Vivian Mabuni joins Amber to discuss investing your lives into others, so that they may know and walk with Jesus. We discuss our heart posture toward discipleship, inquiring of the Lord, and some practical ways to begin discipling others.

Questions Vivian and I Discuss:

1. (8:39) How did you begin walking with Jesus?
2. (17:14) God led you to a place of working with college students and discipling them and you have faithfully discipled them for decades.  Share a bit about that journey.
3. (20:36) Discipleship can be such a “big, churchy” word. How do you go about discipling someone?
4. (26:24) In a culture, where we seem to go, go, go, yet often “feel” we aren’t living out our purpose. In your book, Open Hands, Willing Heart: Discover the Joy of Saying Yes to God,  you encourage your readers to look at the posture of their hearts. What does that mean? And how did that play out in your surrendering to God’s will as a young college graduate?
5. (34:34) Saying yes to everything asked of you is not necessarily saying yes to God. As believers continuously asking God for wisdom and discernment will help us know His calling.   What are some common roadblocks to saying Yes to God?
6. (38:37) How have you stayed focused on running the mile you’re in?
7. (44:33) You write, “Having a willing heart means that we obey without seeing the end of the story, entrusting our work and our lives into the hands of the One who sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10)”  To encourage our listeners will you share a story where you now know the outcome and it clearly points to the faithfulness of God?

Quotes to Remember:

“I followed through and I gave Him my whole life. I just said, ‘I am all in’.”

“Invest your life into others.”

“I think that all believers can be in places where we are being mentored and discipled and we can seek to build into the next generation.”

“I can share from my life experience, I can share what I’m learning in the Scriptures, I can continue to point each and every person to the Lord and His character, so that they are not dependent upon me, but are ultimately always dependent on the Lord.”

“There are a lot of women that are biblically illiterate, and really need help to learn foundations. That’s a lot of what discipleship for me is, helping a new believer and even someone who’s grown up in the church that may not feel very strong in their faith to get grounded and rooted and have a strong foundation.”

“I think the posture of our heart is important, because we can tend to overdo it and then burnout or become cynical and bitter and feel used because we were doing things that we thought we were supposed to be doing. But God never called us to.”

“We can be willful…where we’re just trying to do it in our own effort…but it’s unsustainable. And it really does lead to burnout.  That’s the willful heart. Or we can swing to the other extreme, where we have a will-less heart, where we just kind of think it doesn’t matter….What I believe God asks of us is that we would have a willing heart. A willing heart, and hands that are open means that we are surrendered to what God would have, what He would place in our lives and what He would even take out of our lives. That place of surrender, is when we actually experience freedom.”

“Coming with open hands, and maybe not even any words, but just literally placing that person and lifting that person to the King. In saying, ‘Lord, I surrender them to You, because Your will is perfect. ‘ And it may not be what I want.”

“He is worth following.”

“For me, with the hard things in life, I think I have a greater empathy for people who struggle with trusting God. I can understand that now in a different way. But I still find that my anchor is in the character of God, and He does not change. We can choose to push Him away during the hard times, but I have to say that in leaning toward Him and seeking His face, it changed a lot of my experience, because I had the benefit of His comfort and His presence with me.”

“When God says no, it doesn’t mean He stopped loving us.”

“When I’m with friends, who really do recognize that Jesus is the King, He’s worthy of our everything, that people matter, that all people are made in the image of God, that our lead foot would be love, that we would love well, and we would love God with all of our being, when I’m with those kinds of believers, I leave with my spirit fired up to run my mile.”

“This is the end zone of your cancer journey. You are still here. It is time to pick up your sword and re engage in battle. I’m not done with you yet.”

Scripture References

• Mark 12: 30-31
• Matthew 28:19
• 2 Timothy 2
• Hebrews 12

Resources Mentioned:

• Someday Is Here
• Someday Is Here Podcast
• Cru
• Someday is Here Virtual Conference: June26, 2021

Related Episodes:

• 99: Jen Wilkin | Women of the Word
• 73: Bethany Allen | Pastor of Spiritual Formation and Leadership Development
• 6: Mandie Maass | Brave Girls Gather

Episode Sponsor:

Dwell Differently

Do you want to memorize God’s Word?

Dwell helps you memorize one verse every month by taking the first letter of every word in a verse stringing them together in a cool design.

Each month you receive a kit in the mail with the verse on temporary tattoos, a key tag, and a 4×5 card.

What I love is you can memorize the verse, alone, with a friend, or as a family.

Check out Dwell’s shop and membership today.

That’s What Dads Are Made For book

What are dads made for?

Author, Amanda Glass creator of the made for book series helps kids and dads answer that question.

That’s What Dads Are Made For is more than just a fun book with cute pictures. It’s one that creates conversations that build meaningful connections

Help your kids connect with dad with your own copy of That’s What Dads Are Made For Book at themadeforbooks.com