Team changes. That phrase used to flood me with a mix of emotions each time it was uttered. Excitement, grief, nervousness, anticipation, restlessness, confusion, anger. I like my team. We’re comfortable. Why does it have to change? If it works, why alter a good thing?? But, I came here to be challenged and to grow and I want to be pushed out of my comfort zone. So, I see you AIM. I see you, God. I know this is for my good and for your glory but it will be hard. You never promised the easy road. You just promised you’d be there to walk me through it. So, deep breath, open the envelope. There’s no turning back now. Here we go.
My new team. Whew. Such amazing women of God. Lord, you took it easy on me. These women are so fun and gifted and I know most all of them at least a little bit and I have mad respect for each one of them. Okay, I can do this. We can be a team. Team VALOR. Any team that starts their new chapter by having a makeshift fort party with gummies, cookies, and milk, all stealthily organized by their newly elected team leader, is gonna be one heck of a team. Yeah, Lord! I see that this IS good and it WILL BE great. I trust you in this.
Fast forward 3 weeks:
Our team has bonded by testimony sharing and praying over each member after she gives her testimony and speaking what we receive from God into her in a beautiful way where the Spirit reveals how much He adores each of these women and what He has for them. We are split up into different ministry sites so we aren’t together all day and so you have to be intentional to seek teammates out to go deeper on an individual level. But, as a group, we are good and the Lord is moving and confirming that we are meant to do this season together and challenge and encourage each other in this next phase of growth. Because He has good things in store for each of us and for Valor as a whole.
So to be real:
I do struggle with comparison to the other amazing ladies on my team. I think that my gifts aren’t as important or developed. I envy others’ relationships with each other on the team. I feel rejected, forgotten, unseen, of diminished worth, too_______. I know that these are lies from the Father of lies himself but yet, I still take them as truths sometimes. So, I am determined to steel myself with the armor of God and fortify this fortress so that I can properly bond with my teammates and give them my best, because they deserve nothing less. All of my struggles above have nothing to do with them and everything to do with me and with Satan’s tactics to tear us apart and to isolate me and get me down. So, with the Lord’s strength and discernment, I will prevail. WE will prevail. Watch out world: Team VALOR is in the house.
Raina I love this so much. And you are incredibly talented, Pastor Raina. Keep shining your beautiful light on your new team that you had during Beloved Daughters. You are such a beautiful person and don’t let that go unseen.
Love you forever Raina Babe
We’ll suit up in that armor of God with you 🙂 WE will find the truths to destroy those lies! Team Valor is not team Valor without you! The word I got for you before even opening the envelopes is wisdom. You bring things to the table that no one else is able to!! Remember, this is your PRIME!! Keep following in the footsteps of Jesus!!
Kelly was right on … you bring wisdom along with many other gifts. After such a short time with you in Ghana, I shared with Chuck that you seem to be wise beyond your years and that you were going to be such an asset to F Squad. Your demeanor is calm and peaceful and God has given you a gift to reach out and invite others into your space. You love freely and unconditionallly just like Jesus. Stand on the truth of God’s Word and who HE says you are and you will have the power of Christ to destroy the lies of enemy. Remember that there’s no truth in satan – he is a liar and the father of lies. Satan fills our hearts to lie and seeks to capture us and destroy us through lies. Our fight, the battle, is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the heavenly places. But you know that you have been raised up and seated in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, high above these evil powers and you can overcome this rage by the blood of Christ. Revelations 12:12 tells us that we are Satan‘s target on earth. He has great wrath because he knows his time is short. I encourage you to live in the book of Ephesians taking it apart verse by verse and daily declaring who you are in Christ Jesus! And take the full armor of God that starts in Ephesians 610 and “suit up” every single day!! I love you, Raina! Do NOT let the enemy steal another second of your thought life. You are a precious daughter of the most high God!
Raina gal-you are so you and I wouldn’t want you to be anyone else. Dig deeper into the gifts the Lord has given you my dear. You are talented. You are beautiful. You are loved. You are awesome. You are freakin RAINA. I love you