The Family Disciple Me Podcast // Discipleship Starts With a Conversation

Celebrating 50 Years of Faith: A Spiritual Jubilee Journey

• Tosha Williams for FDM • Season 5 • Episode 21

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Today I - Tosha Williams - mark a 50-year anniversary of faith that began when I was just four years old. Join me as I reflect on the incredible milestone of walking with Jesus for half a century. This episode is about my 'spiritual Jubilee,' a biblical tradition that has guided my last twelve months. Journey with me through the profound experiences and unexpected joys, like the serendipitous gift of my granddaughter named Jubilee, that have marked this sacred passage of time.

Throughout this episode, I'll share my past five decades with Jesus - - - but the story's not over. The best is yet to come. Whether you're new to faith in Christ, are considering it, or have your own decades-long journey, let's spend a few minutes together. Here’s to 50 years of faithfulness and the promise of what the next 50 years might hold.

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Often, in posting a podcast episode, we provide written devotion-driven-discipleship content. For this week, we encourage you to dive into this one your own. Spend some time with Jesus meditating on the truth in the following verse, Joshua 1:8. "Seek Him" using the three questions as guides. Ask Him to speak to you through His Word, and listen to what the Spirit of the Living God says to you. Maybe even write down what He impresses on your heart. Then, remember, with the Family Disciple Me ministry, "Seek Him" always leads a Christ-follower to "Speak Him." Share with someone else what God is showing you.

Here's the first Scripture highlighted in this episode:

"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:9)

SEEK HIM: Devotion is Meeting with God in Our Own Lives!  Let's spend some time with the Lord asking Him these three questions about this Scripture verse:

  • WHAT:  What is God saying through this Scripture? 
  • WHY:  Why does this Scripture matter?
  • HOW: How does God want us to respond to this truth?

SPEAK HIM: Discipleship is Making God Known to Others! Let's share with someone else what God is showing us.

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The Family Disciple Me ministry exists to catalyze devotion driven discipleship in our homes and around the world. We believe that discipleship starts with a conversation, and FDM provides free, easily-accessible, biblical resources to encourage these meaningful conversations along life's way. Sign up through our website to be "the first to know" about upcoming releases and resources (including the FDM App - coming soon!!!) You can also follow Family Disciple Me on social media.

Family Disciple Me is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit ministry, and all donations are tax deductible. More information, blogs, statement of faith and contact info can be found at familydiscipleme.org

Speaker 1:

Fifty years ago today, I gave my life to Christ. I was a very little girl. I was just four years old. I'd only turned four years old the month prior. I didn't understand everything about salvation, but I definitely understood my need for a Savior. I said a sinner's prayer and I committed my life to Jesus, led in those things by loving godly adults who wanted me to know Jesus like they did, that life-changing, eternity-altering choice was five decades ago today. I know that makes me seem really, really old, but in light of such a huge milestone, starting 12 months ago, leading up till today, I've been commemorating my own personal year of spiritual jubilee and oh, what a celebration God has had in store for me. I want to share with you about that, and I also want to tell you about, as I conclude 50 years with Jesus, what I see for the next 50. So will you stick around for just a moment and come right back? I want to share just a little bit more about this story with you.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to the Family Disciple Me podcast. If you have a real relationship with Jesus, then you're in the right place to be encouraged, challenged and blessed as you seek Him, speak Him. The mission of the Family Disciple Me ministry is to inspire devotion-driven discipleship, which is something we believe every Christ follower can do. Discipleship starts with a conversation, so let's get going with that right now.

Speaker 1:

In the Bible, jubilee is the celebration that begins in the 49th year leading up to its conclusion at 50. Leviticus 25 talks about the year of Jubilee. Isaiah 61 references it as well. In ancient Israel, jubilee was a joyful year when freedom was proclaimed, when prisoners were set free, when hope was restored. There is so much that was wrapped up within Jubilee. My understanding is that modern Israel no longer celebrates this amazing Jubilee event, but that didn't prevent me from having my own Jubilee celebration.

Speaker 1:

As I've walked through the last 12 months of my spiritual Jubilee, I've been ready for whatever God wanted to do in and through and around me. My eyes have been wide open to see what he had in store for me in the 49th year as I walk toward today, my 50th spiritual birthday. Well, way back when I was a teenager, I read this verse in God's Word. It says this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. When I read that promise that God gave ancient Israel, I decided to take it for myself and to do what God's Word said and, what's more, to find out if His promises were true. Decades later, I can say with absolute confidence that God is indeed true to His Word. I don't claim great prosperity or success, but I have seen the goodness of the Lord so fast forward till today, to the completion of Jubilee Turned out.

