EP 71

Welcome to the smiling at the future podcast.

My name is Christi Rose and this is my pursuit to clean practical wisdom on femininity, homemaking, finances, relationships, and singleness from the God-fearing men and women in my life. Hope you enjoy this journey with me as we learn to smile at the future.

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Some of you are in the place of wondering what’s next in your life. And one of the options you may be considering is if you should pursue higher education. So I hope that this conversation with Lisa LaGeorge will provide some direction and clarity as you think this big decision through.

So here is my discussion with Lisa LaGeorge.

Christi: Welcome back to the podcast Lisa, can you give the listeners, some background on, who you are and where God has you presently in your life and Ministry?

Lisa: Sure, I have been involved in higher education and in missions for the past 30 years and just recently have begun working with a nonprofit called Children’s Hunger Fund in Sylmar California where I do education for our staff.

Christi: Wonderful. And for those of you who aren’t familiar with Children’s Hunger Fund, I would highly recommend that you look them up and see what they’re about and how they’re reaching people with the gospel and meet physical needs as well as a wonderful Ministry.

But Lisa, you first came on this podcast back on, episode 17, way back in 2020 early and we were one of the early ones. So you spoke about Ministry and Mission as a single woman and really helpful conversation would encourage listeners to go back and re-listen to that one.

But today, we’re looking at another pursuit that many of us have thought about and that is pursuing more or AKA higher education. But before we look at those practical questions that I have for you, I think a helpful backdrop for all of us is to hear your own story when it comes to your will Journey. So would you just share about how you got to where you are today?

Lisa: You bet. I had a great kindergarten teacher who did not have to teach me to read because my parents had already worked with that. I’m just kidding. I’ll go back, I won’t go back that far but when I was a, when I was a young teen, I began asking the question, what is it that I think God’s calling me to do, how is he gifted me? What are those, what are those skills that I can use for the sake of the church and the kingdom? And I didn’t know a whole lot. My theology wasn’t very deep, but I did know that I loved Jesus and that he loved me and that there were a lot of people in the world who had never heard of him and that isn’t acceptable to me, it wasn’t then and it isn’t now that there are still three billion people in the world who have never once heard the name of Jesus.

And so I began asking in, in my prayers, with my parents, with my teachers, what do you think I should be doing and that thinking about for the future? And I have an older brother who’s pretty brilliant and so I spent my childhood comparing myself to him. He was Suave. He was Debonair, he was a genius and I was none of those things. And I began to think that oh well, you know, college is good for him. It’s good for my mom, for my dad, but I don’t think I’m college material.

And so as I was talking with my parents about that, I think they knew better but they didn’t try to convince me otherwise. And so they encouraged me to think about what would best prepare me to go to the mission field if that’s something, God was calling me to. And so what do you like to do? That’s the question everybody starts asking. Right. What do you like to do?

Well, I like to work with horses and so I had grown up in a community that had horses and in a lot of places then a friend of mine in town, had had a Mustang that she had bought to breed but not ride. And so I got to ride the Mustang and break the Mustang and care for the Mustang and really grew to appreciate the lifestyle of working with horses. So I thought I’ll be a farrier. And then I started asking the question, a farrier is a is someone who works with horses hooves. So I began asking the question. Well, where do they have horses where they also don’t know Jesus? Was probably my earliest Venn diagram, right? I like horses, where do they have horses? Where do people not have Jesus? And I landed on the country of Mongolia. And so I was like, okay, well Lord, maybe you’ll call me to be a missionary farrier in Mongolia.

And so my parents were work, you know, I think a little skeptical but they were willing to go with it for a while. And so we talked about it. As I began looking at mission agencies, I realized all the agencies required at least 30 hours of Bible credit. And so, I was like, okay, so I got to go to Bible College, or at least Bible Institute for a year.

So I went off to the Bible Institute and the very first day of that Bible, that year that I was going to spend immersed in the Bible as a seventeen-year-old, I met a man named Dr. Verner, he wasn’t Dr. Verner then he was just Mr. Varner, and he gave an opening orientation, sermon to the students and the way that he opened the scriptures to us, just in a quick welcome, so compelled me that I walked away from that day saying, okay, I still think God can use me in missions, but I think maybe I want to be a teacher.

