Priscilla is our special guest for the next two weeks to talk about the “Resolution for Women”series and package following up on the movie Courageous.
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consider this resolution to devote
myself completely to God’s priorities
for my life it’s the fifth of 13
resolutions
that’ll pave a path to greater
usefulness to God and more joy and
fulfillment in the life you’re living
priscilla shirer was asked by the
Kendrick brothers who produced the movie
courageous to provide this helpful
resource the resolution for women what I
didn’t know is that Stephen and Alex
first asked you to act in the movie
Priscilla and you turned him down well
I’m not an actress but you know the main
reason was just because I would have had
to be away from home for quite an
extensive period of time a few weeks and
it was right at the end of the school
year when the boys are getting out of
school and when we were diving into the
summer months together and so the timing
just didn’t work out well you know the
Lord had other plans anyway because it
was several months later that they
decided they needed a companion piece
for women to go along with the movie and
the resolution for women is what they
asked me to partner with them in writing
you were telling me that you were
reluctant to say yes to this because you
typically do whether it’s a Bible study
on tape or a book and you’ve done many
books and Bible studies it comes from
your own heart yeah this was something
from the outside why did you say yes
well I said yes because I loved the
theme the idea that that women are
coming together around a set of
resolutions that will reshape us and the
women that God has called us to be I
mean that’s all of what I believe God’s
ministry that he has for us and has
entrusted to us that’s really what it’s
about but also because I met the
Kendrick brothers and I met Michael cat
and I sat with these gentlemen around a
over dinner and we talked about the
project that was coming the movie
courageous and then the accompanying
books and when I saw their heart for the
Lord their genuine love for his people
their desire not for the lights and fame
of Hollywood but really to see how they
could use maybe that vehicle of
entertainment just to impact people call
marriages back together and call women
and men to be who God has called them to
be when I saw that I was on board right
away
mmm and we’re so glad that you said yes
wonderful book now your dad’s a
well-known pastor Tony Evans
and you know that the number one
question that pastors are asked to
respond to is how do I know God’s will
for my life yes
you and your husband Jerry have made
some courageous decisions and it’s
rooted in a love of God and a commitment
to prioritize according to his good
pleasing and perfect will yeah how do we
make that grabbable for people you know
that’s really what this this particular
resolution is all about giving my best
because a section of that resolution
says to give the best of ourselves in
our time and our talents to the
priorities that God has for us in this
season see that’s the dividing line
there it’s making sure that you know in
this season what he’s called you to give
your best to otherwise you’re spreading
yourself so thin nothing’s getting the
best of you
and so really determining what that is
and honestly it has been it does mean
making some hard decisions it’s meant
that for my husband and I particularly
for my husband in one specific area in
that you know he came from a line of men
that were not responsible in their
family life they he did not grow up with
a father in his home grandfather did the
same thing uncles really were not really
responsible to their families and yet he
decided he was going to be different for
his voice and what that meant was
leaving a very prestigious high paying
executive job in order with Hilton Hotel
yeah okay to say that yes it’s okay he
had a great career there great friends
there was really on an upwardly mobile
path and yet the hours that would be
spent in the office and away from his
children once they started having once
we started having our boys he just
determined that wasn’t the kind of dad
he wanted to be because the residue of
having a father that was not present was
something that he remembered and was all
too familiar with and he just decided he
still didn’t even though he woods it
wasn’t leaving our family he didn’t want
to be in the home and still not be
present because he was so busy at a
demanding career and so he really did
sort of give up a lot and yet he thinks
that he has gained so much more and that
is an opportunity to invest so fully in
his boy’s life and pass on a blessing
that only a father can pass on to a son
and that’s something he never had and I
just love the fact that he’s willing to
give that to our boys I what stood out
to me when he was with us last Wednesday
on the program yeah it it was the
reality that he was leading the house
before the boys
awake yeah and coming home after they’ve
gone to bed when he had missing he was
literally missing the whole day and so
he would come home and I would be half
awake you know from the day with the
kids but not really if the boys were
already bet he’d kiss him I’m at the
time one was just very very little he
would kiss him and then come and talk to
me for a few minutes and then we were
both out for the night and he just
decided that was not the legacy he
wanted his boys to have and so he made a
very courageous decision by choosing to
come and work with going beyond
ministries he really formed and founded
going beyond ministries and made it what
it is today
which again is your Minister yeah
together we get to partner in ministry
together and the boys get to see a
father who’s very busy definitely
productive and working hard and yet he
has time to be at breakfast with us in
the morning and to take his boys to
school and to pick him up in the
afternoon and to have dinner with us
around the table you know when the
school calls and says you know we need
one of you to come up to the school
something’s going on
well me or his dad or their dad can come
and that’s a gift that so many people
aren’t able to give to their children or
don’t determine and decide and resolve
to give to their children and I’m
grateful that Jerry has so picture dad
finishing breakfast with mom and the
boys and going to the office in a
transform barn yeah on the back of the
property I love that I’ve seen that kind
of arrangement yeah yeah it’s just a
