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Rest for Weary Women’s Ministry Leaders + Podcast guest

/ Heather Davis Nelson / Leave a comment

I was honored to be featured on two great resources recently: an article at The Gospel Coalition and as a guest on Christine Chappell’s Hope+Help podcast. I’m including the links to both below.

As a women’s ministry leader, you’re an event planner, a teacher, a mentor, and a counselor. You’re on call when a woman is in crisis. You’re meeting with new moms, empty nesters, and women of every life stage in between. You’re developing discipleship programs to reach single, divorced, widowed, and married women. You’re planning Bible studies that are accessible for women whether they’re at home full-time or in the workplace. And added to all these ministry demands, you have your own responsibilities and cares.

The idea of rest isn’t new to you. You’ve probably encouraged other women to follow rhythms of rest, and you may have even organized a retreat on the topic. You’ve likely pointed women in your church to Jesus’s promise of rest in Matthew 11:28: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” But do you follow your own counsel?

As a ministry leader, you likely have more people leaning on you and looking to you for care than you have people who are caring for you. This reality can subtly reinforce the false belief that your needs are less important than those of the women you serve. But in your role’s unique demands on your time, energy, and inbox, you’re “heavy laden.” Christ’s invitation to rest is for you, not just for the women you serve. So how can you practically look to Christ for rest amid ministry demands? [to read the rest of the article, click here]

To listen to my podcast with Christine Chappell on “Hope + Help for Soul Refreshment”, click here.

Featured Radio Interview

/ Heather Davis Nelson / 2 Comments

I recently had the privilege of joining Danny Yamashiro on “The Good Life Hawaii” radio program for an interview. If you’re interested in hearing it, click here. undefined

It was a wonderful opportunity to speak about Unashamed and to connect with a brother in Christ who has an incredible miracle story of salvation, both physically and spiritually. He is a colleague of my husband’s in their Ph.D. program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (TEDS) in Chicago, and we had the delight of meeting him when he passed through town a few months ago.

I hope you will enjoy “meeting” Danny as much as I enjoyed talking with him!

When Shame Haunts You

/ Heather Davis Nelson / Leave a comment

Below is the beginning of an article featured at The Gospel Coalition blog. TGC helped to launch my writing into a larger audience by facilitating my introduction to Crossway, publisher of Unashamed.  Below is the first part of  When Shame Haunts You. 

There was a time when shame didn’t exist. Man and woman walked freely with God and one another—perfectly vulnerable and without shame (Gen. 2:25). But then sin entered the paradisiacal landscape. And with sin came the immediate hiding of shame.

The man and woman tried to cover themselves from each other, and they hid from God when he came looking for them. As he exposed the sin, they blamed one another, then the serpent. Eden shattered, and they were expelled from paradise. But not without one seemingly small act of grace—God covered them with adequate clothing (Gen. 3:21). This act pictures the future, greater covering of shame humanity would need—clothing in robes of righteousness instead of the garments of sin that cloak us with shame.

Unclean Made Clean 

Throughout the history of a redeemed and rebellious people, we see shame alongside sin and guilt. Guilt was atoned for through regular sacrifices, pointing to the Lamb of God who would be the ultimate and final sacrificial offering for a sinful people. Shame often shows up in the realm of the “unclean,” a category in Levitical law that went beyond the uncleanness brought by sin. For example, a person with various types of skin disease could be deemed unclean by a priest (Lev. 13:1–59). There were shameful consequences for being pronounced unclean: “He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. . . . He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp” (Lev. 13:46). What a picture of what those of us who dwell in shame feel—an aloneness and an exclusion from “the camp,” whether that camp be defined as our family, community, neighborhood, school, or church. Shame pronounces us “unclean,” and we’re separated and excluded. …

To read the rest of the article, visit TGC.org.