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…

  • 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…

  • 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…

  • Dare to Be Imperfect: Freedom Found In Grace

    My daughter adores the movie about the little red, yellow, green, blue and purple people that live in a little girl’s mind. You know the one where each person represents a different emotion and they help guide her through adolescence. Well, in the movie, they talk about core memories and how it makes the girl feel when she remembers them. This got me thinking about some of mine.

    My earliest core memory is when I was 3 years old, and I was playing in my parents’ bathroom. This memory seems innocent enough, until I realize that I’m holding a cup of baby powder and spinning around the room with it. I’m sure I was pretending to be a certain mermaid and having a grand ole’ time. But the memory doesn’t stop there. I also recall my dad being very upset about the winter wonderland I created in their bathroom. The reason this memory is engrained in me was because that was the first time I recognized that I disappointed my parents. That I, their perfect little girl, had messed up. As a 3-year-old, you can only imagine the shock that came over me. “Wait, what just happened? Daddy’s mad at me? I was just playing. What did I do wrong?”

    Unfortunately, this is not the only memory I have of doing something wrong. There’s a few that like to pop up every now and then. But instead of pushing them out of the way, and moving on, I tend to dwell on them. I wasn’t a bad kid. I just made poor decisions sometimes, and I tend to relieve them in my mind so that I won’t make the same mistakes again. Before I knew it, I had created a montage of “Melinda’s Greatest Hits: A Presentation on What Not to Do.”

    I know I’m not alone in this. Maybe you’re just like me: striving to be perfect only to continuously fail. But this isn’t just about making my parents proud. It’s also about being a perfect Christian. What does perfect even mean?  For something to be perfect, it must have all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics as good as it is possible to be. That seems easy enough, except for one factor: I’m not perfect! However, I’m not meant to meet all the requirements. Even if I did everything right, there would always be room for improvement.

    Romans 3:21-25 “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

    Recipes need all the ingredients to be good or edible. If one little thing is off or missing, it can ruin the whole dish. I’ve been cooking for about 15 years now, and I still haven’t figured out how not to burn rice. I can read the instructions and do everything right, but alas my rice ends up black and crispy. Yuck! Luckily, when dinner is not edible, I can count on the pizza delivery guy. Grace is like an emergency pizza.

    Grace is God’s unmerited favor and love freely given to those who do not deserve it, offering salvation and reconciliation with God to all who believe. He demonstrated his grace through the sacrifice of his Son for the forgiveness of all mankind’s sin. Now this doesn’t mean we can burn the chicken knowing our husband will call for a pizza. It doesn’t work that way. It’s about the heart.

    David was known as “A Man after God’s Own Heart” (1 Sam. 13-14, Acts 13:22). He would later commit adultery and have that woman’s husband killed in battle (2 Sam. 11-12). But how could a man after God’s own heart have all these sins? Because he wasn’t perfect and God knew that. But he also saw David’s heart break. You see David knew he was in the wrong, and he repented with an honest heart.

    Psalm 51:10-12 “Create in me [David] a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” It’s a constant battle to let my guard down and be me; mistakes and all. I always have this need to do and act perfectly. So, when I fall short, I don’t offer myself grace (which is probably why most of my blogs are about grace). But God’s grace has no limits. He doesn’t require perfection. Jesus lived a perfect life so that one day he could pay the price for all sin. This meant that we wouldn’t have to make that sacrifice; he came to save us and, through this act of love, brought freedom.

    If I could go into that core memory, I would hug that scared little 3-year-old and tell her that no matter what she does, her parents will always love her. Just like God forgave David, He forgives us. We don’t have to live in our mistakes. We don’t even have to be defined by them. We’re all going to stumble and want a redo or a different outcome and that’s okay. God continued to use David, even after his setback. He eventually became a direct ancestor of Jesus.

    Today, dare to be imperfect. May you see your mistakes not as failures but as an opportunity to lean into Christ. Your freedom isn’t found in perfection but through his grace. Know that you are loved not because of your perfection (or lack of) but because you trust in the one who is perfect.

    2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

  • True Freedom

    Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

    Why are there no knock-knock jokes about America? Because freedom rings!

    Okay, okay. That was corny, but hopefully, I have your attention or at least a smile.

    I don’t know about you, but I have taken my freedom for granted almost my entire life. I was always told that living in America, I was free. We didn’t have an oppressive government regime, I was free to wear whatever I was comfortable in, and seemingly no place or dream was off-limits, as long as I worked hard enough.