And so I think that obviously requires a little bit different journey than becoming a farrier. And so I began to just dive into that year of Bible and I think what the Lord did for me was it’s kind of like when you go for a walk in the evening and you have a flashlight you can just see maybe two steps ahead of you. You don’t know what’s out there beyond you, and so you just want to walk steadily in the light that you have in your hand and in front of you. And so I think that’s what I did. I was faithful for that year.

Following the year, I didn’t have a plan and so I stayed at the mission agency that was sponsoring the Bible College and I worked for them for a year and in that time realized that I wanted to get more Bible training and more training and education. But I also really love the scriptures and I wanted to keep studying, keep studying in the area of biblical studies. And so I ended up going to what’s now called Cairn University back then it was Philadelphia College of the Bible and I did a I did a bachelor’s degree in biblical studies with an emphasis in Jewish Ministries. So Jewish studies, I really wanted to spend as much time as I could in the scriptures. And so that allowed me to really dig into the Old Testament and into second temple history where a lot of Bible programs only focused on the New Testament.

And so, so that’s what I did. I graduated with a degree, wasn’t sure what the next step was, but I had a little bit more light that I could go and serve as a missionary in Alaska. And so, I spent five years doing that also investigating some other opportunities. I taught the Bible to kids in Southeast Alaska and I worked with horses. It was really a gift from the Lord to be able to do both of those things together and the Lord continued to use the horses to show me that whatever the vocation was the Lord called me to as far as job that he would be able to use that for the sake of developing relationships with people, both to make him known and to make him known better.

And so I did that for five years and was convinced that it wasn’t going to be a lifetime of service working with young teens. And so as I began looking around to see what the next step was. I had had in the back of my mind that maybe teaching English, would be a good means of serving the lord and being able to develop relationships with people that were authentic. And and so I went and got my master’s degree in teaching English, and then didn’t know what the next step was, but could go back to Alaska.

And so, I went back to Alaska and served with my church for another year, while we explored the opportunities. And eventually ended up looking at some opportunities overseas, but none of them really kind of fit what I felt like the Lord was, was calling me to, which was education. And for me, one of the things I learned in the process was that because I was single at that point the community that I was in was almost more important to me than the location that I was going to serve.

And so some some missionaries I’d worked with had recommended start looking for who you want to work for or work with. And so I had that in the back of my mind when I received a call from the Master’s College back in 1998, asking if I would come and interview for a role that was involved in missions and student development.

So it was five years between my bachelor’s and my masters and it was another five years between my masters and my time into the Masters, College serving and student development. When I began to realize that if I was going to be in higher education for a while, and that seemed to be to be what the Lord was allowing me to do, then I should probably get some additional education. So then it was five years between my Master’s Degree and my when I started my doctorate and that took like 250 years. So not that, not that long, really, but it did take me eight years in the process.

So that’s where my higher education, Journey took me, I never intended to go to school when I was 16 years old but the Lord kept giving me just a little bit more nudge. The people around me, helped me think through those and through those choices. And so, it gave me opportunities to continue to explore. I’m here, Lord. I’m serving them in the church. I’m trying to be faithful. What do you have for me next? And holding that with an open hand, whether that meant a relationship with some good Godly young men, which happened a couple of times and didn’t didn’t pan out, or it meant that I continue to serve Faithfully without marriage in the picture for whatever period of time the Lord would have that.

Christi: I really appreciate you sharing your heart on that and where the Lord has brought you Lisa. And I think what I appreciate hearing is that you didn’t have it all planned out before you started that you just Faithfully took one step at a time. You sought the Lord, you sought counsel, you looked at your giftings where the Lord was calling you and you just followed Faithfully in obedience. I think there’s, we can put a lot of pressure on ourselves that we have to know exactly where we’re headed. What we’re doing and the end goal. We can we can plan, that’s good to plan, it’s good to foresee and look ahead but only the Lord knows the future and where he wants us. And so, just one step at a time, one day, at a time, making those choices with where God is leading. I think that’s helpful to hear from your story and where God’s brought, you, you look back and you just see his Providence, I’m sure as you like he said, I wasn’t expecting to do all of this and yet, this is where God’s brought me and how he’s used my gifts. So yeah, it’s great to hear.

