Next Generation Leader

"My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." James 1:19-20 (NIV)

This verse comes to mind in my life alot! If you know anything about me at all you know that most of the time I'm not afraid to speak my mind. Growing up my thought process was "If you don't like me for who I am than that's your loss," "if you don't want to know the truth then don't come ask me." I was the one that told you the truth, sometimes even if you didn't ask for it.

Needless to say this sometimes got me in trouble. Other times it actually served a purpose. The other day Nate and I were talking about my willingness to be bold and he tells me I just need to be careful and think about things before I say them. So I thought about that and realized that more times than not I do think about things before I say them. I am more careful than I think I am. I'm just not afraid to walk in the light of Christ knowing that in the times when something truely needs to be said I know full well that He is going to speak through me. You also need to know that I have never claimed that it was Christ who spoke through me in the times when I was wrong. I don't always get it right, but I don't fear getting it wrong either. I have always been very confident in this part of me, but here's the honest part. For the past couple of years I have begun questioning this. I wonder if I hurt more than I help. I find myself on the outside looking in alot, because I seem to be the only one with this opinion or this concern. I struggle with the demon of self-doubt!

How can others not see what I see?
Why am I the only one willing to speak up?
Am I the one that is in the wrong?
Have I really not heard God on this?

So many questions! Where are the answers? I got my answer last week! I am part of the incredible staff at New Life and we are reading a book called Next Generation Leader by Andy Stanley. This is what I found:

"A leader is someone who has the courage to say publicly what everybody else is whispering privately. It is not his insight that sets the leader apart from the crowd. It is his courage to act on what he sees, to speak up when everyone else is silent. Next generation leaders are those who would rather challenge what needs to change and pay the price than remain silent and die on the inside."

Upon reading this I realized I truely am a NEXT GENERATION LEADER!! I do not have to keep silent! I am who God truely made me to be! Don't fear who you are! Stand firm in the one who made you!! Love on Him daily!

13-18If with heart and soul you're doing good, do you think you can be stopped? Even if you suffer for it, you're still better off. Don't give the opposition a second thought. Through thick and thin, keep your hearts at attention, in adoration before Christ, your Master. Be ready to speak up and tell anyone who asks why you're living the way you are, and always with the utmost courtesy. Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They'll end up realizing that they're the ones who need a bath. It's better to suffer for doing good, if that's what God wants, than to be punished for doing bad. That's what Christ did definitively: suffered because of others' sins, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones. He went through it all—was put to death and then made alive—to bring us to God.

1Peter 3:13-18 (The Message)

Blessings to you all!!

Joy :)