Learning to Live with Myself Part 1: Roles

Four years ago, I attend a Women of Faith conference and saw a skit about the many hats that moms wear.  While this isn't the same exact sketch, it contains many of the same undertones:

Like the video above, I currently wear many hats and as a result I often feel I live a fragmented and contradictory life.  Sometimes, the hats that I wear stand in direct opposition to one another.  The part of the video that resonated with me the most was the transition from the wicked witch to the nun. Oh, that is the way that I feel sometimes.

I have been struggling to find a way to make all my hats fit on my head in a way that they do not interfere with one another.  But often times, by the end of the day, trying to do this leaves me defeated and confused.  Some of my roles I can really excel at while on the same exact day in the other roles I am a complete flop.  I haven't found a way to make these inconsistencies within my own self mesh together; to be 10 different things to 10 different people and in the end make everyone happy, including myself.  However, God's gentle Spirit has been undermining my goal of making all my hats fit and to find the ability to smoothly transition from one to the other.  Instead, He has challenged me to stop and start over from a whole different perspective.

I am currently reading through the book Living with Contradiction by Esther de Waal.  I am in the midst of working through the chapter, Learning to Live with Myself and it is really ministering to my heart.  For the next 3 posts, I want to look more closely at what I've been learning from Him as I work through these ideas.  I pray that the things that I am learning will also minister to your heart.

In Christ,



Image: Sunlight in Antarctica. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Web. 20 Mar 2015. 
http://quest.eb.com/search/119_1781894/1/119_1781894/cite

With New Eyes

The Sermon on the Mount has been in the forefront of my mind the last several weeks, and I have been loving it.  I'll admit that there was a time in my life, when coming to that entire section filled me with dread, fear and condemnation.  But it no longer does that, instead it fills me with excitement and a desire to say, "Yes and Amen" to God's Kingdom, what He is doing in it and how He has invited us to participate.  Some of the leading influences in this excitement and changed perspective has come from NT Wright's 40 days of Lent, Todd Hunter's sermon Beatitudes (Feb 2, 2014), The Message's version of the sermon on the Mount and my own reflections on my life via the Holy Spirit.

The following post will be snippets from Matthew 5 with my own reflections interjected in-between.  I hope you enjoy:

I must start with the end, before I get to the beginning, because the end frames it up so well:

48 Live out your God-created identity. 

Live generously and graciously toward others,

 the way God lives toward you.

This is what Jesus is inviting us to throughout the Sermon on the Mount, in fact throughout His whole life as He proclaims, "God's Kingdom come on earth."

I got to get away this past weekend for a Women's Retreat with my church.  During the silent retreat time, I was overwhelmed by God's faithfulness to me and to my life.  I was filled with utter joy.  The past 10 years of my life have been filled with many hard, hopeless, tear-filled days.  There were times where I did not want to get out of bed because the pain in my heart was so deep.  But as I reflected on these times and the things that I have learned through it - I have realized that I have emerged with a deep trust in God's heart and His love for me and those who surround me.  This conviction has partially come from living out the truths found in the Sermon on the Mount.  I have realized that the very words of Jesus are true and living and do produce the life-giving Kingdom that He has promised.

Here are a few of the snippets that jumped out at me as I read through Matthew 5 this morning:

vs 5  “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are

—no more, no less. 

That’s the moment you find yourselves 

proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.

Learning to be content in my own skin, with who God has created me has been one of the treasured lessons I have received out of this journey.

vs 6-9

6 “You’re blessed when you’ve worked up a good appetite for God. 

He’s food and drink in the best meal you’ll ever eat.

7 “You’re blessed when you care. 

At the moment of being ‘care-full,’ 

you find yourselves cared for.

8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world

—your mind and heart—

put right. 

Then you can see God in the outside world.

9 “You’re blessed when you can show people 

how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. 

That’s when you discover who you really are, 

and your place in God’s family.

This joy and love for God and His kingdom is being awakened during the season of Lent. Celebrating Lent is a fairly new concept for my faith-walk but it has been a beautiful experience.  As my pastor said during our Ash Wednesday service - Lent is not about beating yourself up and punishing yourself to try and get yourself to be acceptable before God.  Rather it is placing your sin at His feet and listening for His words of truth over you.  So as I've entered into this season - I have stopped to listen with new eyes and fresh ears to what God has to say, instead of my preconceived notions of what I think He should say.  The difference is beautiful.

Let me tell you why you are here. 

You’re here to be salt-seasoning that 

brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? 

14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. 

 If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? 

I’m putting you on a light stand.

 Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! 

For me, Lent is a season to reflect on these truth of being salt and light and remembering that I get to shine.  The spaces where godliness has diminished I get to bring before Him and let Him fix, heal and teach me.  For He says,

“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. 

I’m not here to demolish but to complete. 

I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama.

God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. 

Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.

God's way seems backwards and sometimes it is hard.  And that's where this trust and understanding of what He is up to makes all the difference in the world:

You’re familiar with the command to the ancients, 

‘Do not murder.’ 

I’m telling you that anyone who is so much as angry with a brother or sister is guilty of murder. 

Carelessly call a brother ‘idiot!’ and you just might find yourself hauled into court. 

Thoughtlessly yell ‘stupid!’ at a sister and you are on the brink of hellfire.

The simple moral fact is that words kill.

This is not about the tit-and-tat of the law.  Rather it is about understanding the power we have as image-bearers of God.  The power of our words and of our hearts.  Self-indulgence in what feels good for the moment can have long-lasting negative effects on those we love (and do not love).  How then can we love?