Lisa: Yeah, he’s been so kind to me. I know a lot of my classmates struggled. They just kind of threw up their hands and said, well, I’ll sit here and wait and I just, you know, it was a, it was a gift from the Lord to recognize that he really was planning my steps and pulling me forward. And so, sitting and doing nothing was was never an option for me. And I’m just so thankful for for the opportunities. The Lord has placed in front of me.

Christi: One of the things that you talked about is how your motivations for seeking out these opportunities. You wanted to glorify the Lord. You wanted to serve him with your gifts and you’ve counseled I’m sure many students through this process of thinking this through. Do I do? I pursue this thing? Do I have the right god-honoring motivations? So, could you speak a little bit to that? Like what are, what are good motivations? What are unhealthy motivations when we’re thinking about investing in more education in our lives.

Lisa: Sure. I literally I think I’ve had those conversations more than a thousand times. I worked with several thousand students in my 20 years, working full-time, in higher ed. And I think this is the question that gets asked or it’s a question that needs to be asked more than any almost more than any other questions students are asking.

I think one priority that’s pretty lousy. We’ll start there is that person would pursue a track because it’s monetarily beneficial, so it’s not to say that it’s a bad thing to make money, but if money is, the priority is the first priority, then all other priorities in your life are going to fall behind that. And so, you know, I think what is the chief end of man, right? The catechisms asked its to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. So that should be our primary mode of motivation. For anything we do is to glorify God and he permits us in that. That in that search to glorify him, he permits us, great delight and enjoyment in the process.

I think sometimes people look at me and they go, oh, you’re 50 years old, you’re single how sad I’ve actually had people say that to me. Oh, you must be so lonely, like no actually. The Lord has allowed me to enjoy him and to enjoy his people more than I could have ever imagined. And there that’s not to say there are moments that I go. Oh man, Lord, what were you thinking? But he’s been very gracious to allow me to enjoy him in the process.

So I think money’s a lousy motivation for doing things. Actually, I even think doing things just to gain, marriage is a lousy motivation. A lot of times girls talk about going to school so that they can get their ring by Spring. That’s an awful lot of money to spend to think that you’re going to maybe find someone to marry in your first three months of school. That’s not to say that the Lord can’t use. Again, can’t use that motivation to grow his children into to cause them to be more like himself. So I think that the ring by spring or the I’m going to go get my Mrs degree. That’s a lousy reason to go to school.

So I think going to school to simply find a marriage is a bad reason to go, but I think glorifying God, I think recognizing the gifts that God has given you and finding means to hone. Those gifts is pretty important reason to go. Actually, I think as I look back, I see that as a, even as a young teen, I had some abilities in speaking and in teaching and telling stories to groups of people. And I think having the opportunity to really explore. How do I do that in a way that honors? The Lord, that honors, his word that builds his, his church up, and his people up, that needed some refinement, right? That isn’t something that you walk out of high school saying, oh, I can do that. That that’s no that’s no problem.

So I think wanting to dig formally into the scriptures and really have them. Marinate. My heart and my soul is another good motivation for wanting higher education.

Honestly, I think in this world being able to support yourself, I think here in North America in if you want to honor the Lord, and people may disagree with me, they do all the time, but if you want to honor the Lord, as a young woman and you want to be dedicated to the local church, which is the call of every believer just do the math. Some of us singles are still going to be single because there are way more women in the church than there are men. And especially among the single populations. So I can either get frustrated because the odds aren’t very good or I can say, Okay Lord what does my singleness look like to be able to serve you?

And again I can’t just go be a worker in the church necessarily or not every woman can because again you know, my church has 1,500 people, 1800 people on a Sunday morning but there’s only 35 people on staff. So I can’t necessarily support myself by serving my local church, some people can but that’s not something for everyone. So how am I going to support myself in North America? Especially there is there’s a little bit of a difference and how we engage with our parents, right? And so the the need for me to be able to support myself with some sort of skill that honors, the Lord that honors his church. And in my case that allows me to use my gifts requires me to be more thoughtful about how do I get trained to do that so that I can put some bread on the table gluten-free as it might be in my case.