Speaker 1:

God has had so many seriously unexpected, joyful surprises in store for me during my Jubilee. So many presents, not the least of which is a granddaughter named Jubilee, not the least of which is a granddaughter named Jubilee. It's almost inexplicable to me, this story that her parents, my son and daughter-in-law they chose Jubilee's name before they even knew what this year was for me. That's not a coincidence. That's God's sovereignty as he weaves together all the threads of our lives. Fifty years ago, when I gave my life to him as a little four-year-old, he already knew he was going to weave into my story this gift of a grandbaby named Jubilee and so much more during my year of Jubilee. Who could have thought it? Gift upon gift, grace upon grace, so profound, so significant were God's presence to me throughout my spiritual Jubilee in the last 12 months that, honestly, I feel like that God Almighty has been celebrating this 50-year milestone with me Himself, this 50-year milestone with me himself, that long, long ago, four-year-old, life-changing, eternity-altering choice, choice to follow Jesus that has affected the entire trajectory of my whole life.

Speaker 1:

And now, as of today, as I'm recording this podcast, I've faithfully walked with God for 50 years. 50 years, five whole decades that's a long time, don't hear me wrong. I've faithfully walked with God for 50 years. Not perfectly I don't claim to have been perfect on this journey at all but I can say I've been faithful, I've walked with God. And now, today, as I celebrate my 50th spiritual birthday with Him, this is my declaration Today, as I begin my next 50 with Him I'm going to keep walking with Jesus, the enemy of our souls. Well, he can keep his bribes, his flatteries, his temptations, his accusations, his self-focused offerings. He can keep all that. He can have it. I don't want it. I've lived my life with Jesus, for Jesus, for 50 years now, and I'm going to keep living this life for him. As that really familiar worship song says, you can have all this world. Give me Jesus. He is my one thing, he is my main thing, he is my purpose, my identity, my reason.

Speaker 1:

As I end this Jubilee celebration and celebrate this 50-year mile marker, I'm not going to back down and rest on my laurels. I'm not going to relax and take it easy now because I've put in 50 good years saying well, I've been there, done that. No way. My spark for Jesus was lit when I was four years old and the fire has grown greater and greater throughout these past five decades. From here, I intend to go out like a bonfire. I will charge the gates of hell, I will shout from the rooftops, I will go after every prodigal, I will proclaim the name of Jesus, I will holler in the valleys and I will sing it from the oceans Jesus is the great king.

Speaker 1:

Of course I'd have to live to 108 to celebrate another spiritual jubilee. I recently heard about a friend's parents who are that old, so I guess such isn't entirely impossible. I think it would be super fun to be an ancient old woman telling her great-great-great-great-great grandkids about the great king. Still, regardless of what God has in store for me for my next jubilee, whether it's here in this world or in the throne room, here's what I've decided Jesus will be the word on my breath until my last and then throughout eternity.

Speaker 1:

So with that, whoever you are, wherever you are along the way, whatever point you're at on your spiritual journey, whatever brought you to this podcast episode today, I implore you to join me in this. Living for Jesus is the best life, it's the only life, it's the true life, it's the most fulfilling life. I can say without reservation the words of Isaiah 12, verse 2, god is my salvation. I will trust him, I will not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord himself, is my strength and my song. He has become my salvation. I invite you in meditating on this scripture, I invite you to seek him, speak him through this scripture. I invite you to walk alongside me, with me in the days and the weeks and the months to come. Join me in devotion-driven discipleship conversations. Keep joining me here at the Family Disciple Me podcast or at the coming later this year Family Disciple Me app. I'm so excited about that. Join me on Family Disciple Me social media or at familydisciplemeorg as we roll out more content. Join me in Seachem School as we get that started later this year. I'm excited to tell you about that in the days to come.

Speaker 1:

The thing is, when we do this journey together, we can be encouraged in what God does in and through around us. As I celebrate, you get to celebrate, and as you celebrate, I get to celebrate, and together we seek Him, speak Him and we experience all that God has in store for us. Here's the thing my Jubilee year has been awesome. Yes, it has. It has been the most significant, meaningful, special year of my life. God's gifts have been beyond compare and I am so humbled and honored that the God who keeps the universe spinning and who gives life and breath to everyone, that he took the time to shower me with so much goodness during this significant celebration year. Yet on this day, my 50th spiritual birthday, I can say with all confidence I absolutely believe the best is yet to come. So let's do this together. Let's seek Him, speak Him, let's meet with God and make Him known. All glory to God in Jesus' name. Let's be encouraged to continue to walk with Him. God bless you friend.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for joining us in this podcast episode. You can find the matching conversation guide in the show notes. To get the latest updates about the Family Disciple Me ministry, as well as word about our soon-to-be-released app, sign up to be the first to know at familydisciplemeorg. Also, if you enjoyed this podcast, help us get the word out by leaving us a review on your favorite podcast platform. God bless you, friend. Now go seek Him, speak Him.