“You’re familiar with the old written law, 

‘Love your friend,’ 

and its unwritten companion, 

‘Hate your enemy.’ 

I’m challenging that. 

I’m telling you to love your enemies. 

Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. 

When someone gives you a hard time,

respond with the energies of prayer, 

for then you are working out of your true selves, 

your God-created selves. 

This is what God does. 

He gives his best

—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—

to everyone, regardless: 

the good and bad, 

the nice and nasty. 

So we have come full circle.  Back to where we started:

Live out your God-created identity. 

Live generously and graciously toward others, 

the way God lives toward you.

My conclusion is that coming to know how God feels about me has enabled me to walk this out in my own life and as a result I am enjoying the fruits of this kind of living.  Even in the midst of the difficulties, the unknown, the darkness and the questions - clinging to God's way, loving the way that He loves - it is worth it.

In Christ,




All Scripture has come from BibleGateway's website.

Being released from the fear of men

I like to be liked.
I'm a people-pleaser.

So the Lord has started putting me in situations where I sometimes have hard things to say to people - the result being they don't like me very much (for the moment, I hope:).  It drives me crazy.  I've been asking God to give me a new perspective on things and He has:

Isaiah 51:12-15 (NCV)

The Lord says, "I am the one who comforts you.

So why should you be afraid of people, who die?

Why should you fear people who die like the grass?

13 Have you forgotten the Lord who made you,

who stretched out the skies

and made the earth?

Why are you always afraid

of those angry people who trouble you

and who want to destroy?

But where are those angry people now?

14 People in prison will soon be set free;

they will not die in prison,

and they will have enough food.

15 I am the Lord your God,

who stirs the sea and makes the waves roar.

My name is the Lord All-Powerful.

This Scripture brought my perspective back into alignment with His perspective.

As I read it I saw the following things:

• We don't need to be afraid of men
• Because we worship the Creator of the universe 
• God's ultimate plan is to bring freedom to the captives
• Because of this we can put our trust in the All-Powerful God

I love how His ultimate plan is sandwiched between His Almighty character.  As I step away from fear, to trusting Him, He gently reminds me of what He is up to and gives me another reason why I can trust His ways.

This verse reminded me of a mental picture I've used the past couple of years as I have dealt with difficult people and situations:

My perspective has been:

                 ME --negative thoughts-- A person --judgement--The Cross

It should be:

                  ME --negative thoughts-- The Cross --love-- A person

What's the difference?

In the first scenario, I am trying to deal with the person first.  I see the Cross in the background and "the freedom" God has in store for the person, but I'd like to walk alongside that person and lead pull them with judgement to the Cross.  When we arrive, we can kneel down together and I can show them the right way:). 

In the second scenario, all my thoughts and attitudes towards the person is having to pass through the Cross first.  The end result is my perspective has been tailored into love for that person.  And I'll take love over fear any day. 

I'm thankful for God's Word reminding me that walking in His perspective towards others leads to mine and their ultimate freedom.

In Christ,

The story of mess

You are about to get a glimpse of my kitchen, in a mess!  For those of you who know me personally and I allow into my home on a regular basis, will know that my house doesn't usually look like this when you come to visit.  I like a nice clean house when I have company.  However, if you live with me, this is how our house normally looks.  Why?  Because people actually live in the house and amazingly so, life with people ends up being messy.

But within the mess is a story and as I reflected on the story of my messy kitchen this morning, I decided I'd much rather have the story and the people who make the story than to have a nice clean house.

Story 1: The coffee pot.  The coffee pot is out because my husband surprised us and took Friday off of work.  He bought hot chocolate, peppermint creamer and cinnamon buns as a treat for breakfast.
 

Story two: The messy counter.  This counter is notorious for all the junk.   Glasses, mail, a book that I am reading, bills to pay, tape, a whoopee cushion, you know all the important things of life.

Story 3: My mother-in-law pile.  I have a pile of things I need to take to my mother-in-law's house of stuff that belongs to her.  So yes, this pile of stuff from Christmas, will soon be moving to another's home.

Story 4: The crumby floor.  These crumbs are from the zucchini, banana flaxseed muffins that I made my kids.  They thought they were fantastic and thanked me profusely for making them.  However, they left a mess on the floor.  I don't like to sweep but my husband will do the job.  I asked him to sweep it up a couple of days ago and he said he would.  The fact that the mess was still there made me smile.  I was glad that we were at the point in our marriage where I didn't have to be a nag and yell that he didn't sweep when I asked him too. I have learned to trust his heart and know that he hadn't forgotten.  Then this morning before our Sunday gathering he noticed the mess and said, "I didn't sweep that up yet."   The first thing he did when we came home was sweep up the mess (and almost wrecked my chance to take pictures for my post).

Story 6:  We celebrated my son's 8th birthday yesterday.  That is the box that hold the crumbs of what is left, along with the camera that captured the pictures.  We have an amazing son who brings us life and delight over the last 8 years.

So as you see, our mess tells a story.  The story that it tells is that life, fellowship, laughter, love and fun live in this house.  I wish that life could operate without the included mess, but it doesn't.  All this got me thinking about my last post, Sin's power is broken, and especially about Romans 6:10-12:

10For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it]

once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].

11Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin

and your relation to it broken,

but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

You see Jesus willing choose to enter the mess of our world and take care of the problem of sin so that we could remain in unbroken fellowship with Him.  He wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, in fact Isaiah 53:3 says that

He was a man of sorrows, familiar with suffering.