Christi: Well, I appreciate you making the distinction there between those motivations of being a good Steward, providing for your needs financially being responsible in that way. But not just pursuing money that you have to have this certain level of Lifestyle, living standard that, you want to drive this kind of car live in this kind of house as a single woman, but you recognize that we do need a roof over our head. We have to pay bills, we have to support ourselves financially but that motivation looks different, so I appreciate you bringing that out Lisa.

Lisa: Well and Christi let me add one more thing. This is this is usually the last thing I think about because it’s not really my gig but I think some girls get this idea that they want to be a girl boss and they want power, right? And so the idea is well, I’m going to go and I’m going to get, I’m going to go get an education that allows me to rule the world, right? And that’s a pretty lousy motivation as well. And honestly, it’s not something I’ve ever thought of. I know that I’m a good support person. Sure, I can speak and teach, but I like people to tell me where I should teach and when and and what I should teach about and I’ll go do the work, but I’m a really good support person. I’m a good number two, right?

And I so I think they’re any good girl, that would say, well, I want to rule the world or I just I just want to run a company. I just want to be my own boss. I think that’s something that we, that isn’t is a motivation. That should be thoroughly, analyzed to make sure that you start with, is this a choice that would glorify God most, and it may be that, you know, you’re going to run a company. That is something it is a company that will glorify God and extend his gospel to the ends of the Earth. That could be encouraging to the local church. So I do think that’s a motivation. I don’t always think about but I know as I talked with students that was one that I think women are less interested in admitting but sometimes can be under the surface.

Christi: Okay, I appreciate you bringing that out. So, let’s say, someone’s evaluated their motivations, they’ve gone before the Lord, they feel that they have god-honoring motivations to develop certain skills for his glory and being a good Steward. What are some of the practical things that someone should consider? There’s no cookie cutter, you know, formula? But there’s wisdom principles to consider as you’re looking ahead and deciding. Should I go down this path? Big investment time, money, all of that. So what things should someone consider, what things? Maybe that you see that people don’t usually consider when they’re embarking on this?

Lisa: Sure. I think one of the first things to consider is who is around you when you’re making this decision? I think sometimes parents are even reticent to help guide students in this sometimes. And I think it’s a matter of going to the people who know you the best. So your parents, maybe your grandparents, if you have a close relationship with them and they’re watching you every day, seeing you grow up. I think people at church. Whether that be a discipler and or your pastor, making those decisions, together within your community is really beneficial.

And I think that was one of the the blessings that the lord gave me and making that decision is my parents said to me, you have to go to Bible college for a year, right? They just said that’s that’s a requirement. After that their only other requirement was if I did higher ed that they got to help me choose a Christian college. They didn’t want me going to a secular institution and I think they knew me, they knew that would not have been beneficial to me. Now, for other people that may be a different scenario. And so, but for me, having my parents involved, my pastor also was affirming that eventually. He saw me involved in missions. And so yes, going to a Bible Institute or a Bible College for a year to spend time studying the scriptures would be beneficial.

And I would say to anyone male or female who is exiting high school or exiting the workforce to go into higher education. That a year of Bible will never go amiss. I think that that’s the best thing anybody could ever do. In order to ask questions the rest of their life. Ask the question. How do I honor the Lord? How do I handle the scriptures? Well, how do I get some of those questions answered as a young person in a context that’s supportive that, you know, those big life questions. Why am I here on this planet? What’s the meaning of life? A lot of those things can get answered in the context of opening, or they should be answered in the context of opening the word.

And so I think that going going to a Bible Institute, like, Word of Life or spending a year at a place, like the Masters University or Cedarville College, or Boyce College spending a year just studying the scriptures. Even if you’re going to go to LeTourneau and be engineer or a helicopter pilot, you better be somebody. You can meditate on the scriptures and be supportive of the local church. The rest of your life, right? So regardless of what the choices are in higher education, I think that that’s the the best foundation for anyone.

So that’s that was two things in there. The first thing was employ your community in making the choice. Do I go into higher Ed? Do I pursue something else? And then secondly, make sure that the scriptures is a part of whatever formula that comes up. Those are probably the two top things that are that are good to consider.

