Preparing For Farewell

I am excited to have Jill McSheehy guest blog for Grace Lace and Polkadots this week. Jill’s passion is to equip women to study the bible with enthusiasm and to equip them for ministry. Her other passions include Matt, her husband of 15 years, and her two children Drew (10) and Alyssa (6).  Jill blogs on http://journeywithjill.net and has a Facebook page Journey With Jill in the Garden where she guides first time gardeners through the basics of gardening.

As well as being a blogger, Jill has authored two books Glory in the Garden: 31 Days of Devotionals and Flourish. Her latest publication is a Bible Study, Journey through Acts. Be sure to check out the links below and take advantage of the sweet discount she is offering to Grace Lace and Polkadots readers.

I give you Jill McSheehy.

 

Preparing For Farewell

Good-byes are hard.

I remember the evening well. It was my last night to teach a class I had begun ten years earlier and had taught every week since. These women were my family. We raised our kids together; we wrestled with hard questions together; we laughed our heads off together; we grew as Christian women together. I spent my heart and soul pouring ten years of my life into these women. Some were my peers and others I had personally discipled. But the time came for me to say farewell.

When you close a chapter of your life — especially one in which you devoted so much of your time and energy, the final “farewell” is particularly poignant.

Twice in Paul’s discourse with the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he proclaims that he didn’t “shrink back” from proclaiming the whole plan of God and anything that was profitable to them. In other words, no regrets.

How is that possible? How could Paul, an imperfect person like each of us, spend over two years with these people and have no regrets?

I think the answer is in verse 24:

“But I count my life of no value to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of God’s grace” (Acts 20:24).

Paul knows his calling; he knows his course of life: testifying to the gospel of God’s grace. Did he do everything perfectly? Probably not. But in what mattered, he succeeded. He was faithful.

Each Christian has the same responsibility as Paul — to testify to the gospel of God’s grace. But the way we work out this responsibility will be different. For instance, Paul was called to the Gentiles.

Who are the “Gentiles” God has sent you to? Your children? A class in your church? Your coworkers? Parents in your child’s sport or activity?

Realize that the time for farewell will come. Your kids will leave home. Your class at church will end. You will change jobs. Your child will choose new activities. When it’s over, will you be able to say, as Paul did, that you did not “shrink back?” Let go of the idea that you have to do everything perfectly. Instead, think ahead to that farewell.

Someday, when it’s time for that goodbye, you’ll want to say, “I did not shrink back; I finished my course.” So what do you need to do today, right now, that will enable you to have no regrets on that day?

 

Today’s guest post is taken from Jill McSheehy’s new Bible Study, Journey through Acts. Click here to order your copy, and enter the code GRACELACE15 to get 15% off and free shipping! Offer ends 12/31/16

(Link to product: http://journeywithjill.net/product/journey-through-acts/)

Jill is also hosting a Journey through Acts Facebook group starting January 16^th, where she will provide weekly video lessons and discussions. Members of the group also will get free downloadable memory verse cards. Click here for more information. (Link: http://journeywithjill.net/product/membership-journey-acts-facebook-group/)

Ladies I’m sure you join me in saying Thank You to Jill for sharing her heart and giving us a peek inside her new Bible Study, Journey through Acts. Also thank you Jill for the sweet deal 15% off plus free shipping through your link.

Helena

Looking to Jesus. Living in His Radiance

Feel free to share this post with your friends.