Now He now sits at the right hand of God, as our high priest who sympathizes with our weakness (Hebrew 4:18).  He has opened the way so that we can live this life in unbroken fellowship with Him.  Because He has walked this earth in flesh, He understands that life is messy and offers us mercy and grace as we walk through this life.  He is not sitting in heaven waiting for us to live perfectly, holy and clean lives so that then we can live in fellowship with Him.  No, instead He has made it possible for us to live our life in relation with Him.

If you want to live a mess-free life you will have to do it by sitting still and doing nothing.  However, when you begin interacting with others, seeing their lives and sharing with them then mess will develop.  The greatest commandment Jesus said is "To love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and then to love others as yourself."  Jesus understands that if you live out this command, there will be messes along the way.  He wants you to live, move and have your being in Him as you walk through this life.  Your mess will get cleaned up, straightened and put away, but to live life in love, fellowship, laughter and friendship with Him and those we share life with is what He offers.

 

In Christ,

Sin's power is broken

In my last post, I shared on the Relentless nature of God.  I also discussed the power of TRUTH.  The past several years I've been in a process of removing lies and misunderstandings that I've accumulated over the years.  As time goes by, I've grown to have a greater understanding of the beauty of the the Gospel and the freedom that Christ offers us by His grace.

Remember the 4 characteristics of God discussed in Isaiah 9: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace?  The Lord really captured me in the past 2 years with the concept that He is not only my Everlasting Father, but is my loving Heavenly Father.  Now that I am secure in that I have been re-entering the Bible with fresh, free eyes and I have been astounded by how much "I see" that I've never seen or understood before.  Today I want to share on the concept of sin.

Sin is a popular word in Christian circles today.  It has been a huge focal point of most of my Christian experience.  I sinned again, what can I do differently, Lord will you forgive me, have you forgiven me?  When will I go too far for your grace?

I've read the book of Romans many times before, and in the past it has only seemed to reconfirm these fears of insecurity.  The Lord has been taking me through the book again, and I've realized that through my dissection of each verse, I have missed the story and the point of what Paul is trying to say. 

In the book of Romans, Paul is building a case to the Jewish people of why faith ALONE in Jesus Christ is where we should put our hope and trust.  However, if you stop him in the middle of his building a case, you end up missing the whole point of what he is trying to say.  For instance, try reading Romans 1 by itself.  Then, try reading Romans 2 by itself.  Then return and read Romans 1,2 and 3 all together and I guarantee you will leave with a whole different understanding.

Or take for instance, Romans 3:23 which we all know:  "All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God."  But can you quote Romans 3:24 (I'd really like to know if you can)?  See verse 23 doesn't end with a period, it has a comma and reads on to say:

and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Why do we choose to memorize only 3:23 and not continue on to the Good News of verse 24?  Why do we have an obsession with sin instead of with grace?

Why, you say, because if we have an obsession with grace we will continue to sin. (Hmm, sounds somewhat familiar to Romans 6:1).  However, we do not need to bypass truth, or create a new truth to overcome sin.  Instead, shouldn't we try believing in and doing it God's way? 

Romans 6:10-12 (AMP)

 10For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it]

once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].

11Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin

 and your relation to it broken,

but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

Read it again.  Did you hear that?  Is that what you've been taught?  Do you consider yourself dead to sin?  Your relationship broken with it?  Is the primary identity you walk with is that you are alive in God, in UNBROKEN fellowship with Him?  That there is the point and the key!  Sin is no longer your master - you are dead to it - Christ is your master.  Do we still mess up sometimes? Yes, but that doesn't change the truth.  You are now dead to sin.  It does not come alive again because you mess up.

12Let not sin therefore rule as king in your mortal (short-lived, perishable) bodies, to make you yield to its cravings and be subject to its lusts and evil passions.

14 For sin shall not [any longer] exert dominion over you, since now you are not under Law [as slaves], but under grace [as subjects of God's favor and mercy].

According to the verses above, you have a choice to make about how sin operates in your mortal bodies.  You can choose to let it rule and reign, or you can realize that it has no dominion over you and therefore you can choose to live and walk according to grace.  Personally, I have found no better way to live, than to live in these truths.  If you want to live under the law, then only read Romans 2 & 7 because those descriptions will be the defining factors of your life.  You will constantly feel like you are failing, never measuring up and that God is always angry with you.  However, if you want to live under grace then read all of Romans and believe and apply Romans 3, 6 and 8.  This is the lifestyle that Christ purchased for you, that you would be dead to sin, that it would no longer be your master.  The truth is that you live in unbroken fellowship with your Heavenly Father and because of that you get to walk according to the Spirit and not the law.  So here is where people often trip up on grace- they think that if you live by grace you will not be holy.  However, God's design is for you to walk according to the Spirit (Romans 8).  If you choose to walk by the Spirit, you will end up fulfilling the law without even trying.  But if you try to FIRST live your life by the law and carry that burden on your shoulders you will constantly fail.  Why?

The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase (Romans 5:20). 

The point of the law is to show that you are a sinner.  So if you try to live your faith out by walking by the law instead of by the Spirit you will constantly be aware of the fact that you still sin and fail.

So stop having your constant fixation be upon sin, are you sinning, have you sinned, etc.  Sin is no longer your master.  You have died to it.  Instead, fix your eyes on Jesus Christ with whom you have unbroken fellowship!  Guess what?  By walking in fellowship with God through this life you will be walking in the true life that belongs to you.


In Christ,
 

Dusting off Dreams

My kids have big dreams, dreams that are bigger than life itself.  For instance, over the last several months my daughter has been building a "rocket ship" in our living room out of cardboard boxes.  For Christmas, my kids got an upgrade to a 5 foot long rocket ship.  Below is a video of my kids preparing to launch off to space.




