Her Place of Hope

[00:00:02] Speaker A: Y'all can be seated. Thank y'all for coming tonight. It means so much to me and Liz and just miss Carrie for y'all together with us on a. On a Sunday night when y'all could be doing so many other things to prepare for your week. We just wanted to come up and just explain how her place started. A lot of y'all have just seen me on Sundays or Wednesday nights, and y'all are like, who is this girl? And what is she doing? And so I'm Lindsey, for those that don't know me and her plays honestly come about. And the Lord had been honestly pouring into me and just dealing with me since October, since we went to RUWOC. And that was a conference at redemption to the nation's church. And when we were there, Pastor Kevin and Devin Wallace both preached different sermons, but they both preached about how it's the time is now for ladies in the church to step up and not for us to always put the pressure on the men of our church. And those services were just honestly so special. And I remember going back to the hotel room, and I was texting Liz, and we were talking, and I was like, I know that I meant for more than just coming in on Sunday mornings and leaving out as soon as services are over and not coming back until the next Sunday. And so with that, starting in October, January 1, Pastor Donnie preached on a new year, a new vision, and connect. And if you were here, he talked about three points, and I'm going to share two of those points that really stuck with me. But it was. Our vision can unify believers. And sorry, y'all, I'm not a crier, but I kind of am when I'm in a room full of people. But it's just the Holy Spirit. So. But he. That. That point really spoke to me. And I thought and had felt so guilty for so long of, what if it's me? What if I'm the only one that had just an encouraging word or just a smile or a hug? What if I'm what's holding our church back? You know, what if I meant for more to touch other lives in this church? And so point number four of his was Christ way, connect. How will you connect people? And so, with that point, I had been praying and praying all through our 21 days of prayer. And the Lord just really birthed this in me. And he said, that's how you're going to connect people. You're going to start a ministry, and I'm trusting you to do this. And so with that being said, I was just like, okay, you know, I'm going to do this. And I don't know what this looks like, but I'm going to be obedient. And so we had the open outdoor pouring, which was, I guess, last month or the month before. All the weeks are running together, but we had that. And I remember just getting so frustrated because I'm like, I'm supposed to be obedient. I'm supposed to start a ministry. I don't know what this looks like. And I remember coming to this altar and just begging, God, stir up a gift in me, give me a boldness to speak. Because if you know me, this is not me. This is. This is not me to speak out, to want to do services. But through that, Liz had actually come to the altar, and she was standing beside me, and I feel like that was honestly nothing but God. And she was standing there, and we were praying and praying, and we left Tuesday night, and I called her, and I said, liz, I have to do this. And the Lord told me that it's happening in July. Like, we're gonna do a. I'm gonna do a service. And I don't know what this looks like, but I need help. And so we just wanted to create this space for women to come and just be able to gather together and to worship with one another. Because life is really hard. And when you're doing life alone, it's even harder. And the enemy's in your ear ten times harder. And he's trying to steal your joy and steal your purpose and tell you that you're worthless. And so if you're here tonight and you're feeling those things, just know that there's hope. But I'm going to turn it over to Liz, and I'm just going to let her talk about how the name come about. [00:04:25] Speaker B: Okay? So, yeah, when she gave me that call and wanted to start this in July, I was like, okay, we're doing this. So to do this, we had to have a name. And so when I got off the phone with her, I was sitting there reading scripture, trying to come up with this name to just grab everyone's attention, just trying to make it sound perfect. And the Lord, after just sitting there for a long time, the Lord was like, liz, you're thinking about this way too much. And he was right. I'm thinking about way too much. And so I was like, okay, what do you want me to call this? And so he just kind of spoke to me and was like, what about her place? And I was like, okay, that kind of sounds really good. Why her place? And there's two reasons why this is such a good name for this ministry and for us as women. And it's because, you know, the first reason is her place is a safe place. And this is supposed to be a safe place for us. For us to just come lay it down, whatever it is. And maybe you have a safe place, whether that be your shower or your car or your bedroom. Mine's my shower and my car, but this is also my safe place. And this is what we want her place to be for all of you women, is just a safe place. And another reason why we think that her place is such a good name is because her place