Encourage, Equip, Empower
Each month our very own amazing writers from South Texas publish a series of blog posts written with you in mind. Our desire is to encourage, equip, and empower you through stories, experiences, and insights from our writers and from God’s Word.
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Are You Serving?
by April-Michelle Burkhalter Originally Published in Our Heart His Mission, Volume 2 (2024) The Compassion of Christ Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with…
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In South Texas, As It Is In Heaven
I love this year’s national women’s ministries department theme, As it is in Heaven. I think every Christ follower I know longs for Heaven for many reasons, chief among them, to see and worship our King. Along with seeing Jesus face to face, we will also be free from this world and all that it…
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Worship As They Do In Heaven
“May your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Matthew 6:10 This year the national women’s ministries department has chosen these words as our theme for 2026: As It Is In Heaven. Looking around our world today, it is difficult to imagine this being anything like what we have…
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When the Harvest Hasn’t Come—Joy in the Waiting
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. James 5:7-8
I can’t count how many times I have stood on the hilltop that overlooks our city in the mountains of SE Asia, my eyes taking in the red clay rooftops, rolling green mountains, and sprawling rice fields that we have called home the past ten years. Each time I am struck with two thoughts:
Oh, how I love this place the Lord has called us to.
and
How much longer, Lord, until we see the harvest?
In our early years of life here, I expected things to move slowly. We had much to learn—language, culture, how to exist and thrive in a new country. After a few years, though, when words came easier and things felt less foreign, I thought we would really see some forward movement for the Kingdom. When we didn’t, and our sowing wasn’t seeming to produce any fruit, I began to battle discouragement.
Lord, if you want these people to know You, and we want them to know You, why aren’t we seeing them come to faith? What is taking so long? Does it even matter that we’re here?
While it is right to work for and long for the harvest, if we fix our eyes on visible, measurable results, we run the risk of losing the joy of partnering with God to see His Kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. If we view our labor for the Lord as transactional—I do this, then I get that—we will find ourselves frustrated when we encounter long seasons of waiting for the harvest to come. We’ll be tempted to stop praying, stop sharing, stop believing that “we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9)
We must remember that God is not pleased with productivity, but obedience.
If I labor for ten more years in these mountains and never see the harvest, but have walked in obedience to the Lord, that is enough. If I pray and sow and wait for the Kingdom to come in the lives of those I love who are far from Christ but never get to lead them to Him, I have still been faithful. It’s hard for us to comprehend that we plant and water but God makes things grow. (1 Cor. 3:7) And because of this, we might find that much of our time is not spent reaping a harvest, but waiting for it to come. That’s why it is imperative that we learn to be joyful, even when the harvest hasn’t come yet.
How do we find joy in the waiting? I’d like to share three ways I’ve found joy while waiting for the harvest we have worked and prayed for here the last ten years.
1. Remember that co-laboring with God is a joyful privilege.
It’s easy to get focused on the results (or lack thereof) and forget the incredible privilege it is to be counted worthy of being a co-laborer in God’s Kingdom. We GET to do this! It’s in God’s abundant kindness and mercy that He invites us to be a part of what He is doing in the world, not because of our own greatness, but to display His. This should bring us so much joy!
2. Remember that our value is not in what we produce, but in Whose we are.
Oftentimes when I am feeling discouraged about waiting for the harvest, it’s because I’ve wrapped my identity and worth up in what I can produce. We can experience joy in the waiting when we disconnect our value from productivity and remember Jesus loved us so much that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8) We cannot earn His love—it’s ours in all its fullness already. Even Jesus at His baptism, before He ever did a single miracle, pleased the Father just because of who He was. (Matthew 3:17)
3. Remember that nothing is wasted when working for the Lord.
The Lord has been so kind to us to give us little glimpses over the years of what He is doing, even as we wait for the harvest. Just as a farmer notices the signs of new life and growth in seasons of waiting, we can pay attention to the small changes and give God praise for them, cultivating joy in our hearts from a spirit of gratitude. When I get to have a spirit-ordained conversation with an unbelieving friend, when the Lord opens the door for the gospel to be shared with someone who has never heard, when a need is shared and I’m able to pray for them, when a believer is encouraged by our time together—all these things help me remember that God IS moving and working, even when we can’t fully see it, and as I give Him thanks for these glimpses of His Spirit at work, He renews my joy so I can press on.
“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” 1 Corinthians 15:58
It takes audacious faith to believe that God is working when we are still waiting for the harvest. What are you waiting on God for? Join me in praying this prayer and be encouraged that there God has a purpose for every season, even seasons of waiting.