Their dreams have expanded my horizons and have taught me child-like faith.  There is something about "getting older" that allows the practicality of life and the limits life offers to begin to bury those youthful dreams we once had.

My daughter has another dream and her dream has inspired me to dust off some of my own dreams.  When she was 4 1/2 years old she took paper, scissor, tape and a pencil and made a little book.  She couldn't read or write at this point in time but she drew pictures.  The book ended up having a story line of a princess captured by a witch and saved by a hero.  It was very cute and I was amazed at her creativity.  The hero of the story, Tot began to take shape and form.

Tot was not a one time incidence.  She began creating more and more books.  However, her creations  much like her personality, were spread all over the place.  I began to help her "organize" her little books.  Last time we organized, Tot was up to 11 "books."  I began to realize that this was a significant moment in her little life and I made sure it was kept together and not thrown away which is what I like to do when there are too many papers (remember practicality).  I still did not understand or realize the depths of her dreams.

One night, she and I were driving alone in the car.  In the backseat, her little voice spoke up,

"Tot will be in the library when I'm 26 years old." 

"What?" I asked.

"Tot will be in the library when I'm 26 years old.  I'll have to probably have other jobs until then, but he will be in the library when I'm 26."

I was astounded at the depths and the practicality of her dreams.  In her young mind, she was going to have her books published when she is 26 and she understood that it will take time, effort, and perhaps pursuing other things in the process.  After our recent trip to Disney World, she added another element to her dream.  She announced that Tot's wife, Micah would be the next Disney princess and Tot would be the next prince.  (So you heard it here first!)

Wow! I began to pray to the Lord after all this.  How in the world do you harness the depths of these dreams to keep them alive, so that she can accomplish some of her dreams?  And then the Lord began to quietly remind me of some of my own dreams.  You see in my younger years I used to dream, too.  Every New Year, I would journal and write out what I hoped to accomplish in the upcoming year.  As we know, the practicality of life gets in the way and those dreams get dusty.  Now that I'm older and "wiser" I no longer keep up with this tradition of writing down dreams that will never happen, what's the point?

The point, I've been learning, is that it is okay to fail and that failure is often a road to reality.  So after seeing the dreams of my kids, the Lord has challenged me to dust off one my forgotten dreams.  One of the ways I can help my daughter achieve her dreams is to show her that it is okay to try, fail and then try again.  Maybe every dream won't reach reality, but as the video above showed, it is sure fun to dream.

So yes, for this New Year, I'm dusting off some old dreams.  I am returning to the wonderment of childhood and realizing through the eyes of my daughter that you can have huge dreams and be practical at the same time.

Where are the dreamers?

Where have they gone?

They are the melody to life's song.

In Christ,

Book Review: Healing is a Choice

I decided to review the book Healing is a Choice by Stephen Arterburn after attending the incredible Women of Faith Conference.  At the conference, they emphasized being healthy spiritually and that we do have choices in how we feel and act each day.  They said if you were having trouble in this area to seek help.  I thought this book would be a perfect follow up to the conference.


Eight years ago, I read Waking the Dead by John Eldredge and then proceeded to read the rest of his works.  Going through his books helped me to sort through a lot of stuff and find a lot of freedom in different areas.  The last couple of years though I haven't really focused on "healing" per se and I began to see the residual effects in my life.  Issues began creeping up slowly, that were just annoying at first but started turning into bad habits.  I've learned that when things continue and I'm not able to stop them, through prayer alone that there is usually something else going on.  I've learned that it is worth finding out what the roots are and attacking them.  After attending the conference, I decided to attack these things head on.  So onto the book review:

Healing is a Choice is slightly intimidating when you receive it because it is 454 pages long!  Why is it so long?  Because it is the book and a full workbook combined.  The book discusses 10 decisions that will transform your life and 10 lies that can prevent you from making them.  The book is actually a fairly quick and easy read.  It is the workbook part that is full and intense.

The author is divorced after a 20 plus year marriage.  He uses much of the book to discuss the process of healing he went through after his divorce.  I personally struggled with how he chose to talk about his ex-wife and his former marriage.  His examples ended up being a hurdle I had to overcome to get to the truths of the book.  However, what I really found beneficial was the workbook portion of the book.  It is excellent and it is filled with Scripture and lots of good questions to ask.  It provided a good quiet time for me to talk to the Lord about some things!  I personally found the workbook  portion to be helpful and healing and it did provide what I was looking for, a format to deal with some of these issues.

Here are a couple of other thoughts about the book.  He mentions the possibility of using the book in small groups.  After leading small groups for the last 7 years, I would say this would not be a good idea.  The book is pretty intense, and depending on people's pasts could bring up some very deep issues.  When I lead a group SAFETY is my number one concern and it takes time to establish that. The group would have to be safe and the leader would have to equipped to handle the issues brought up.  Finally, if you can't afford counseling with a professional, the workbook portion might be a cost-effective way for you to get help.

Walking healed and whole is a choice.  Often times Christians walk around broken inside but "happy" on the outside.  After years of being around Christianity, I've watched these "happy" Christians crumble.  I've determined in my heart that this is not going to be my story.  What I've learned is that God just doesn't want us to look "good on the outside" but He truly cares about our hearts.  He wants to bring healing to our hearts and sometimes that involves looking at the past and letting God bring truth to the pains of the past.  Don't be afraid to grab God's hand and walk into the past with Him.

In Christ,



PS I received this book free of charge from Booksneeze.  All opinions expressed are mine and mine alone.

