Book Excerpt: When Women Worship (Amie Dockery, Mary Alessi)

Book Excerpt
When Women Worship
(Amie Dockery, Mary Alessi)

Gospel artist Mary Alessi and Amie Dockery author When Women Worship: Creating an Atmosphere of Intimacy with God. In this excerpt, Mary shares the testimony of a young woman who is living through a difficult period in her life resultant of some mistakes made by her own mother. Our heart for God is the strength through those situations and it is our very will to serve Him that creates the resource to do so.

Where There’s a Will, There’s a Well (Mary Alessi)

I was raised as a pastor’s daughter and have now served as a pastor myself for more than fifteen years. As such, I have been privileged to hear many amazing life stories.

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One story that struck a deep chord with me was about a lovely young lady in our church whose name is Jennifer. This dear girl had suffered great tragedy early in her life. At the age of 16, her mother had a momentary lapse in judgment and committed a crime that resulted in her being sentenced to serve between five and eight years in the state penitentiary. Jennifer was then left with the responsibility of raising her two brothers, a job for which she was not prepared. But Jennifer was not your typical 16-year-old. She rose to the challenge and now, at the age of 20, has become one of the most mature young women I have ever known. Jennifer and her brothers have flourished over the past four years and now look forward to their mother’s releases this Christmas.

As my husband and I had dinner with Jennifer one night, she began to tell us that she needed parents in her life to give her direction and guidance, because she felt that God was calling her into full-time ministry, but she didn’t know what to do or where to start.

Immediately my husband began to encourage her. “Jennifer, this is your moment. God wants to use your story to minister to young women everywhere. You have a strong will to serve God, and where there’s a will, there’s a way-and God will provide it.”

When my husband said those words, the Spirit of the Lord rose up in me and said, “Tell her, where there’s a will, there’s a well. Whatever she needs, if she has the will to ask, I will provide a well of resource for her.”

Jesus said, “I don not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me” (John 5:30 NKJV) Many of us know our own will but may feel distant from the knowledge of God’s will for our lives. If we are willing, God will make sure there is a resource available to us to help deal wit the emotions of our flesh. He knows us better than we know ourselves, and He will not manipulate or control our free will; but if we release our will to Him, He will provide a well of resources to us.

A will denotes determination; a well denotes depth. Where there is determination (a will) to serve God, there is a depth provided to do it well.

If we have the will to fight, God provides the well. His Word says that no weapon formed against us will prosper (Is 54:17)

If we have the will to wait and be patient, He provides the well. His Word says to let patience have its perfect work (James 1:4)

If we have the will to desire more in the area of our finances, He provides a well. His words says that He gives seed to the sower (2Cor 9:10)

A willing heart is determined to dig deep and know that god is our resource and our supply. Willingness is crucial to God, because it reinforces the authenticity of our worship – that we are offering up our lives without argument, debate or negotiation. When we seek the Father’s will and not our own, we worship from our spirit. His will is not accomplished by what we achieve for Him; it’s accomplished by who we are in Him.

We can have everything we want – if He is all we need!

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