Day 26 of Her New Beginning: 31 Days of Healing, Identity, Renewal and Purpose
Judges 4:4–5 (KJV)
“And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.”
There is a moment in every genuine new beginning when God stops asking only, “What do you need Me to heal?” and begins asking, “What will you do with what I have healed?”
That question changes everything.
For the first part of this journey, we have walked through healing. We have talked about wounds, rejection, forgiveness, identity, renewal, prayer, hope and restoration. We have been reminded that God does not merely want to bring a woman out of her painful past; He wants to bring her into a future where the things He has restored in her can become a blessing to others.
This is where purpose begins to mature into influence.
A woman who has been healed eventually discovers that her testimony is not only evidence of what God has done for her. It can become a source of courage for someone else. A woman who has recovered her identity begins to understand that she does not have to spend the rest of her life trying to prove her worth. She can now use her strength to help someone else discover theirs. A woman whose mind has been renewed begins to see that God did not renew her thinking merely so she could think better thoughts; He renewed her so she could make better decisions, carry greater responsibility and participate more fully in His purposes.
This is why Day 26 is not simply about becoming a woman who leads.
It is about becoming a woman who can be trusted with influence.
The Bible gives us one of the clearest pictures of this kind of woman in Deborah.
GOD CAN RAISE A WOMAN IN THE MIDDLE OF A TROUBLED GENERATION
The story of Deborah does not begin in comfortable circumstances. Judges 4 tells us that Israel had again done evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord had allowed Jabin, king of Canaan, to oppress them. Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, had nine hundred chariots of iron, and Israel had been oppressed for twenty years. Eventually, the children of Israel cried unto the Lord.
Then, almost unexpectedly, Scripture introduces Deborah.
“And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time.”
Notice the timing.
The nation was under pressure, but Deborah was functioning.
The nation was experiencing oppression, but Deborah was discerning.
The nation had a military problem, but Deborah carried spiritual clarity.
This teaches us something that is easy to miss: God does not always wait for the environment to become perfect before He raises a woman to influence her generation.
Sometimes He raises her precisely because the generation needs what He has placed inside her.
I have discovered that many women postpone their purpose because they are waiting for perfect circumstances. They are waiting until the children are older, the finances are better, the relationship is settled, the opportunity is bigger, the confidence is stronger or the fear is completely gone. Unfortunately, life has a funny way of refusing to send us an official letter announcing, “Everything is now perfect. You may begin.”
There may never be a perfect moment.
There will, however, be moments when God says, “Arise.”
Deborah lived in a troubled generation, but trouble did not cancel her assignment.
In fact, trouble revealed it.
BEFORE DEBORAH LED A BATTLE, SHE SAT UNDER A PALM TREE
Judges 4:5 gives us a detail that deserves more attention than we sometimes give it:
“And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Beth-el in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.”
Before Deborah appears on the battlefield, she is sitting under a palm tree.
Before she is associated with national deliverance, she is already serving people.
Before the dramatic moment, there was the ordinary responsibility.
This is where I believe many women misunderstand leadership.
We often imagine leadership begins when everybody starts watching.
God often sees leadership beginning when nobody is watching.
Deborah did not suddenly become wise because a national crisis arrived. The crisis revealed the wisdom that had already been cultivated in her. People were already coming to her for judgment. They already trusted her discernment.
Her influence existed before her most famous moment.
That is significant because it means that the battlefield did not create Deborah’s leadership; it exposed it.
There is a leadership that is manufactured for public appearance, and there is leadership that has been developed in private faithfulness. The first one depends on visibility. The second one survives without it.
A woman who can only function when people are applauding has not yet learned kingdom leadership.
Kingdom leadership begins when you can faithfully serve God even when the only audience is Him.
Perhaps your “palm tree season” feels small right now.
Perhaps you are serving in a place that nobody celebrates.
Perhaps you are raising children, helping people, working quietly, praying for others, building something slowly, learning, preparing, studying or simply being faithful with responsibilities that do not look impressive on social media.
Do not underestimate that season.
The palm tree was not a glamorous platform, but it became a place where people found judgment.
The place may have looked ordinary, but the woman sitting there was carrying something extraordinary.
SHE DID NOT NEED A TITLE TO PROVE HER AUTHORITY
Deborah is described as a prophetess and as one who judged Israel.
Her authority was not built upon self-promotion.
She was not chasing influence.
She was carrying responsibility.
There is a difference.
When a person is desperate for influence, they often ask, “How can I make people notice me?”
A kingdom-minded woman asks, “How can I faithfully serve what God has entrusted to me?”
That distinction changes the way she leads.
She does not need to enter every room announcing herself.
She does not need to remind everyone how gifted she is.
She does not need to make every conversation about her experience.
She does not need to compete with every woman who walks into the room carrying a different grace.
She has learned something deeper: what God has given her does not become more valuable because other people recognize it.
There is a quiet confidence that comes when a woman knows that her assignment came from God.
