Yesterday was a big day for me. After a few scheduling curveballs, I could finally take my Bible Knowledge, Doctrine, and 16 Fundamentals tests to apply for the credentials I’ve been working towards over the last year. And now I wait.
When I got home, I felt so much lighter! Partly because I had been studying almost nonstop, and I felt like I could finally rest, but there was also peace. In this peace, the Lord has been speaking to my heart.
Looking back at how I went from doubting if women should even teach in the church to where I am now, I’m so incredibly humbled. I’m humbled because God never gave up on me or my understanding of who He really is. He broke through every lie and misunderstanding that held me back from giving Him my yes. I’m humbled because, in whatever my future may have, I confidently trust His plan for my life. I know no weapon from hell can stop Him, and there’s no glass ceiling that can hold me back from saying yes and following Him with my whole heart.
I spent much of my Christian walk looking up at a glass ceiling. But most of it was fashioned out of the lies I so wrongly believed.
Perhaps you’ve heard of some of them: “They don’t need your help, they have ____.” “She’s more talented and prettier than you are, I shouldn’t try.” “I always mess things up.” “She’s smarter than me.” “It’s not fair that he/she ________.” And so, so many others.
Looking up from the floor, everything above me looked so perfect and far away. Looking around me, I struggled to find the right doors to make things happen based on what I believed I should or thought others wanted me to do. Looking up from the floor, I remembered that the Word of God says He didn’t place my feet on a floor, let alone a sticky one. No, He placed them on a solid rock. He placed them in heavenly places, seated with Christ.
“And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the imcomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.”
Ephesians 2:6-7
From my heavenly seat, I began to see things a little, well, differently. I was drawn to the account in Mark 2 when Jesus healed the paralyzed man in Capernaum. The Word says that the people gathered in such thick crowds that no room was left, not even outside the door. You guys, get this… people were crowding around where Jesus was and not making room for ANYONE else to get to Him, especially those who needed Him the most! That’s how I felt for years! I was lost in a crowd with everyone else taking up space, especially with their abilities and gifts, leaving no room for me. But I didn’t just feel like part of the crowd. I felt like I was outside the crowd… lower, not good enough, looking up as if all this was going on above a stained glass ceiling.
But then I read the audacity of some crazy people who actually climbed up onto someone’s roof and cut a hole in some guy’s roof to lower their friend into the presence of Christ Jesus. At this moment, I realized, “Why have I been more concerned about shattering a glass ceiling for myself than I’ve been about breaking the roofs and walls down that keep the lost, damaged, and hurting people away from Jesus?
“A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on.”
Mark 2:1-4
When the ceiling I looked up to mainly was about everything I wanted, my dreams and desires, it held me back. However, when I fully embraced my seat in heavenly places with Christ and allowed Him to transform my perspective, I stopped fighting for myself and let Him fight for me. Looking down, I realized my position isn’t as much about breaking the ceiling that holds people back from exalting themselves. Still, it’s about strategically planning to courageously mount the obstacles that hinder others from seeing Christ and helping THEM to break through.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Colossians 3:1-4
There’s a way for the breakthrough, and you need to touch the hem of His garment. Get some friends who will climb the walls of what’s holding you back and reach for it. Then give Him the praise he rightfully deserves and shout it from the rooftops! And, by the way, you make a better door than a window!
“Pass through, pass through the gates! Prepare the way for the people. Build up, build up the highway! Remove the stones. Raise a banner for the nations.”
Isaiah 62:10
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