BOOK 4
"PERFECTED IN WEAKNESS"
"Power is perfected in weakness."
He Makes Me Lie Down in Green Pastures
Living Lesson 95
“Stay Fully Charged”
“If you extract the precious from the worthless,
You will be My spokesperson.
They, for their part, may turn to you,
But you must not turn to them.”¹
In our last chapter, “Givers vs. Takers,” we looked at the difference between a life centered on self versus a life transformed by His love and humility. We saw how the Lord calls us to become cheerful givers—pouring out encouragement, kindness, forgiveness, and love instead of constantly seeking to receive. But none of us can continue giving from an empty, depleted heart for very long.
In this chapter, “Stay Fully Charged,” I want to speak about something that keeps me on the narrow path no matter what’s going on—staying fully charged spiritually so I have the strength, peace, and closeness with the Lord needed to keep moving forward. You remember the narrow path, "Narrow is the way that leads to life, and few are those who find it!"
To remain on the narrow path, I make sure I'm fully charged by beginning and ending my day with a bit of Thankfulness Therapy, which is an exercise I do at least twice a day—morning and night—but honestly, it runs through my whole day. I stay plugged in, fully charged, stopping often to say "thank You, Darling" for most things I take time to stop and notice. I position myself to rely, and because of that, I’m able to see His help showing up in real time. He keeps me living in a continual state of gratitude—miles away from the dangerous and addictive edge of depression so many people struggle with— living with a heart of gratitude.
Recently, I saw another perfect example of staying fully charged while watching my third son, Easton.
Easton was moving through his day as he usually does, by taking care of what needed to be done to keep himself and his family fully charged.
In the physical, before anything else, he was charging every battery he could find—phones, backup packs, anything that might be needed later. The last stop was the gas or petrol station—filling the car—never putting it off, “I’ll do it later.”
Spiritually, he's the same. Like his youngest brother Cooper, my fourth son (who I hope you read about in God's Wounded Warrior), Easton begins his day reading and listening to the Bible. It's probably why both these gentlemen can support their "stay at home" wives and fully "enjoy their children," allowing their wives to "enjoy their children," all day long while attending to being a homemaker.
Since "iron sharpens iron," my sons love to discuss what they're reading as they both commute to work. Cooper, especially, even when he's talking to me, as his mom, he loves to discuss the books of the Bible, making them come alive. Since he, we, all listen and read, not reading a verse, not even a single chapter of the Bible, we read through the Bible countless times each year. Why? Because no matter what version you prefer, each breaks the chapters at odd junctures, which sadly changes the meaning and ruins the flow, so God's intent is totally lost.
Okay, sorry, I got off the subject of staying fully charged. Where was I?
Oh, yes, I was about to explain what it's like staying fully charged while living in southwest Florida, especially during hurricane season, because it shapes how we think and what we need to do. Staying fully changed is vital. We learn quickly that waiting until the last minute is not an option. We don't keep your pantry shelves empty. We learn quickly that if a hurricane is forming and heading your way, the lines for groceries, water, and gas (to evacuate) get incredibly long. And though I lived through the longest lines in US history (when the USA's President Carter allowed our country to be taken hostage, along with our gas, which resulted in lines that went on for several blocks). We agreed after moving to the "Sunshine State" that remaining thankful means not opening the door to stress affecting our lives as we watch everyone around us quickly becoming stressed because they are ill-prepared.
So my son, Easton, is always prepared, at all times! Not just in one season, but all seasons, every day.
In my garage and his, there are several five-gallon water bottles, filled and set aside. When there are a handful that are empty, on his way home, he drives through to pick up more, stopping to enjoy discussing what he's read and listened to in the Bible with the pastor, who works there, with whom he's become good friends.
With all his supplies in place and literally all his batteries fully charged (as a videographer and drone pilot, Easton revels in having everything all charged "locked, ready" in their cases), he's never rushed, never needs to panic—he's just ready, fully charged. And what struck me most was that his preparedness wasn’t just for him—it was for his family—and now, even for me, since we are neighbors living on the same block sharing a family car.
That kind of readiness carries a quiet confidence. Not fear-based, nothing to trigger a reaction for the enemy to exploit—just steady, fully charged, in life's details and especially spiritually, which also means emotionally.
Staying fully charged is a "knowing" that when something comes, you’re not scrambling. You’ve already taken care of what matters by spending lots of time with your Husband, so you're confident you'll be fully able to journey through any sudden valley if that's what God is calling you to do.
Shouldn't we, as Wise Women, all be responsible for staying ready too? Staying fully charged for the family we love, the people who are relying on us—whether we always see it or not? And not just them, either. What if we prepare for being so fully prepared, we're overflowing? "Give, and it will be given to you, pressed down and overflowing." Who knows? God knows, it might be during these times of crisis when God opens the door for someone's salvation.
