Who God Made Me

March 2018 Scripture Memory Challenge

My father loves me. He created me to be just the woman He wanted me to be. So, why do I have trouble believing this truth some days? I feel like I don’t measure up. That I’m not smart enough, funny enough, pretty enough or good enough.

Why do I keep falling for the lie that I am not smart enough, funny enough, pretty enough or good enough? Click To Tweet

Every year, He sends me flowers for my birthday! I’m born in March you see and here in Tennessee the buttercups have been blooming for a week. My pear tree is white and frothy, the forsythia is stunning and my neighbor’s tulip tree is in full bloom. That’s a lot of flowers. I enjoy them in the yard, and I cut them to bring indoors. I let myself be delighted in my Father’s love. Even if you aren’t born in March, He loves you just as much you know. We are all His favorites! Continue reading “Who God Made Me”

Love – February 2018 Scripture Memory Challenge

I know! How cliche to choose love as our topic for February, right? But nothing is cliche about God’s love. It destroys all our perceptions of love, drawing us instead to a love that cuts deeper, rushes over us suddenly, wraps us in a protective cocoon and is never failing!

We often hear the phrase to fall in love or we hear that love grew between people, but that’s not the nature of God’s love. Loving is not something God does. Love is who God is. And God cannot help but to be who he is. So, he loves us, period!  We never have to worry about loosing God’s love.

Loving is not something God does. Love is who God is. Click To Tweet

But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. Romans 5:8

God loved us first. He knows exactly who we are, what we’ve done, what we are going to do, what we think and how often we think it. That doesn’t stop him. He loves us anyway. He didn’t wait for us to know him or repent of our sin, he took the first step, pouring out the love we needed, before we even knew we needed it. I can’t imagine asking someone I love to die for me or for someone else that I love, but God did not hesitate. He sent his son to die for us giving us salvation.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. Romans 8:38

We may say we love unconditionally, but let’s face it, sometimes, at least in the moment, we have to remind ourselves we love and force our actions into line. We live in a world of changing priorities and shifting allegiance. Nothing stays the same for long. But God’s love stays the course. This verse points out three truths about God’s love:

Though we may disappoint him or even reject him, he won’t take his love away. Nor can we walk away from God’s love.

  1. We may have to experience the consequences  of our actions and we may feel that the discipline we receive through the consequences is a sign that God has withdrawn his love, but that’s just a lie the ruler of this dark world wants us to swallow. God loves those he disciplines (Take a look at Hebrews 12:7.)
  2. The third important truth about God’s love is that absolutely nothing can separate us from God’s love.

I want you to show love, not offer sacrifices. I want you to know me more than I want burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6

What does God ask in return? Well, first and foremost, he wants us to love him in return. In the Old Testament God required sacrifices from his people so that they could be forgiven. Although God took care of that need for a sacrifice once and for all when he sent his Son to be that sacrifice, many of us still have it in our heads that God is asking us to sacrifice in order to earn his love. We think we must give offerings, or do things or make ourselves over in order to purchase his love. God says, that’s not true! What I want is for you to get to know me. And how do we get to know God? It’s just like we get to know each other. We spend time with them. As we spend time with God in prayer, studying his word and praising him, as we do, we get to know him. Those actions, the time spent together, is what God wants.

This is a familiar concept. I really wanted my husband to know me before we married and I wanted to get to know him. So, we spent time together, we talked, we listened and we talked about each other to others. The more time we have spent together, the more we know each other. We’ve been married 15 years, and still we learn things about one another all the time. God’s love is infinitely more complex than either my husband or me, so there are always new things to learn about him as we spend time together.

So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.” John 13: 34-35

And then, God asks us to show that we are changed by his love and that we are full of his spirit, by pouring out our love on others. God says we are to love those who are fellow Christ followers so much that the rest of the world will be able to see that we are his followers without even being told, because they will see our love for each other.