She can celebrate another woman’s success without feeling threatened.
She can learn from someone younger without feeling diminished.
She can honor someone older without feeling inferior.
She can work alongside another leader without constantly wondering who is more important.
Why?
Because she knows that kingdom assignments are not a beauty pageant where only one woman gets a crown.
God can use Deborah, Jael and countless unnamed women in the same generation, each in different ways.
Your assignment does not have to look like somebody else’s assignment to be legitimate.
KINGDOM LEADERSHIP BEGINS WITH HEARING GOD
One of the most powerful things about Deborah is that when she speaks to Barak, she does not present herself as the source of the instruction.
She points him back to what the Lord God of Israel had commanded.
Judges 4:6 records her words:
“Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded…?”
That is the heart of spiritual leadership.
A kingdom leader does not merely have opinions. She learns to distinguish her opinion from God’s instruction.
That requires intimacy with God.
It requires Scripture.
It requires prayer.
It requires discernment.
It requires humility.
Because when a woman begins to carry influence, there will always be a temptation to confuse what she wants with what God is saying.
I have learned that not every strong feeling is a divine instruction, and not every exciting opportunity is a divine assignment.
Sometimes we call something “God’s will” simply because we really, really want it.
And if we are honest, sometimes our prayer life can sound suspiciously like a negotiation meeting: “Lord, I have already decided what I want, but I would appreciate Your approval.”
Kingdom leadership requires something deeper.
“Lord, what are You saying?”
That question must come before:
“What do I want?”
Deborah’s leadership was powerful because it was connected to divine direction.
SHE DID NOT USE HER STRENGTH TO MAKE BARAK SMALL
This is one of the most beautiful parts of Deborah’s story.
God gives the instruction, Deborah communicates it, and Barak is the one who is to lead the military forces into battle. When Barak says that he will go only if Deborah goes with him, Deborah agrees to go.
Think about the maturity required here.
Deborah could have used Barak’s hesitation to make herself look superior.
She could have said, “Since you cannot do it without me, I will take over.”
But she does not.
She accompanies him.
This is kingdom leadership.
A secure woman does not have to destroy another person’s confidence in order to demonstrate her own strength.
She can strengthen someone without stealing their assignment.
She can encourage someone without taking their place.
She can correct someone without humiliating them.
She can walk alongside another leader without needing to become the center of the story.
This is especially important because leadership is not always about doing everything yourself.
Sometimes leadership means helping someone else become brave enough to do what God has called them to do.
There are people who do not need you to take over their assignment. They need you to stand beside them until they remember that they can obey God.
That is a different kind of strength.
HER LEADERSHIP DID NOT REMOVE THE NEED FOR COURAGE
Eventually Deborah tells Barak, “Up; for this is the day in which the LORD hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the LORD gone out before thee?”
Then Barak goes down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him.
I love the order of that statement.
“Is not the LORD gone out before thee?”
Deborah’s confidence was not ultimately in ten thousand men.
It was not in military strength.
It was not in human ability.
Her confidence was in the fact that God had gone before them.
That is what makes kingdom leadership different from ordinary ambition.
Ambition says, “I will go because I believe in myself.”
Faith says, “I will go because I believe God has gone before me.”
There will be assignments where confidence in yourself will not be enough.
There will be moments when your experience cannot guarantee the outcome.
There will be doors where you do not have all the answers.
There will be conversations where your preparation is not enough.
There will be moments when you will have to step forward while still feeling the weight of uncertainty.
That is where faith becomes leadership.
You do not need to know everything.
You need to know Who goes before you.
SHE BECAME A MOTHER IN ISRAEL
Judges 5 gives us another dimension of Deborah that is easy to overlook. In her song, she says:
“I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel.”
This is profound because the word “mother” here reveals something about the nature of her leadership.
She was not merely exercising authority over Israel.
She was carrying responsibility for Israel.
There is a difference.
A ruler asks, “How do I make people obey me?”
A mother asks, “How do I help these people become what they were created to become?”
That does not mean every woman must have biological children to carry this kind of influence. A woman can mother through wisdom, mentorship, prayer, teaching, encouragement, service and spiritual example.
There are women who will never call you “mother,” but they will remember something you taught them for the rest of their lives.
There are women who may never stand on your platform, but they may stand stronger because you once stood beside them.
There are people whose courage may be connected to a conversation you almost dismissed as insignificant.
This is why leadership must never be reduced to position.
Leadership is the stewardship of influence for the good of others and the purposes of God.
YOUR HEALED LIFE CAN BECOME A PLACE OF LEADERSHIP
This brings us back to the journey we have been taking together.
Why did God heal you?
Why did He restore your identity?
Why did He renew your mind?
Why did He teach you to hope again?
Why did He bring you through the places where you thought you would never recover?
Perhaps one reason is because there are people who need what you learned in those valleys.
Your healing can teach someone that pain does not have the final word.
Your restored identity can teach someone that rejection does not determine their worth.
