A True Encourager - episode 46
Cynthia is the director of women’s ministry at her church where she has the joy of coming alongside women, connecting them, and seeing them as they are without judgment. She is open, honest and claims her humanity. She wants God’s best for each woman and works to encourage them in that direction, herself included. I want to share with our listeners that I meet each woman where they are at. That is what Unabashed You is all about. This is not an episode to try to convert you or to tell you your beliefs are wrong. That’s not my place. Please know all are invited, all are welcome here. And lastly I think it’s the ultimate sign of respect to see each person as they are. Right now. We can always ask questions of each other to gain deeper understanding. And isn’t that what true connection is all about?
You can hear the passion Cynthia has for the work she is doing which likely doesn’t feel like work at all. She gets to teach, be there for, and support, women. Knowing that connection is an integral part of that she devotes time and effort to going deep with the women because she has seen, and knows the power of encouragement. She wants God’s best for each one. And even if you don’t understand what someone is going through you can still walk beside them. That is a gift. Be sure to give it away.
Adventurer.
Connector. Encourager.
— Cynthia
Yeshua
Thoughts from A True Encourager
When this podcast was started I wanted to be sure every woman (and now men) knew they were welcomed with open arms. There is no requirement, no set of beliefs you must hold to participate in this conversation. Being unabashed means being you - whoever you are, without apology. I hold to that conviction more strongly than I can convey with these words.
Now that said, I get to be unabashed too, right? And if I am to embrace the transparency I promote, support and encourage, you have likely already gleaned I am a believer, a woman of faith, a Christian. Now the word “Christian” comes with it a tremendous amount of baggage. Not necessarily for me personally, (we named our son Christian), but for many who identify as one. Countless people have given Christianity a bad name. (Just look at history!) They have done things from a place of fear, a place of condemnation, a place of pride and arrogance, hardly a place of love.
For me that is the bottom line. Love. God is love. We are told to love him, and to love others as ourself. Seems pretty straight forward to me. So when you see anyone who claims to be a Christian behaving in a way contrary to love they have either momentarily misstepped or missed the mark altogether. Please don’t lump us all in the same category. There are extremists who are truly out of touch with what love is. What love does. I will look, not just at a person’s words and talk, but true love which shows itself in action.
Now why did I title this blog post Yeshua? When I saw the movie, The Passion, there is a scene where the young boy Jesus/Yeshua falls down and his mother Mary cries out to him, Yeshua! She is having this flashback as he is now a 33-year old adult carrying his cross down the long road to be crucified. Something about that touched my mother’s heart and now I mostly refer to him as Yeshua privately. There are a couple of places where Mary was said to have treasured and pondered these things in her heart. I really love that about her. And if you’ve been following our conversations you know how I like to ponder.
I am not here to convert, convince or cajole anybody into the set of beliefs I hold dear. You each have your own path to take, your own choices to make. I’ve made mine clear. Now it wasn’t always this way. Originally I belonged to a large denomination and grew up in a time when Jesus was love. Folk mass. Cool, hippy priests. It was a good message. Flash forward some years and I started going to a mega-church and there was focus on being “saved” and making sure your loved ones were too or you-know-what. Say a special prayer and you’re good to go. Now I find myself drawn to a more progressive outlook. One that says, we can’t speak for God. He is love and will operate exactly that way. I can’t second guess him or know how it all works. It is a mystery. He is a mystery and gets to be exactly that. As I’ve gotten older I’ve realized how unimportant it really is that I have, or know the answers. I don’t. I can have opinions, thoughts. And I do enjoy pondering. But I’m not God. So until my number is called I will love to the best of my ability and not beat myself up when I don’t for he knows my heart and my desire to make him beautiful. ❤️
God is love.
— 1 John 4:16