God asks us to show that we are changed by his love and that we are full of his spirit, by pouring out our love on others. Click To Tweet

However, God wants us to be so changed by his love that we don’t just love Christ followers, but that we love even our enemies. Luke 6:27 tells us that he doesn’t just want us to love our enemies from a safe distance, he wants us to love those who hate us by doing good to them. You see, God desires that his love will be so life changing for us that we will become like him. Remember, he didn’t wait on us to love him, he loved us first!

If you have signed up for the challenge check your email to download your printable memory cards for the month of February. If you aren’t signed up for the scripture memory challenge you are missing out on the memory cards and a weekly email with the verse for the week. Why not sign up now?

All verses are quoted from the New Living Bible

linking up at Lyli Dunbar’s Faith on Fire

January Scripture Memory Challenge

 

Hope

Let’s face it, we all start the year with hopes and dreams. Some make resolutions, others spend time setting goals and planning to accomplish them. Others just dream and do nothing to move forward. It’s my prayer, that one of your goals will be to give your best to God all year, and memorizing his word is one way to do it.

So, whether your year begins on a high or a low, it’s a new year. And as we move through the year life will happen. Sometimes, what happens will be hard. But for the Christ-follower, no matter our circumstances, we have hope! We all need hope and our hope is built on the Lord Jesus Christ.

We will begin January with an easy verse, one many of you may already know, and memorize 5 verses that affirm the Lord is our Hope and Salvation! Continue reading “January Scripture Memory Challenge”

Three Benefits of Memorizing Scripture and 2018 Scripture Memory Challenge

The attacker moves toward me, I banish the attack with my sword! Because I have a scripture ready in my memory, I feel like a valiant knight prepared to whip out my sword and slay the forces of darkness with the Word of God!  I believe that committing scripture to memory is a worthwhile discipline for every Christ-follower. Introducing: The 2018 Scripture Memory Challenge!

Now, don’t be groaning! It doesn’t have to be hard, there are tools we can use to make things more memorable. If you will accept the challenge to memorize just one verse a week throughout 2018. I will provide tools and hints to help you.

I think there are three valuable reasons to memorize scripture: Continue reading “Three Benefits of Memorizing Scripture and 2018 Scripture Memory Challenge”

Really? That’s Where You’re Sending Me?

I didn’t get it. The scripture had resonated. I had written it on a note card and tucked it up on the mirror I used each morning. I read it over and over. My heart answered: “Here I am Lord send me, I will answer the call, I will go, just show me where!’’ Then, I spent years asking God to show me what he wanted, where I should go. The answer stared me in the face every morning as I got up to go to work but I didn’t get it! God was sending me out into the workplace to be his witness, to be his hands and feet.

Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” I said, “Here I am. Send me.” Isaiah 6:9 NLT

I’m retired now, I don’t get up every morning and go out into the world. I don’t have the same encounters with people who can see my integrity, or lack of, every day. I no longer encounter classes or auditoriums full of students on a nearly weekly basis. The sheer numbers of people I had the opportunity to serve as the hands and feet of Jesus are in my past.

Don’t get me wrong, a great deal of prayer went into my decision to retire. And, although much of my time is spent alone in this life of a writer, I still go out into the world in intentional ways but I’ve changed! Now, I do get it! I know I’m the hands and feet of Jesus as I visit a local grade school each week to help a young teacher friend with fourth graders. And, I know that I’m the one called to encourage my Tuesday ladies as they struggle in a sometimes difficult workplace. I listen and love the members of my exercise classes and we speak of things of real importance rather than superficial pleasantries.

Our workplaces are our mission fields. It's where we “go into the world”. #womenatwork http://wp.me/p7tIj1-5w Click To Tweet

I also know that God has asked me to tell you that I was wrong! Our workplaces are our mission fields. It’s where we “go into the world”. We need to drive or walk or fly to work fully aware that we have been called to go and walk side-by-side with our coworkers, our customers, our clients, our students and our patients. To be the hands and feet of Jesus.

I hope, unlike me, you get it! Where ever you work, whoever you see daily, those are the ones you are called to serve and the place God sends you out to work is precisely the place you are called to.

