I was scrolling down my Instagram feed when something registered at the back of my mind that made me pause. From a handful of posts, I’d seen at least three almost consecutive ones of different women preaching. These women weren’t new on my feed. I follow each of them and so I’m used to seeing such content from them and others for that matter.

But this time, I couldn’t help but stop and really take the posts in.

Women. On altars. Preaching God’s word.

In 2019, it’s both a novelty and a norm.

Because one of the endless debates that still exists in the Church is what role women are supposed to play in the context of ministry and leadership. Whichever side of the divide you’re on, I think we can all agree that you didn’t just get to where you are as a woman. There was a critical role played by both men and fellow women who God used to bring you this far. 

Bishop T.D. Jakes points out this invaluable truth about life – just because you got something for free doesn’t mean that the one who gave it to you (for free) didn’t pay a price for it. 

Take a moment to appreciate that any woman you know, including yourself, who serves in a leadership capacity, whether in a pulpit ministry context or anywhere else, is able to do so because it was made possible for her to do so. 

It didn’t just happen. 

Decisions were made. Sacrifices offered. Investments done. Support given. Prayers lifted up. Encouragement poured out. Correction facilitated. 

All these things (and more) are intentional on the part of the giver. 

Has there been as much intentionality (if not more) on your part as a receiver? 

What does this look like, you ask?

It looks like being grateful for those who’ve paid a price on your behalf. You can’t be grateful for someone if you’re ignorant of their existence and their impact in your life. Who are the women who’ve gone before you? Who are the women God has used to chart roads where none existed so you could find your way to where you are today? What have they made possible for you to be and to do?

It looks like being grateful to those who’ve paid a price on your behalf.  If you know them personally, reach out to them with a call, a text, or even in person and tell them you’re grateful for their input in your life. Treat/gift them in whichever way you’re able to. If you don’t know them personally, you can always find a way to support the work they’re doing whether in prayer, financially or in kind. Just because they’re farther down the road than you are, doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can offer them. A reminder that their input matters may be the very encouragement they need to carry out their current or next assignment.

It looks like actually living out the life you’re called to. Whatever price has been paid for you to be where you are is a means to an end not the end in itself. It wasn’t for you to just receive it and sit on it gratefully. It’s to enable you to pursue and accomplish the purpose God has for you. There’s no greater honour you can give to someone who’s laid down their life for your benefit than to live your life to the fullest. To become everything God has said of you and diligently take up the assignment He has given you on earth. To merely thank someone for a gift they’ve given you, and then never open it, much less use it, is a disservice to God, to them and to yourself. 

It looks like paying it forward. The same way someone did it for you, can you in turn do it for another? Who are the women who God wants to use your life to create new paths for? Are you willing to take up the price you’re meant to pay so that they don’t have to, in the same way that others paid the price so you didn’t have to? One of the excuses we hide behind is that we’ve not “made it enough” to bear the weight of another. Yet, what does that even mean? At what point has anyone truly made it when we’re all continually serving and growing in our purpose and service to the Lord until the day we die. The bigger question is really – are you willing to share whatever “little” you have with the one who has nothing at all? And trust that the God who showcases His ability to multiply throughout the Bible, will take your sacrifice and make a miracle out of it. 

There’s a beautiful, intricate work that God is doing in women and through women all over the world. In our homes. In our schools. In our workplaces. In our churches. In our nations. When I think of where God is taking us as women, I’m less concerned about the external barriers we have to contend with and more concerned that we may miss out on the opportunities God is bringing our way simply because we won’t step up and show up when it’s our turn. 

Don’t let life pass you by as you cower in a corner. You were made for more. Live like it.