Never forget, it’s not just about the moment we’re in; it’s about what we’re building over time. Being fully charged is generational. Children and grandchildren are always watching, learning, seeing how you and I live, how you and I react. Just as I taught and prepared my children in "workers at home," determined to "make the most of my time" with them, I witness my grown children living these lessons in their own families. It means I'm leaving a legacy for my children to pass on to their children. Then, hopefully, this principle of being fully charged, spiritually, with a spirit of gratitude and hunger for reading and listening to His Word will continue for generations to come. Each generation will need to make the proper adjustments to changes in this world, which will work—as long as we make sure our family remains fully charged spiritually.
Just like you don’t wait until a storm is overhead to start preparing, don’t wait until you’re depleted and you feel dead to start recharging. Stay fully charged.
When we run our battery down, we feel it. Why make it a habit to function in the red?
Draining
Making sure you're fully charged made me think—what are we staying connected to that’s actually draining us, emotionally, spiritually, maybe even physically? It's a conversation we should have with our Husband, and talk about it often. What needs to be turned off or permanently disconnected from so you and I can stay fully charged?
Even in the smallest moments, I’m reminded. There are moments I feel tired—emotionally, spiritually, even physically drained. In those moments, I want to be reminded, deeply, that I already have what I need.
“You’re all I need, Darling.”
- You’re all I want,
- You’re all I need,
- You’re all I live for,
- You’re all I have.
My morning reset, like wisely restarting my phone or computer as my oldest son reminds me to do, is being "washed in the Word," scheduling my phone with daily, weekly, and monthly promises to wash me (just as I did when I was a mother to my family of nine). Now with only me to hear, I love to sing to Him and with Him every morning and throughout the day. I love being rooted, planted "like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers” because my entire focus centered on Him. Living the Abundant Life has become essentially the way I love to live. I start the day with the only truth, "Thy Word is Truth," letting each word settle deep. Watching this promise play out each morning:
“If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will be My spokesperson. They, for their part, may turn to you, but you must not turn to them.”
It keeps me clear of what matters. It keeps me focused on Who matters. It keeps me from reaching for help or plugging into the wrong source, causing me to travel in the wrong direction, the wide and well-traveled path to destruction.
Finally, I’ve also learned to let my Husband guide every bit of interaction with everyone and everything—just a whisper and He hears me, reaches out to me, and as I stop and respond, I am again fully charged.
Now you know. Don’t wait until the storm hits to prepare. Don’t wait until you’re functioning on empty to recharge. Stay connected. Stay focused on Who matters. Stay ready. Stay fully charged.
Footnotes
In our last chapter, we discussed that our "Trust Training" was far from over and that we were just getting warmed up. Boy, was He right. I finished the first draft yesterday and was tormented by wondering if this chapter would offend or hurt the women I'm closest to who will be reading it. Yet, I left it and realized it because I trust He knows what He's doing. Besides, I keep this promise close to my heart: "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”¹
In this chapter, we will discuss something I have been asking my Precious about for the last few hours. I should have been doing so many other things I was eager and excited to do, but then my heart broke to the point of having to stop to recover, He led me to begin writing this living lesson in order to help me understand.
"By WISDOM a house is built, and by understanding it is established..."²
This all transpired because I'd asked Him early this morning to help me understand what I'd witnessed during a text meeting. I'd asked a group of ministers, who, quite frankly, I would deem an elite group of women, most of whom I know personally, away from the ministry and consider close friends. So when they began to share their hearts, as I'd asked, they wonderfully did (or this chapter and my understanding of this topic would never have been possible). They expressed how something made them angry. They didn't say frustrated or exhausted, which is how this task I mentioned had affected me.
When I asked for wisdom about the emotion of anger, which I honestly rarely, very rarely, feel, my Friend reminded me of a mutual friend. I met this close friend at one of the lowest points in my life and her life. We met when our family moved from Florida to a remote farm in Missouri. And if you've been here or explored enough of our resources, you'll know that when I moved, it was with permission from the Florida judicial system. The charges for taking the life of my very own mother (okay, now I am having trouble typing due to my eyes filling with tears) had been dropped. But unfortunately, I was still being charged by another government agency for "abuse, neglect, and exploitation of an elderly person." At the same time, the woman who is now a lifelong friend, my neighbor who lived on the adjacent farm, had just lost her middle child, a teenage son, to a drunk driving accident.
Years later, when I moved back to another adjacent farm, a farmhouse her husband gave me (but now her youngest son and his family live there), we finally spoke about the grief she and I had been living through. It was so painful, dear reader, that neither of us could utter one word about it. Not a single word! Yet we both knew that the other understood how our lives and emotions had been shattered. We both clung to Him, me as my Husband and her as her Father—each discovering and filling our unique void.