Your renewed mind can teach someone that their thoughts do not have to remain prisoners of yesterday.
Your restored hope can help someone believe again.
Your testimony can become someone else’s permission to rise.
That does not mean you have to pretend that you have never struggled. In fact, the opposite is often true. Your greatest credibility may come from the fact that you know what it feels like to need God.
A woman who has been through the valley does not have to boast about the mountain.
She can simply point and say, “I know the way because I have walked with God through difficult places.”
That is leadership.
DO NOT WAIT FOR A BIGGER PLATFORM
There is another lesson hidden beneath Deborah’s palm tree.
She did not wait for the battlefield to begin serving.
This matters because many people are waiting for a platform when God is looking for faithfulness.
If God has given you one person to encourage, encourage that person.
If He has given you a family to serve, serve them faithfully.
If He has entrusted you with a business, build it with integrity.
If He has given you a ministry assignment, do it wholeheartedly.
If He has placed younger women around you, teach them.
If He has given you wisdom through experience, do not bury it because you are waiting for somebody to officially introduce you.
Your palm tree may be your preparation.
And perhaps the question is not, “When will my big moment come?”
Perhaps the question is:
“What am I doing with the responsibility God has already placed in my hands?”
That question can change a life.
A KINGDOM WOMAN KNOWS WHEN TO RISE
Deborah sat under the palm tree, but she did not remain there forever.
There was a time to sit.
There was a time to discern.
There was a time to judge.
There was a time to summon Barak.
There was a time to go.
There was a time to say, “Up.”
This is important because leadership requires discernment about seasons.
There are moments when God says, “Wait.”
There are moments when He says, “Prepare.”
There are moments when He says, “Learn.”
There are moments when He says, “Rest.”
And then there are moments when He says, “Arise.”
Wisdom is knowing the difference.
Some women are exhausted because they are trying to fight battles God never asked them to fight.
Others are frustrated because they are sitting in a season where God has already told them to move.
A new beginning requires spiritual discernment.
You cannot spend every season under the palm tree.
Eventually, purpose calls you to rise.
YOUR INFLUENCE SHOULD POINT PEOPLE TOWARD GOD
The greatest test of kingdom leadership is not how many people know your name.
It is whether your influence ultimately points people toward God.
Deborah’s story does not end by glorifying Deborah as though she were the source of Israel’s deliverance.
The song in Judges 5 celebrates the Lord’s victory.
That is the heart of it.
God can use you greatly without making you the god of the story.
He can increase your influence without increasing your ego.
He can open doors without making you forget Who opened them.
He can allow people to celebrate you without allowing celebration to become your identity.
This is the kind of woman God can trust with influence.
She knows that the gift is not the Giver.
She knows that the platform is not the purpose.
She knows that leadership is not about being above people.
She understands that leadership is about being faithful to God and useful to people.
And perhaps this is the revelation your new beginning has been preparing you for:
God did not heal you merely to make you whole. He healed you so that your wholeness could become a vessel through which He touches other lives.
The woman who once needed someone to help her stand may eventually become the woman helping someone else stand.
The woman who once needed encouragement may become an encourager.
The woman who once needed someone to pray for her may become a woman who carries others in prayer.
The woman who once questioned her worth may become the woman reminding another woman that she is fearfully and wonderfully made.
The woman who once hid her voice may become the woman who speaks with wisdom when her generation needs direction.
That is not simply recovery.
That is transformation.
And that is why kingdom leadership belongs in her new beginning.
DECLARATIONS
I declare that God is making me trustworthy with influence, responsibility and opportunity, and I will not use what He gives me to exalt myself but to serve His purposes and strengthen others.
I declare that I will not allow fear, insecurity or the opinions of people to silence the voice God has developed within me.
I declare that I will lead from intimacy with God, allowing His Word to shape my decisions, my attitudes, my relationships and the way I serve others.
I declare that I will not compete with other women, because I understand that another woman’s assignment does not diminish mine.
I declare that I will celebrate the women God has placed around me and become a woman who creates room for others to grow.
I declare that my leadership will not be rooted in control, pride or the need for recognition, but in humility, wisdom, courage and service.
I declare that what God has healed in me will become a testimony that gives someone else courage to rise.
I declare that I will recognize the season when God is calling me to sit, the season when He is calling me to prepare and the season when He is saying, “Arise.”
I declare that I will be faithful under my palm tree before I ever ask God for a larger platform.
I declare that my influence will point people toward God, and that my life will leave behind faith, wisdom, courage and strength for those coming after me.
MY PRAYER FOR YOU
My prayer for you is that the Lord will make you a woman of kingdom influence, rooted deeply in Him and secure in the identity He has given you. May He give you the wisdom of Deborah, the courage to arise when He calls you, and the humility to use every opportunity not to make your name greater but to make His purpose visible through your life. May the places where God has healed you become places from which others find courage, direction and hope. In this new beginning, may you discover that you are not only being restored for yourself; you are being prepared to help others move forward.
