Valuing the Holy Spirit

 

By: Sarah Geringer 

Don’t grieve God. Don’t break his heart. His Holy Spirit, moving and breathing in you, is the most intimate part of your life, making you fit for himself. Don’t take such a gift for granted.

Ephesians 4:30 MSG

Many Christians don't know as much about the Holy Spirit as they do about God the Father and God the Son. Yet the Holy Spirit is not only a member of the Trinity, but a great gift given to you as a believer.

I've been watching The Chosen series, and I love it. It's opening my eyes to many things, including seeing Bible truths in new ways. In the series (and in the Bible, of course) he tells the disciples that they will do many more things after he's gone. They did not understand this until they received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (see Acts 2).

As believers, we have the Holy Spirit living in us. He guides us, encourages us and enlightens us to the truth in the Scriptures. He empowers us to share the Gospel with others, saying and doing things we cannot do without his power.

In Ephesians 4, Paul writes about pursuing spiritual maturity and Christian living. Toward the end of the chapter, he includes this warning in verse 30. I like The Message version of this verse, because it's easier to understand in a contemporary context.

When we value the Holy Spirit's presence in our lives, we will be motivated to honor him. We'll avoid the pockets of immaturity and worldliness because we don't want to break God's heart over our sins. This doesn't mean we won't sin in the same ways ever again. Yet as part of our faith journey, we can grow in honoring God by the way we live.

Is it possible you are not valuing the Holy Spirit's presence? Today, you can make a fresh start. You can pray directly to the Holy Spirit, asking him to help you. Ask him to guide you, lead you, teach you, encourage you and enlighten your mind to Bible truths. Trust him to empower you in overcoming temptations, becoming spiritually mature, and bearing the fruits of the spirit.

As you begin to see the Holy Spirit as a great gift, you'll be humbled and uplifted at the same time. It's possible this could be a missing piece in your spiritual development, and I pray that this devotion encourages you to explore the Holy Spirit's value in your life.

Check out another post on the Holy Spirit HERE.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on your favorite social media site using the buttons below.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sarah Geringer
Finding Peace in God's Word

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We Spend Ourselves

By: Joanne Viola

  Her name was Priscilla, the wife of Aquilla. They were tent-makers by profession.

“Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was.”
(Acts 18:3, NLT)

For a while, Paul stayed with them because he was a tent-maker as well In the time he was with them, Paul reasoned and taught them in the Scriptures.

They must have learned well because when an Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus, they realized he had quite a bit of knowledge in the Scriptures. But his understanding was limited. They took him under their tutelage and helped to understand the ways of God more accurately.

Tent making was a simple job during the day in which Priscilla lived. Yet it was a big task in the eyes of God. He used it in a more far reaching way than she could have imagined.

 We are investing each day in the lives of those around us. We may not see how or the effect, but we are impacting those around us daily. 

"There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord. God works in different ways, but it is the same God who does the work in all of us. A spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other."
(1 Corinthians 12:4-7, NLT)

The simplest of tasks may be greater than what it seems to the eye:

• when we are working shoulder to shoulder in our places of employment,
• as we change diapers, clean up a mess, or pat the back of a toddler as they nod off to sleep,
• in the supermarket or at the bank,
• serve in church,
• or sitting quietly at home praying for friends and family.

May we trust and not doubt for God has equipped each of us with exactly the gifts needed to encourage and bless those who He has placed in our lives.  

“We are each given different gifts and talents by our Master. The thing that matters most is how we use what we have been given, not how much we make or do compared to someone else. What matters is that we spend ourselves.” (Francis Chan)

 

Photo by mrjn Photography on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

Dying to the Old Life

 

By: Sarah Geringer 

"Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life."

2 Corinthians 5:14 NLT

In what ways have you died to the old life you used to live? I can look back over my life and see how God has helped me die to the way I used to do things. Here are a couple examples:

When I got married, I started realizing how selfish I was in hidden ways. I had to die to self and grow in grace many times in my 20 years of marriage.

When I became a parent, I began changing what media I consumed. I realized that if I didn't want certain things entering my children's minds, they also didn't belong in mine. I had to die to content that I'd used for a long time.

Dying to our old lives is a process, not a usually one-time decision. Maybe you or someone you knew had a dramatic, Saul-like conversion from a blatantly sinful lifestyle. This does happen, but it's not the norm, at least in my observation.