The beauty is that we don’t have to get it to be where God wants us. God is perfectly capable of placing you in the right spot whether you get it or not. Unfortunately, even though you may not recognize your mission, the enemy does. The more effective you are the harder he will work to undermine the mission. Our commute should be fueled with preparation to go into the world and fight the battles that dilute our witness, that undermine our integrity and fail to offer the light that we are called to carry into the world.

God is perfectly capable of placing you in the right spot whether you get it or not. #womenatwork http://wp.me/p7tIj1-5w Click To Tweet

So here’s my question for you today. What do you need to help you as you face your daily mission field? Do you need a prayer warrior? Just ask and I’ll pray for you by name. Put it in the comments below or send me a private note. Do you need a daily encouragement as you drive to work? Or, is there something else you need. I’d really like to know!

 

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Stolen Identity

It all started with a phone call. As the conversation began to unfold I realized that something was not right. I quickly hung up and did a bit of research, my identity had been stolen! It was not my financial identity, but my medical identity. Someone had impersonated me, using my medical history to obtain drugs. I went through a series of emotions, shock, violation, anger, determination. The feelings I experienced are normal when someone steals from us.

We hear of someone who has had their financial identity stollen fairly often. When I filed the police report, they told me that even in my small community there are several reports a day. But, that evening as I was processing the events of the day, it hit me, our spiritual identity is stolen too.

Spiritual identity, you ask? Well, yes! It happens every day to someone. We listen to the voice that says you are worthless, you are not worthy, you are guilty. But the truth is that once we belong to Christ we have a new identity, we are new creations.

This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Cor 5:17 NLT

We have been purchased by Christ’s blood and we have a new identity, but we have a hard time shifting gears in our head. We keep thinking we are that same old person, the one we were before Christ. Intellectually we say, I’m saved, but our hearts do not seem convinced. Our actions do not reflect our salvation. Our thought patterns cling to the patterns of that old person before salvation. Simply speaking, we let our identity as daughters of God be stolen!

Simply speaking, we let our identity as daughters of God be stolen! Click To Tweet

So here’s my challenge, if you choose to accept…let this truth shock you! Then get angry about it and replace that anger with a new determination to think and live and act like the redeemed woman of God that you are. Fight for your identity in Christ!

 

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Who Do I Follow?

Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross, and follow me. Matthew 16:24 NLT

The news in my little corner of the world over the last week has highlighted for me the importance of our choices. We concentrate on the big choices, those we consider for days or months. Those we see as life-changing. But, I’ve come to see that what seems small defines us. That it is the one tiny act of kindness, love or self-sacrifice that changes lives. It is the adding up of all those small, seemingly insignificant choices that make a life.

It is the adding up of all those small, seemingly insignificant choices that make a life. Click To Tweet

I see a line of strangers who, in an instant, joined hands in the ocean to form a literal lifeline for a drowning family in Florida. No time to consider. Just grab a hand and become a nameless, faceless individual in a long line of others who offer life. I was proud of my fellow man, I thought, that is what we should all do, just jump in and save a life. Of course, I would do that. Of course!

Then, in my news feed, the driver who hit a bicycle rider on a road not far from home. In an instant, the driver decided to swerve into a bicycle rider. After hitting the rider he sped away. As I read the comments on Facebook I saw anger and selfishness from dozens of individuals. Many comments could be summed up as “if you are in my way you are in the wrong and you deserve whatever happens for inconveniencing me.” I am shocked! I am saddened. I am convicted. How many times have I considered myself and wish to brush away any roadblock, even if it’s another life?

All those small choices we make are really an indicator of who we are and who we serve. I’m coming to the conclusion that the only real decision we must often make is will I serve God or will I serve myself? Christ reminds us that serving God means to deny ourselves. And that is not our natural reaction in many situations. Christ’s call to take up our cross follow him never lets us do as we please.

