Change
In Episode 1 of this series, Aglow CEO and President Jane Hansen Hoyt brings us closer to understanding the power of gratitude while navigating the vast landscape of change that we're all experiencing. Listen as Jane, in her gracious and relatable way, guides us into greater alignment with God.
I think i've said this before, but it's worth repeating. We're living in a very different time with a pandemic, change of government, many changes in the earth that can kind of rattle your cage, make your tummy rumble. And you choose not to live in fear and yet, there's times that some thoughts go through your mind - “I wonder if” or “how is this going to work out”. Recently, I was talking with my daughter Lisa, and we were talking about a change that's occurring in her life. She is selling their family home, the place where they raised their children. They're downsizing, so they're obviously leaving a larger place that everyone has loved and grown used to, and we've had family get-togethers there. And they're downsizing to a smaller place, still in Edmonds, but it's a changeand that's what we're talking about today.
Pandemics, changes, upsets, question marks, things that cause us to pause and think, - hopefully not worry, but we're human beings and sometimes those worrying thoughts do enter our minds. As Lisa and I were talking, I said to her “I feel so grateful as I look back over my life, for all the things God has done. I didn't plan it, I didn't have a road map to gratefulness, I didn't have a sense of where my life was going”. And let me preface this thought: when we moved here from Burbank California in 1968, I didn't know anything. Never heard of Aglow, I wasn't part of a women's ministry. I was active in my church, but life was lived on a different plane. I didn't know what was ahead, so we came to Seattle, actually to Edmonds, and one of the originating people that started the Aglow ministry, Paula Shields, I’m sure you know that name, said “we think you should be the Edmonds Aglow president”. I thought “you must be crazy, I have never done anything like that”, but for some reason I accepted. And I remember each meeting, as I stood before a room full of about 300 women, and the sense of the presence of the Lord was something unique and different. I had never sensed that, even in church services though they were wonderful, this was different. It was unique.
God had a plan all along that I wasn't aware of. In fact, he often chooses the very person that seems the least likely. I was fearful, I was nervous, I was one who'd like to be in the background, never in the front, never leading. But God had a different plan. So as I was speaking with my daughter, Lisa, and looking back over my life and all the things that have transpired - and a big part of that is being part of Aglow international and 180 nations. Oh my goodness, I feel so grateful to God that he included me in this fabulous move of the Spirit. It's not just an organization, it's a move of the Spirit. And I trust today that you feel grateful for the journey that God has put you on and walked with you. He walks with us every step of the way, in fact, the word said “he goes before us and prepares the way for us”, and I believe even as I’ve stated before, that Aglow is about to enter, or has entered, a Third Great Awakening. And I think that what is before us is so awesome, so exciting, so filled with the presence of God, that we are going to stand in awe at who he is and what he does, and how he uses Aglow International. Be grateful today that you have Jesus in your heart, that you're filled with the Holy Spirit, that he is leading you on a journey that's filled with fruitfulness and wonder, and you will stand in awe at the end of this journey. We're so grateful.
