Let me back up a few years and give you some context for why this had such meaning for me. As a new wife eight years ago I was also beginning my weight loss journey. I stumbled across a book that would change my life. Made to Crave, one of Lysa Terkeurst's books, had helped me to find God in my healthy eating journey. I had hoped to meet her for so many years.
Then, about four years ago I went with a women's Bible study to a Women of Faith conference. Lysa Terkeurst was the keynote speaker, and I was so excited. I had brought my wrinkled, jotted in, and much loved copy of Made to Crave. I planned to get her to sign it, and to tell her just what it had meant to me. I sat in awe and listened with thousands of other ears at the words God had given her to speak. At the end of her message I almost sprinted out to get in line to meet her. I never saw her. I left with my book unsigned, but still filled by God's word.
Now, just four short months ago I sat at my kitchen table and signed up for my workshops for the She Speaks conference. I looked at every workshop Lysa would be teaching and planned to sign up for them all. I was going to introduce myself to her for sure. Except, in the process of getting registered God showed up. Every workshop Lysa was teaching coincided with another workshop that seemed to better fit my needs and the direction of my writing and ministry.
I heard God ask me deep in my heart, "Are you going to meet Lysa or to do what I've asked you to do?"
Ouch...
So I registered for the workshops God led me to and not the ones taught by Lysa Terkeurst. But, I knew she would be there for main sessions so I decided that was my chance.
So we return to the dark ballroom. I have wanted to meet Lysa Terkeurst for a long while. She was so close to me, I could have easily reached out and touched her.
But, God whispered to my heart, "This is our time."
He wanted to keep my for himself. He also didn't want me to disrupt the attitude of worship that I an others in that room had. So, I still haven't met her. Perhaps I never will. But what is so cool about this story is that in each of these instances when I wanted to meet Lysa Terkeurst so badly, someone much more important was already meeting with me. Each time I had an intimate encounter with the living God of the universe. And what's more, He came there to meet with me.
I have come to realize along the way in my journey to be a writer and speaker girl for Jesus that I have made Lysa Terkeurst an idol in my life. I pray that if she ever reads this that two things will happen. 1: I pray that she will not take on any guilt in this area because this was a work God was doing in my life so I could speak to people about idols. 2: That she would be blessed by what God has given me to share.
To understand how this woman could become an idol to me we have to understand what an idol is. No, I'm not talking about golden clad statues of calves and goats. I'm talking about a deeper more spiritual realm definition of the word idol. An idol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship (Webster's). The word worship comes from "worth-ship" or assigning value or worth to something. I was assigning great worth and value to Lysa. I was assigning more worth and value to her than I was to my own walk with God. At some points, perhaps more worth and value than I was giving to God himself.
I thought that if I could just meet her then all of these things would fall into place. I'm not sure what I thought would happen. I would meet her maybe, and mention that I was a writer and speaker and she would say, "Please come and join Proverbs31." And I would graciously accept and all would be right with the world. And she lived happily ever after...NOT. That's just not how real life works.
I do believe that I partially saw her as a representation of God. But, assigning her that much value in my walk was in fact turning her into an idol. It was like worshiping the cross alone or the church building and not the God meets you at those places.
Instead of my wrinkled and much loved copy of Made to Crave, perhaps I should have been carrying around a much loved copy of God's word. If I had, I might have been more likely to dwell on His words and seek to meet Him first. When we create idols out of people we do two things. One is that we separate ourselves from God. The second being that we create unrealistic expectations for a person who is only human after all. If we seek relationship with God first, then we can avoid making idols out of the people that God has put in our lives.
Matthew 6:33 says "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." I don't know who you have created an idol out of in your life. So, I can only speak for myself. Lysa Terkeurst can't give me anything in this world that my God can't improve. There is nothing that she could be in my life that God couldn't exceed. Don't get me wrong. She is a beautiful God chasing Jesus girl. I would love to be her friend. But, I pray that God will protect my heart from making her into an idol in my life ever again. To do that I will seek Him first. I will read His book first. And, I will give worth to Him first.
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