Standing behind lush green bushes and a barbed wire fence, stands a young woman. She looks no older than me, yet has a baby propped on her hip. She longingly looks at where I stand. Her eager eyes yearn to know what we are talking about.
She stands there, a few yards behind me. Watching. Waiting for her invitation to come and join.
However, I was unaware of her presence. Unaware of her eagerness. I was oblivious to the fact someone could possible want to stand where my feet were.
I was standing in the middle of a rubber plantation our ministry contact had brought us to. We were there to bless the land. However, I had no desire to be in that place. My feet in wet, mildewy dirt. An overwhelming stench filled my nose. Mosquitos biting my ankles. I was uncomfortable. I didn’t want to be where I was. So, I wasn’t really paying attention to what was going on around me.
All the while, our voices carried over to where she was standing. Behind the dense green bushes and barbed wire fence. Our prayers where overheard by the young woman, with the baby, in the back.
Haven’t we all been that woman before? We see the thing we want. We hear the people we want to be with. We know God is calling us into more, yet fear keeps us from moving. We stay there in the back. Waiting. Hoping that one day the opportune moment will come along. Yet sadly, it never does. We end up stuck, standing in the back. Forever. Because we were too afraid to come forward.
Finally, I see her. I see the woman who has been standing there, listening. Waiting. Wanting that open invitation to come and join. How could I not have seen her?
How could I have been so oblivious to a woman that I once was?
However, she is different than I. She decided to come forward. With a baby on her hip and purple umbrella in her hand, she made her way to where we were standing. Her eager eyes shinning.
She had the courage to come forward.
She is no longer the woman in the back. She’s now the woman who took a step in changing her life.
I think it’s time we all stand up and walk forward. We don’t need to be women who stay in the back any longer. God is calling us into more. It’s time we have courage, claim our authority in Christ, and step forward.
