact images in my mind. Our God is so awesome and He loves to partner with us!
Sarah serves her husband, children, friends, and community SO WELL and I know that there will be many lives impacted by her story.
Some of the organizations Sarah is a part of include:
Refresh Women
Feed The Need - Melissa
Africa Project
Enjoy as I share with you my friend, Sarah.
I wonder if I am the only person who has a hard time getting rid of this particular thing? Some may say I am a hoarder, I prefer collector.
Cards. I have literally hundreds of cards in boxes.
My sweet husband has helped me move them from house to house over the last 16 years of our lives. I guess I'm just a sentimental person in this way. I have some that I keep out on my desk that have helped shaped me into who I am today, they remind me how far I have come. I have ones from my husband that remind me I am not alone in this journey. I have ones that spoke words of encouragement when I was experiencing hardship.
There is just something about others speaking life into me when I wasn't expecting it. Cards hold an element of surprise. It shows an action beyond a text or a FB post (thank you FB for the birthday reminders).
There was a process that a person went through to pick that card out for me. Sometimes that includes dragging your kids down the aisle at Target and picking the quickest one you can find.
I absolutely treasure them!
It is something so simple but yet can be so significant to the person receiving it! Words are powerful and the action behind it is even more powerful. In this social media culture I am beginning to notice it is so much more about seeing things, scrolling mindlessly through post after post! Hitting like without really ever reading the content. Watching videos after videos without really even hearing the words that are being said.
Constant stimulation, constant noise, constant awareness of who we are or who we are not. Constant Comparison!
We've almost become desensitized to the reality of how hard this life can be. If we are not careful to stop to LOOK and not just see. To LISTEN not just hear we will miss something. We will miss the tears and hurt behind the post. We will miss the depression and isolation of someone wanting to give up. Most importantly will miss an opportunity to take action. To go one step further to ensure they know we are truly grieving with them. That we are available to comfort them and remind them they are NOT alone. If we are to be women of faith we must NOT rely on others or the church to step up! We ARE the church and We must be the ones to do it!
I want to live a life of serving others with sincerity. Which means whole and pure! I want to be the woman that speaks life into every person I come in contact with throughout my day. I want to be the woman that isn't distracted with envy by all the amazing things my friend is doing but instead be her biggest cheerleader! I want to be the mom my kids witness being the hands and feet of Jesus. I want to be the woman that can step out of the label I have given MYSELF and step into the life the LORD has already planned for me!
How can I be all these things? Is it possible?
It is... If I am willing to surrender to our Savior in the season I am CURRENTLY in! Not the one I wish I was in. Not the one I use to be in! The one I am currently IN! Which will mean giving up control, spending time with the LORD and saying YES to things he has planned for me. Will it be easy? Absolutely not! It will be terrifying at times. It may sometimes take Grit, Tenacity, Endurance and Faithfulness! But at the end of whatever it is, I will say it was WORTH it!
I have come to realize you don't have to go on a missionary trip with your church to help those in need right in your community! You don't have to know the entire bible to start your own bible study, you don't have to run a women's ministry to minister to women. You don't have to have it together NOW to share your testimony from your past with others. Let's STOP disqualifying ourselves. I have done that for too many years! I have been blessed to play a role in all these things. I can tell you I did it even when I was afraid. Even when I didn't know what the outcome would be! Even if it felt overwhelming! It has increased my faith in more ways that I can tell you! God has given YOU a circle of influence only YOU can minister to, no one else.
Start today to really LOOK and LISTEN to those around us. I firmly believe it is our time to rise up! Let's be women who serve even in the most simple way as sending a card to a friend, inviting someone over for coffee or getting the courage to share how God has changed your life. If we are willing to say YES and surrender ourselves to God… our lives will change, our community will change and the generations after us will change.
"Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original." Galatians 5:25-26 (MSG)