    Whenever I would hear the word freedom, I always associated it with military heroes going behind enemy lines to keep our country safe. I would imagine police officers, firefighters, and first responders doing dangerous and hard work so that the rest of the population could exist more easily. That was about the beginning and end of what freedom was. It was a state of being, not a choice.

    There is an amazing preacher from The Bridge Church, Ian Simkims, who has a very influential social media presence. A few weeks ago, he posted a series of messages regarding the fruit of the spirit. The one quote that caught my attention, and has not escaped my memory since is, “Self-control seems oppressive if you’re convinced that freedom means indulging every impulse.”

    “If freedom means indulging every impulse.” When I ask my non-American friends what they think freedom is, this is their answer almost every time. “Doing whatever you want to do , when you want to do it, however you want to do it.” But is it? It caused me to reassess what freedom is to me as a Christ follower, a wife, a mother, and an example of Jesus to many who don’t know Him. When we preach that there is freedom in Christ do people who don’t know His character think we mean that we are free to do whatever we can dream or desire? Does that not go against what Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians 10:23, “Everything is permissible, but not everything is beneficial. Everything is permissible, but not everything is edifying.”

    I have turned this over with the Lord almost daily. Father, what is freedom? And in His infinite goodness and love, He always draws near to His children. There is peace and freedom in opening our hands and letting go of the desire to control our circumstances or striving for more and more and more. Freedom in submitting to God.

    What is biblical freedom? Is it living in America? Having a large sum in our bank account? Doing whatever we want with our time? Freedom to choose whatever you want, when you want?

    These things may feel like freedom or control, but in many ways, they can be an illusion. Counterfeit freedom if you will. Things that resemble freedom enough that we are placated into not looking further. We can rely on ourselves and control the situation around us enough that we feel like we are living free. In reality, we are slaves to our circumstances and situations. Living according to the flesh is one of the enemy’s biggest ways of tricking us into thinking we have freedom when we have exchanged our freedom for a life of continuous striving.

    Romans 6:22-23 declares, “But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

    In contrast Romans 8:5-6 says, “Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.” 

    Our freedom is in giving our life over to Jesus. Walking with Him daily and glorifying Him in all that we do. Loving and being loved by God is not a free for all permission slip so that we can sin and just ask for forgiveness later. Having an intimate relationship with God and worshiping and knowing Him guides us to true freedom by helping us recognize where and how the enemy tries to steal, kill, and destroy us. The enemy will use tricks and lies to confuse our flesh into thinking freedom is in giving into our desires, but it is in practicing self-control and seeking the fruits of the Spirit that we are ushered into a life with true freedom, hand in hand with our Savior.

    The practical and spiritual application here is easy to say, but not so easy in daily practice. To have true freedom that rings and glorifies God and draws in others, doesn’t come from what we control or strive towards, but in simply giving our lives to Jesus. True freedom is in daily submission to King Jesus. Faithfully trusting and walking with Him as He leads us all like the very Good Shepherd He is. Audaciously living a life with God at our center. It looks like intentionally seeking opportunities to serve in and outside of our church body, asking those that the Holy Spirit has led to us if we can pray with them, and laying down the natural preferences of our flesh in favor of what the Spirit has for us. I think true freedom sounds like heartfelt lament and raised hands in praise and simple prayers of “guide me, Lord.”

    MaKenzie V. is a global worker who has faithfully been serving the unreached in the Arab World while growing her family. Almost every moment of the day is spent chasing Jesus and her toddlers- usually with a cup of hot tea or coffee in hand. She enjoys learning languages, deep belly laughs, and connecting with others where God has them.

  • Freedom From Fear

    Photo by Alex P on Pexels.com

    I have never understood the fascination people seem to have with being scared on purpose.  I am not a big fan of haunted houses, horror movies, or roller coasters anymore.  When I was younger I participated in my fair share of amusement park rides but as I’ve gotten older it has lost its appeal.  I remember my first panic attack when I was 17 years old.  I was in the middle of class in high school and suddenly for no reason at all, I felt like I was going to die.  It was certainly not an experience that I would ever sign up for voluntarily but yet, I continue to have them occasionally to this day.    

