But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9 (NLT)

I knew from the moment we received my husband’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis that God intended to use our story for His glory. God made me a storyteller, a messenger. He prepared me in advance for this work and gave me gifts for writing and speaking. For years God had been using mentors and friends to speak this truth over me. I had countless conversations, listened to sermons, and heard messages at conferences that resonated this same idea.

The question was, would I be willing to believe in my worth as a woman of influence and do what God was calling me to do — to share my story of grief and glory?

At first I resisted. I didn’t want to be known as the “grief lady.” I didn’t want to be vulnerable and share my pain publicly. Four months after my husband soared to heaven, I began to write. I immediately started to outline a Bible study about looking for God’s glory in the middle of grief. This was my personal story, but it was also an invitation for women to learn how to chase after God’s glory in their own trials.

Each week I wrote a chapter of what would eventually become a Bible study called Glory Chasers: Discovering God’s Glory in Unexpected Places. I invited nine of my closest friends to meet with me and go through the study. God used this sweet time of fellowship to heal us as we traversed through grief and loss together.

That fall, my church invited me to teach the Glory Chasers study for a group of over two hundred women. Though I didn’t feel ready, God began using my personal testimony of how He was present with me through the suffering and grief to challenge and encourage a larger audience, and by the following spring I decided to pursue publication. The more I saw God working through my words, the more I knew I couldn’t keep the message to myself.

God has written and continues to write His story in each of us, and whether you share yours on a stage before many or with a friend via text, God wants to do it through you — your words, your voice, your experiences.

Now people know me as the “glory lady” instead of the “grief lady.” Every time I share this message, God reminds me that He chose me to lead, to encourage, and to proclaim His glory as I chase after Him in my own life.

Story by Dorina Lazo Gilmore-Young from Week One, Day Five of the Courageous Influence Bible Study

We were made to shine. We were made to have influence because we have been made new in Christ. Our influence isn’t based on what culture says it should be or on our worldly qualifications or lack thereof. God considers everything His hands have made as good, as worthy of carrying His good news.

Knowing God has placed you where you are and chosen you to have influence with those around you, remember not to look to the right or left, wondering what someone else is doing. Instead, let’s be women who stay in our lanes.

Let’s be faithful to stay on whatever road He has us on. We are women of influence, period. Let’s embrace the way God made us for impact.

We hope you loved this excerpt from the Courageous Influence Bible Study, written by Grace P. Cho and featuring stories from the (in)courage community! Courageous Influence is available wherever books are sold:

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