Maybe you’ve been a Christian all your life, but as you’ve grown in your faith, your conscience has been pricked and you don’t do the same things anymore.  

Perhaps you gave up toxic friendships. Maybe you catch yourself before your conversation turns to gossip. Maybe you've changed your social activities, clothes you wear or movies you watch.

Whatever it is, if you’re already doing something different than before, it’s probably because you’re being made more like Christ. But if you’re resisting the temptation to return to a worldly lifestyle, you must rely on Jesus to provide the help you need, because you can't make it on your own (I know, because I've tried).

It’s risky to rely on willpower, because we’re all naturally bent toward sin. Through prayer, you can ask God to help you become less like the world and more like Jesus today.  He will always answer that prayer in a practical way, if you are willing to accept his help.

The world needs to see more salt-and-light-filled Christians (see Matthew 5:13-16).  It’s important that if you call yourself a follower of Jesus, your lifestyle is different from that of the world.  

If your lifestyle hasn’t become more holy as your faith has grown, ask God to examine your heart and show you ways that you can die to any habits that aren’t Christlike. 

Your lifestyle could have an eternal impact on the people who know you, so consider this question again:  in what ways have you died to the old life you used to live? And, how can you thank God for the ways he's already transformed you?

Check out another post/video on self-examination HERE.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on your favorite social media site using the buttons below.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sarah Geringer
Finding Peace in God's Word

Photo from Canva.com

Keeping the Sabbath

By: Joanne Viola 

Sabbath.

The word gets thrown around pretty easily. Somewhere in the course of time, the word came to carry the connotation of going to church, on Sundays.

But it means so much more.

Sabbath – “the seventh day of the week, as the day of rest and religious observance among Jews and some Christians; any special day of prayer or rest resembling the Sabbath; any special day of prayer or rest” (dictionary.com).

Sabbath, or the Hebrew word “sabbat”, actually means to stop or to cease. When we take time to stop working, we display an act of trust that it is God holding everything together and not us. We acknowledge our hands do not need to be in everything at every single moment in time.

“Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. I will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance I promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!”
(Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT)

As I read this Scripture, in the margin of my Bible I wrote – “Keeping the Sabbath –> reward”:

1. “The Lord will be your delight.”
2. “I will give you great honor.”
3. “I will satisfy you.”

We like the idea of rewards, but somehow we skip over the part of what one must do to obtain those rewards:

• “Keep the Sabbath day holy.” Set a day apart to God – to think about Him, to worship Him, to hear His Word.
• “Don’t pursue your own interests on that day.” Keep a day off from work. Your body, soul and spirit will be most grateful.
• “Enjoy the Sabbath.” May the day you set aside become a day of delight for you. May you look forward to the time you spend with Him, as much as He looks forward to spending time with you.
• “Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day.” We need to think about this long and hard. If it doesn’t honor Him on the day you set apart, then don’t do it.
• “Don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.” Both will lead us away from resting in Him.

Sabbath doesn’t come easily as we are so programmed to doing, going, and keeping busy. We fall into the trap of thinking these define our level of productivity, and perhaps they do in many ways. Yet in order to keep on being productive, we need time to get restorative rest and be renewed.

Keeping the Sabbath will bring me to resting in Him.
Keeping the Sabbath —> reward.

 

 Photo by Jonas Allert on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Cleaning

by Elizabeth Stewart

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, 

and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me." 

Psalm 51:10

It's that time of year again! It's time for spring cleaning. I like to do a deep and thorough house cleaning in the spring and then again in autumn before the holidays. In spite of doing a deep house cleaning twice a year, in spite of doing a weekly house cleaning every Saturday and in spite of trying to keep things picked up and tidy daily, dirt and grime and stuff still accumulate! The need to clean my house just never ends!

There are some similarities between the need to keep our physical home clean and maintained and the need to keep our "spiritual house" clean and maintained as well. Our "spiritual house" could be called our innermost being, our soul or our heart. No matter what we want to call it, the truth is, dirt and grime and stuff accumulate in us just as they do in our home. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior and Lord and repent of our sins, He thoroughly and completely cleanses us from all of our sins.  "If we [freely] admit that we have sinned and confess our sins, He is faithful and just (true to His own nature and promises) and will forgive our sins [dismiss our lawlessness] and [continuously] cleanse us from all unrighteousness [everything not in conformity to His will in purpose, thought, and action]."1 John 1:9AMPC Praise God! He doesn't just cleanse us from our sin once, but He continuously cleanses us because, like our homes, we tend to accumulate messes! The need to be cleansed from sin never ends but neither does the cleansing that Jesus offer us. All we have to do is to confess our mess and give Him access to every room, every nook and cranny, every secret hiding place of our spiritual house and He will do a thorough job of keeping our innermost being clean.

