Finding Freedom in a Sea Full of Sharks
By Drenda Keesee
Did you know the movie Jaws brought in $470,700,000 at the Worldwide Box Office?! Did you also know that no one, including the director and cast, thought the movie would ever amount to anything?Ha!
Just goes to show you that you can’t ever listen to the naysayers, the sharks in your life who are trying to tell you…
“This won’t work.”
Those voices are exactly why I HAD to write my new book, Shark Proof.
I know what it is to feel like you’re a small fish in a big pond.
Years ago, I was invited to attend Joyce Meyer’s annual conference as a special guest. That meant I would be back in the green room with all of the guest speakers and VIPs at the event. I was so intimidated!
I don’t belong here, I thought.
Have you ever felt that out of place, sweaty palms, intimidated, oh-so-awkward, I wish I could just disappear feeling?
Let that feeling sink in! It’s a great opportunity for learning what is, in my opinion, one of the most important lessons… (more on this later). Intimidation is just another word for fear; it’s fear that we are not enough. So, how do we move past the sharks in our lives, sharks of intimidation, fear, and manipulation?
Jeremiah 29:11 (ESV) tells us, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
I learned that, when the sharks start threatening, I need to do two things:
Once I put the spotlight on others, I didn’t feel fearful or out of place anymore. I felt right at home, right where God invited me to be.Remember, God will never appoint you past where you are ready to go.
Here are some incredible Bible verses to help you cast down thoughts of self-doubt and insecurity with God’s Word! Go HERE and be inspired by what God has to say about you.
Listen in Now to Faith Life Church!
Drenda Keesee’s contagious zeal and humorous personal experiences help make her ministry of spiritual, emotional and relational wholeness one that will bless your life and spark a new fire in your spirit.
A wife of over 30 years and a mother of five children, Drenda has ministered at churches, seminars, and conferences, and through the mediums of television and radio, for more than 20 years.
Her books, The New Vintage Family, Better Than You Think, and She Gets It are available wherever books are sold. In these heartfelt books, Drenda shares her personal journey and the life lessons that have brought her to where she is today, as well as practical answers that all people need to live a joyful life.
Drenda and her husband Gary founded Faith Life Now, a ministry designed to spread the message of freedom in the areas of finances, faith, marriage, and family. Tune in for their weekly messages here. Faith Life Now hosts conferences worldwide, and sponsors both Fixing the Money Thing, which Drenda co-hosts with her husband Gary, and Drenda.
Through their own life experiences, the Keesees have found the principles from God’s Word to be powerful and effective. At one point, Drenda was a young, suicidal feminist with no hope of ever being “good enough” for her own standards of perfection. She never wanted the “inconvenience” of a husband or children, and she was on her own path to success. But the stress of trying to achieve perfection and perform for love left her broken and used. She had success, but it was nothing compared to the pain and loneliness it had also brought.
That’s when God got a hold of her heart. It was there—at her lowest point—that she found the One who accepted and loved her, faults and all. Since that transformation, Drenda has had a passion to reach women who find themselves where she once was.
She married Gary after attending college, and there she found herself in a personal boot camp of sorts. She says, “I cried and told God, ‘I can do anything but be a wife and mother.’” She committed to learning how to do it God’s way. Through the many years of raising their children and struggling to make ends meet, Drenda learned from their mistakes. “I didn’t know how to be a wife and mother, but God saved our marriage, taught us how to parent our children for success, showed us how to have financial success, and then irony of all ironies, He called us to ministry.” It’s truly because of these life experiences that Drenda can now share so many insightful principles for people who are now going through the same struggles.