I think things other things that people should consider is what does the financial situation look like? What am I going to be paying back a student debt for 30 years? If that’s the case, then figure out a different way to get that information. Maybe 10 years is a good, is a good goal. Maybe no years is an even better goal, but my parents started with us very young saying save your money, right?

So I remember walking across the street from our grocery store where we live next door to the bank, to the Tioga, State Bank, and walking up as a six or seven year old with a two-dollar bill that my aunt had given me and Susie and putting that depositing that two dollar bill into my savings account and that was conscious even though I didn’t think I was going to be going to the University at that point. Right. That was a conscious Choice. My parents had made to tell us you need to save your money. You’re going to need it for your education. Farrier school was going to cost me something too and I knew that right. So, you know welding school, one of the one of the most needed skills in the United States welding school costs something it’s not a very long process but it costs something. And so saving for that and being conscious of that is very helpful.

I have teenage friends who the minute money passes into their hands. They go to Crumbl cookies, that’s what they do. And when they get done with their high school years, they will have put all of their savings into Crumbl cookies that isn’t going to help their education, right? So I think there has to be a consciousness of what is the financial cost in this that that young people need to make. Those are just some of the big ones.

Christi: Okay. Yeah, really, really helpful things to consider and I really appreciate how you said you the first thing you said is you do this in your community and that presupposes that you have people that know you, you’re not just coming into the back of church sitting on the back pew, leaving hanging out with, you know, peers. But you have Godly couples pastors, Elders. That know your giftings know who you are and can give you wise counsel. Tailored to you. Once again, it’s not just a cookie cutter. One-size-fits-all decision, your community knows who you are and can help guide you and from a place of knowledge. So I think that just means seek out Godly couples start friendships with them initiate those relationships.

Lisa: And I think that’s like just a, if you don’t have that in your life, you need to start that now and find a place to serve, right? Because how else are people going to know what your skills are? If you’re not serving just start saying yes to some things that are uncomfortable and see where the Lord takes it.

Christi: Yeah. Really, really good. Lisa, the the other question that I think single ladies that desire marriage kind of wrestle with in this and you kind of have talked about it a little bit, but we desire to be married someday and are, you know, a lot of women, just they want to be wives and moms and that’s really their heart’s desire as far as a career goes. That’s what they would prefer but then they feel like if they choose education that they’ve chosen that over marriage and family. And so are those two, pursuits, those two desires, mutually exclusive, how did you think that through in your own life? How would you counsel other Single Ladies?

Lisa: Yeah, you know, I never saw myself serving single. I always thought that getting married and being a wife and mom would be something the Lord would have for me. So even thinking about missions, I knew that that was a, that was a pursuit that would honor the Lord. And I believe that the Lord had given me knowledge of the mission field. That would be helpful for that, but I never saw myself as being as being single all this time. And so, you know, I think a lot of times people like well, when did you choose a career over marriage and the response to that is I didn’t, I didn’t. This is a choice. The Lord. Made for me and I’ve tried to be faithful to that.

So why would you not want to study especially the scriptures? Why would you not want to study the scriptures? Why would men not want to have a wife who was theologically astute? And so you know as I thought through this I do I have asked the question. I asked the question when I went into my doctorate, especially does this mean that I’ll never get married and you know, the people, the, the very wise counselors that I was that I was asking kind of laughed because it was a husband and wife that I was talking to and they both had their doctorates and they laughed and said, no, this isn’t, you know, this isn’t the end of those opportunities because the Lord is good to bring people together, right? The Lord created the universe, he spoke it into existence. Why do I think that if I have some letters behind my name, he can’t bring the perfect spouse to me if that is his will, right?

And so I found as I was asking those questions that it really was a matter of trusting the Lord that if marriage was something that he had for me, that he would bring the right person even if it was Lisa LaGeorge PhD, right? So I think that’s one of the, that’s one of the things. We we view marriage and finding a spouse sometimes so much like a game that if I if I play this, it’s like a chess game, right? If I play this and I learn how to bake bread and I can sew which I can do all of those things, right? Because I knew as as a human, I was going to need to do those things at some point in my life. So I think sometimes we often feel that if I learn all the crafts of the home and I just want to be a wife and mom hard enough that it’s going to happen and we have to trust the Lord that he is going to arrange that chessboard as he sees fit and we have to trust him, right?