A Refreshing look at Isaiah 55

I'm on vacation so here is a recycled post. It is a good reminder:)!
Isaiah 55 contains a variety of verses that probably are very familiar to you.  These verses are usually discussed and remembered in small, separate sections.  While, the individual verses are beautiful and contain beautiful truths when viewed alone, a reading of them side by side reveals God's love in a way that is overwhelmingly beautiful. 
Here is the entirety of Isaiah 55:

The Lord says, "All you who are thirsty,

come and drink.

Those of you who do not have money,

come, buy and eat!

Come buy wine and milk

without money and without cost.

2 Why spend your money on something that is not real food?

Why work for something that doesn't really satisfy you?

Listen closely to me, and you will eat what is good;

your soul will enjoy the rich food that satisfies.

3 Come to me and listen;

listen to me so you may live.

I will make an agreement with you that will last forever.

I will give you the blessings I promised to David.

4 I made David a witness of my power for all nations,
a ruler and commander of many nations.

5 You will call for nations that you don't yet know.

And these nations that do not know you will run to you

because of the Lord your God,

because of the Holy One of Israel who honors you."

6 So you should look for the Lord before it is too late;

you should call to him while he is near.

7 The wicked should stop doing wrong,

and they should stop their evil thoughts.

They should return to the Lord so he may have mercy on them.

They should come to our God, because he will freely forgive them.

8 The Lord says, "My thoughts are not like your thoughts.

Your ways are not like my ways.

9 Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

10 Rain and snow fall from the sky

and don't return without watering the ground.

They cause the plants to sprout and grow,

making seeds for the farmer

and bread for the people.

11 The same thing is true of the words I speak.

They will not return to me empty.

They make the things happen that I want to happen,

and they succeed in doing what I send them to do.

12 "So you will go out with joy

and be led out in peace.

The mountains and hills will burst into song before you,

and all the trees in the fields will clap their hands.

13 Large cypress trees will grow where thornbushes were.

Myrtle trees will grow where weeds were.

These things will be a reminder of the Lord's promise,

and this reminder will never be destroyed.

This entire passage of Scripture is about Jesus Christ and the amazing beauty and freedom of His love!  That He offers us life, for free, all we have to do is COME!  Throughout this passage, God continually invites us to COME to Him and listen to Him.  The things He is offering to us as a result of coming to Him are good for us, rich and satisfying!

Sandwhiched throughout this chapter are additonal verses that we as believers today can take as encouragements to what God is doing and wants to do:

You will call for nations that you don't yet know.

And these nations that do not know you will run to you

because of the Lord your God,

because of the Holy One of Israel who honors you.

Beloved, the nations should be running to us!  Let us in confidence, call forth to the nations because God will set them free!

In the middle of this chapter, are the verses: "my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways".  When viewed by themselves, these verses can cause people to be afraid of coming to the Lord in their need, because they think He is saying, "don't question me and you won't understand why such and such has happened."  However, if you view these verses in context, you will see that is a misunderstanding.  God says, "They should come to the Lord, because He will freely forgive them." The point of these verses is that we can come to God and He will freely forgive us.  This incredible idea was, is and always will be GOD's IDEA not our idea.  

So you will go out with joy

and be led out in peace.

Are joy and peace what is leading you in your walk with God right now?  If not, God says they can lead you.  We can't force it, but what I am learning, is that one of the main reasons why I don't experience what God has to offer is because I often have a misunderstanding about His truth and how He operates.  That misunderstanding causes a barrier in my ability to walk in His truth.  When I sit at His beautiful feet and allow His love to change the lie(s) I've been living under, I then begin to live out the freedom He is offering.

Finally, the beauty of the Truth contained in these verses has the ability to bring powerful changes.  "Large cypress trees will grow where thornbushes were. Myrtle trees will grow where weeds were." Our God is a God of redemption and change.  When He replaces things in our lives He doesn't just bring an equal change, He brings a change that far exceeds the junk that was there before.  So give Him full access, it is worth it!

The reason Isaiah 55 is so beautiful is because it is the GOOD NEWS in God's own words!  Our all-powerful God is wanting to set the nations free and offer His forgiveness without reserve.  We have a message of freedom, life and redemption!  Let's walk in it.

In Christ,

My Hokey Pokey of Grace

My aunt sent me a video the other day about Brennan Manning's newest book:  All is Grace


You'll have to watch the video of it to understand the emotion behind the book...  Anyhow, as I watched the video I was reminded of how Brennan Manning was one of the first people who opened my life to the idea of grace as a lifestyle.  The next morning, I was singing "The Hokey Pokey" in the kitchen, with my kids of course, and it reminded me of how my journey with grace has been:

 "I put my right hand in, I pull my right hand out, I put my right hand in and I shake it all about."

You see I have been dancing with the story of grace for the last 13 years.  The names that have been influential in my story of grace have been Brennan Manning, Philip Yancy, Shane Holden, Wayne Jacobsen, John Eldredge, my father-in-law Keith, Erwin Mcmanus etc.  You see, as I have danced through this journey, I've put myself in and I've pulled myself out.  When I have put one body part in, I've danced and enjoyed it, but I soon pulled out.  The Father, however, didn't stop pursuing me with this angle of love. 

What kept pulling me out?  One, it was too good to be true.  Two, I've been reading my Bible since I was 8 years old and there were too many "scary" verses.  Also, I often heard from pulpits that if I got too comfortable in grace, I would start down the slippery hill to hell.  But as I've continued to immerse myself in the Word along with these conversations with others, my inhibitions kept unraveling.  I think the piece that kept holding me back is that I still thought I had an important role to play to keep this thing together.

