Hanging Up My Cape - The Best Yes

I'm excited to join many other inspiring bloggers and add this post to Lysa TerKeurst's "The Best Yes" Blog Tour. To learn more and join us CLICK HERE 

I sat in the pastor's office on the verge of tears. I had sought out his wisdom to sort through commitments that had left me feeling pressured and stretched to the limit.

Women's ministry.  Praise Team.  Dramas. Driving the church van to the homeless shelter.  Writing content for the church website.  And on, and on.

You see, I've been diagnosed with what Lysa calls the "disease to please".  I hated saying "no" to anything.  I just didn't want to disappoint people.

So I ran around saying yes to lots of things.

Practically everything.

Okay...everything.

Individually, they were all really good things.  "Church things."  But they weren't the best things.

At least not for me.

Of course my son likes to remind me I only have myself to thank for being in an over-committed quandary.

And he's right. (He'll never believe that confession made it to print!)

The truth is, if there's no white space in my life, if I'm only pouring myself out but never being filled up, if I'm always saying yes to everything...I'm not a wonder woman, I'm a worn out woman.

And that's why I was sitting in my pastor's office.

He wrote down all the ministries I was involved in and we discussed them one by one, examining whether each activity brought me joy or stress.

We tried to discern if any of my yeses had been a Best Yes.

Slowly, we chipped away at the list.

While I felt the load lighten with each thing we removed, I knew there would be push back.  Some people would not understand my need to say "no" - especially after having said "yes".

But the bottom line was the only person living my life was me.  And the only opinion that mattered was God.'s

I had to ask myself - were all these good things - ANY of these good things - my things to do?

Were they the things God had best equipped me to handle?

Because I could do them, did it mean I should do them?

Was I robbing someone else of the opportunity to use their gifts?

And could a worn out woman give anyone her best?

No.

By putting on my cape and swooping in, there was a good possibility that I was actually being disobedient...filling a need I wasn't called  to fill.

These days, I'm still a busy woman.  But instead of spreading myself across many different areas and ministries, I focus on my Best Yes - heading up the outreach ministry at my church.  It's what I've been called to do.  Something God put on my heart when I finally hung up the cape and dropped some of the yes noise from my life so I could hear Him more clearly.

Are you saying yes to things you shouldn't?  Are you feeling like a worn out woman?

Put that cape on a hanger and stick it back in the closet.  

It's time to figure out God's Best Yes for your life and Lysa Terkeurst's newest book, The Best Yes, is full of practical insight to help you do just that.  Grab your copy today.