I encountered her first through Hope*Writers, and have since watched – rather awe-struck at times – as she’s leaned unabashedly into her passion and calling, courageously putting her heart out there, linking arms with other women as she’s led the charge.
Her desire to run hard after God is refreshing. But her willingness do so, bravely and imperfectly, is what has made all the difference.
Meet Whitney…
WHAT’S YOUR STORY, MORNING GLORY?
At the wise-old age of 26-years-old, God called my husband and I from a mega-church in Houston, Texas, to serve at a little white church on a hill next to a peacock farm. We had wild dreams of witnessing revival and a full parking lot. Just get us there, we thought, and great things will begin to unravel.
Can you begin to see the pride? The self-promotion? The human flaw? Have you ever had a dream and declared, “If I just work hard enough, long enough, wise enough, it will come to fruition?”
Yeah, me too.
We are still serving at that little white church on a hill and we still have wild + messy dreams for revival (because we believe in a God who calls Himself I AM.) But He has taught us a thing or two along the way. He redefined me and continues to shape me by teaching me what His Word declares as real success, dependence and my purpose. He keeps whispering to me what I should really fear (Him, not man) and that my worth is not in what I produce but who I am.
He redefined brave for me because my other definitions of brave weren’t holding the test of time. I wrote it all down in a book called Imperfectly Brave.
In my desperate attempt to stay the course in all this redefining, I called women to pray alongside me — for our church, for our city, for each other. We started gathering every Monday morning while the sun was just beginning to run its course across the Kansas City sky.
Since then, we have seen soul revivals, extraordinary changes and miracles. I’ve watched friends step into their God-given callings. We’ve wept through our marriages, our own self-inflicted prisons; we’ve whispered the quiet, dark hidden places of our souls.
And then we return them to God, because He will heal us (2 Chronicles 7:14).
Thus, the ministry of Imperfectly Brave was birthed. God took a dream I once held (a booming church) and made it into something entirely different. Imperfectly Brave is now a lifestyle where we believe our bravest place is in God’s arms. And it’s so simple. Gather your people and pray. God will show up. He promised He always would.
WHAT DID YOU DISCOVER ABOUT GOD’S CHARACTER IN THE PROCESS?
I discovered that when you seek Him with all of your heart, you will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).
For the longest time, I tried to add God into my life. I kept inviting Him into my plans; tossing Him on top of salad that I already made, rather than asking Him what He had for me, or even, (GASP!) letting Him be enough.
Simply stated, I knew He was my delight and my portion, but I don’t know if I ever felt like He was my delight and my portion.
In redefining brave, He kept reminding me that my bravest place is really only and wholly with Him. And as I’ve practiced that, my whole life has changed and I’m braver, more passionate, and more tuned into who I am as a daughter of the King.
WHAT HELPED YOU OR SERVED YOU MOST PRACTICALLY IN THIS SEASON?
It’s still helping me today: my prayer group. God made us for community. And not just a community that gathers quickly on a Sunday morning to check it off our massive list in order to be thrown into the hurricane of our life. No. We were meant to know the insides of each other. Our struggles, doubts and insecurities. We were meant to celebrate and champion each other.
Community keeps me closer to Christ then and it keeps me closer to Christ now.
HOW DID THIS EXPERIENCE EFFECT OR SHAPE YOUR PASSION TODAY?
Let it be said, and let it be said loudly: we can get off track easily. Any shake of doubt or fear or crack in the sidewalk can throw us off course. By living my imperfectly brave lifestyle and gathering in prayer week in and week out, I have:
Warm accountability
Sisters who cheer for me
Scripture being read over me
Reminders of what God has already done
Reminders of what He is singing over me life
Truth being poured over me
And the beautiful promise that His burden is light and I can move into my week…
Free.
This type of community is better than any self-help program out there. God longs to hear from His daughters. And He longs to be glorified in His Church. Gathering together and laying down my requests, meant God was continually honing and sharpening my mission. I never stopped coming to Him and He never stopped speaking to me.
IF YOU COULD SUM UP YOUR STORY IN ONE SENTENCE WHAT WOULD IT BE?
Your bravest place is in God’s arms – run there and bring others alongside you.
WHAT ROLE HAS MENTORING PLAYED IN YOUR LIFE AND WHAT IMPACT HAS IT HAD ON YOU?
I meet monthly with a woman that I can crawl broken into her home. She sits and listens and points me to God. And let me say this: I had to seek this out; it didn’t just come to me. If you want a mentor, don’t wait for someone to pursue you. Take charge. Ask someone you admire and just start getting coffee. Don’t make it more complicated then it needs to be. (Confessions of an over-complicator).
WHAT ARE 2 THINGS YOU ARE LOVING RIGHT NOW?
My Work of Heart hat by My Etched Life
Lisa Bevere’s book, Without Rival.
THANKS WHITNEY! WHERE’S THE BEST PLACE FOR READERS TO FIND YOU?
You can find my friends and I at www.imperfectlybrave.com.
If you are in the Midwest, join us at the Imperfectly Brave Weekend on October 28-29. We would love to have you! And if you want to join a prayer group, you can! Just sign up at www.imperfectlybrave.com/prayer-groups.
