Amanda Winder is Bill and Delores's 21 year old granddaughter. She has been ministering with her grandparents since the age of five. Her hearts desire is to enter into ministry, where ever the Lord leads. Amanda attends Christ for the Nations Institute in Dallas, TX where she is following the call of God on her life. If you need prayer or guidance, please feel free to contact Amanda at:

Learning to Maintain the Balance
If you’ve ever seen the construction of a house, you know one of the stages it goes through is the “framing stage.” This is when the house looks like it has been put together with toothpicks. Wooden boards frame out the areas where rooms will soon appear. My dad is a homebuilder, and as a child I was frequently around the construction of his houses. I can remember my dad walking on the wooden boards of a house as the house was in its "framing stage." Some boards were high off the ground, while others were lower and easier to walk on. I always admired my dad and thought he was magnificent because of his balancing ability on the boards. In my mind, he had practically perfected a skill only few could develop. At a very young age, he taught my sister and me how to balance on the boards too.

In the beginning, my balance wasn't  good, and the boards I was practicing on were 2-3 feet off the ground, but I held my dad’s hands very tightly as he guided me down the beam. He was good at assisting me in something I didn’t have much experience doing. In these moments, walking on a board suspended in the air was something new and thrilling to me. It was all a wonderful adventure, but I didn’t realize all the practice ahead of me, and the mistakes I would make as I learned a new skill.

As a got older, I was able to walk across higher beams without my dad holding my hands; however, he was still guiding me with his voice. He coached me along the way and told me what I should do next. Sometimes, I stumbled or wobbled on the board, but it was in these moments, I had to “balance check” myself by holding my arms out by my side because I didn’t want to fall off and get hurt. Of course, I had my moments when I fell off, but my dad was right there to help me get back up and try again. A lot of times I whined and complained because I feared getting up again. When I did this my dad didn’t force me get back on. He simply waited patiently and continued to show me the importance of getting back up. Today, I can walk on a board pretty well. I still have my arms my side at times for balance, and I know if I fall off I must choose to get back on and find the balance again.

In life, I believe we are walking on different boards. We are learning how to balance situations as they come into our life. Balance is learning how to harmonize parts of our life we want to change. It is like finding the “happy medium” between good and bad or right and wrong. I believe as we practice balance we learn how to think clearer and live fuller. Balance means we’ve wobbled into the good and the bad. We understand and, hopefully, have experienced both. Now we must use the wisdom we have gained to walk on the board with confidence, knowing we will succeed in that area.
Clearly, we are all walking across different boards in different areas of our life. When we begin the balance, the Holy Spirit is with us holding our hands just like my dad did for me. God is our Father, and He loved us enough to send Jesus to die for our sins so the Holy Spirit may live inside of us. The Holy Spirit is our best friend who helps us discover balance in our life. We tend to hold his hands at first while we “test the water” and see if we like it. I believe in this stage, we are most confident because we are almost assured we won’t fall.

Over time, as we progress at balancing, we don't need to lean on him as much. This is when he is standing back and guiding us like my dad did for me. We will wobble and stumble at times, and we might have to place our arms by our side to “balance check,” but we don’t fall. Sometimes when we wobble back and forth things can be tough. We want to listen to the Holy Spirit, but instead we do what we want. We do what we feel is necessary for the moment and we begin to lose our footing on the board. When we begin to lose our footing, something incredible happens. We have the choice to correct our mistake in an instant and practice balance again.

Now, what happens if we fall? What happens if we fear getting back on the board because we might get hurt again? I believe when we completely lose balance the Holy Spirit won't make us get up until we are ready. Sometimes, we are confident and ready, but other times we like staying down. We enjoy the place we are in because we are experiencing something we have never felt before. We don’t want to change that part of us yet. I believe, in these moments, no one should push us to get up because we have to want it. We have to realize the imbalance in our life. We must choose to get back on the board and practice the balance again. I believe we can know, see, and understand the imbalances in our life without actually realizing we need to practice balance.

When we do fall off the board and lose balance, like I did as a child, whining and complaining can become an issue. The Holy Spirit will accept both because he is waiting patiently for us to be quiet and say we need help. He is always ready and waiting for us to get up, brush ourselves off, and hope back on the board. I believe He wants to guide us back to a place of balance. He is ready to explain to us the reason we need to find the balance. He will never push us; he simply guides and directs us. 

Once we finally decide to get back on the board, we must have the confidence to balance again without fear. We could always fall off again, but that's part of learning balance. When we practice balance, we have the possibility of losing it again in the future, but we can always get back up and listen to the Holy Spirit directing us. I believe when we lose balance in an area we’ve already practiced we have the opportunity to get back up faster because we have already experienced those things.

Learning balance is like walking on a board suspended in the air. We might stumble and fall, but the Holy Spirit is there to guide us back to where we need to be when we are ready. Balance, is meeting in the middle and discovering harmony. We must have just enough of one thing and just enough of another so balance will be easy. I believe we will continue to practice balance in areas of our life until the day we die. Some areas of balance will have to be revisited, and others we will balance very well our entire life. We must always remember the Holy Spirit is there never pushing us, but always guiding us on what to do next. He desires to show us how to maintain balance in every area of our life.

Love and Blessings,
Amanda Nicole