Eternal God,
Who created times and seasons
yet is not bound by them,
as I find myself in a season
of waiting
I cannot comprehend
how Your ways and Your plans
are always in motion,
yet to my impatient heart
You seem to be still and silent,
unmoving and unresponsive.
Lord, give me faith to trust
that even in my waiting,
You are ever working.
It’s a mystery to me—
the ebb and flow of Your Spirit,
at work within and around me,
sometimes quiet and steady,
sometimes crashing like a wave.
Your ways are beyond my
comprehension,
yet my finite mind longs to
understand.
In my eagerness to see You
move around me,
give me grace to sense You
move within me.
As I wait,
assure me that
Your plans have not paused,
and that my purpose is not
on the other side of the silence,
but it’s here
in the waiting
that You are doing something
that can only take shape
in my forced stillness
and my slow surrender.
Gentle Jesus,
meet me here in my waiting
and teach me how to wait well,
for You are no stranger to it,
yet You walked on this earth
with a steadiness of heart
and a posture of peace.
And You wait even now
for Your glorious return—
a Groom longing for
His bride—
so if You are familiar with waiting,
perhaps You can only make me like You
in mine.
When I grow restless
and start to doubt,
whisper Your promises
to my heart—
that You are with me,
that You will never forsake me,
that You are working all things
together for my good.
When I grow weary
and start to despair,
remind me of Your
faithfulness—
that You are my Shepherd,
that You are leading me,
that goodness and mercy
will follow me forever.
So as I wait for You
and for Your hand to move,
may You find me faithful
to continue trusting,
to continue working,
to continue sowing
into the ground You’ve placed me on,
knowing that at just the right time—
Your time, not mine—
the harvest will come
because my waiting
is the soil where
Your faithfulness grows.
Amen
Prayer from @liturgiesforalifeabroad
by Heather F.
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God Brings the Harvest
Photo by Binyamin Mellish on Pexels.com Mark 4:26-29
The Parable of the Seed Growing
26 And he said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. 27 He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. 28 The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. 29 But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”
There is so much about God’s creation that is a mystery to us all. Even with all the scientific advancements and miraculous discoveries mankind has made, God has given us the gift of the Earth and so much within it and we know so little comparatively. I love the imagery of the man scattering seed here. It can be seen as a passive throwing here and there and moving on with life, but some translations call the man a farmer. I grew up around farmers, and all their planting was planned, intentional, and with a specific outcome in mind.
Farming is hard work. There is much planning work in each stage of the process. If farmers scattered their seed haphazardly much would get lost, blow away, or grow too quickly in shallow ground. A good farmer knows that a harvest isn’t reaped in a day nor is one planned, planted, or picked in one either. Some of my favorite parts of reaping a harvest is the prepping stage. The stage where you pray about where and what the Lord would have you plant.
Many times when I’m planning my day or week I ask the Lord to guide me not only where I need to go, but to places and people where I may plant seeds in ready hearts, harvest a joyful heart, or at minimum ready a harden heart of stone so someone else might come along and plant a seed of truth. Later another could water that truth with love and fellowship. And when fully matured by God, another worker can come and harvest. This is mankind scattering seed intentionally. When we offer up every aspect of our lives and schedules to God we are obediently living our faith out and trusting the Lord for the harvest.
This parable reveals to us that the word of God is at work within us even as we sleep. As a type A person this is so hard for me to grasp. I want to be able to contribute to what God is doing. My obedience to be used is what God wants, but I like a practical hands on, or let’s just say it, a controlling approach. Here Jesus is revealing through this glimpse into Heaven that even as we sleep the seed that has been scattered sprouts and grows. What a relief. The weight of eternity is not on our shoulders; it’s safely in the hands of the one who made all things. We can sleep well knowing that God is the one who produces the harvest.
Have you ever replayed a conversation over and over in your mind? Perhaps had a confrontation you are less than proud of that plays on repeat in your thoughts? Ever wondered if you are the reason someone turns away form Jesus? If I can offer one sliver of wisdom I have gleaned from years in ministry. You, my sweet friend, are not that powerful. Yes, our words and actions are important and can become stumbling blocks for others, but the God of the harvest planned for our humanness. He knew we would stumble, mess up, and fail. Perhaps that is why he gives us so many opportunities to scatter seeds, because not every chance we get will be our utmost. The real work is left up to God, and our greatest contribution is our faith in his will and ability to bring beauty out of dry fallow hearts and cultivate a beautiful harvest.