It's a great feeling to have all of my spring cleaning done, but the best feeling of all is when I know my heart is completely open and yielded to Jesus and that He has thoroughly cleansed every part of me. The need to let Him do so never ends, but He faithfully and continuously cleanses me every single time. Oh, how thankful I am for that!

justfollowingjesus.com

Embracing Your Limits

  

By: Sarah Geringer 

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his public ministry.

Luke 3:23 NLT

This week, I enjoyed a podcast episode that talked about embracing your limits.  Though this is an unpopular teaching in our culture of self-glorification, even within the church, it's an important virtue that God considers highly valuable.

The podcast helped me understand how Jesus embraced his limits. As today's focus verse notes, he was thirty years old when his public ministry debuted. Between the ages of twelve and thirty, we know virtually nothing about Jesus' life. Of course, Jesus knew he would only have about three years of ministry on this earth. Yet he embraced those limits because they were his Father's will.

This teaching has important application for us. Discontent is so common in our society, it's almost expected for us to complain about our limitations. Yet God worked so powerfully through Jesus in the limits of time and space, he changed the world forever. God will also work powerfully through your limits if you follow his will instead of your own.

Let's look at the possibilities within several common limits:

• You're young and inexperienced. Yet you have energy, passion and vision to inspire others.
• You are working from home rather than in an office, yet you have more time with your family.
• You're an empty nester, yet you have more available time to volunteer.
• You're financially strapped. Yet you have the opportunity to give gratitude in every situation and learn to live on a budget.
• Your health is declining, yet you have more time to pray and develop your relationship with God.

The examples could go on and on, because each situation of our lives contains limits. When we learn to see the unique opportunities in our limits, we can embrace them and be even more effective for the Lord's service.

Today, I encourage you to make a list of your limits. Whether they are related to age, finances, health, relationships, money, work, church or any other factor, get them all out on paper. Once they are in front of you, ask God to show you the hidden value inside each one. 

Pray that he will help you focus on the positives and learn to embrace your limits rather than complain about them. By giving thanks for your limits and using them for good, you'll shine a unique light into your circles of influence.

Check out another post I wrote about embracing your limits HERE.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on your favorite social media site using the buttons below.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sarah Geringer
Finding Peace in God's Word

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It's Not About Me, It's About Him

   By: Shari A. Miller

"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." - Colossians 3:23-24

Day in and day out...

Wash the clothes, make the meals, drive to ballet practice, prepare for homeschool co-op, again and again; doing the same old same old, can get very tiresome, and can sometimes be quite monotonous. Have you ever had those moments when you wish that fairy god mothers were real, and with a wave of their wand all of your days work would be done?

It can be so easy to fall into the trap of wishing things were this way or that, to where we end up missing the true joy and purpose of the moment. When we are at home raising our children and supporting our husbands, it can be easy to feel like we're being taken for granted. Sometimes the support and praise we need are not always there. When these moments happen we need to remember one important thing, we are not doing this for ourselves, we are doing this work for the Lord. During these times we need to remind ourselves that, it's not about me, it's about Him.

Every morning we need to spend time in God's Word and in prayer, so that our minds are ready for the day. Everything that we do throughout the day needs to be done for God; we need to honor and serve Him in all things, no matter how small or unimportant the task might seem. When we do this, we also need to remember not to complain while we're doing them. When we complain about our daily lives we run the risk of our children following our example, by teaching them it's okay to complain too.

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing." - Philippians 2:14

These moments that you have now are so important, you're in the process of raising your children to serve the King. You're teaching them how important it is to have a relationship with Him by how you conduct yourself through out your daily life. Soon your children will be grown and your relationships with them will change. Take advantage of the time you have now.  

My children are now 25 ad 22, I know from experience that time flies in the blink of an eye. There are no do overs. Enjoy these moments that you have, cherish each and every one of them as you work for the Lord and raise your children to serve the King.

