I have been blessed to share a wonderful friendship and sisterhood with this month's guest writer, Sis. DeAnna Featherstone. She has been a committed friend to both me and my family. She, her husband and children could not be more family to us if they were blood relatives. They have been there for us through good and bad times. I have watched her grow through the years as a wife, mother, daughter, niece, sister and, most of all, a woman of God. She is a founding member of Chosen Women, Inc. We had an interesting conversation a few weeks ago in which she began to share about "The Cinderella Syndrome," and I asked her to take my place this month in ministering to you as I found such truth in what she shared. Please enjoy this message from my girl, DeAnna:
Praise the Lord Women of God;
In this walk I've had the pleasure of meeting woman of many ages, races, and backgrounds. Some have been stay at home moms like me. Some have taken different career paths. Others even have both a family and a career. Though we might seem to be on opposite ends of a spectrum, I find that we as women are all very much the same.
I think at times we can be in denial about the things we really desire to have from the Lord. For example, it is easy to say, “I would never want a Rolls Royce!”, if you feel in your heart you will never have the means to acquire one. All the while the truth is that if your budget allowed you would have that Rolls Royce along with everything else your heart desired. Why is it that we would rather pretend that we don't want it when we do? Is it that we are embarrassed to admit that we are still working toward our goals – that we still have some work to do -- that we do not have it 'going on' like we would like others to believe?
We would rather give up on a thing and pretend we never really wanted it because it has not manifested within the timeline we set. We would rather give up than just admit, “I’m still holding on” or “I’m still waiting patiently on the Lord!” If you have asked the Lord for anything and it seems like you have been waiting so long, you must not grow weary. The race is not given to the swift nor to the strong, but to the one that endures to the end! How many times have we heard that? But do we really believe it?
We do not have the right to just abort the vision because we grow weary! Has it ever occurred to you that maybe God has that Rolls Royce waiting for you? He might just need you to have some more experience before He can entrust it to you. You might need to go through some more experience and training. You want a Rolls when you have just started learning to drive a standard automobile.
A Rolls Royce is very expensive and the last thing you want to do is be inexperienced before taking on such a vehicle. Can you imagine wrecking it before you get it out of the driveway? This message it not really about a car, but I believe that is a perfect example to symbolize us looking for God to bless us with something rich in our lives. For those looking for God to do something in your life, let the Lord finish the work He's started in you first. You need to wait on Him – He knows when you are ready. And it will be worth the wait because when He gives, He gives His best and you need to be in position and experienced enough to receive (and maintain) what He has for you.
Now there are some of us that are not at all in denial. You know clearly what you so desperately want the Lord to do for you. Some even look with envy when they see others have already acquired that thing or that position that they themselves desire. If you are a person experiencing that envy or jealousy because someone else seems to be ahead of you in the blessing line -- make sure you understand that the one who has acquired that thing that looks so great and wonderful has likely had to go through a great deal in order to get it. This is what I call the Cinderella Syndrome.
All some people see when they look at other women’s lives is that wonderful, handsome Prince Charming and that fairy tale ending. What I need to have you do is go back to the beginning of her story and remember how it all began. I need you to go back long before the Prince was on the scene. If memory serves me correctly Cinderella was a slave. She waited hand and foot on an Evil (wicked) stepmother and stepsisters that were full of hatred and jealousy. They made her wear rags while they wore the finest. I remember reading the book as a child and seeing her on her hands and knees scrubbing their floors. Now that isn't an ideal situation for a woman who is on her way to becoming a princess. I can say in reading this story as an adult my understanding of this story has changed.
In the mist of her trials she went through them with a smile on her face. She had faith that this would not always be her life. Who was sent to encourage her but a Godmother? Now this may be a children's story but I think we can all take a lesson from it. You have to be willing to go through some major, hurtful things sometimes in order to attain the things you want from God. It may look like a person has it all. But if you take the time to find out their story I'm sure you will learn that they went through some trials. But trials that the Lord allows in our lives (not those we put ourselves in) are always presented to bring us to a greater purpose in Him. We serve the True and Living Savior, Jesus Christ. He will never leave us. If you think about it, our job in this thing isn't that hard. We just need to trust and wait on Him, that's it. Just wait on Him. I am a living witness God knows . . . and He cares.
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