Member Story

Say yes, step out, and see God is good

Member Story: Sarah Mclain

WordGo · 4 min read

"If we really wanted to, we could fit 25 people back here — we could DO this!"

It's summer (four years ago), and Sarah scans her backyard to count chairs. Her local BSF class has ended for the season, but Sarah is still hungry for God's Word.

In the years leading up to this moment, Sarah had seen God do incredible things. "It has been amazing what God's done in my heart, in my life – in my faith walk – through being engaged in Scripture on a regular basis." She'd seen God birth a BSF class in her local area from a prayer group of passionate women. She'd embraced every call to leadership there – from member to Children's Leader to Substitute Teaching Leader.

And on that summer day after her second year of Bible teaching, Sarah turned to the women at her local church. "I was praying about what to do with my summertime. I was looking for women to study with me. So I just invited a ton of people to my house."

What began as 25 chairs in a backyard soon increased to 100 in her church building. And for the following summers, Sarah led nearly 150 women through studies of Hebrews and Joshua using the WordGo app.

Sarah looks back on her life seasons and knows: God has been preparing and positioning her to lead women in comprehensive Bible study. Today, she’s the Teaching Leader at her local BSF class and a women’s ministry director in her church.

But most recently, God brought another local need to Sarah’s attention:

“There’s a huge need here in my area: There’s a lot of people wanting to be committed to the Lord and to church but not necessarily growing in that discipline of Bible study. You see how people serve and are involved in church, and you'd think they're reading their Bible – that they know how and engage deeply with it – but that's not always the case.”

So Sarah faithfully responded. She developed a class to be offered by her church on how to read the Bible. And by God’s grace, 30 people committed. They showed up regularly and eagerly: “I had a lot of people coming saying, ‘I want to read the Bible, but it’s not happening,’ or, ‘I just don’t get that much out of it,’ or, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing!’”

And once again, Sarah has seen God work in incredible ways...

Sarah shares how using WordGo's John 1-3 study was particularly eye-opening for her class:

"Right off the bat, for them to read John 1:1, 'In the beginning was the Word,' and then have the WordGo study send them to Genesis 1 was HUGE. When they could see the connections from Old to New Testament, their minds were blown! That John 1 wasn't the beginning of Jesus – He was there at the beginning with the Father and the Spirit!" 

Seeing God reveal His Word as one whole, interconnected story from beginning to end has been an incredible fruit of the class. "They were seeing it!" Sarah rejoices. "When you study the way WordGo guides you to, it brings a richness and a fullness to Bible study."

But that's not all God's doing. Others are opening the Bible for the very first time. Sarah tells the story of a mom coming alive in her faith. She had been attending Sarah's class: "She had never opened the Bible. I had been praying for her, and later she posted a picture of her Bible and Bible study and said, I actually did it! I just prayed that God would help me do this and I did!"

When Sarah speaks of all God is doing, her joy is palpable. But for Sarah, leadership is about obedience and to Whom she's obedient. Sarah's confidence comes from trusting God's character – not her own.

"The less of me and the more of Him is just the best. And what I mean by that is, when I'm so concerned about how I can mess it up, the focus is on me. But that's not what my focus should be on. I need my focus on Him and what He can do, and that's it. It's walking along after Him, saying yes, and keeping my eyes on Him. And it is good because HE is good."  

By reading Sarah's story, we get to see God's goodness. We see that God, who breathed Scripture as one purposeful, interconnected story from start to finish, is the perfect Author of the believer's life. He establishes every season and every step for us to walk in and see His faithfulness.

So what does your yes look like? Where is God revealing a need for His Word – in your life or the lives of those around you? Sarah shares this final encouragement:

"Just do the first thing. The first thing was a little invite for people over to my house. But before that was prayer, allowing God to overflow my heart with the desire to do. And when God gives you that desire and call, it's like there's no stopping it. Step in His direction, step with prayer, and you'll be blown away at what He does." 


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