Finding a Constant in the Changes

By: Jenifer Metzger

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

The past couple of years have brought on more changes in my life than I thought possible in such a short time. More changes than I thought possible for one person. Some good, some bad, some just different.

My daughter got married. I became a grammy. My son got married. My youngest graduated high school. I went from being a homeschool mom of four to no longer homeschooling -now that they all graduated. I left children's ministry after almost thirty years. I lost my grandfather. We moved churches. While we still have two kids living at home, they are adults and work full time so my husband and I are partially empty nesters. Relationships that have always be very important to me have been strained. I wrote a book.

So. Much. Change.

Facing so much change at one time has been hard. Life as I knew it just three years short ago is completely different than it is today. How does everything change so quickly!?

In dealing with all of the changes, especially the bad changes, I found myself dealing with depression and anxiety for the first time in my life as I struggled to handle everything. But through it all, I found one constant. Jesus.

Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the same today as He was three years ago. He is the same today as He will be in three years. He is strong and mighty. He is calm and caring. He is just and forgiving. He never leaves.

If you are dealing with changes, just one thing or a mountain of changes, something good or something bad, no matter what it is, Jesus is your constant. He is the same, never changing Savior. He won't leave you. You can count on Him and you can trust in Him. Whatever you are facing, lean into Jesus, your constant in the changes.

It's time for Share A Link Wednesday! Each Wednesday we invite you to leave a link to your latest blog post in the comments. We still desire to connect women of God with one another and encourage each other in Christ. So grab a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea, sit back and visit a few blogs. Be encouraged and share your own stories.

Our Weak Eyes

By: Joanne Viola

 

“Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel. And Leah’s eyes were weak, but Rachel was beautiful of form and face.”
(Genesis 19:16-17, NASB)

Two daughters, sisters – one was stunningly beautiful and the other, we are only told had weak eyes. Another translation says, “There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes …” (NLT).

Perhaps Leah was always being compared to beautiful Rachel and this had taken the sparkle from her eyes. Whatever the reason, we can surmise she was often overlooked or rejected.

One only has to read the account of Leah and Rachel, and the deception which surrounded their marriage to the same man, to understand that Leah was cast aside. She was not the wife of choice even though she was glad to be chosen.

Leah brings many lessons for us to learn:

• God sees us when others look past us.
• God loves us when others may not.
• God responds to our cries when others don’t hear us at all.

But this time there was another lesson hidden in this familiar story …

Scripture tells us that “Leah’s eyes were weak”.

We don’t always see what is right and good and just. We don’t always see clearly, even when it is right in front of our eyes. We tend to see what we want to see as we see through a filtered lens. Our eyesight is weak.

May the eyes of our heart be opened to see what the Lord desires for each of us.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.”
(Ephesians 1:18, NASB)

Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash

 

 

 

 

No Longer Hopeless and Helpless

by Elizabeth Stewart

Hopelessness and feeling helpless are one of the cruelest weapons of the enemy against us.  satan relentlessly lies to us that our situation or circumstances are hopeless and that we are helpless to do anything to change it. The enemy tries to get us to accept this as the truth and to paralyze and immobilize us from moving forward in life. Thoughts of hopelessness, helplessness and despair are not from God, our God is the God of hope!

Listening to the story of someone's struggle and responding with compassion is one way that we show the love and compassion of Christ. When we do so, it's wise to follow the example of  Jesus Who never encouraged self pity or remaining in the role of the victim. He never left someone remaining in an attitude of hopelessness and helplessness. He helped them up, then sent them out to live a changed life. He didn't commiserate with them and tell them that life would be better for them if only they weren't under the thumb of the Roman government. He didn't tell them that because their circumstances or situation was unfair, they were stuck living a less than life. He didn't tell them that because they were a Samaritan or a woman or a leper that they were permanently doomed to live a subpar existence. In the name of Christ-like compassion, in our attempt to listen to someone's heart, let's not feed the lie that they may be believing, the lie that they have no hope and are helpless to change because of some outside force that is holding them down. We can acknowledge their pain without feeding their pity. Let's not leave someone in the pit of hopelessness by inferring that only through some political change or some sort of societal reform can they can live a hope filled life. Let's not foster the belief that because they were born into a dysfunctional family or into poverty their future is limited. Let's point them to the God of all hope, the God who wants all of us to grasp onto and really believe that with Him nothing is impossible!  

