Why We Need Christian Sisters to Overcome Obstacles in Life

How well do you overcome obstacles? I used to think I did a pretty good job of handling the things life threw at me. I realize now that my idea of handling things was to let my inner perfectionist control freak run rampant.

There was no grace in how I handled things. If I knew better, I had to do better, even if it was at the expense of my physical, mental, or emotional health.

I didn’t realize the importance of allowing people to help me.

I wore my independence and self-sufficiency as a badge of honor around my neck, only to at some point realize, perhaps it really was a millstone, dragging me down. And limiting the body of Christ in my own life.

While I know in my head I need Christian sisters to navigate the challenges and overcome obstacles in our fallen world, God needed to get my attention with a blatant object lesson last fall because I wasn’t being as intentional about growing my circle as I could be.

After my hip implant failed in 2017 and a difficult recovery, I spent the entire spring at home with my family. I attended church fairly regularly after Easter, but nothing else was feasible.

Honestly, my introvert-self didn’t hate being stuck at home.

Missing church fellowship was hard, but I really crave quiet time in my head, thinking and reading, writing, and praying. I spent a lot of time praying.

But as my hip healed, God was directing me about which activities to resume. When I wasn’t sure about serving at our Army chapel Bible study, PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), I left it in God’s hands.

Lord, they know my gifts, and I want to be open to serving wherever I am needed. Please, have someone ask if they want me to volunteer.

Less than 24 hours later, I got a call asking me to co-facilitate the marriage class.

God doesn’t mess around when He wants to direct my steps.

Then, our PWOC was having our annual fall retreat. I’ve never been able to attend because it’s either deer season or the army prevents my husband from watching our daughter.

But for some reason about a month before the retreat, I put it on my calendar and blocked off the whole weekend, even though I had no intention of going.

Seriously, I have so many issues. I snore. I use a white noise machine to sleep. Being a huge introvert with social anxiety, going somewhere for more than a couple of controlled hours is WAY outside my comfort zone.

Yet, going on the retreat is one way to forge deeper relationships with the women at PWOC, and I crave those deeper relationships.

But sharing a room with people means being vulnerable in ways that I can’t control, all the messy humanness of bodily functions and sharing of bathrooms.

Part of building real relationships means being REAL and real Vulnerable. Invite people into your mess and your miracles. God can be glorified in both. Click To Tweet

A few days before the retreat, God paved the way for me to go. My husband couldn’t hunt over the weekend and surprisingly didn’t have to work. He had been working every Saturday for months.

Then, the day before the retreat, five paid for slots were still available. Even after I was waylaid by several women who needed prayer, I was the first to ask for one of the places.

After our lovely retreat organizer allayed all my weird fears, I signed up to attend the retreat on discipleship with 24 hours to plan and pack.

But everything fell right into place.

Instead of having to overcome obstacles, God simply removed them.

OK, God – I’ll take the hint!

So this was a really long story to get to the good stuff, but I needed you to know how God worked all these things together so I could be in this place.

Our retreat was near the Amicalola state park with a beautiful waterfall. During our free time Saturday afternoon, a group of women were going to take the hiking path to see the waterfall.

Being still fresh from needing my cane all the time, I decided a hike wasn’t what the doctor ordered. A group of us were going to drive over, drive to the overlook, and come back.

Oh, the best laid plans.

The park didn’t have clear signage. We drove past several areas that looked like hiking trails until there was a cul-de-sac kind of turnaround and saw a lot of people walking up this path near a pool. We could hear the rushing water of the falls and figured it was just around the bend.

It was just around the bend . . . for over a mile, mostly straight up.

Talk about unexpected obstacles, y’all. I was so glad I took my cane.

The path was steep and treacherous in places. But I powered through the best I could. We talked and laughed and encouraged each other up the rocky path.

And we got to the first observation deck to learn that this (clearly) was the hiking path. We had climbed this mountain accidentally.

Who does that? Who climbs a mountain on accident?

And then I had to get back down. Having a bad hip has made me more aware of how difficult it is to traverse rugged terrain with an unsteady leg, especially descending stairs or steep cliffs.

One of my roommates took my arm and helped support me in the steepest places.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 ESV Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up!

Whoosh, I remembered all my late night prayers for Godly women in my life to walk with me through the hard times, that I could encourage too.

On an accidental and unexpected mountain, God answered my prayers. He provided me with Godly women of all ages literally walking with me.

Proverbs 17:17 ESV A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.

It was such the perfect picture of discipleship: two twenty-somethings and two-forty-somethings, reaching forward and back as we journeyed together.

God really demonstrated for me the importance of these Christian sisters in overcoming obstacles, but reminded me that when we allow ourselves to accept help, we grow in relationship.

I get so caught up in being independent and not needing help that I forget turning down meals and mystery casseroles can be rejecting relationships and missing the chance to build fellowship and disciple each other.

When Christians do life together, we encourage, convict, restore. We learn how to reflect God’s truths while we overcome obstacles, not just survive them.

It is in that vulnerable and real place, we invite each other to witness the work Christ is doing in our lives and share in the transformations of our friends.

Watching the lovely ladies in my life overcome obstacles with such grace and peace that only God explains it, reminds me how alive and present my God is. And I’ve come to believe that keeping my obstacles to myself kept me from glorifying God as much as I could have been.

Inviting my sisters into my mess also lets them see God’s miracles in me. They see me grow in humility, patience, and faith.

The challenges don’t get easier, but when we overcome obstacles together, they feel easier.