Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Jill Briscoe's Life Lessons

A few blogs back, I sang the praises of Jill Briscoe. Recently, I had the privilege of sitting under her teaching. A local radio station brought her in town for an event and she took time out of her busy schedule to provide some "Life Lessons" for a couple of hundred women. Born out of years of life and ministry, Jill's life lessons were deep and relevant.

Though I wanted to shout "Hurrah" when she said that "People want the Word of God taught...the veracity of the Word of God is enough...it does not need bells and whistles" (see my previous blog for the context of why I loved that statement), the life lesson that impacted me the most was her reminder that ministry "is not going to be done without cost...it's going to cost you at some point." I knew that already, but, the truth mitigates the surprise and some of the pain.

I remember hearing Elisabeth Elliot say, when speaking about reeling from the pain of losing her husband Jim on the mission field, that she lived through her days saying to herself "Just do the next thing..." When we suffer, sometimes all we can do (and all God requires of us), is to "just do the next thing."

Of course, Jesus is no stranger to pain. I can't think of any suffering that has come my way that my Savior hasn't also suffered. There is strength to be gained through knowing that we are not alone. That others have walked the same path before us and survived.

Time permitted the teaching of only five life lessons. I could have listened to Jill for hours. Because it's her material, I will refrain from listing her other four life lessons. If you ever get a chance to sit under her teaching, please do. Your spiritual life will benefit and so will your heart.

Thanks, Jill, for your words and for your faithfulness to God, which are a great example to us.

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