PHOENIX – When
suffering came into her life, Kay Warren’s natural response was to view it as
an enemy she needed to fight and push away. “I want it gone and I want it gone
now,” she told the Pastors’ Wives Conference of the Southern Baptist Convention’s
Pastors’ Conference June 13.
Warren began searching the
Scriptures 18 months ago for every mention of darkness when she felt
overwhelmed by two bouts with cancer, five surgeries, the deaths of close
family members and serious health challenges of three other relatives. The wife
of Rick Warren, the pastor of Saddleback
Church in Southern
California, Warren
said she was comforted by God’s promise in Isaiah 45:3 of treasures that were “hidden
in secret places, so that you may know I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who
summons you by name.”
Kay Warren of Saddleback Church gives the keynote address at the 2011 Pastors’ Wives Conference June 13 at the Phoenix Convention Center in Phoenix, Ariz. The conference was held simultaneously with the 2011 Pastor’s Conference prior to the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting June 14-15. |
Instead of trying to run from God or battle the darkness, Warren
said she learned to surrender to God and look for the treasures worth embracing
in times of suffering.
“This is earth, not heaven. Brokenness is the norm on planet earth, not
wholeness. And brokenness and darkness come into all our lives,” Warren
told the ministers’ wives. For those who have yet to experience suffering, she
urged them to prepare for the darkness by planting deep roots.
“God knows our purpose and He will make sure in our dark times that we have
what we need so that we can fulfill our purpose in exactly the same way that He
did that for Cyrus,” Warren said, referring to the account in Isaiah of God
using a Gentile king to deliver Israel.
After receiving her first diagnosis of cancer, Warren
appealed to God to produce gold from the fiery trial of suffering, referring to
the promise of Job 23:10. She said that prayer was answered in many ways,
including a greater empathy for other people who suffer and a desire to live
with a greater sense of urgency so that no day is wasted.
“We all want the benefit of a life of faith without ever having to demonstrate
faith,” Warren said. “I had to have
faith in those moments of suffering with cancer to believe that God would do
what He said.”
Warren reminded the ministers’
wives they can call on the God of the universe who knows them by name. “In
those places where you feel like you are backed up against the corner and feel
like God might as well nail the coffin shut,” she prayed that the attendees
would “believe this verse was not just written for the prophecy of a king named
Cyrus thousands of years ago, but this verse has your name on it.”
“God longs to show you the treasures hidden in the darkness as you embrace it
and you seek what is only found in the dark times,” Warren
said.
Heather Moore of Christ Fellowship in Tampa, Fla.,
shared her testimony of God’s provision after she and her husband moved to the
inner city where he rebirthed a dying church. “God alone is my provider and as
we reorder our budget He is taking care of our needs and, as we reorder our
lifestyle, I’m learning God can be trusted.”
In the midst of that challenge, more than 160 people have professed faith in
Christ in the past six months, Moore
said. “I have decided I will move down in ministry every day of my life as long
as I get to be a part of seeing God change people’s lives.”
Recalling the story Jesus told of the widow’s sacrifice from Mark 12, Moore
said, “Jesus redefines faith not by how much we give, but by how much we have
left over after we have given.” Instead of being a story about money, she said,
“It’s about so much more. It was her faith and trust in God that allowed her to
give everything she had.”
By taking bigger steps of faith, Moore
said, “It has renewed our own walk and we’re on an adventure with God like I’ve
never been on before.”
Moore and Warren joined Lynette Ezell of Alpharetta,
Ga., and Meredith Floyd of Cross
Church in Fayetteville,
Ark., fielding questions from ministers’
wives during a panel led by Susie Hawkins of Dallas.
Barbara O’Chester of Wake Forest,
closed the session with a time of guided prayer for the wives.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Tammi Reed Ledbetter is news editor of the Southern Baptist TEXAN,
www.texanonline.com, newsjournal of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.)