Good Friday thoughts

I remember Good Friday being a big deal when I was a little girl.  My grandmother made fish (which I wasn't crazy about and didn't understand the significance of) and we went to church.  Over the years it seems like Good Friday does not get the kind of attention it did then.  We attended a Lutheran church when I was little. Maybe the Lutheran church still makes a big deal of it.

Anyway, I have just been thinking today about what a very big deal it really is.

It was the day it all changed.

The day that salvation came.
The day that redemption was set in motion.
The day of justification and pardon.
The day of freedom for you and for me.

There is a Redeemer, 
Jesus, God's own Son,
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, 
Holy One!

Thank you, oh my Father
For giving us Your Son,
And leaving Your Spirit, 
'Til the work on Earth is done. 
(Excerpt from "There is a Redeemer" written by Melody and Keith Green)

There is still so much work to be done.  So many broken people in need of hope.  I find myself this Good Friday challenged to be a messenger of hope. The hope that Jesus died to bring.

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I love this conversation between Jesus and his disciples just before he died:

Then Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. ³⁶ Believe in the light while you have the light, so that you may become children of light.” 

And since we are children of the light everyone of us must let His light shine. 

Jesus, thank you for your sacrifice ~ help me to let your light shine.

Never Give Up. Ever.

The vision of For the Girls International was born in the middle of one of the darkest times of my life.  At the time I didn't really know it was a vision.  It just seemed like an odd thought.  Very odd.  The depression was the result of some physical issues with my thyroid combined with a lot of emotional stress.

It was the year I was turning 40 and my oldest son was graduating high school and preparing to leave for college.   It sounds a little ridiculous to even write but I was just not ready for any of that. It seemed like one day he was my little boy and then poof ~ he was a young man and would be leaving me!  I wasn't ready to move into the phase of life where all my children were not sleeping safely under my roof.  I don't know what I thought "ready" would look or feel like, I just knew that I wasn't ready.  On top of that my grandfather who I loved dearly was dying. I was trying to be there for my grandmother and help walk her through the pain of losing her life and soul mate. It was a rough time. It didn't seem like enough to throw me into the darkness that I was in but in addition to the physical and emotional challenges of life there is always a spiritual element too.

1 Peter 5:8 tells us:
Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.

It is not a pleasant subject but it is a reality that we must be aware of.  We have a God that loves us and delivers us but we also have an enemy that hates us and wishes to destroy us. Our adversary is constantly on the prowl to see who he can kick while they are down.  He uses lies fired at our minds to try to convince us that God has forgotten about us or is not loving because He is allowing us to go through a valley experience.  But the truth is our enemy is powerless.  The truth is God is aware of every circumstance we are in and intends to use what we learn through those experiences to strengthen our faith.  We in turn can use those faith building experiences to encourage and influence those around us to have strength on their journey.  And so faith and strength multiplies through the hardest times of our life.  


We must be alert and realize that we have an enemy so that we don't fall prey to his lies and temptations.  Then we must rely on our Redeemer to rescue us and lift us out of the darkness as He promises that He will.  1 Peter 5:10 tells us:


"And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast."

This sounds a little heavy for a Monday morning but praying that someone needed to hear it!  
The darkest hour is just before the dawn. NEVER GIVE UP!

Resolve to BE FEARLESS!

I remember the first time I was asked to speak to a group about my experience with depression.

I said yes.  And then, almost immediately, I regretted it.

Fear began to creep in.  I was afraid of what people would think of me.  I wasn't sure I wanted people to know about my weaknesses and frailties. I was afraid that they would think less of me.

At that time, besides my husband and my sisters only a few very close friends knew what I had been going through.  It's not something you really want to talk about. The reason I had said yes to speaking was because during that depression I had felt God open my eyes to the suffering around me. I had a profound sense that I was not alone and that there were many others that didn't speak of it but were in pain. I thought that if even one person was encouraged by my story then it would be worth it.  And I was right about that.

But it was still scary. A few weeks before the event  the women's pastor was announcing the conference in a service and right out loud in front of 1000+ people she announced that Tracey Metzger had just been through several months of depression and would be speaking about it at the conference. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me.  Why had I said yes??

Putting yourself out there can be terrifying but if God is calling you to do something, whether it is making yourself vulnerable like that or just taking that first step towards your dream...if he is calling you he will equip you with the boldness and the courage you need. 

I made a resolution back then that if God was calling me to do something scary that I would resolve to be fearless and if I couldn't be fearless then I would do it afraid!

I did speak at that conference. It was scary but not as as scary as I had imagined it would be.  I was humbled by how many people came to thank me for the glimmer of hope they had found in my story.


I love what Mordecai told Esther when she was afraid to step into the position that God had ordained for her:

"And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” 

By stepping into that place that God had prepared for her and prepared her for, Esther saved her people. Remember that you are part of God's big picture and we all have a role.

What is God calling you to do that may be a little scary to you?

Make a resolution today to BE FEARLESS or at least to do it afraid!

Keep running!

A few years ago I was preparing a message for one of our conferences.  It was based on Hebrews 12:1 about running our race with perseverance.  I was praying that God would lead me to the resources I needed to gather information for my talk.

Soon after praying, I got an email from a friend who is a fitness instructor and she was offering to train a group of women to run a 5K.  Something in my head said, "There's your resource ~ you should train for the 5K." I promptly ignored the voice and clicked out of the email.

That was not the kind of resource I meant.  I meant books, or articles.  Something that I could read from the comfort of my couch.  I strongly dislike any form of physical exercise and to make matters worse the training would be at 6:00am!! I dislike getting out of bed early in the morning almost as much as I dislike physical exercise.

