{"id":12406,"date":"2026-01-14T08:23:53","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/?p=12406"},"modified":"2026-01-14T08:23:55","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:23:55","slug":"an-encouragement-for-january-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/2026\/01\/an-encouragement-for-january-7\/","title":{"rendered":"An Encouragement for January"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 2019, the Center for Leadership Excellence, in partnership with COSROW, has been lifting up the voices of lay and clergywomen in ministry through Encouragements\u2014monthly emails designed to inspire, encourage, and offer practical ways for women in ministry to support one another. This month, we\u2019re honored to share words from<\/em><\/em> Grace McGee, pastor of St. Peter\u2019s UMC in Oxford and Hargrove Chapel in Townsville<\/em>.<\/em> <\/em>

Anyone can sign up to receive Encouragements\u2014and the full archive of past emails is available for you to explore. Please\u00a0<\/em>share this link<\/em><\/a>\u00a0with lay and clergywomen in ministry who might be interested.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Resilience? Another Option

I am sure there have been times when you thought, \u201cI’m not going to make it!\u201d In those moments, resilience lifts her head, straightens her back, and, steadying us, she whispers, \u201cHold on, I got you!\u201d We only recognize her in the aftermath of trials that threatened to overwhelm us. Resilience is the capacity to withstand, adapt to, or recover from adversity. Yet if she only appears during crises, chaos, and oppression, what price does she exact? A resilient woman sacrifices peace, flourishing, and health. When we valorize resilience, are we implicitly endorsing the suffering that makes it necessary?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The psalmist offers a different vision: \u201cWhen I thought, \u2018My foot slips,\u2019 Your steadfast love, O LORD, helped me up. When the cares of my heart are many, Your consolations cheer my soul\u201d (Psalm 94:18\u201319). God’s sustaining love doesn’t merely restore us to what was\u2014it invites transformation, the real prize. Transformation rewrites our reflexes. What if when trouble comes, we flood our spaces with praise, thanksgiving, love, generosity, kindness, peace, and goodness\u2014especially to ourselves. Rather than just survive and whisper, \u201cI made it\u201d: Dance. Twirl. Shout. \u201cYou are good! Your mercy endures forever! Hallelujah!\u201d Celebrate because we just earned another notch for hard-won wisdom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think about this: if resilience means \u201crecovery,\u201d are we declaring that our former state was ideal? Only in God’s original creation, the only thing worth returning to is God\u2019s declaration of \u201cit was very good.\u201d Why restore what barely worked? Perhaps our trials have been acts of practicing faith itself. What if, instead of merely withstanding, we ask God for revitalized imaginations that move us beyond survival toward true flourishing?

So, let’s stop celebrating survival and start pursuing transformation. Resilience keeps you standing. Transformation gives you wings. Which will you choose?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In partnership,
Center for Leadership Excellence and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Resilience? Another Option…I am sure there have been times when you thought, \u201cI’m not going to make it!\u201d In those moments, resilience lifts her head, straightens her back, and, steadying us, she whispers, \u201cHold on, I got you!\u201d We only recognize her in the aftermath of trials that threatened to overwhelm us. Resilience is the capacity to withstand, adapt to, or recover from adversity. Yet if she only appears during crises, chaos, and oppression, what price does she exact? A resilient woman sacrifices peace, flourishing, and health. When we valorize resilience, are we implicitly endorsing the suffering that makes it necessary?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":7594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[12,13,15,194,14],"class_list":["post-12406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories","tag-commission-on-the-status-and-role-of-women","tag-encouragements","tag-healthy-congregations","tag-leadership","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\nAn Encouragement for January | Center for Leadership Excellence | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nccumc.org\/leadership\/2026\/01\/an-encouragement-for-january-7\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An Encouragement for January | Center for Leadership Excellence | North Carolina Conference of The United Methodist Church\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Resilience? 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