    Fear has been a frequent opponent throughout my life and I have never once enjoyed it or understood why some people find fear exciting.  For years I struggled with feeling like I just wasn’t a good enough Christian or that maybe I wasn’t saved at all if I struggled this much with fear and anxiety.  I would return to the altar again and again (and again) begging for forgiveness and saying the sinner’s prayer.  I would take captive fearful thoughts and bring them under submission to Christ as 2 Corinthians 10:5 tells us to do and yet I still wept in my bed unable to find sleep.

    I realized several things over the years about the fear that I was feeling.  

    First of all, this fear that God would abandon me if I couldn’t get this right, was not of God.  I knew Him!  I had studied His word and spent time in His presence.  My Father was not looking for a mistake that would signal His release to be rid of me.  Romans 8:38-39 says, “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love.  No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  

    Second, He had not left me without instruction.  He was not waiting on me to be rid of the fear on my own before He wanted me.  God walks with me even when I am afraid.  He is my peace right in the middle of times when fear tries to overtake me.  Psalm 23:4 says, “Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”  There were times that even in the midst of prayer, my mind and heart were assaulted with unrelenting anxiety and I would speak the Word of God with tears flowing down my face.  I felt like I must be doing it wrong if relief was not instantaneous but in truth, this is obedience.  This is faith.  To continue to speak the Word of God in the darkness knowing that He is with me even when I cannot see Him there.  His rod and His staff is protecting me now, even while I wait for Him to answer my prayer.

    Finally, through my fear I came to understand God and to trust Him more.  There were times in scripture when God healed immediately and that’s the one we all want, but there were others who either did not receive their healing on this side of Heaven or who had a work of obedience to do first.  In 2 Kings 5, Elisha sent Naaman to dip seven times in the River Jordan before he received his healing.  In John 9, a blind man had to sit still and trust Jesus as he made mud with spit and smeared it on his face.  

    I have experienced times of fear and anxiety that have sent my brain spiraling down a black hole of “what ifs,” causing my stomach to repel the nutrition that my body needed to function, and at times have racked my body with tremors that made it impossible to do anything but lie down and pray for it to stop.  For years, I sought no help except in prayer because I thought it was a test of my faith.  The real test of my faith was to trust that God could move in ways that I didn’t expect or understand.  For me, God worked through a clinician.  Now, I see a faith based counselor and a medical doctor after being diagnosed with CPTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and generalized anxiety.   I still speak the Word of God over my fear and bring rebellious thoughts under submission to the power of Jesus.  I have also found healing in medications that balance the chemistry in my body and therapy that help me to deal with physical reactions to past trauma.  And I praise God for every way that He is bringing me healing and freedom from fear.

    I John 4:18 says, “Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.”  If you are fearing that you are no longer saved (or maybe never were) because you are fighting a battle with fear then remember, that is not the perfect love of God.  He has called us to come to Him as we are and to seek His healing, not to fear punishment from Him.  He will never abandon you.

    Dearest, you are so loved and it is not the will of God for you to live in fear.  Do not fight alone.  Reach out to sisters in Christ to fight with you and seek help from a doctor if needed.  God is able to give you freedom from fear and will do it in ways you never expected.  He is with you and so are we!

    Stephanie Sharp is a teacher, a writer, a musician and an ordained minister.  She is also a divorced, single mother of 3 teenagers.  She writes for the South Texas Women’s Ministries Blog and founded a ministry for ladies walking through divorce and single motherhood called The Well.  You can contact Stephanie at thewellwm@gmail.com.

  • Finding Family

    Let’s be honest: most of us did not grow up in a house that looked like a Hallmark Christmas movie. (Although, I do have a good friend whose hometown could LITERALLY be the scene of one.)

    My husband and I both came from less-than-picture-perfect homes, think more dramatic reality TV than picturesque TV sitcoms. But if there is one thing we have learned and are forever thankful for, it is that God has a beautiful way of providing the family you need, even if it is not the one you were born into.

    For us, that family came through our church.

    I could go on for days (not joking) about how some of my best friends have become family to me. These are women and men who know my coffee order, have seen my ugly cry, and do not bat an eye when I show up with a brand-new hair color (which is less often now that I’ve shaved my head, but that’s an entirely different blog). They are aunts and uncles to my son, the kind who always ask him about his latest hyper fixation and actually want to hear all the details, and who show up ready with hugs or silly jokes whenever they are needed. Honestly, sometimes I think he prefers them to me.