is endless. You know, all of us are sitting here, but we're all going through different situations, and maybe we're going through the same thing, but in different seasons, but we're all going through different things. And it could be her place of singleness. It could be her place of a widow or a divorce or freedom, surrender. It could go on. And so that's why we called it her place, because we're all going through different things. And this is where we come together to be in our places, but to have each other, to get through our place. [00:06:28] Speaker A: And before we invite Miss Carrie up to come speak on her place of hope, I have just two scriptures that I want to share with you guys, and one is actually not a scripture. It is something that I come across right before we launch this. And it was kind of that God wink, you know, that you just really need just to have that bold faith and that courage. And so it says, perhaps some people are on the very verge of becoming more devoted to God. For them to go on about their lives without making that decision is like walking past an enormous feast without stopping to sample the food. It says, David urges his readers to taste and see that the Lord is good. The lines of the world have no guarantee of success, but those who faithfully seek Jesus will find all they need and more. And two of the scriptures that her place is based off of is my favorite scripture, which is no wonder it's my favorite scripture. One of my favorite. I'm a Valentine's baby, and it's one corinthians 1614. And it says, let all that you do be done in love. And I don't think there's a coincidence that I was born on Valentine's Day. And that that's my favorite scripture. So the last scripture is one Peter three eight. And it says, finally, all of you have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, and a tender heart and humble mind. And that's our vision, is for us to gather together and to have sympathy for each other and each lady that's going through really, really difficult things. And just to know that this is, like Liz said, her place of forgiveness and sacrifice, surrender, unity, and grace. With that being said, Miss Cary, if you will come take the stage. [00:08:10] Speaker C: I have to say that I am extremely proud of these two young ladies. They came to me a few weeks ago and said that the Lord had, well, everything they just shared, and that they were nervous and didn't think they could talk. And I said, God, give it to you. God will give you the strength and the courage to say it and to do it. And I am extremely proud. Y'all are doing a great job, and you're going to do amazing things through this ministry. You've got a lot of us here to support. And so, in all of that, we talked about different places. And when Liz said, I'm thinking of calling it her place, and they'll tell you, they were sitting at my kitchen table. Oh, I love that. Because if you start thinking of all the places we could be, her place of freedom, her place of loneliness, her place of healing. I mean, like she said, it's endless. And so we talked, and we thought that the first one should be hope. And I was like, okay, here we go. Because we can talk about this all day long. This is good. And when I got to thinking, I was jotting down, because I like to kind of brainstorm and start writing and thinking and praying and going on. And one day, we'd like to camp a lot during the summer. We, you know, work, and we'll take a night or two, and we'll go. And one morning, I was up. It was about 05:00 and it was like the Lord just opened up this window and started pouring all this out about hope. Well, I start texting myself because I didn't want to wake up pastor or gavin, and I started saying, okay, okay, all right, lord, let me get all this down. But I thought about hoping, and I don't have a sermon. I'm talking from a heart of love tonight, because I don't want it to be preachy. I don't want it to be like everything else that we do. I want this, like she said, to be a place where we just are here from one another. Galatians said, to bear one another's burdens and fulfill the law of Christ. We need to support we need to uplift. We need to encourage. And so I looked up hope, and hope is literally an optimistic state of mind based on an expectation of positive outcomes. Okay. And I started thinking of Pollyanna. Everybody ever seen Pollyanna? She was always hopeful and so bubbly, and I kind of had her as my muse when I started thinking about this, because, I mean, are there not a lot of things that we hope for? I mean, where's my high school and college girls? I hope for a good grade. How many of y'all. Yes, I hope for a good grade. Or I hope I get asked to the prom. I hope I get into college. I hope I pass my midterms. Or some of us other ladies. Oh, I hope I can lose a few pounds as we're eating a piece of chocolate. I hope my cake turns out good. While I'm hoping to lose a few pounds, oh, I hope I find that on sale. How many of y'all ever said that when it gets time for Easter, a mother say, oh, lord, let me find that sale, and then let it fit. You know? And it's like, I think so often we confuse hope with, like, crossing our fingers, our toes, and our eyes, and just, oh, I hope this works out. Or if we're