Let's face it, this life is not fair. Injustice abounds in every part of our sin broken world. As Christians we should be involved to the best of our ability to fight against injustice, to work toward righteous social reform. But, if our hope is based on societal or governmental reform or on human leadership to make all things right with our world, we will be sorely disappointed. Jeremiah 17:5-8 makes it pretty clear, "Thus says the Lord: Cursed with great evil is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak human flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord.For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Most blessed is the man who believes in, trusts in, and relies on the Lord, and whose hope and confidence the Lord is. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters that spreads out its roots by the river; and it shall not see and fear when heat comes; but its leaf shall be green. It shall not be anxious and full of care in the year of drought, nor shall it cease yielding fruit." A fruitful, fulfilling life is the desire of God for everyone, no matter their race, their gender, or their socio-economic status. However, confidence and hope in God is the foundational key to that happening, not hope placed in some manmade fix that may or may not happen somewhere down the road.  

After Daddy left Mama and us, my little brother, who was seven at the time, really struggled. He struggled in school. He struggled getting into trouble with kids in our neighborhood. Let's face it, he had a lot of unfair strikes against him. But, somewhere along the line he grabbed onto the truth that God had a good plan for him. Somewhere along the line he grabbed onto the hope that God extended toward him. He quit being a helpless victim of his unfair circumstances and made a decision to become more than a conqueror. With God's help and grit and determination and discipline, he graduated high school at the top of his class. He graduated college and became a pastor, and eventually a missionary leader. He worked hard and obtained his master's degree and then his doctorate. Because of God's great grace in his life, he has pointed others all over the world to this same hope that he found.

I've faced some difficulties in my life as well, I've faced unfair circumstances that made me feel hopeless and helpless. But, the reality is, there's someone reading this who has faced things far more difficult, who has faced things far more life altering than I. Yet, the truth is the truth.  No matter what horrific, unfair, unjust things that you've had to face in this life, you do not have to remain in hopelessness and helplessness. There's a God in heaven who wants to reach down and lift you out of the pit of despair and set you on a path to a fruitful, fulfilling life. He's not going to wave a magic wand and suddenly make everything easy for you, but He can give you the strength and guidance you need in order to take the first step towards a changed life, and every single step after that one. 

justfollowingjesus.com

Learning to Love Your Enemies

 

By: Sarah Geringer 

“There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.”

1 Corinthians 13:13 NLT

I cannot read this verse anymore without remembering September 11, 2001.  One evening a couple months after this horrible day in American history, I watched the Country Music Awards, and Alan Jackson performed his “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)?” for the first time on the live broadcast.  

Tears streamed down my face as I listened to the song, reflecting back on the morning I saw images of the planes crashing into the Twin Towers. The song’s chorus includes part of this verse, and applying this verse to the context of 9/11 is profound. If love is the greatest pursuit, the terrorists had it completely backward.

God himself is love; the three persons of the godhead exist in a perfect love relationship. It utterly amazes me that God wanted to create people—who he knew would fail him—expressly so he could lavish his love upon us.  

That’s exactly what he wants us to do for each other: if our hearts are right with God, his love overflows our hearts, and we can share it with other people. Jesus’ earthly life was a nonstop love story for each person he encountered, even his enemies.

 I’m nowhere near where I need to be in loving other people. But the more I get to know God, the easier I find it to show love to even the most difficult people in my life.  

When I ask God to teach me to see others the way he sees them, one of the first things I see is how much he loves every single person he’s created.  

It’s kind of how I feel about my children. I love them each with the same fierce, smitten love that only a mother has, but I treat them uniquely according to their needs and personalities. Even on awful days, I never stop loving them, and nothing they ever do will cause me to stop loving them.  

That’s how God feels too, even about terrorists and others hell-bent on rejecting him. I can’t really comprehend that, but I know it’s true.

It’s tempting for me to want to share my love only with those who love me back. But it wouldn’t be showing love the way that Jesus did, so I’m working on loving my enemies. I do this mostly through forgiveness and prayer, and sometimes acts of kindness. 

I don’t want to miss an opportunity to show them the kind of love that could point them toward eternity. As difficult as it is, I know it’s what God wants me to do, and I can’t refuse him.

Why are these three—faith, hope, and love—the things that will endure? Because relationships are all we will take with us into eternity. Our faith in the one true God, our hope in his promises, and our love for him and for other people—that is what will last. Nothing else really matters!

In what ways can your love for God and others, even for difficult people, grow this week?