However, a couple weeks ago I listened to the sermon Understanding the New Covenant by Neil Rhodes and that put the last piece into place for me.  See through this sermon he showed how the New Covenant that we live under was established between The Father and The Son (Isaiah 42:6).  We are just beneficiaries of the New Covenant!  It's taken a couple of weeks to settle into my spirit, but wow, it has been so freeing.  For someone who has spent the majority of her life as a performance-based lover to find out WHY I didn't need to perform (in fact never needed to perform) was so freeing.  So when I was singing "The Hokey Pokey" and I put my whole self in I realized that I don't need to take myself out anymore.

I am thankful to my Heavenly Father for dancing with me all along the way and knowing that there would be a day when I got it!  I look forward to the next song, because I am now all-in on grace.

In Christ,

Ready to dream again

Have you ever seen pieces of your heart written on the pages of a book? Your secret thoughts put into words? It is an amazing experience when it happens and for me it is one of those "wow" moments when you realize this life we are living in is bigger than were are as individuals. I am currently reading An Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus. This book discusses thoughts on how the church was designed to operate. I told my friend that as I read through this book, I am savoring it.  It has been written in a life-giving style that I want to have permeate my own life. This week, I've had a wide variety of thoughts spinning in my own head and as I read the book there were my dreams written out in black and white.

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Disclaimer: I don't really know why I write this blog.  I know that I don't write it to be a theological discourse.  My prayer behind this blog is that people will see that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are real, living and active in our lives today.  Hopefully, by reading my story, it will encourage you to look for and see the fingerprints of God in your own life and to receive His love in greater measure.

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I had the privilege of growing up in Christianity.  I can remember going to VBS when I was around 7 and learning John 3:16.  I can remember singing, "If your happy and you know it, clap your hands."  It was a fun, beautiful time and I remember the joy and laughter of community.  I then had the blessing of going to a Christian School from 4th grade up.  We had Bible everyday and Chapel once a week.  I remember worshipping God and falling more and more in love with Him.  I remember graduating and realizing that over half of the people in my small class no longer wanted anything to do with God.  I remember going to a secular college and sitting through class after class where I felt my faith was attacked.  I remember being grateful to be living at home and having a landing place to get re-centered.  I can than remember getting the opportunity to teach at a Christian school and again getting to talk about God everyday and worship with other Christians.  At that time, I started attending a beautiful church that shared the message of grace in a way that I had never heard before and I fell more and more in love with this beautiful Saviour that I remember hearing about way back when.  After having my first child, I started my first Women's Group and began having the opportunity of sharing God's love with others.  

A couple of years ago, the peace, calmness and ease of my faith began to shake.  The loss of my beautiful niece, Nevaeh, was a heartbreaking loss.  Part of recovering from that loss, involved delving into theology.  As I entered into this realm, it was like I entered into a different side of Christianity and started realizing that there were large amounts of varying opinions out there on what is salvation, is there healing today, what version of the Bible is the accurate version, what does Hell mean, is Creation literal or figurative....  As I begin to focus exclusively on these things I began to see the discord and disagreement between believers.  At times, it has been shocking and heartbreaking to me.  There have been so many days when I have longed to drop into a hole and return to the innocence of my childhood, when loving God was as simple and joyful as John 3:16 and I worshipped with other Christians in a common purpose of celebrating His love and sharing it with others.  The last several mornings, I have woken up and felt like I have been treading water ~ organizing thoughts ~ trying to figure out what exactly this means and that means...  And then I read the next chapter in An Unstoppable Force and there was peace.  I didn't have to keep kicking to keep my head above water, I could just float.  In that chapter, I heard what my heart's been longing to hear, but haven't been able to connect with my head for a while now.  I was reminded of what I believe and why.  I believe in the Bible and I believe in the God of the Bible who gets involved in people's personal stories and that He desires all men to be saved.  I believe we are instruments in a bigger story and we have the privilege of partnering with God in bringing the depth of His love to others ~ whether through the encouragement of other believers or loving the lost right where they are at and believing that the power of God's love will awaken their hearts to Him.  I want to see God glorified in and through others.  As I look back at the history of my Christian journey I see that community and love has carried me through.  It has drawn me closer to the heart of my Father and it has given me the ability to love people in ways I didn't know were possible.  

So with all that being said, I am ready to dream again.  I am ready to sail through the journey of faith with the Holy Spirit as my wind and the Bible as my rudder and anchor.  I know that at times it will take me into unknown territory and perhaps even failure, but I have seen the hand of God, the power of His redemption, I have felt His love and I want to walk with Him and with those He has put in my life in a way that strengthens and encourages us to run the race set before us.

In Christ,

Performance-Based Lovers Anonymous

This post is written for people who understand what it means to be a performance-based lover.  If you have no understanding for this type of loving, consider yourself blessed and you don't need to keep reading.  However, if you can understand this problem, then join me as I reflect on my journey to recovery.

God has a great sense of humor.  He allowed me, a performance-based lover to be married to a man who has no comprehension nor ability to love me based upon my performance.  As you can imagine, this inability has at times caused great angst in our marriage.  A recent incident, brought it up once again; I was hoping to increase my husband's love for me based upon what I did.  However, it did not turn out quite as I had imagined.  As we discussed this, two simple sentences, one out of his mouth and one out of my mouth, broke open the floodgates to revelation, and I pray that I will never be the same again.  And so once again, I laugh that God has me married to the one man who could love me in such a way that it would wake me up to realize that love can and should have nothing to do with my performance.

