I LOVE PAIGE GREENE!
That is all.
As the director of adult events at LifeWay Christian Resources, Paige’s plate is filled up to overflowing as she and her team organize events, conferences and simulcasts to bless and encourage God’s people. Hundreds of thousands of folks all over the world are impacted every year by what this woman does.
Including me.
She and I have been in ministry partnership for nearly a decade now. We’ve traveled together, served women together, prayed together and had hours of meetings strategizing about how we can best partner with God and honor Him through our work. It didn’t take long for our working relationship to become a closely knit friendship.
We’re friends.
Like the kind of friends that no longer need business/ministry affairs to keep us connected. We just love each other and would share coffee, chocolate, a movie and a pedicure even if there were no upcoming event to plan.
This woman is also a fantastic leader. I’ve watched her deal beautifully with the delicate balance of leading others while loving and serving them. She’s the kind of boss you’ve always wanted – inspiring, teaching, encouraging, befriending and treating you like a peer. She’s casual, spunky and gracious with her team while garnering their respect and admiration at the same time. Remarkable.
Best of all, she loves Jesus and sharing Him with every person she meets. Her vulnerability and willingness to encourage others around the topic of divorce, singleness and remarriage has been a gift to so many sisters.
She’s a beautiful woman with a beautiful message.
Enjoy her writing. . . and then, the next time you’re at a LifeWay event look for the spunky, forty-something, blonde running around with a smile on her face and a Bible in her hand and say hello.
Bless you,
Priscilla
Years ago, I was in a relationship with a man I fell hard for but after a couple of months he decided he wanted to still be my “special friend” (that’s another blog post) but did not want a romantic relationship with me. So for more than a year, he and I were close friends and it was rough on my heart. I pined for him the whole time and just knew my fun self would woo him back eventually.
During that time, I circled Proverbs 21:1 in my Bible and asked God to turn this guy’s (we’ll call him Jake because he was Jake-esque) heart in my direction. Proverb’s 21:1 says: “A king’s heart is like streams of water in the LORD’s hand: He directs it wherever He chooses” (HCSB). So I reasoned with God, if He could turn a King’s heart, then he could turn Jake’s heart to me; easy for God right? “Flow it like a stream toward me” I prayed and prayed, for months.
And then one day, God gently said to me… “Paige, yes I can turn it, and I have not.”
BOOM! OUCH! Prayer answered.
Looking back, I can clearly see Jake was not the man, nor the life situation that God had for me. God had this whole Nashville, Women’s events adventure for me that I would have never left Jake for had I known. I could not see it, but God could.
Are you longing for a husband? Praying for a husband? I surely am. There is nothing wrong with that. But you have a heavenly Father with a big filter over your head and no one’s getting through until He approves its right for your life and the purposes He has for you.
Don’t fight the filter!
It is there for your protection, not rejection!
As I look back on 10 years since my divorce and the long road it has been. I know without a doubt that God could have delivered a husband to me, and He has not, at least not yet. If I had known 10 years ago how long this season of singleness would have stretched, I might have despaired. But the beauty of God not revealing my future to me is that I didn’t know so I continued to look to Him. The older I get, the more I am just astounded at the tenderness and kindness of God’s heart towards me who deserves it not. Jesus is more, has more, loves more. So, somehow, this withholding is for my good.
And these ten years have not been love-less. I have been able to spend so much more time with my widowed mother, disciple my four teen-aged nieces, visit extended family and friends and grow rich relationships with them I could never have had if I were married. And, I’ve been able to serve in ministry more.
So as Valentine’s Day approaches, don’t feel sorry for yourself when you pass the wall-to-wall pink heart box displays in Wal-Mart! Look for love in your life and if there isn’t enough, go spread some! 1 John 4 says: “We love because he first loved us!”
Single woman, single girl, hear me. YOU CAN TRUST GOD WITH YOUR FUTURE! You can trust that God is for you and will apply what is best to your life, like a good father does. If He has not answered your prayers in the way you have wanted him to, it is for your ultimate good, God’s type of “good”… is far better than a box of chocolates (which is really good).
“Taste and see that the LORD is good. How happy is the man who takes refuge in Him!” Psalm 34:8.
Paige