A planted seed, many times, can go unnoticed. A verse shared, a bible story read, a prayer prayed—all seeds that can seem like they don’t amount to much. Only God knows how each encounter we have effects eternity. Many times, I see other Christians living lives of obedience or offering their lives up to the Lord in miniature sacrifices throughout the day that even they don’t know have been witnessed by another. Other’s lives of faith impact us without them knowing. No act of love, faith, sacrifice, or obedience is unseen or unused by our Father.
This is the glory of Christ’s work in us. He takes something as precious and little as a seed, plants it, and in His timing cultivates something worthy of Heaven. The most precious harvest of all, a soul joyfully proclaiming Jesus as King!
This parable shows us both, what God can do in and with creation and what mankind can do. The man here does what his responsibility is, planting the seed. When we plant seeds the intention should always be to reap a harvest. Not to just do a duty, but to intentionally work for the glory of God. May we always feel the weight of our words and presence in the lives of others and live audacious lives as one who scatters far and wide trusting that the Lord God will transform our little acts of obedience for his glory. May it be on earth, in our daily lives, as it is in Heaven.
by MaKenzie V.
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Sowing In Tears
Photo by aj povey on Pexels.com Do you ever feel like you are trapped in a cycle of difficult seasons? Like just as one comes close to an end, something else starts falling apart? Winter after winter with no relief? I certainly have. There are a myriad of emotions involved in difficult times but I think the one that is the greatest hurdle for me is fatigue. When you’ve cried so much that it seems to no longer relieve the tension inside and you’ve prayed until you’ve run out of words and yet, nothing seems to change. All that is left is an overwhelming fatigue that sleep cannot dispel. It’s a fatigue that is not rooted in the absence of rest but rather the absence of peace.
I love the book of Psalms. If there is one thing that the psalmists understood and never failed to communicate, it is raw emotion: fear, victory, grief, joy, pain, relief and anguish. In my humble opinion, Psalms is the most accurate description in the Bible (maybe in the world) of the human experience up close. In its pages you get to ride the roller coaster of emotion, all the while experiencing it through the lens of those holding tightly to the hand of God. I can hear the cry of my own heart as the psalmists call out to God for healing, protection and connection. I can hear it especially when the writers dare to cry out in anger, fear, pain and waiting. I am so thankful that God included the Psalms in His words to us.
I find that in the past several years, I’ve spent more and more time in the Psalms and in the story of King David. I won’t (or can’t) share a lot of details about my personal seasons in recent history, but if you have been where I am (or are here now) you don’t need me to–you have your own seasons to reference. I have linked a song below that I have listened to on repeat recently. It’s not a new one and I liked it back when I first heard it 20 years ago, but now it means so much more. It’s all about seasons and how God uses them. It’s a huge relief to believe that God is using this time for a purpose and that all the pain and waiting will not be wasted.
Natural seasons have a job to do. The path that God laid out for the earth to travel from summer, to autumn, to winter, to spring, and around again and again is the path that births and supports life on this planet and allows us to grow and harvest food. Just like the natural world, God has set us all on a path that carries us through seasons intended to create and nurture new life in our hearts and relationships. One line in the song describes winter by saying “even now in death, You open doors for new life to enter.”
In Psalm 126 the psalmist describes the pain of the people of Israel, having been in captivity in Babylon for 70 years before God delivered them. (Talk about a long season of waiting.) Just as they are finally able to come home, they return to cities and lands that had fallen into disrepair, and in some cases deliberate destruction in their absence. Their hearts rejoiced to be free, only to break again at the sight of what had become of their home. At this moment the psalmist offers thanks for their freedom, and they get to work reclaiming Jerusalem. He writes “those who plant in tears will harvest with shouts of joy. They weep as they go to plant their seed, but they sing as they return with the harvest.” (vs. 5-6)
As women, mothers, wives and breadwinners, it is often not an option for us to just sit down and quit when it gets hard. We work, take care of our families, go to jobs, and never stop, all while our hearts might be breaking. We might be holding our breath and enduring pain waiting on God to bring us out of our current season. Sometimes seasons stretch for so long that we even stop asking God to deliver us and start asking God to just help us to survive it.
Can I encourage you today? I cannot end this season for you, and I am here with you. If I could stop yours and you could stop my pain, I know that as sisters we would do that for each other in a heartbeat. Psalm 30:5 says that “weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning.” This season will end. The morning will come. And in the interim, God is working. New life and fresh revival is being cultivated under the soil of this frozen ground watered by your tears. I have been in a dark night of the soul before, and I can honestly say that the woman that walked into that season is not the same one that walked out. Growth and healing happened in that season.
Growth and healing are words that we often associate with good things in our minds, and that is true, but what we are usually thinking of is the time after the growth and healing is complete. The actual work of healing and growth is messy and painful while it’s happening. Childbirth, for example, is messy, vulnerable and touted as the most intense pain a woman can endure, and yet we keep signing up to have more babies because the joy that follows is so worth it.