praying for something, oh, Lord. I know this is a big ask, but I really hope this works out. And I got to thinking how misunderstood is the word hope for a group of christian ladies, because I'm gonna tell you something. I think too often, we treat hope like it's a 50 50 chance instead of 100% guarantee. Hope is not something that we're just man. God, I really. I hope you do this, but if you have something, write this down. Hope should never be wishful. Hope should never be wishful, but should be worshipful. Hope should never be wishful, but should be worshipful. We don't need to treat hope as if we're wishing upon a star or we're blowing out a dandelion. And I just hope all my dreams come true. This isn't a fairy tale. This is reality, and we don't need to go in with those kind of expectations like, it's a chance everything's going to work out. Instead, we should treat hope like a worship opportunity to express our trust that God is going to work it out. It should never be wishful, but entirely worshipful. In fact, the difference between a woman that hopes something good will happen and a woman of God that has hope that something will happen is confidence. We can say all day long, I hope. I hope, I hope God does this. But what is the difference when a woman says, my hope is that God will do this? There's a difference. And it's the confidence that we have that God's going to do it. We can hope we get a good doctor's report. We can hope that the Lord heals us. We can hope our kids don't continue to lose their minds. We can hope our husband starts picking up his bath towel. We can hope all these things, but at the end of the day, that's wishful thinking. But instead, we declare with confidence, Lord, my hope is in you that this will happen. It may not be the way we think, it may not be according to our agenda or our way of thinking, but it's a confidence that God knows what he's doing and he's going to work it out. See, it's a matter of confidence, not in our own abilities, because let me tell you, our own abilities, we cannot do it. We cannot make our husbands do the things we need them to do. We cannot make our children behave in the ways well we can. There's a way about that, but we'll get to that in a minute. We can do a lot of things, hopefully, but it's not in our abilities on our own to do that. But it's in the one who creates every moment, every season, every single opportunity. He's the one that can do what we need to have done. Psalm 30 318 says, behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his mercy. I am a very, very, very private person. Somebody asked me something one time, and I said, you've got me confused with pastor. He will tell you anything and everything. I will just be like, hmm, maybe we'll talk about that later. I don't. I don't like to open up. I don't like to talk about things. It's not me. And I asked a couple people, said, please pray. And they even asked pastor on the way, I said, please pray because I really don't want to share some stuff. And he just kind of looked at me and I was like, I really don't want to do it because it's not me. It's not in my nature. I don't like talking about myself. I don't like people talking about me. I don't like doing that. And when I started reflecting on hope and what all hope is, I thought about different moments in my life. In fifth grade, I hoped I would be the mayor of our class. I was in 7th grade. I hoped I would be the Civics club president. I was. I hoped I would be the senior class treasurer. I was. I hope I would get scholarships and get into Florida State. I did. Did I go? No, but that's another question for another day. I hoped I would find the one, and I did. All these things I had hoped every one of them happened, not because of anything about me, just how it worked out. And there was one thing that I hoped for, and it didn't work. I'd hoped to have a family, and it wasn't happening. And four doctors in two states said, don't know what to tell you. You're just not meant to have one. Your body's not made for it. And I was like, but, no. Everything I've ever wanted to have happen has happened. This has to happen. And he's like, well, I don't know what to tell you. It's not going to happen. And this is right before, literally right before I'm supposed to get married to a man who has openly said, I want to have a family. And so I went to him, and I said, hey, I'm giving you the opportunity to get out because I can't have kids. I know you want them, and I can't do it, so I'm letting you out. No hard feelings. He looked at me like I was crazy. He said, you're who I'm supposed to be with. There's no way. No. And that church service, we had an evangelist come, and he spoke a word, and my mother in law and my mom both know there is no way this man knew anything about us. He didn't know a thing about our situation. I had not even told them about what the doctor had said. Again, I'm a very private person. I wasn't even telling my family. But that evangelist spoke a word over us, and that word would be my source of confidence for a long time because my abilities had failed me, my body failed me, but God never failed me. And he spoke that knowing that we would go through a long time. So everybody around me, you know how it is having