This week Chelsey sits down with her friend Rebecca Dotson George to talk about having Courage in Christ. We dive into why God calls us to have courage, how it looks different from season to season, and why we must know God's word to understand His heart when we don't know what He's doing.
Rebecca is a pastors wife, dog mama, podcast host of the Do The Thing Movement, and founder of 818 Ministries. She runs hard after Jesus, loves serving her people, and is always pointing people back to Him.
1) Tell us about you!
- My name is Rebecca Dotson George and I'm a newly married pastor's wife! I live in Brookhaven, MS with my husband and almost 1-year old puppy Jasper. He pastors Easthaven Baptist Church where we're serving now together. I have a podcast + community called Do The Thing Movement where I bring a guest interview each week of someone chasing hard after their God-given calling. It's my greatest joy to cheer on my friends in pursuit of how God has asked them to uniquely serve and glorify Him. Lord willing, a book will be the next step in this journey!
2) You wrote a post for my blog this past summer and I loved every word of it. You talked about courage. This is a word we don’t hear enough about, especially when attached to being courageous in Christ. Can you share a little bit about what you felt the Lord teaching you when He placed “courage" on your heart.
- Courage: possessing the ability to do something brave.
- Where we miss it most often is we think we're stepping into this brave-ness by our own strength. That is a lie straight from the enemy! It's "doing the thing" scared, anxious and maybe fearful because we know the Holy Spirit is dwelling inside us and we're operating out of HIS strength and not our own. We were made a new creation the moment we trust in Christ.
- 2 Corinthians 5:17 - Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
- 1 Corinthians 3:16 - Do you not know that you[a] are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?
3) I love that you shared being courageous in Christ as this, "It's a quiet confidence that I'm not doing this alone. As a follower of Jesus, the same power that raised Him from the grave on the third day lives inside of me. Therefore, I'm never alone, forgotten or forsaken.” I believe we live in the most encouraged generation to date. Every where we turn there is a person, a sign, or a trendy shirt that is tell you, YES YOU CAN. But, I’ve found in most people I encounter these words from people don’t really propel them forward and what’s missing is Jesus. How would you encourage a man or woman who is feeling exhausted by trying to do it all on their own, when you and I both know Jesus is one choice away?
- This is the person I feel called to speak into - the stay at home momma, the ministry leader, business owner, network marketing girl, all of it! We are fed lies around us each and every day that if we do more, get up earlier, drink more water, work out harder, put in a few more hours, etc. we will finally be "enough". I would put my hands on either side of their face and say, "Your worth and identity have absolutely nothing to do with your productivity level, a number on a scale or how many items you checked off your to-do list today. Has God called us to be good stewards of our time, our bodies, our finances, etc.? YES!
- Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
4) Can you share a few of the BIG things that have happened that took leaning into Jesus as your source of courage and strength.
- -Marraige "Quote by Gary Thomas: "What if the primary goal of marriage is to make us holy and not happy?"
- Quote by Tim Keller: "Within this Christian vision of marriage, here's what it means to fall in love. It is to look at another person and get a glimpse of what God is creating, and to say, "I see who God is making you, and it excites me! I want to be part of that. I want to partner with you and God in the journey you are taking to his throne. And when we get there, I will look at your magnificence and say, 'I always knew you could be like this. I got glimpses of it on earth, but now look at you!”
- -Ministry: Acts 20:24 - However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.
- -Podcast : 1 Timothy 1:6-7 - For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands,7 for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
- Fan into flame (in original language): to kindle afresh, inflame one's mind, strength, zeal, to stir up
- The gift (in original language): a favour with which one receives without any merit of his own; grace or gifts distinguishing certain Christians and enabling them to serve the church of Christ, the reception of which is due to the power of divine grace operating on their souls by the Holy Spirit.
5) I love what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:9:10 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
This ties in so beautifully with John 3:30. He and John were certainly on the same page. We must decrease and The Lord must increase in our lives, in all areas. What is an area in your life that you’ve had to let die in order to see Christ increase in your life.
- I think this side of eternity, if we're honest, we all struggle with wanting to "please others". I think my personality type, Enneagram 3 wing 2, especially struggles with this. But God has called us to chase after that which glorifies Him! This is a process for me this side of eternity.
- Galatians 1:10 - For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ.
6) "Whatever the LORD pleases, He does. In heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps." (Psalm 135:6) This passage takes a lot of trusting in the Lord and the way you’ve put it, courage is believe in what God has planned for you. When you’re in seasons of wonder/worry about your plans what do you do to get back into the place of trust what God has in store even when you can’t see it?
- I remember His promises. His character never changes. God's Word is living and active. When I find myself worrying or have an anxious heart, most times I've taken my eyes off of Him and onto my circumstances. I turn to Him in prayer as we're instructed to in Philippians 4:6.
- Philippians 4:6 -do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
7) The living with less podcast is all about living with less of the things getting in the way of who Christ is calling us to be, if someone asked you what they needed to begin living with less of in regards to this what would you tell them and why?
- The expectations and thoughts of other people - it's crippling! Our aim and mission is to please God and bring Him glory! If we spent more of our time sold out to chasing after this, it would remove a lot of our wandering thoughts about others' opinions!
8) What has been the best part of moving to your new town!
- I think Brookhaven will always be special to us because it's where we started our marriage. We both live away from our family and many of our closest friends so it's brought us closer together. Mississippi is a part of the country I haven't explored a lot yet, but we're only an hour from Jackson and Natchez, Mississippi AND only 2 hours from New Orleans!
Connect with Rebecca:
https://www.dothethingmovement.com/
@rebeccadotsongeorge
Courage blog post