I do not at all want this to sound dismissive of the difficult time you might be walking through now but I want to encourage you that no matter how long your winter, no matter how long the night, the seasons are still progressing and God is still working. This season will not last forever and there will be joy in the harvest.
“So it is with You and how You make me new with every season’s change, and so it will be as You are recreating me. Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring….” Every Season by Nicole Nordeman
by Stephanie Sharp
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Fear of Rejection
Photo by Diva Plavalaguna on Pexels.com I’m used to not belonging.
As a child, my family moved six times before I turned seven. We would go on to move two more times—once when I was 14 and again at 18. I felt like the perpetual new girl, always stepping into new places and trying to find my way into new friend groups. I would look at the established friendships my peers had, most of them growing up in one neighborhood—or at least one city—their whole lives and wondered if I would ever feel that same sense of belonging.
In my adult life I would go on to move to two different states and then eventually to a foreign country where my un-belonging was more pronounced than ever. I’m naturally an extrovert and enjoy making friends, but even for a people-person, the constant tension of trying to assimilate, connect, and belong is exhausting.
As a result of my nomadic life, I developed an intense fear of rejection. I couldn’t stand the thought of people not wanting me around, or even worse, forgetting me once I was gone. So, I became a people-pleaser. I figured, I can avoid rejection if I can always find something to contribute to a relationship, to make people want me around because of what I can add. I worked hard to learn how to read a room, to recognize a need or a gap, and then to find a creative way to fill it. I became one of those people everyone loves to have on a team because I could figure it out and get it done. My fear of rejection catapulted me into a vicious cycle of pushing past healthy limits to try and keep people happy, but still never fully feeling like I belonged.
What I saw as a way to belong and be loved actually led to burnout and isolation, leaving me feeling more alone than ever because I was placing my value and identity in being accepted for what I could offer rather than who I am.
We are created with a desire to love, and to be loved. It’s a primal need, a God-ordained necessity. While God is the ultimate source of love and acceptance, He also made us in His image as a relational being—just as God exists in relationship as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we are designed to live in relationship with Him and with others. The difference is, God is perfect and reflects His perfect image onto us, but humans are imperfect and cast shadows of brokenness onto us (and we onto them) via our relationships. We cannot hope to find the same perfect unity of relationship that exists wthin the trinity in our human relationships.
Whether or not people accept us holds no bearing on our value or identity, whether or not we are lovable or desirable. Jesus Himself, perfect Son of God as He was, experienced the deepest forms of rejection: rejection of His family members (John 7:5), rejection of His hometown (John 4:44), rejection of His people (John 1:11), rejection of His dearest friend at His greatest moment of need (John 18:25). Despite the many ways Christ was rejected, He was confident in His identity and firm in His calling. He did not let the rejection push Him towards performance or people-pleasing. He walked steadfastly in the purpose He was made for. Jesus even promised that if we follow Him, we will experience similar rejection:
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you.” John 15:18-19
We can find freedom from the fear of rejection when we, like Jesus, know that our true value and worth is not in acceptance by the world, but in being fully accepted and loved by God. We do not have to spend our days striving to earn belonging—it’s ours already through the gift of salvation. People-pleasing has no place at the cross, because we cannot earn God’s love through being “good enough.” All our efforts fall devastatingly short, but praise be to God that He does not desire our effort, but our surrender.
In John 17, Jesus prays a vulnerable and heartfelt prayer for His disciples. He knew the path ahead of them would not be easy, and He wanted to intercede on their behalf. Not only does He pray for the disciples, but He prays for “all those who will ever believe in me through their message.” That’s you and me! And His prayer was all about His followers belonging to God and experiencing unity and love with Christ, the Father, and the body of Christ. I encourage you to take a few moments to read all of John 17 and be reminded that we do not have to fear rejection because God loves us and is with us, no matter what we may face.
Heather F.
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The Call That Fear Couldn’t Cancel
Photo by Luis Quintero on Pexels.com If I close my eyes, I can still picture that night, the night I knew God had called me into ministry. I remember where our youth group was sitting, toward the top of the San Antonio Convention Center. I remember the testimony of a missionary from Vietnam who spoke at that Mighty Warriors Conference. For those who didn’t grow up in our fellowship, that is what Youth Conference is called now. I even remember the shirt I bought to commemorate the experience.