I freely admit that I am a recovering performance-based lover and I am looking forward to learning how to live a life free from the worry of performance and instead learn how to walk in the confidence of love.  I will share with you the visual image I got in regards to this topic.

The visual: two love tanks: the first love tank is God's, the second love tank is mine.  Now the following picture, is nothing that was taught to me but it puts language around much of the way I have lived my life.  As I reflect on being a performance-based lover, the picture I see is that God's love tank has a little faucet that is always on and the faucet is labeled "Daily Quota of Performance."  As the day goes by, the level of God's love for me in the tank begins to go down, slowly.  My job, is to keep the tank full and the way I do that is through my performance.  My performance adds love to God's love tank and if I do enough in one day the tank remains full.  Who determines how quickly it diminishes or fills up?  I suppose it is me.  Some days I am happily reaching my "quota", some days I am panicky that it is not filling up quickly enough and other days I am devastated that there will never be enough that I can do to keep it full, so why even bother.

The second love tank is mine.  It is situated next to God's love tank and it too wanes in its amount.  In order to love others well, it needs to be full, but it often is half empty.  The emotional result of this leaky tank is disappointment in and with others, because my perception is that others don't put in as much time and effort to fill me up as I do to them.

The main concept of my revelation is that God's love tank (and my husband's love tank) is always full.  It is never empty, nor slowly leaking towards E.  All this time, I have been putting in effort trying to "fill it up" with my performance.  But in essence, that has been pointless.  Why?  Because, in regards to love, they can't tell the difference; their love tanks are already full, in fact overflowing, so when I pour my performance in attempting to fill it up, there is essentially no difference to them.  Think of it as a bucket overflowing full of water.  If you add a drop of water to it, are you going to be able to make significant note of it?  On the other hand, if you toiled and strained hoping that one drop would make a difference you will end up feeling disappointment and exhaustion on your end. 

Do you know one of the scariest Scriptures for a performance-based lover is the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25?  The last thing we want is to be caught not doing one of the "things" and get sent away.  We make a checklist:

• Hungry
• Thirsty
• Clothes
• Sick 
• Prison

  Check, check, check, need to get on that one still...  How often though?  Everyday? Once a week? Once a lifetime?

Do you see?  We still miss the point.  If you will look at the passage again, you will see that the sheep didn't even know what it was that they did.  They weren't the ones saying, "Remember that time I visited you in prison?  Do you remember the time I fed that one guy, it was really you, wasn't it?"  When Jesus sends the goats away the statement He says is, "I never knew you." Like Mary sitting at Jesus feet, the sheep took time to know and be known by God. 

As I look at my marriage, I can guarantee you that my husband truly knows me better than I know him.  It is probably because the last 18 years of our relationship, he took the time to get to know me.  One example of the many ways he knows me, is that he can literally sense in 3 seconds or less if something is wrong with me.  He knows me that well.  Me, well I look forward to spending more time getting to know him, than doing things for him:)

The point of this post, beloved, is that God's love tank is ALWAYS full and overflowing. Because of that our performance cannot increase His love for us.  In fact, you can see because of God's generous love for us that even the things we end up doing here on earth, will end up benefiting us in heaven: "Lay up for yourselves, treasures in heaven" or take the parable of the talents, " they are given even more in the end..."  God's love tank is so full that it fills ours to overflowing.  Remember tank 2?  Mine used to be situated next to God's tank.  I recommend getting a replacement tank and storing it within His tank.  Perhaps your love tank, like mine, needs to be replaced from the hole-filled performance based tank, to the solid and secure love-based tank.

Ephesians 3:17-19

I pray that out of his glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

 

So thank you, to my husband Josh, for loving me so well.

 

In Christ,

Placing things in the right column

I went to balance my checkbook today and found that I was ahead $430.  As much as I was hoping that money had appeared out of nowhere, I knew it couldn't be true, so I set myself to finding the error.  I soon realized the mistake occurred because I had added money to my checking account when I had meant to subtract money from my checking account.  My $215 error had doubled into a problem of $430 because of an accounting error.  I realized that it is extremely important to place items in the correct column.

Today, I've been contemplating how we as Christians can take the same text of Scripture and end up with two totally different answers.  My little math error today, gave me a perspective on one reason why this happens; I had the same numbers on my computer and in my checkbook but the columns the numbers were in were different and it made all the difference in the world.

I think that this sometimes happens with our conclusions about our Christianity.  So if you will indulge me I will continue to reflect:  Half of our Bible was written BEFORE Jesus died on the cross and brought full life and light to what is the intentions of God's heart.  When we read the Old Testament we have to FILTER everything we read through Jesus and the cross; if we don't do this we will begin putting things in the wrong column and ending up subtracting things that belong to us because of Jesus.  Our relationship with God and how we are invited and given the right to interact with God is based solely upon Jesus and the cross.

A second area, where I think we've placed things in the wrong column comes to our wealth and success in America.  Many Christians feel ashamed and guilty that we have been given so much and we therefore, think that we have to give it all away yet we don't know how to do and end up with a guilt factor hanging between us and God.  But I think the guilt comes from placing the words of Jesus in the wrong column.  Our relationship with Jesus is based solely on our belief in Him not from the things we do.  Therefore, our relationship with God is not dependant upon what we do, however, the things we end up doing WILL come out of our relationship with Him (2 Quotes to Remember). 

Most of the church knows about the first half of Mark 10:29

29 “Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home

or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel...

and the church spends half the time feeling guilty that we haven't left enough for Christ.  But we don't often preach the end of His sentence,

Mark 10:29b

"will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age:

homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—

along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life."