It’s not a matter of of some sort of an equation of well, if I, you know, if I have long hair, oh, here’s one for you. Right if I have long hair. I haven’t gone to school and I don’t have any tattoos. The Lord has kind to the Lord is going to give me a good Godly husband. I actually read a blog post that said that very thing, that’s not how our God works. And so if you go into education with the Godly counsel of your Christian Community around you, then you can trust the Lord that he is working in a way that he sees fit even if it isn’t necessarily what you most think you desire in life.

Christi: I think another thing that you that women need to consider if they’re going to be looking at doing a degree, is that the time commitment? And that is inevitably going to usurp some other opportunities in your life and I’m thinking specifically Ministry in the church. So you’d have to study on weekends or evenings if you’re working full-time and so that is going to have an impact on your ability to minister in the church, for a season and would that be worth it to pursue that over Ministry? How should we think about that?

Lisa: Yes, I do think that it is worth pursuing over more Ministry. However, I do think there’s priorities in life, right? And so, you know, as a, as a single woman church is one of my major priorities, how that gets expressed, how much time that takes? How much I serve has look different over different stages in. In my life, right? So when I was working full-time for the church, I could be there 100 hours a week and I often was and you can get up early in the morning and meet with a group of kids at the high school and then go and teach a women’s Bible study and then meet the kids after school and have a discipleship group and still be at the church at 11:00 at night cleaning, right? You can do that when that’s your job.

When it’s not your job that looks different, right? Just like for a mom of a newborn that’s going to look different, right? So a mom of a newborn is not going to be able to be at the church 40 hours a week or even maybe 15 hours a week. And so what that looks like in different stages of life, is going to be different. So too, with education. And so, but that doesn’t mean that you just drop the church and you pour all of your time into education and that’s one of the reasons you bring your community into those decisions, right?

When I started my doctorate, I went to my pastor and I said, do you think this is something that’s going to be beneficial? And I got different answers from from different pastors and, you know, some of that even helped me think more about why I did need more education because people were looking at different passages and saying, looking at the same passage and saying, completely different things at times. And so that actually pushed me to study the scriptures more not less. So, it’s important to have your community in that to help you make that decision and and to say, what is essential for me to be in the church.

So for those eight and a half years, I did Ministries that didn’t require quite as much study and that I could, I could step into. So, I got involved in music Ministry because it would require one evening, two hours a week. And then, I could sing on Sunday a couple times. And it didn’t require me to spend another 10 or 15 hours over a book or in front of my computer. Getting ready to teach a Bible study. All right, so I made choices that were different but the church still remained a priority throughout those degrees. And I think, when you consider what you’re going to do and how you’re going to do it, that becomes the community helping you make, those decisions is absolutely critical.

Christi: Thank you. So I yeah, really encouraging to hear that. It looks different in different seasons and we see that all throughout our lives in different seasons. God has us in the, you talked about the mom with the newborn we’re serving the lord in different ways but the church is still a priority. And yeah, I mean, there’s ways you can serve just on a Sunday morning doing Sunday school or whatever they were, you know, working in the nursery. It doesn’t require a lot of time or prep and that’s honestly a big part of how I’m serving currently because of where God has me when certain responsibilities on my plate, my service is very much just Sunday mornings. And so, you know, and that’s just and it hasn’t look like that and all seasons of life. So I’m okay with that because I know that this is where God has me, and he has different ways for me to serve.

So the other thing that can be hard with women is we can compare ourselves with other women. We do that all the time, whether it’s looking at someone else, who’s prettier has a better singing voice, who’s more talented, who’s all those things? But even an education, we can kind of feel like we’re competing and we need to be oh that person’s doing that. I should be doing that and I feel inferior now because you know they have this degree and I don’t or that’s a real struggle. So how would you help us think through just comparing ourselves with other women in the area of education?

Lisa: I subscribe to The Bob Newhart School of counseling. Just stop it, stop it. I think this is where being faithful to the Lord and being faithful to the community around. You helps to really cement for you that you are doing what the Lord has placed in front of you. Now some women may make that comparison because they haven’t been faithful to what God’s put in front of them, they haven’t been faithful to use and hone their gifts. They haven’t been thoughtful about how they should be serving in the church and sometimes those comparisons can be really good challenges to women to glorify the god, to glorify God with all they’ve got, right?