I remember the pull of the Holy Spirit tugging me toward the altar at the edge of the stage. I remember the mix of excitement, pride, and fear as I stepped forward, declaring to my peers that I was set apart and meant for something more. I remember going home and telling my Memaw that God had called me into ministry. She reminded me that God had spoken to her long ago that her descendants would be pastors and missionaries. I was a fulfillment of that promise. As Scripture says in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” God had called me, and He had set me apart for His work.
And yet, I also remember the fear. The fear that I wasn’t enough. That there was no way I could do whatever it was God wanted, or even needed me to do. How could I, a twelve-year-old girl born to a fourteen-year-old mother, living in a family surviving on food stamps and welfare, ever be anything God could use? As strongly as I was convinced of His call, by the following week, I was already battling the attacks of the enemy and my own thoughts, wondering if it was even possible.
When I was younger, a missionary came to our home church from Nepal, and I was thrilled. I felt God calling me to serve there one day. But I remember when he gently said, “No, He didn’t,” and encouraged me to ask God for someplace else. That moment crushed me. I felt defeated. I felt like if this was wrong, then maybe I was wrong about everything. I struggled to understand, questioning if I had heard God correctly or if I was even capable of following His call. It was one of the first times I realized that God’s timing and placement are always His, even when it feels devastating.
At seventeen, I attended a discipleship training program, hoping it would solidify my path. Instead, I spent the time trying to prove that I deserved to be there rather than learning where I could serve. I thought I needed to earn my place in ministry, but God was quietly shaping me through the struggle, teaching me patience, humility, and dependence on Him.
When we couldn’t afford for me to attend the second year, I ran from God like I never had before. I did everything I could to discourage the ability to be used by Him. I desperately tried to find something, anything, that would put some distance between myself and the God who loved me. I ran for almost ten years, until finally, at twenty-five, I found myself in the same church where I had been dedicated as an infant. This time, I decided I was going to follow Him, no matter what it looked like. Even if the ministry I was called to meant working fast food and loving the people who came through the drive-through, I would follow Him.
Years later, when I finally became a youth pastor at thirty, I felt like I had fulfilled the call God had birthed in me all those years ago. Only to be fired from full-time ministry five years later. At the time, I thought it was over. I thought I was done. I thought I had tripped and been disqualified from the race God had called me to run. Looking back now, I realize I needed to be fired. I had allowed my position to become more important than the call. I had become a “full-time pastor” instead of following Jesus in whatever area He wanted to use me. That season was painful, humbling, and necessary for me to remember that God’s call is never about a title, a role, or recognition; it is about obedience, faithfulness, and surrender wherever He leads.
Since then, I have done odd jobs, seeking to serve wherever I could. I have healed through seasons of doubt, disappointment, and growth. Today, I work part-time as a campus coordinator for a Christian-based nonprofit, sharing Jesus with students who want to learn more about Him. My husband and I are also becoming the interim children’s pastors at our church, a path I never imagined for myself.
But here is the truth I have learned. I did not miss the call. I did not outrun God or get disqualified. Romans 8:38-39 reminds us that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Nothing I did removed the call of God. He has been with me in every step and every stumble. He has loved me and held my hand as I stood back up, learning to walk again. He has orchestrated a beautiful melody from notes that did not even make sense.
The fear of missing the call of God is something so many of us struggle with, whether because we doubt our ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit clearly or because we doubt our own worth. We question if we are “enough,” if our past failures disqualify us, or if God really can use someone like us. Yet Scripture reminds us in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God is continually at work in us, even when we cannot see the full picture. He has taken my doubts, my missteps, and even my running away, and woven them into something beautiful. My testimony is still being written, and every fear, every failure, and every detour has been part of His divine plan. He is faithful to finish what He started, and nothing we do, no misstep, no setback, no season of doubt, can nullify His calling on our lives.
Walking in the call of God requires audacious faith. It requires surrendering completely to His will and stepping forward even when the path is unclear or unconventional. Whether He calls us to a formal position, a small act of service, or a role we never imagined, the call itself remains unshakable. God’s work in our lives does not depend on our status, our success, or our understanding. It depends on our willingness to follow, trust, and obey. And when we do, we find that His purposes are far greater than we could have ever dreamed.
Tracie Tevault is a recent addition to the STXWM blog team. Married for 15 years to her best friend, Tracie is raising one awesome son and three spoiled cats. With a heart for ministry, Tracie has served in many areas, but her true passion lies in reaching those who might not fit the traditional church mold. She’s all about showing people they are loved, valued, and created with a purpose.
About STX Women
We are the Women’s Ministries branch of the South Texas Assemblies of God.
Women across South Texas desire a community where we celebrate each other and share each other’s burdens.
Together, we walk out our God-given purpose in our family, church, and community!
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