All those small choices we make are really an indicator of who we are and who we serve. Click To Tweet

The Tuesday ladies and I were talking about this last night. How it seems easier to serve God by doing the one “Big Thing”. We want to excuse those small, daily, inconvenient choices that are set before us. We read in James 4:17 that it is a sin to know what we ought to do and not do it. And sure, we believe this! After all, it’s written in God’s word. But do our lives reflect that belief?  Ummmm, we all hung our heads a bit. We challenged one another to work harder on this. And so I challenge you now, as you make all those small daily decisions, who will you serve? Will you serve the Lord, or will you serve yourself? Attitudes are not excused any more than actions. When our world revolves around us, it does not revolve around Christ.

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT

 

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Five Reasons Forgiveness Leads to Freedom

Forgiveness is hard. Most of the time I don’t want to forgive. I’ve been hurt, I’m sad or angry or maybe even afraid. My brain screams, don’t let them get away with this, fight back! But experience tells me otherwise. Faith demands a different response.

1. If I don’t forgive, my faith is weak. We believe the offender should pay, and if we forgive, then payment will not happen. The offender will just do it again. Newsflash! If a penalty is due, the offender will pay. You many not see it, but it will happen. God promises us He will be our defender. Don’t let your faith be weakened by relying on yourself rather than your God.

I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. Exodus 34:7 (NLT)

Don’t say, “I will get even for this wrong.” Wait for the Lord to handle the matter. Proverbs 20:22 (NLT)

2. By not forgiving, I weaken, rather than growing stronger. Wrestling with yourself and your attitudes produces growth. Wrestling with the ‘offender’ just offers another opportunity for hurt. It wears you out. The only growth you experience is growing more exhausted.

Deceit fills hearts that are plotting evil; joy fills hearts that are planning peace! Proverbs 12:20 (NLT)

Fools vent their anger, but the wise quietly hold it back. Proverbs 29:11(NLT)

If I don’t forgive. I can’t heal. Open wounds will fester. Click To Tweet

3. If I don’t forgive I can’t have a healthy relationship. In fact, the damage done to us by holding on will often damage other relationships as well. In our mind’s eye, we have walled off the one who hurt us. We aren’t going to let them do it again. In reality, you can’t wall off another person, they just keep moving away. The only way you can build a wall is to wall in the cooperative, and girlfriend if we are bent on building a wall that means walling off ourselves. When we isolate ourselves, all our relationships suffer.

A gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare. Proverbs 15:1 (NLT)

Love prospers when a fault is forgiven, but dwelling on it separates close friends. Proverbs 17:9 (NLT)

4. If we don’t forgive, eventually, we will regret it. Our lives will revolve around the hurt we’re continuing to nurse. It becomes a focal point in life. That’s a sad life to live. We give the offender the power to continue to attack us over and over. Break free! Forgive!

And when I forgive whatever needs to be forgiven, I do so with Christ’s authority for your benefit, so that Satan will not outsmart us. For we are familiar with his evil schemes. 2 Corinthians 2:10-11(NLT)

5. I did not deserve forgiveness, but I got it anyway. So I have no right to think that forgiveness is only for the worthy. We are commanded to forgive. God does not do this to punish us further, he does this to set us free!

“If you forgive those who sin against you, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you refuse to forgive others, your Father will not forgive your sins.” Matthew 6: 13-14 (NLT)

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. Col 3:13 (NLT)

O Lord, you are so good, so ready to forgive, so full of unfailing love for all who ask for your help. Psalm 86: 5 (NLT)

Girlfriend, we have many good reasons to forgive. Forgiveness is a gift. God not only gives us the gift of forgiveness but He gives us the gift of being able to forgive no matter how badly we have been hurt. People are watching. Forgiving freely is not common. The ability to offer forgiveness proclaims our faith and gives us a life that is free of the burden of anger and resentment. This my friends makes our faith most attractive. Is there anyone you need to forgive today?

God not only gives us the gift of forgiveness but He gives us the gift of being able to forgive. Click To Tweet

 

Cutting Deep

I got up early this morning and went out to prune my rosebushes. I plant the southern standard, knock out roses. They are hardy. They bloom and rebloom all summer. However, as the summer wears on they get more and more stingy with the blooms, unless you prune them! And one hard truth I’ve learned over the years is that the harder you prune the better they look and the prettier they bloom. Now, I’m not one to cut mine back to the stump every spring, but I do prune pretty hard before they bloom, then as they begin to become crowded with a mix of dying blossoms and new shoots I have to force myself to cut off new shoots. I have to cut back hard if I want them to remain shapely and bloom gloriously all summer.