    Coming from backgrounds as children of divorce, single parenthood, and living with family friends, my husband and I didn’t have a shining example of what a family should look like in real life. When there have been issues (and there have been issues) my husband and I have had to learn how to be spouses, how to stay together, and how to parent the children we’ve raised on the fly. So much of that has been shaped by watching the examples of godly marriages and families in our church. These husbands and wives show us daily that marriage is not about perfection, but about grace upon grace and a whole lot of laughter along the way.

    When we need advice or have questions, whether it is about parenting, marriage, or the messiness of life, we know we can call or text our church family, and they will be there. They have celebrated with us, prayed over us, cried with us, and supported us in ways that words can hardly capture. God has given us more through our church family than we could ever imagine.

    If you grew up in a family that looked more like an episode of COPS than an after-school special, hear me loud and clear: there is nothing wrong or defective about you. You are not missing some crucial chip. God is big enough to be your mother, father, sister, and brother.  WHATEVER you need.  But He also delights in giving us people who can embody those roles in our lives; a healthy church family that becomes the village you never knew you needed.

    As Hebrews 10:25 reminds us, “Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” God knows we need one another, and He calls us to come together, lift each other up, and walk through this life side by side.

    So if you are out there feeling alone or wishing for that sense of connection you have only seen on TV, do not give up. Look for a church that feels like home, not because it is perfect, because newsflash, it will not be, but because the people love Jesus and are willing to love you too.

    Because sometimes, the best families are the ones God builds from scratch.

    It takes audacious faith to step into a church family. It is vulnerable and scary to open your heart, to risk being seen for who you truly are, and to trust people you do not know yet. It takes bravery to walk into a room full of strangers, to try a small group, or to share your story when your voice is shaking. But that kind of faith, the courage to show up even when you are unsure, is exactly where God does His best work. On the other side of that leap is a love and belonging that will change your life forever. When you take the risk to connect, you will find people who will pray for you, cheer you on, challenge you to grow, and remind you that you are never alone. In the process, you will discover the beautiful truth that the family God gives you can be even more powerful than the one you came from.

    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.

  • A Family Restored

    Photo by Caleb Oquendo on Pexels.com

    I love the book of Ruth.  If you haven’t read it in a while I encourage you to read it (or listen to it) this week.  It’s the story of a family; an unconventional one.  Those are my favorite kinds of families because it looks more like mine that way.

    In this story, Ruth is a widow and Naomi is her mother-in-law.  Ruth chooses to struggle with her mother-in-law rather than to return to an easier life with her father.  Her father could have found her a new husband and provided for her while she waited but with Naomi she became the provider in a world that was not welcoming to women in the workplace.

    I love the narrative of a mother-in-law that was so amazing and loving that Ruth wanted to go with her and care for her rather than choosing her own comfort.  This is such a different picture of a “mother-in-law” from what we see in our culture today.  I love this story of the mother-in-law being such an encouragement and motherly figure in Ruth’s life.  I pray often that God would make me into a “Naomi” for my bonus children one day and that He would send “Naomis” to love my children in their families as adults.  In Naomi, God gave us a hero to aspire to in our adult lives.  How awesome is that?!

    But more than anything, this is a story of a family restored and rebuilt by a loving God and not in the way you might expect.  Maybe, not even in the way Ruth would have thought to pray for in the beginning.

    When my marriage ended 14 years ago, I prayed for restoration and as I prayed I decided what that restoration would look like.  When it did not arrive packaged in the story I wrote, I was tempted to judge God with being unfaithful.  I was not the only one.

    When marriages struggle or even fail, our first thought is that we are going to pray and God is going to bring this marriage back together.  The only problem with our plan is that both parties have to be willing to participate with the Lord to achieve it.  

    When my divorce became final and my ex-husband remarried, I rewrote the story.  I was sure that God’s will would be for me to remarry to a Godly man and for all my children to be raised in my home in the fear and the admonition of the Lord.  Right?!  It sounded like the best case scenario to me.  But life did not follow my script this time either.

    Fourteen years later, I am not remarried and two of my children live with their dad.  I watched as my ex-husband seemed to succeed in love and in money and I was tempted again to charge God with being unfaithful.  But nothing was more of a challenge to my faith than to see my children leave my home to move in with him.  (Wow! Stephanie, this is not very encouraging!)  I’m sorry but this testimony needs to be told and someone out there needs to hear it.

