Today’s Glowing Up Dialogue Features : Rita Brooks who is currently using her Glow to serve women who are walking through their single season. She is also a wife , and a  amazing mother.

Q: How are you are currently using your Gifts to serve others or how do you desire to use your gifts to serve others in the future? Why do you feel it’s important to serve others with your God given Gifts?

Right now I am doing A LOT of writing. I have a blog where I candidly share pieces of my journey during my singleness season along with wisdom, practical insight and spiritual truths in order to encourage women to wait well during their season of singleness. I am also in the process of writing a book which has been a long time coming. So, right now I’m using my gift of writing to encourage others.

I think it’s important to serve others with my God-given gifts because God did not give them to me to just sit on. I always say that God is so purposeful and He wastes nothing; he is seriously the best businessman there is. Recently I’ve been meditating on the parable of the talents and I love the version that describes the Master as a “shrewd” man. The Master (obviously symbolic of God) knew exactly what He was doing when He gifted us and He sees how our gifts fit into His overall plan. So, I truly feel like I am operating at my full potential when I am using them to serve other people, knowing that nothing that
I’ve ever been through is ever wasted and it’s helping someone else move into what God is calling them to.

This is actually a new development for me because I never thought I would be, but I am so passionate about women right now. I know it sounds weird because I am a woman, but I never imagined that my main audience would be women. I definitely didn’t think that I would be speaking to single women about waiting and marriage and all of the other things that I speak about in my blog and in my upcoming book, because it was just something I never really concerned myself with when I was single. I was just passionate about purpose and going deeper in my relationship with God. But, as I am journeying with women through my blog, my eyes are being opened more and more to what so many are going through or have gone through and all of the different issues and challenges that we face as women. So, right now I am passionate about pointing women to Jesus and challenging them to grow in every area so that they can live the life they have been called to by God.

Q: What helps you to LIVE your best life NOW on the way to where you are going? Describe what it means to be the Light of the world as a young adult woman?

What really helps me to live my best life on the way to where God is taking me is  knowing that I am right where I am supposed to be, doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing , and secondly I often think back to a time I like to refer to as my wilderness season where I really learned who God is for myself.  I had no choice but to rely on Him with my whole heart, so whenever I begin to feel anxious or frustrated in this season, I think about where I was back then and then I kind of journey in my mind through the process God took me through. I recall the lessons learned and that helps me so much during much of what I felt like was a wilderness time.  I’m reminded that if He brought me this far, He will complete what He has already begun in me and so I just constantly remind myself to enjoy the journey because I am living out my best days right now. I believe when we think and live like that,  then we are truly living our best life.

Being the light of the world to me, means being a little different than the world around you. It’s so easy to fit in and blend in and go with what society deems to be the norm today, but in order to be the Light of the world we have to look a little different from it. To me, it means that in everything we do, people should be able to recognize the light and love of Jesus which is what brings hope and produces real change. People all over are craving for something authentic, they are hoping (even if they are a little skeptical) that this whole Jesus we speak of is really real and can really do some of the things they’ve heard about, and I am just honored to be even a small part of that, that’s what being the light means to me.

Q:  In your process of Becoming all that God desires, what are some obstacles that you have had to overcome, and what are some that you are still over coming? The process of being a God Dreamer comes with many ups and downs, can you describe one of those moments and how you got through it?

I’ve had a few obstacles I have had to overcome, one was when I decided to start blogging process again. It took me a while to begin blogging again and step out into ministry because I’ve sort of been down this road before, but things were not taking off as much as I had hoped, and so eventually other things began taking off in my life and that sort of went to the background, but after life began to settle again, God began to prod and nudge at me again about doing what I know I was called to do.  Suddenly the fear of what people would think of me and the fear of failing was almost paralyzing. So, when I turned 30 this past January, I saw it as an opportunity for me to sort of reset and take on a new mindset. A mindset of “I have to obey God and stop worrying about what people will say or think. I only get one chance at this life so I’m going to just go for it.” So, before I put anything out there about me blogging I had a talk with myself and said whether you have 5 likes or 500 likes, whether you have 2 readers or 2000, you are doing what God is calling you to do and you know that it will help someone. I’m still working on comparing myself to other people and other ministries. I constantly have to guard my
heart by unfollowing certain people on social media sometimes because I know that I need to stay focused on the goal and what I know God is calling me to and it has helped tremendously. I have to remind myself that everyone has gone through their own process, no one just arrives and it has made for a much sweeter journey thus far. Now I don’t need people to validate me, as long as God does.

 

W-  What WORD or verse in the bible speaks loudest to you in this season?
That would have to be Philippians 3:13-14 and I love it in the MSG. It says : Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back. Actually that entire chapter of Philippians is giving me life but especially this part because it helps me to remain focused and have tunnel vision and I know that’s imperative to my success in this season.

So Now let’s Glean from her Glow:  My Biggest take away from her process is how she  walked out how not to be afraid to be who God distinctly made her to be, and how she used her single season of confusion and wilderness to really attempt to learn who God was for herself. In her dialogue she was transparent about her obstacle of comparison, and how she learned to focus on what she was supposed to be focused on. She has learned to embrace that every step in your life in a piece of the puzzle of where God wants you to be, so you can become everything he desires, and use those lessons to help someone else.

 

You can find Rita on Instagram: Hidden & Found

Blog: Hidden & Found, http://www.rita-brooks.com
Thanks for sharing your process and may your example move others to become all God desires! Keep Glowing! Matthew 5:14

NEXT Girl That Glows will be in November. Talk to you then! Hope you were encouraged.