You know where this is going don’t you? God tells us that those he loves, he disciplines.

“My child, don’t make light of the Lord’s discipline, and don’t give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child.” Hebrews 12:5-8 NLT

In John 15:1-2 he says:

“My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.“ (NLT)

God is well aware of the lesson of deep pruning and he’s not afraid to cut out all the rot. Click To Tweet

Pruning can be painful! I am not talking about that thorn that poked my thumb kind of pain, I’m talking about deep heartache and many tears. God is well aware of the lesson of deep pruning and he’s not afraid to cut out all the rot and the non-productive. God loves us so much that he is not going to be content with a relationship where he’s all warm and fuzzy and protects us from all pain. But that’s what we often ask isn’t it? When was the last time you welcomed pruning? I know I’m not begging for it, but I’m trying to learn the lesson that when it comes, and it will, I need to lean in rather than run. I need to trust the pruner. After all, if there’s something growing in me that isn’t good for me I want it removed down to the root, to a place where it won’t  grow back.

I need to trust the pruner. Click To Tweet

If you are in a season of pruning, I know it’s hard. But cling to the pruner who waits right beside you through the bleeding and the healing season. Through all the tears and begging for it to just ‘go away’. Trust the love my sister. Your life can bloom with a beauty that puts my rosebush to shame. Don’t choose to get gangly and live a barely fruitful life! Quit wasting time and effort on empty things and fill your life with the truly beautiful!

 

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My Feet Hurt!

I am that girl, the one who always loved beautiful shoes. I notice shoes, and can guarantee that I will notice yours. Did you know that the University of Kansas even did a study on what shoes say about you?

Well, today, I’m wearing a pair of decidedly unpretty shoes with orthotic inserts. Why?  Well, because of pain, that’s why! I was born with feet that were wonderful for jumping and dancing and gymnastics in my younger years, but which need firm support as I grow older.  I try to forget that and move away from the utility shoe that serves me well back into the things that are beautiful.  I could claim they soothe my soul but in truth, it’s probably my vanity that is best served.

Pain is a powerful motivator.  Not only can pain move me into shoes I would never choose to wear on a day to day basis, it can also move us to give up things that hurt us, to move away from harm and toward safety and the things that are right and good.  God has designed our bodies and our hearts to recoil from pain. It’s for our own good.

At times, God chooses to use pain to redirect our hearts and our lives. Click To Tweet

At times, God chooses to use pain to redirect our hearts and our lives. God loves us, and though he does not want us to suffer pain, he is also wise and knows that pain can often save us from a greater pain. So, when I experience pain what should my response be? I think that I should look closely at the pain for the underlying message. What should I change or do differently, or move away from or move toward to escape the pain? Pain is a teacher, but we must be students and accept the lesson pain offers. We must apply the self discipline to apply the lesson we learn, although if that lesson is from God he will surely walk with us through that pain.

Pain is a teacher, but we must be students and accept the lesson pain offers. Click To Tweet

We are all a bit heard headed. There will be times that the pain will have to increase before we are willing to accept the lesson offered. But if we fail to accept and apply the lesson, we can be sure that our pain will increase until we make a change. God loves us deeply and in his wisdom allows the pain to mold us to a better future.

God loves us deeply and in his wisdom allows the pain to mold us to a better future. Click To Tweet

So, as I accept the painful lesson and put on my orthopedic shoes I should accept the lessons of other pain in my life and look for the change that’s needed. If I choose the wrong change, well, most likely there will be pain there too, pointing me in the right direction. Where is your pain today my friend?  What is God inviting you to change for your long term benefit? Are you willing to look beneath the pain for the lesson? Are you willing to set aside your pride or selfishness to make the change so that pain may subside and your heart may soar free? I pray you are. I pray I am too!

Hebrews 12: 10-11For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.

 

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