In my previous devotional, I mentioned that Ruth’s decision to follow Naomi led to her marrying Boaz. birthing children and becoming one of Jesus' fore-mothers- as Jesus was a direct descendant of hers (Ruth 4:13-22; Matthew 1:1-16)
You can click here to read it if you missed that, sis!
Now that was a cute little overview but, to be honest, that’s not strictly true, sis!
Before I release each Woman Crush Wednesdays episode in my free group, Women of Influence, I re-watch them to write the show notes.
(Women of influence is a hub and sisterhood that I created for business women of faith to network, form community, learn from each other and weekly guest experts (via interviews with me). These interviews are the Woman Crush Wednesdays episodes which you can click here to access now!)
As I listened to Marlyne Pierce (who helps leaders build more profitable products and higher performing teams at scale) speak at the beginning of last week, she shared something that really spoke to me:
"What feels like intuition can sometimes be instinct".
An illustration of this quote can be seen through the events of Ruth’s life
For example, to quote from a previous devotional on success and what NOT to do:
Ruth 1:3-14, says:
My word for 2019 was Luke 1:45
“Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
Here’s a bit of context around that verse:
Earlier in that chapter (Luke 1), the angel Gabriel had appeared to Zacharias to announce the birth of John the Baptist- who just so happened to be Jesus’ cousin (Luke 1: 5-23).
By the time Gabriel appeared to Mary to tell her about Jesus, Elizabeth (John the Baptist’s mother) was already 6 months pregnant; so Mary went to stay with her (Luke 1:26-38).
This one move on Mary’s part shows us, as modern women, how a God-given vision requires us to level up
One of my favourite books of the Bible is Proverbs. When I’m feeling particularly demotivated (typically first thing in the morning), my go to scripture is Proverbs 6:10-11:
A little sleep, a little slumber,
A little folding of the hands to sleep—
So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler,
And your need like an armed man.
It literally snatches my edges and gathers me all the way together!
I’ve always really loved the lines before this scripture too. For example, Proverbs 6:6-8
Which reads:
Go to the ant, you sluggard!
Consider her ways and be wise,
Which, having no captain,
Overseer or ruler,
Provides her supplies in the summer,
And gathers her food in the harvest.
Prior to my recent trip to Costa Rica, I always saw these lines a simple admonishment to:
Be a self-starter
Not procrastinate
Prepare
That all changed when I saw a group of ants in action and managed to capture it in the video below
One of my favourite quotes from John Maxwell is: “If you think you’re leading, but no one is following, then you are only taking a long walk”
Because, the truth is, as much as you may have a mission and vision that you feel called to establish- you can’t do it by yourself, sis!
In fact, to quote from a devotional that I once wrote on Euodia and Syntyche and make this more clear:
A God-given vision will always require the assembling of a team, as teamwork makes the dream work more effectively and efficiently than doing things alone. However they also teach us that teamwork only makes the dream work if they remain like-minded, just as Paul implored [Euodia and Syntyche] to be [in Philippians 4:2-3] . Without “complete sympathy with the object of the alliance” (in the words of Andrew Carnegie) the vision will fall apart and never come to pass.
But how can you get people to willingly follow and support your cause like that?
Well, there are 5 main steps which we see really clearly outlined in the events of Zipporah’s life (particularly as Moses’ wife)- as detailed in the video below.
I hate to burst your bubble, sis, but…
<sigh>
As much as it’s really important to set a firm foundation for your networking and PR efforts by knowing your “why,” no-one else cares about it
#justsaying
“So how do I get other people to care about my mission and vision, Nina?” I hear you say
Well…
It all comes down to knowing how to harness the power of reciprocity
Which is something that is really well demonstrated through Moses and Zipporah’s relationship- as detailed in the video below.
So last week, we talked about how to start networking from scratch in order to bring our God-given dreams to fruition. The first (of the five) steps that I gave was to “know your why” because, when it comes to building profitable relationships, you must first establish a firm foundation. This is why in my High Visibility Hexagon, I call this initial step the "Firm Foundation Framework".
When it comes to putting ourselves our there (or our networking and PR efforts), we already talked about the fact that knowing your why will keep you motivated through hard times but it goes even deeper than that for 2 very practical reasons- as detailed in the video below.
So last week, lovely, we talked about how the same relationships that were once blessings can also go on to hold us back from speaking up, stepping out and shining as the woman of God that He created us to be, if we don’t know how to spot the 4 tell-tale signs that this is happening. I based this on the evolution of Moses’ relationship with his adopted mother (Pharaoh’s Daughter), as recorded in Hebrews 11:24-26.
However, if Pharaoh’s Daughter symbolises relationships that are holding us back, Moses’ relationship with his wife (Zipporah) is really useful for giving us tips on how to:
Leave those kind of relationships
Build new, positive and profitable business relationships from scratch
All of which I shared in the video below.