A few days went by and I could not ignore the prompting so I conceded and signed up for the training.

When I was in school people would always think, because I have long legs, that I am a runner.  But I am not.  My legs just don't work that way.  I have weak ankles and no stamina.

But I made it a goal to finish the 5K.  The first day we just did one lap around her neighborhood and I was pretty glad I did that without passing out.  I could not imagine that I could ever accomplish much more than that.  But Jenni, my trainer, encouraged me that I would build strength and endurance as I went along.  I would have been happy to settle for being able to run a few laps around her neighborhood but she kept pushing and to my amazement I was able to complete the race.

God may be calling you to something that you feel like is stretch for your current ability and skill set.  They dream that he's given you may overwhelm you at times and it may tempting to settle for less.

But be confident of this ~

 "...he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."

 Phillipians 1:6

As you keep moving forward towards your goals and dreams God will give you just what you need for every step of the journey.  So keep running!

Faith that moves mountains

If we are going to see the dreams that God has planted in our hearts come to fruition we must have faith to believe that He is able to make them happen. Sometimes we settle for less just because we don't know how to access the faith that we do have.


You may be thinking to yourself that you don't have a lot of faith in comparison to others.  Maybe you don't.  But you have some.  I know that because Romans 3:12 says, "...as God has dealt to each a measure of faith." If you feel like maybe you were dealt a smaller amount, which is how I feel sometimes, then take comfort in the fact that it only takes faith the size of a mustard seed to move a mountain!!

So much for the excuses!! We all have faith and it only takes a little teeny bit to move mountains. Now it is a matter of drawing upon it and growing it.

So how does it grow?

The first thing I do when my faith is low is pray.  There is a story in Mark 9 of a desperate father pleading with Jesus for healing for his son. Jesus tells him, “Everything is possible for one who believes.” Then the man says, "Lord, I believe, help my unbelief" (Read the whole story here)


I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed that prayer.  And it works.  God stands ready and willing to increase your faith if you simply ask for it! 


The next thing I do is pick up my bible.  Plain and simply, "faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God." Romans 10:17.

Lastly, I call to mind times in the past when God has come through for me.  The recollection of all that He has done for me in the past builds my faith to believe for my future. I learned this from David.  Whenever I am feeling hopeless about the future I love to read the Psalms because then I don't feel so bad.  David was absolutely miserable at times!! But he pulls through by remembering all the times that God was faithful and it brings him hope. (Psalm 143, Psalm 77)

I love this quote from Corrie Ten Boom...

Faith is like radar that sees through the fog.

Work for it.

Some people may choose to settle for less because they don't want to work for more!

If it's worth having it's worth working for. 

I'm sure someone much smarter than me has said that before but when I searched for it as a quote I couldn't find it so I'm claiming it!

In my quote search I found "If it's worth having it's worth fighting for" which is also true. But sometimes I think it's easier to fight for something than to work for it.  Fighting for something, in my mind, evokes images of passion and fervent intention.  Sounds kind of exciting! Working for something, on the other hand, brings to my mind drudgery and laborious effort. Not so inviting.

Working just sounds hard. And sometimes it is.  But if it is worth having then it is worth working for. 

In 2 Thessalonians 3 Paul talks about this very thing.  He stresses the importance of not being lazy. God has called everyone of us to do great things in His name.  He wants to use us to bring solutions to the needs of this sometimes dark world.  That will require getting our hands dirty and working hard.  We must not become weary in well-doing. 

Never settle for less than God has for you because you don't want to work for it.  We are promised that the payoff is worth every ounce of sweat.

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time 

we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. 

Galatians 6:9 

The waiting game

Patience.  The word itself makes me start to squirm. I, like a lot of people, hate to wait.  I realized recently that the main reason that I often cut it too close for appointments or meetings and end up being late is because I hate the idea of getting somewhere early and having to wait. 

Several years back I needed to find a full-time job. I heard through the grape vine that that there was a possibility that the Production Director at the church that I was attending was leaving and his job would soon be available.  It was a great solution for me since I already spent a lot of time volunteering in that department.  I was excited but weeks and weeks went by and the church administration had not posted the job and there was no indication of when it might happen. I was feeling the pressure to find something quickly and my husband was encouraging me to look elsewhere.  I knew that the production job was the job for me.  I remember being so upset with God because I could see the perfect fit but He was not moving fast enough for me.  Ever been there?

I distinctly remember the day that I said to myself, "Fine, obviously this is not going to happen anytime soon so I will just go find a job myself." I was definitely hoping that God would overhear me. I thought to myself that I would show God and my husband that I was fully capable of finding something on my own it and making it happen all by myself.

Caution: I do not recommend taking matters into your own hands and/or thinking that you can "show" God anything. 

I did go out and find a job in a call center of a uniform company but it was the most miserable two working weeks of my life!  It was the only time I have left a job without notice.  I'm not proud of that, but it was that bad!

The day I quit, I went home and dissolved into tears apologizing to God and surrendering my plans to Him.  It was such a huge lesson to me.  Two days later the job at the church came through.

Even though that experience was a little blip on the map of my life it was a lesson I tucked away in my heart and when I feel anxious and tempted to settle for less than what I know God has promised for me I remember those long two weeks in that dingy call center and the lesson I learned about waiting on Him.

So many times in life we quit believing or holding out for the best just shy of it coming to pass.  Don't be tempted to settle for less.  Hang on and hold out for the best!

Psalm 27:13-14   

I would have been without hope if I had not believed that I would see the loving-kindness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart be strong. Yes, wait for the Lord. New Life Version (NLV)