We recently connected with Sarah Keel and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Sarah, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
To begin, I have my answer tattooed on my arm. It is from Proverbs, chapter 24, vs. 16: “For though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again…”
Why does the “righteous rise again”? Well, since the “righteous” in scripture are considered “righteous” because of faith in Christ, then that means that when I fall, I always rise again because I have faith that I am accepted by God, secure in God, and significant in God; which enables me to rise again.
The hallmark of a follower of Christ is not “if you fall”; it is what happens “when” you fall. Do you rise again? Or do you completely give up and fall away because of shame and pride? In order to continue to get up again, it requires a willingness to be humbled.
Another aspect of resilience is our expectations of ourselves and where our identity is anchored. If I expect perfection, that type of demand on myself will quickly wear me down. Or, if my identity is based on what others think of me, or if I am accepted by the world, or what my feelings are saying to me; then my identity is very unstable because all of those things are fickle and forever changing. I believe that our identity and expectations or ourselves are closely related.
So, what gives me resilience is having my identity based on God’s love and acceptance of me (which is what scripture tells me) so that my ego is not the one informing me of who I am. This prevents me from arrogance when I succeed and getting my soul crushed if I fail. I am free to move forward and not get caught up in either.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
Renew Clinic is a ministry that I lead that is focused on Christ-centered recovery. Our vision is to build a flourishing, Christ-centered recovery community. Most of my staff are in recovery themselves or have had family members affected. I was one who was in active addiction by the age of 18 and had a radical encounter with Christ when I was locked up in Forsyth County Jail.
I did not grow up in a Christian home and never met my biological father. My adoptive father was Jewish and we had more of a universal understanding of God. However, when went through incredibly dark times, God showed himself to me through Christ when I was at my lowest. This was nearly 18 years ago. I have been on a journey that has brought me to this place. I truly believe God saved me and set me safely on a Rock to bring others to Him that are just like me. I go into prisons, jails, and foreign lands to minister to others as well.
I am invited to speak throughout the year in primarily Christian settings; to share my story, teach scripture, or speak on various topics. I often write on various aspects of the Christian faith and teach women’s bible studies. My next step is getting my Masters degree in Christian Apologetics in order to be more equipped to defend the faith and encourage those who struggle with doubting God’s existence and scripture.
I am also a certified leadership trainer and I am currently working with consultants and partners to develop a solid coaching program in Renew Clinic called, Transformational Recovery Coaching. Although we are licensed by the state of Tennessee to be a mental health and substance abuse treatment facility, Renew Clinic’s mission reaches far beyond that. We have annual conferences to reach the community with a Christ-centered message on addiction and recovery. Last year, we had nearly 600 people in attendance, with our guest speaker, Brian “Head” Welch.
We are just getting started and have a vision to take our mission beyond Knoxville and even into other countries. We have partnered with a ministry in Honduras to help them develop an addiction ministry for the locals. We have taken 1 trip with Renew Clinic graduates and will be returning (Lord willing) in April of this year (2024).
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Self awareness. The more I understand myself and can take an honest look at my faults/character defects, as well as recognizing the gifts that God has placed inside of me to serve; the more effective I am in serving, leading and loving those around me. However, self-awareness by itself can be useless if you just “see yourself” and then leave it there. Self-awareness is only useful if you are willing to change what needs to change and embrace the gifts God has placed inside of you.
Slowing down to rest, reflect, and pray. My identity is not just a Director of a ministry. I have multiple hats that I wear as a follower of Christ. He has many different assignments for me. However, if I am unwilling to set any assignment down and I begin obsess on it; then it is a good indicator that my identity is wrapped up in that assignment and I am creating an idol out of it. Rest is essential in leadership. It helps us to “take our hands off of it” – whether it be the business, the job, the organization, the project – and to rest and reflect on who God is and who I am to him. It is an aching that will affect your entire week. Yes, we should do this weekly (everyone)! I do not pretend to do this perfectly, but I can absolutely tell when I am not resting: I am anxious, worried, and tend to obsess on small things. Prayer is where I receive wisdom from God. I can think a certain decision or direction is good, but then I can have an entirely different perspective after prayer. If we ask God to give us direction, He will. We can bring any decision or worry or praise to Him.
Appreciating the talent around you. We cannot accomplish any great task on our own. Everyone in the ministry or organization has a part to contribute to the success of the ministry/organization. I have found that one of my most important gifts that God has placed in me is to simply bring the right people to the table. There is an old saying that “good leaders surround themselves with those who are smarter than them.” It is so true! The more success God brings to our ministry, the smaller I feel. My job is to protect the integrity of the organization, provide vision and direction, and shepard the staff for them to be as free as they can be to serve the Lord. Our staff and co-laborers are not our competition and leadership does not always mean “you know the most out of everyone” – leadership is a calling. It is a role, just like everyone else has a role.
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I do not think God has created everyone to look the same. I am not sure what “well rounded” is supposed to look like, but I do know that everyone is created differently; with different DNA, personalities, temperaments, experiences, talents and gifts. I believe those are constructed together for specific tasks and purposes to ultimately serve God and others.
If someone is particularly good at something, I think they should work to harness that gift and actively seek God to mold that inside of them and enroll the help of others to develop them as well. Not everyone can be good at everything. I do. not think it is wrong or a waste of time to become more organized, or learn to communicate better… but those are skills that help our strengths.
Life is short. I do not want to spend time trying to be a singer if God has called me to be a speaker. I believe we need to be intentional with how we spend our time and take care to foster our strengths and gifts while we have time on this earth.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.RenewKnoville.com
- Instagram: Ministry: Renew_Clinic_Knoxville & personal: Sarahnicolekeel
- Facebook: Personal: Sarah Nicole Keel & Ministry: Renew Clinic Knoxville
- Youtube: @RenewClinicKnoxville
- Other: We have a. podcast called Waging War. You can download this podcast on any podcast platform or watch out podcasts on our YouTube channel.
