Chosen Not Cheated: Leaders’ Edition

Earlier this year, my girl – Koki Oyuke – published a book aptly titled: Chosen Not Cheated. This month, my posts are a tribute to her book (and life) message. More details on the book down below.

“In the end, if you must carry a crown before you wear one, if you must set the table before you seat at one, then do it well. Sitting under someone is a high honour because soon enough, you’ll be head of the table and a king or queen in your own right. It’s all preparation. And no one says it, but leading someone destined to be greater than you is a harder task than waiting tables and shining crowns. May you be the shade that many sit under. May you share your fruit.”
Koki Oyuke (Chosen Not Cheated)

How God prepares us for leadership is an underlying theme in Rose Gold Crowns. I don’t believe we ever “arrive” as leaders until we’re done with our assignment on earth. Regardless of how long you’ve been a leader or how much experience you may have, there’s always room to learn and grow as a leader.

God chooses us for leadership, but He doesn’t cheat us out of life.

With the numerous sacrifices we make to get to leadership, to serve as leaders and to grow in leadership, sometimes it can feel like you have to choose between being a leader and having a life.

Years ago, I happened to ask God why so many of those He’s called to leadership crash and burn. I’d been seeing so many articles, posts and news of people getting burned out and some even quitting ministry and it bothered me greatly. He shared His Father’s heart with me in a way that marked me forever. The weight of the calling He places on our lives is certainly heavy. Yet, it’s not the weight that breaks us, it’s how we carry it. There is no call He gives without the grace and wisdom to carry it. But we often get so caught up in counting the cost of it all that we lose sight of the fact that as we carry the call, He is carrying us (and the call).

Little did I know then how pivotal that conversation would be to my future self.

Accepting God’s call over your life will probably mean letting go of the life you thought you’d have. But find rest in knowing that the life you get in exchange is far better than what you’d dreamed up. Find rest in knowing that growing as a leader means you grow in how much you depend on God, not how less.

There are so many life and leadership nuggets throughout Chosen Not Cheated especially for anyone who’s going through the in-between of being called to a greater reality that you’ve yet to experience. It’s been such a joy and honour to watch Koki grow as a leader and put together everything she’s been learning along the way in a book.

GET. THE. BOOK. ☺

Book Blurb:

Chosen Not Cheated is a story about going back to the place where the light shone in your eyes. Back to the place where you feel weightless, and with your dreams within reach. It’s a story about becoming in the in-between, thin and hard places you find yourself in life. And it’s seeing for yourself, I mean really seeing for yourself, all the ways you’re chosen by God no matter how cheated you feel. This is about scars, journeys, and stories. Yours and mine. Chosen, not cheated.

Mary Kamau