barn and his office is upstairs and he
goes there and we do the work of the
Lord from from that little 2,000 square
foot bar and that’s what we do and
that’s what this this resolution is
really about about giving your best to
whatever the primary roles are that the
Lord has called you to in that season
for you it might be being a single woman
or being a mother of small children or
being a grandmother and investing in the
life of your grandchildren what is it
that he’s called you to do right now do
it 100% give your best I love your
emphasis on seasons and you know
discerning what season of life is this
because you know maybe you’ve got to put
career on the back burner right now for
kids it’ll come to the front burner uh I
I think it’s safe to to say that God’s
priorities are very clear and that it is
God first yeah yeah and then if you’re
married your husband is next
I mean slinky will gets the grease so
the kids are going to call for it more
but it’s husband first then children and
then work absolutely it’s so hard in
this culture
to keep the proportions in the right
place you are so right it gets out of
balance so easily and so quickly which
is why a resolution like this is so
important because unless you resolve and
determine and plan and strategize as to
how you’re going to keep those
priorities in place then it’s not going
to automatically fall into place you
really have to say if my husband’s first
if he’s primary then what does this look
like in a month of our lives how am I
going to schedule and plan in and make
sure that he feels like and knows that
he really is significant to me wow I
wish we had longer on this one this one
is very they’re all on wicked spent some
time all the time on this but let me
show you the words of the resolution the
full meal deal the graphic here says I
will seek to devote the best of myself
my time and my talents to the primary
roles the Lord has entrusted to me in
this phase or season of my life it’s a
good word seasons of life yeah cuz the
seasons change just like they do in our
weather patterns they will change and so
right now maybe you have to say no to a
whole lot of things so that you can
devote your say yes and devote yourself
fully to what it is God has called you
to
and those knows feel like a big
sacrifice well just like in the weather
the seasons will change and pretty soon
those nose will become your yeses and so
if you’ll just give yourself fully to
what the Lord has called you to right
now you will see that in the right time
you’ll be able to devote yourself wholly
to the next thing that the Lord allows
to come into a new season of your life
you know I met a woman very recently who
was an investment very well paid job and
her daughter was struggling in high
school years with really serious
depression yeah and she left her job and
ky4 her daughter who thanks her today
for that sacrifice but it’s very
interesting that out of that obedience
because she felt God calling her home
her daughter and who was in need God
birthed first through her and now her
husband has come on board to help manage
her jewelry business Wow and it’s
growing like crazy I hope we’ll be able
to tell her story but it is
an illustration of God rewarding
obedience you never go wrong when you do
what he says isn’t that the truth and
you know even in our own lives we have
one son now that struggles a little bit
in traditional schooling and we’re just
looking at that a little bit more
closely and seeing what that means and
Jerry and I have really had to take a
hard look at our lives and at each other
and say you know what if this calls for
a total shifting and transformation is
what we’re doing right now with school
and and how that looks if we need to
bring everybody home and hold a home
school and what is that going to look
like and are we willing to devote
ourselves fully and completely to the
season of life that God puts us in
regardless of if it looks completely
different than what we had in mind
originally hard questions to ask myself
you know I’m going to squeeze this in
because it’s so eye opening Jesus said
in Matthew 5:48 and you bring this out
because we’re talking about my best yeah
jesus said be perfect even as your
heavenly Father is perfect we’ll talk
about intimidation yeah especially for
people on a performance track exactly
you enlighten us about the meaning of
that well you know I I so felt that that
was so important we were because the
call to be your best the resolution to
give your best well automatically for a
perfectionist you know that just kind of
sends your heightened you know
senses up in terms of wanting everything
to be more best and perfect more
pressure and that’s all you need you
know that’s all we need is women is more
pressure and so when we think about the
scriptural command and encouragement to
be perfect we need to understand that
that word actually meant to be whole and
complete and lacking in nothing and so
when we when we go along with the Lord’s
command to be perfect it is not a
complete to be fault less it is not a
command to be faultless and for
everything to be completely straight
with no mess and no chaos what it means
is that we want this area of our life to
be whole and complete to come to
fruition as God planned it and so when
we’re looking at it from that sense it
doesn’t mean that we do everything
completely accurate and that there are
no problems and hiccups in life I mean
who’s that going to happen for we’ll
drive ourselves nuts trying to make that
happen but if we say Lord what does the
complete picture look like what does it
look like when all the puzzles of this
thing fall into line help me Lord to be
someone that can help this project this
season
my life to end up in a way that is whole
and complete and lacking in nothing
there is so much more in this picture
you need to get the book or books the
resolution for women the resolution for
men look at this I want to know what God
expects of me the resolution for men by
Stephen and Alex Kendrick strategically
inspires men to reconcile with their
past re-engage in their present and move
forward with a bold resolution for the
future the resolution for women by
priscilla shirer
challenges all women to be intentional
about thriving in God’s calling on their
lives to bless and change things in
their world for the better
the resolution for men and women is a
movement intended to help strengthen
your family community and our nation to
become fully resolved it’s our thanks to
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