Check out my most popular post on loving difficult people HERE.

If you enjoyed this post, please share on your favorite social media site using the buttons below.

Have a blessed weekend!

Sarah Geringer
Finding Peace in God's Word

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Creating a God Centered Home

By: Jenifer Metzger

As the woman of our home, we strive to create a space our family feels safe and loved. But what about creating a God centered home? A place where our family feels the presence of God. A place they know they can talk about God, ask questions about Him, and learn about Him. A place they will always remember as a home God was a part of.

But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose

for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods

your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the

Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my

household, we will serve the Lord.

Joshua 24:15

Here are 4 ways to create a God centered home.

Pray. Of course we know that we need to be praying women. Yes, our husband should be a praying man. But to have a truly God centered home, we need to be praying as a family. When I was a child, before we left for school each morning my mom would gather us kids in a circle and we would pray. I carried this tradition on with my kids, then once we began homeschooling we prayed before our school work each day. We need to pray for meals and at bedtime. When someone in the family is struggling or sick, we need to pray. And in those moments we need prayer, we need to ask our husband and children to pray for us. Make prayer a regular and intentional occurrence in your home.

Bible reading. Again, we know that we need to be women of the Word and that our husband should be a man of the Word. But we need to make the Bible a part of our home. Make sure each person has their own Bible. If your children are young, read to them and discuss what you've read. If they are older, encourage them to read the Bible and discuss what they read as well as share what you are reading. Discuss with your spouse what you are each reading. Make sure that your children know if you are reading the Bible you shouldn't be interrupted unless it is an emergency, this will reiterate the importance.

Attend church regularly and talk about it. Church attendance is also important. Be sure to attend regularly. I even encourage you to attend your Sunday service as well as a mid-week service. Make church attendance a priority, being careful to not miss unless there is illness. On the way home, give everyone a chance to talk about what they learned from church. For little kids this is a great way for them to repeat what they learned to really get it into their head and heart. For teens and adults this is a great way to open communication.

Be careful what you allow in your home. Remember that God cannot exist where there is evil; darkness and light cannot co-exist. If you want a God centered home, you must keep evil away. Be careful what you allow on tv, computers, tablets, books, phones, magazines, etc. If it displeases God or goes against His Word, it shouldn't be in your home. You might need to make a limit to what ratings of tv and movies you allow to be watched or use things like Covenant Eyes to monitor computer, tablet, and phones. We also know that we need to watch our words so be careful to not allow foul language, bullying, or self-negativity in your home.

These are 4 ways you can create a God centered home. Whether you are single living alone, married just the two of you, have little ones, have teens, or are an empty nester, creating a home with God at the center is life changing and God honoring. Let's strive to be women who intentionally create God centered homes.

It's time for Share A Link Wednesday! Each Wednesday we invite you to leave a link to your latest blog post in the comments. We still desire to connect women of God with one another and encourage each other in Christ. So grab a cup of coffee or glass of sweet tea, sit back and visit a few blogs. Be encouraged and share your own stories.

Body Image and the Bible

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy Of: i yunmai

Psalm 139:13-14 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” It is easy for us to look at the beauty of a rose, a sunset, or a fall-colored leaf and believe God’s works to be wonderful. But this passage is not talking about any of those things. It is talking about you! You are wonderfully made. Does your soul know that very well?

Did you know that you are incredibly loved by the Most High God? Not just your friend, your sister, your mom, your pastor, or your revered grandfather. No, you. You, yourself, as you are, are loved by Him!

It can be so easy to believe in the existence of God’s love for other people, but then to find it far harder to believe that His love is ours, as well, just as much as it is theirs. This is particularly challenging on those days when we really just do not like what we see staring back at us in the mirror. I don’t know about you, but I don’t always view the girl I see in the mirror as being treasured, lovable, or desirable. But she is!

As much as I have always wished I had a stronger jaw line, slimmer thighs, and a less prominent nose, none of those things make up my identity, nor are they accurate representations of how God made me. While I commonly see flaws in the mirror, those are my own false opinions of myself - not the truth of God crafted me.

The truth is that you and I have been made in the image of God with such care, precision, love, and artistry. We have been “created in Christ Jesus”, as His workmanship, according to Ephesians 2:10. We have been designed “for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that [we] should walk in them.” You, my friend, are not a mistake, an afterthought, or an accident. You have been created in the image of God Himself, tasked with purpose and mission, and made beautiful in His sight. That, my friend, is the truth of who you are.