But for the most part that comparison game, that we play, especially in North America especially in California. Especially in our theological camps can be really, really detrimental to our faith and to our walk. And so, I think we need to, we need to gather more confidence in. Who God is, we need to gather more confidence in who he has made us to be and you need to to really lean on that. And see. How is it that the Lord? Has equipped me now for the women who are challenged by that and they do make those comparisons and they say oh I wish I could do XYZ.

We live in a wonderful world of technology that even if you’re up in the middle of the night feeding a baby at 2 a.m., you could turn on a lesson and you could learn something. I’m listening to a series of messages on Leviticus right now. All right. I have never really studied the Book of Leviticus and it has been such a rich thing for me to do, but I’m doing that over a podcast, right? And so there’s so much flexibility to be able to say if if you find yourself to be ignorant and want to be more educated, you can be educated today. Bible colleges and seminaries are offering their classes free online and we spend a lot of time in front of our screens. Why wouldn’t one of those screens be helping to inform us about different aspects of the scriptures or even aspects about public speaking or handling conflict in the workplace or all of those videos and and online offerings, can be beneficial to help someone to continue to grow and hone their skills.

Christi: I really am thankful that you brought out how God made you. He’s made us all unique different skills. Different abilities, does it mean that you’re less than somebody else? We’re just called to be faithful with what God has entrusted to us. He made us so if we’re walking Faithfully stewarding, well, the talents that he’s given us, that’s all he requires of us, we look to him, we don’t look around and compared to all that. Sin has, you know, ten talents and I only have five like before the Lord. If we’re living for his pleasure, his smile, his glory all that looks like is being faithful with what he’s entrusted to us.

So yeah, and then as we’ve talked about before, just in this comparison game, if we’re all believers serving the lord, we’re all in the same team and we should all be encouraging each other to excel still more not Tearing each other down and comparison and thinking ill of our Brothers and Sisters in Christ. So yeah, just just a helpful reminder that Satan does divide us so absolutely.

Lisa: And you know Christi I get I get a lot of pushback in our camp for being someone who has continued to study. I mean even the questions that that girls would ask me of when did you choose a career thinking that that that was a wrong choice, right? That was a wrong choice for me, I didn’t but I didn’t choose that, right. That was where I am today is because I’ve been dependent on the Lord’s step-by-step and asking him and communicating with my parents and my church and my community about what what’s the best choice here and I think, you know, we get, we get pretty, we get pretty flustered one way or the other, either for women who don’t have enough, knowledge, right or women who have too much education and and we get critical as as if there’s some golden mean in there that we should all be striking and yet, what’s the Lord doing, right? It’s it’s the question. The Lord asks, Moses, what’s in your hand? What’s in your hand Moses, right? And and so he had a rod in his hand. And the Lord used that to work wonders in Egypt and I think that’s what we need to keep asking. What’s in her hand. I’m not going to sit here and hold it. And look at it. I’m going to use what’s in my hand and maybe the Lord puts something else in my hand and maybe that’s through education, maybe that’s through opportunity. But we’re faithful with what he’s given us.

Christi: Do you have any last thoughts that you want to leave with the listeners on this big topic?

Lisa: You know, I think if if the Lord has placed the desire for education, in your heart, whatever form that takes asked, some good questions about it and see what it is to pursue that. I know that some of your listeners probably don’t have parents that they can go to and ask those questions. They can’t ask, how would I honor God if their parents don’t honor God. And so I think it’s one of those things where you need to ask the questions, be involved in the community and pursue what the Lord has really placed in front of you and see how he’s going to use that to glorify him and to give you great Delight in him.

Christi: Lisa, you’ve given us so much food for thought just now and you shed some light on a decision that many of us have contemplated. So thank you for that, thank you for following the Lord’s leading in your own life and being an example of what that faithful stewardship looks like. And yeah, I’m just excited to hear how your wisdom and your life experience is going to bless others through this conversation. Help them to ask these questions themselves as they are thinking this through. So thank you for coming on today. I appreciate it.

Lisa: Thanks Christi. It’s always a delight to see you.