babies. Everybody. And it's just, oh, yeah, great. Go to another baby shower. Great. Hold another cousin. Hold another this. Oh, that's great. And something one day just happened because, see, that target used to not always be crazy. And they had this baby section, and it was in mobile where we lived. And I said, you know what? I'm just gonna walk over there. It was torturous, but I did it. And I walked over, and I started even getting enough courage to actually pick up something and look at it. And then I started putting it in my buggy. Then in the middle of target, not caring who saw me, not care who looked at me, I started laying hands on that stuff and I started saying, lord, I'm not hoping any longer, but I am declaring, the word that you spoke is going to happen. And I'm not going to just hope it. I'm going to believe for it. And in the middle of target, I laid hands on that stuff so many times and I started saying, God, it is not in my ability to do it, but you can. My faith is in you. My hope is in you, and I believe it is going to happen. So there's this thing nowadays, and some of y'all may do it. And if you do, God bless you. There's this thing called gentle parenting. Have y'all heard of this? Some of y'all may do it and godspeed if you do. It's where you go up to your kidney. Now, I need you to be quiet. I need you to go to your room. Please stop beating me in the face and stop hitting me and kicking me. And I need you to start going over there and doing what I say. Well, let me just tell you, in our house, that doesn't work. We believe in the laying on the hand. In our house, if Gavin was here, he would tell you we have a system that we have started since he was born. We count to four on three, it better be done, because on four, that wooden spoon's coming out. To this day, that kid starts twitching if he sees the spoon come out. I think the problem today is there's too many christian women trying to gentle exist with the devil. Now, if you just go away and let me have what I'm hoping for, I won't bother you. Now, now, I know you're telling me it's not going to happen, but if you'll just leave, just go over there and just let me have this and we'll be okay. It's time to have an old fashioned southern mama tear down and tell the devil, no, you're not going to take my joy. You're not going to take my hope. I trust in God. And don't let him rob you of the kind of confidence you have in him. To know that he that began a good work in you is going to see it until it's done. Whether it's you you're praying for, your health, your healing, your husband, your kids, whatever it may be, it's time to take authority. I see these kids beating their mamas. And I'm like, it's enough. You're the parent. That's not cool. Don't do that. It's time we remember we are women of God. Like pastor said this morning, he calls me daughter. He calls you daughter. And it's time we act like it and stop being mealy mouthed to the devil and say, enough is enough. We don't have to be passive about the things that we are hoping and praying for. We need to trust God has it under control. And so I'm gonna leave you with this. Don't gentle parent the devil. What you do with your kids, that's between you and the Lord. But Hebrews 1023 says, let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. Some of you are here tonight in worship. Team y'all can come on up. Some of you are here tonight, and you have prayed for something. Believe for it. You have stood in the gap. You've made up the hedge, you've held on. You've let go. You've done it all. You have done it all. There comes a point. You just lay hands on something, say God, it's yours. I can't fix this. I couldn't fix my body. But you saw my boy here this morning, nearly as tall as me. That's not anything I could do. That was 100% the Lord. And I'm just going to tell you. Some of you are going through things that nobody knows. You have innermost desires. You have things you want so bad to have happen. And in your own abilities, I'm telling you I love you. You cannot do it on your own. But the God you serve is abundantly able to do that and so much more. Don't. Don't give in. Don't give up. I would not have my boy today if I had listened to everybody screaming. There was people. Why don't they just adopt? Why don't they just give? And this was in the church. Why don't they just give up? Why did they keep putting themselves through this? Because God had spoke a word. Some of y'all are at the end of a rope, it feels like. And some of you have held on to this rope for so long. Would just hopes and prayers. But I'm here to tell you, this is her place of hope. This is her place. This is your place. If you're at the end of the rope, tie a knot and keep swinging and hanging on. Because God has an appointed time for each and every one of us to be fulfilled with what he has spoke over our lives. We know. Jeremiah 20 911 says, for I know the thoughts I have for you, hopes of a future of hope. He spoke that. Then he's saying, have confidence in me because I'm going to do it. I don't like to see women of God halfway living with just God. Please, I hope you can do it. Kick the door down like pastor said and walk through it knowing that you can do it and live in the faithfulness that God's got for.