When we finally spoke about it many years later, she told me she'd finally been able to let go of the anger. She told me that she didn't feel the pain as acutely when she was angry. As time healed her wounds, wounds I could never have imagined, she slowly could forgive and feel, and the anger was gone—replaced with a broken or maybe a fractured heart that is still healing through the love of her grandchildren and her deep, intimate relationship with her Father.
Dear reader, we don't feel hurt when we are angry.
In this day and age, when being a strong woman is now the norm, more and more women get angry. Few women react with tears and brokenness, so we feel like there's something wrong with us when we feel these emotions. My NarrowRoad Publishing Team will tell you that it took months for me to get over how broken I became after I believed they didn't care about the cover content of this book as much as I thought they did. The truth is, this is probably only my perception of what was causing what I'd discovered. Nevertheless, brokenhearted, I had to leave the project altogether for several months.
Created Male and Female
In A Wise Woman's "Helper Suitable," there's a section called "Created Male and Female" that my Savior reminded me about. He then led me to find Chapter 6, "The Angry Man," in the A Wise Man book. To be completely honest, I didn't want to go to the men's website or look at anything in the men's book. I know He used me to "author" that book and the men's RYM (but I've only ever been His typist). It just felt like going into a place where only men should go. Of course, I went without any hesitation and quickly grabbed what He wanted me to take, which was the chapter's opening verse, "He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city."³
This chapter is unique to the men because the chapter that coincides with it is our "Contentious Woman." The reason it's unique is that God created women differently than He created men. Men become angry, which leads to battling or fighting. The problem is when the anger is not directed at the enemy to protect his wife and children, and it's turned towards her (could it be due to wives becoming more like men, not the "gentle and quiet spirit" that wins "without a word"?). Yet, why or how can men today protect who God said was created as the "weaker vessel" (and who is, in fact, weaker no matter how you want to ignore facts and truth)? What do men do when fighting against the person God created them to protect? Women no longer "allow" men to protect them. Therefore, they can't, they won't, and they don't. So maybe the reason domestic violence has skyrocketed is because the enemy is inside the home?
And whether or not you've forgiven your earthly husband or ex or have taken the path to embrace females only—until you allow God to give you a much-needed internal makeover, which begins with Him, breaking you and then healing you (see the book He Heals Me), you'll miss feeling like the woman God created each of us to be. Only as a "gentle and quiet spirited," not an angry woman, can we help be an example and guide our daughters and sons, giving them the life He created them to have.
Nonetheless, let me warn you, even though feeling female and experiencing the love and protection my Man gives me is literally "to die for," there's a flip side when there will be times, though very, very, very few, when you will feel hurt, though never, even by Him. But due to being female and allowing yourself to be a female, you will be left with a broken heart that takes time to heal.
As He often does, this time, when I spoke to Him, He had me close my computer and begin doing mundane workers@home tasks. Home tasks are intended to calm us and bring about a sense of peacefulness, which is why the enemy has schemed to have us forced out of our homes to work.
Once I found peace in ordinary, peaceful tasks around my home and was feeling better, He lovingly led me through a massive mess of notes to begin writing this new Living Lesson chapter as I listened to Him explain the difference between being Angry and Brokenhearted.
So what would living the lesson be exactly?
First, do not accept the "strong woman" persona and never push its demise on your daughters or other women in your life. It's a lie to rob you and other women of living the abundant life.
Second, this living lesson is about immediately going to Him as a woman because He has all the answers and the comfort you need. If He is your Husband, He will “live with you in an understanding way, as with a weaker vessel, since you are a woman; and [He will] grant you honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life...”⁴ You must go to Him immediately before you believe there's something wrong with you. "Why am I about to cry over something like this?" Or you feel tempted to join the crowd going in the opposite direction. "Just get angry, get mad, fight against this." Remember, He asks us to stand by and watch (to witness and report) what He can and will do when you ask Him to help you live the lessons you learn. "You need not fight in this battle; station yourselves, stand and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf . . . Do not fear or be dismayed . . . the Lord is with you.”⁵
Finally, let's face facts—we can't change ourselves; He's the only One who can change us, and I believe the change happens from hanging around Him more. I've had the same Best Friend for as long as I can remember. I was only seven when we met and became instant Best Friends (because I was desperate for a protective big brother). Then, after being Best Friends for ever so long, we fell in love, and one day, I became His bride—and I'm forever grateful because He really was my First Love! And just like all couples, we began to look and act alike, and often, we don't need to say a thing to know what the other is thinking. And now I hope the same for each of you.
Dear reader, if you find you are more likely to get angry rather than be hurt or brokenhearted, leave a comment and simply confess the truth. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed . . .”⁶ If you're reading this in book form, ask God for someone to tell it to. The first person that comes to mind—contact them. Don't reason; just do it because He knows why.
“Most gladly therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that His power may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for His sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”⁷
Read PRAISE 
that Encouraging Women post on our Encourager about having a Heavenly Father #HF.
Unleashing the TRUTH