    Restoration is not the fulfillment of our plans by God.  Restoration by definition is the repairing, replacing, building up and returning that which was destroyed.  For Ruth and Naomi, death destroyed their home, their security, and their place in society.  My divorce destroyed all the same things for me.  Divorce is a death of sorts; not the death of the family but rather, the death of a home.

    I will be honest.  Part of the narrative that I wrote for God included me succeeding and my ex-husband floundering.  I was hurt and from the outside of his life looking in, it appeared that everything was going his way, while my life disintegrated before my eyes.  I desired justice without mercy for him and mercies new every morning for myself.  This is the result when we write the story.  Our narratives tend to include our fear and pain and incorporate them into the outcome but God can take a story filled with pain, fear and insecurity and breathe His life into it for an ending devoid of the enemy’s schemes.

    I do not tell this next part to brag on anyone but God.  Remember, I am the petty one in this story.  (LOL)  However, when the boys told me that they wanted to go live with their father several years ago, my heart broke but almost instantly there was an overwhelming peace that I could not have managed for myself.  I told the boys I needed a few days before we talked about it and I prayed…..a lot.  I begged God not to allow this to happen but even during that time God reminded me of what I prayed over my children.  I asked God to guide them to Him in all of their lives and to “give them a love for His house, for His people, and for His word.”  God asked me during those days of prayer to remember that He loves my children even more than I do and that He would honor my prayer for them no matter where they are.  I was honest with them and with their dad about my reservations but eventually had no choice but to concede.  They were at an age where it was their choice.  A year later my daughter decided to go too but came back after about 6 months.

    I will not tell you that I was a saintly figure during this time (or during my divorce for that matter).  I struggled in my faith and in my mental health.  I had served God all of this time and my ex-husband had not.  Why?!  This was not fair!  How is this the faithfulness of God?!

    Here’s how.  What I have come to understand about the beauty of restoration is that the repairing, replacing, building up and returning only happens on the outside when all those involved allow it happen on the inside first.  God was repairing me, replacing my fear with faith, building up my self image to be the one that He sees when He looks at me, and returning the safety and the peace that was lost in the breaking.

    Once upon a time when my marriage was falling apart I told God that I would not survive if He allowed my kids to be taken from me but here I was still standing, still living and recognising that my kids were never taken, nor did they abandon me.  

    If you are in a custody struggle please hear this.  This was one of the most liberating things that God ever revealed to me in this process.  There came a time, after my divorce that my house became my home without my ex-husband.  When my children were there, it was complete.  But it’s different for the kids.  They always have to miss someone.  With him, they missed me and with me, they missed him.  Neither home was ever complete for them.  They love their dad and their love for him does not diminish their love for me.  It’s not a competition.  They had lived with me all their lives and they knew they would always be welcomed back again.  It was because they loved me and felt at home with me that they felt safe to go to his house and try living there too.  

    This is restoration.  I may not be remarried but I love my life and I feel safe and at peace in it again.  My children come and go between both homes now without the restraints of the court ordered arrangements.  At one time, the relationship between their dad and I was so contentious that we could not talk without a lawyer present.  This is restoration.  I am able to pray for his salvation and for things to go well for him.  This is restoration.  I am able to tell this story today because I survived and in my life now, I am thriving.  This is restoration.  

    My life is not perfect.  I have not seen the fulfillment of every promise but I have seen God come through time and again and I know that He continues to move and work for my good.  This is restoration.

    “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you.  Plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

    What does your restoration look like?  If you are living in it now, do you recognize God’s hands and how far He has brought you?  If you are praying for it now, are you writing the story yourself or are you allowing God to hold the pen?

    It may not look how you think best but trust me, God knows better than we do.  Ruth could never have foreseen that a day of hard labor in a field would eventually end in a love story that would make her the owner of that field.  I know that it is tempting to doubt God but I encourage you to welcome the challenge to your faith.  Ask Him questions.  Scream at Him when you need to.  He can take it.  Just don’t stop talking to Him.  Hold on sister, He will restore! 

    Zion City Worship – Restore (Live) 

    Stephanie Sharp is a teacher, a writer, a musician and an ordained minister.  She is also a divorced, single mother of 3 teenagers.  She writes for the South Texas Women’s Ministries Blog and founded a ministry for ladies walking through divorce and single motherhood called The Well.  You can contact Stephanie at thewellwm@gmail.com.

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!

Our passion and love for Christ unite us to reach the lost at home and across the world. 

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