Our identity is not based in how we think we look, what we do, or what others think of us. It is only based in who and how God created us to be and what He has to say about us. But until we grasp this truth for ourselves - and not just for our friends! - it will be incredibly hard (if not impossible!) for us to discover a firm foundation for our identity.

You see, if you base your identity in anything other than Christ and who He made you to be as a treasured, beautiful, beloved daughter of God, you will always find yourself on the proverbial identity roller coaster. When you base your identity in your looks (which change), your job (which is not guaranteed to last your whole life), or your relationships (which come and go, ebb and flow), you will be building on a faulty, wobbly, ever-changing, insecure foundation. You will find it hard to produce the good fruit God

designed for you to walk in when your roots of identity are weak and failing. You will find it hard to take every thought of yourself captive to God’s truth. And you will find it hard to break free from the lies your eyes tell you about yourself and ground your heart in truth.

But, if you instead begin with who God tells you you are (and remember - He cannot and does not lie!), then you will be basing your identity in the firm, unchanging foundation of the truth of God’s Word.

As challenging as body image issues are for us all as women, I would encourage you to immerse yourself in the Bible. Second Timothy 3:16-17 says, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” If you want to be equipped for the good works Ephesians 2:10 refers to, if you want to have healthy body image based in the truth of God rather than mere passing cultural fads, and if you want to be able to truly believe you are now and forevermore thoroughly and wholly loved by God, then you must start in God’s Word.

I dare you - make it your mission to be in the Word every day and see if you don’t have your view of yourself and your body radically transformed by the amazing love of our creator God!

A Bottle & Our Tears

 By: Joanne Viola

 

Tears. It doesn’t take much to move me to tears.

As a kid, I was often poked fun at because I cried easily. It was only in my adult life that I became able to embrace them, to realize my tears expressed what was in my heart.

There once was a woman, who in plain view of everyone in the room, did the most outlandish act as an expression of her appreciation.

“And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume.”
(Luke 7:37-38, NASB)

She came with a heart full of gratitude for her many sins which were forgiven. She did not care that those in the room may not understand, nor appreciate, her gesture. She did it none the less.

Jesus turning to those in the room says words so profound they should deeply impact us all:

“Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.”
(Luke 7:44-48, NASB)

When we know ourselves, our sins, and the degree to which we have been forgiven, we will also have hearts willing to forgive greatly.

Jesus is not impressed with our expensive gifts, our public gestures, or our status. He is moved by those who have come to realize the grace and mercy which have been lavished on their lives. He is moved by our tears.

“You keep track of all my sorrows.
You have collected all my tears in your bottle.
You have recorded each one in your book.”
(Psalm 56:8, NLT)

Our tears matter to Him – each one precious and collected, stored in a bottle. One day we will pour them out on His feet as well in gratitude.

 
Image by Marina Pershina from Pixabay

 

 

 

 

The In Between Doesn't Last Forever

by Elizabeth Stewart

 I like to take the time to watch the movie, The Passion of the Christ, during Holy Week, the days before we celebrate Christ's resurrection. I have often thought about the hours in between Jesus' gruesome death on the cross for our salvation and His victorious resurrection. Surely, those were dark hours for His family and followers. Dark hours when doubt nipped at their heels. “Was He really who He said He was?” “Will He really rise from the dead as He said?” “How? When?” As I look back over my life, much of life occurs in the “in between” hours between despair and hope fulfilled, in the dark hours before promise is fulfilled.

We have all experienced dark days and  seemingly hopeless situations. We have all had nights when sleep was the only refuge from the pain we were walking through, only to wake up to that sinking feeling deep in our gut when we remember our heartache.

Thank God, the “in between” doesn’t last forever. The dark days do give way to life and light and resurrection and promise. Looking back, so many times my mind and emotions screamed, “I can’t do this!” Yet, here I am, still here. Many of the situations gave way to glorious promise fulfilled. Others were answered, not by some glorious restoration of loss, but by God's comfort and knowledge that His plans aren’t always our plans. Some were answered by His strength, grace and endurance given, enabling me to put one foot in front of the other and to keep walking. In every situation we face, the “in-between” doesn’t last forever. One way or the other, Good Friday gives way to Sunday, to promise, to life, to resurrection. Thank God!

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