By following Christ and giving up all, we will end up with even more than we started with.  So if our definition of being a "good" Christian is to give up everything but Scripture says we will now end up with even more, we will find ourselves in a constant state of turmoil because we can never give it all away. 

So I would like to invite you to step away with me and view things from a different column.  Instead of viewing the statements of Jesus as a "debt we owe Him to prove we belong to Him" let us view these statements and more "as a path to our ability to walk in confidence and freedom in this world."  We as Christians are told that we are to live in the world not of the world (John 17:15), that we have citizenship in heavens (Philippians 3:20), so we are strangers here on earth (Hebrews 11:13).  I think that we as Christians, have put these statements in the wrong column, and have used them as an excuse not to participate and engage in our present circumstances and as a result, I think we are missing out on being who Christ intended us to be in the earth - salt and light!  Jesus says, that the harvest is plentiful and that it just needs workers to do the work and that forceful men will take the kingdom.  So according to Scripture, the world is ready to be turned upside down and the church should be turning the world upside down but I think so often we find ourselves  sitting in our churches discussing "theology" and figuring out how we are not measuring up to the "standards" of a Christian life instead of going out and being who we are in Christ (this sentence was inspired byAn Unstoppable Force by Erwin McManus).

Christianity has turned the world upside down several times - obviously in the New Testament Church but also through the lives of people like Michelangelo, Isaac Newton, Bach and C.S. Lewis.  These individuals, I believe, walked confident in their giftings and excelled in their life here on earth and left us an inheritance of things that have lasted and shaped how the world moved forward.  But today in America, we almost teach that being a successful Christian is a bad thing.  Beloved, we worship the Creator of the Universe - the very One who gave us our brains and intelligence.  I truly believe that we, as Christians, are meant to be successful in this world and in the giftings God has given us.  Us moving forward confidently through Christ in our giftings will turn the world upside down.  The Church needs to stop running away from the world.  We do not need to be afraid because LIGHT always overcomes darkness.  Scripture states that we are strangers in this world, that our inheritance is not of this world.  These things are true.  They do not need to be arbitrarily proven.  Instead, we need to recognize that we are ABOVE the fray of this world and because of this we are able to move freely, confidently and successfully in this present world.  What I am saying is that we need to take the statements of Jesus and put them in the right column.  Jesus didn't ask us to store up our treasures in heaven to ensure us our spot in Heaven, rather He wanted us to know that because our citizenship is in heaven - we do not need to be slaves to the world and its systems and He wanted to free us to boldly bring His kingdom because our generous God would take care of the rest (Luke 12:22-32)



Luke 12:32

Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has

 been pleased to give you the kingdom. 

Sell your possessions and give to the poor.

Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out,

a treasure in heaven that will never fail,

where no thief comes near and no moth destroys.

³⁴ For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We are on a whole different playing field, a better playing field, and therefore, we CAN engage in this life here on earth in a way that brings LIFE and TRANSFORMATION because we know and serve the One and Only True God.

In Christ,

The Ministry of Jesus

The events in China due to the One-Child Policy are heart-breaking and at times it is possible to get discouraged and lose hope.  But when we stop to consider the heart and mission of God we can press forward.  Hebrews 12:1 states:

 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.

One of the “witnesses” to encourage us can be found in the life of Gladys Aylward.

In case you don't know anything about Gladys here is a little information.  Gladys was a missionary to China.  She went to China out of obedience to a call from the Lord without support from anyone.  She went through extreme hardships and trials to get herself to China.  One trial was walking through Siberia in the middle of winter by herself for 3 days straight.  Needless to say, she almost died.

I wanted to share one story from her life that captured my heart and totally confirmed and revealed to me the power of the ministry of Jesus:

Isaiah 61: 1-3 &; Luke 4:18

The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,

because the LORD has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners,

2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor

and the day of vengeance of our God,

to comfort all who mourn,

3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—

to bestow on them a crown of beauty

instead of ashes,

the oil of joy

instead of mourning,

and a garment of praise

instead of a spirit of despair.

Gladys had come to China without the ability to speak Chinese and without a backing from a missionary organization.  The missionary she had been working with died and so she found herself all alone in China.  She owed money to the Madarian, which was like the governor of the land, and she didn't have any money to pay him.  One day  he came to see her, and her Chinese companion fled because he thought Gladys was going to be arrested for not paying her taxes.  What happened next, was absolutely astounding.  The Mandarian came to her asking her to do a job for him.   This was amazing first of all because it provided the money she needed and secondly because of the job she ended up doing.  He was commanding her to go throughout the land and enforce a new law that had come from the head government.  It was commanded that all girls under the age of 12 could NO LONGER have their feet bound.  It was her job to make sure every village in her area was following this rule.  She informed the Mandarian that she would be preaching the gospel while she performed her task.  He said it was fine.  He gave her second in command status for that area and her word was to be followed.  She had the government's permission and support to travel throughout the land preaching the gospel and unbinding little girls feet breaking a horrific tradition that had gone on for generations!

The story recollected the first time she entered a home to unbind feet.  She sat down on the ground and took a little girls foot and began to unwind the cloth that had her feet bound so tightly in half.  The foot was completely white.  She began to massage the feet of the little girl and the blood began to flow again.  As she came into people's home with the authority of the government she also had the opportunity to share about the God who loved them so much that He sent His one and only Son so that they could be free.

Do you remember the ministry of Jesus, to set the captives free?  For generations Chinese women were in captivity and extreme pain because of this horrible tradition.  How beautifully appropriate that a daughter of the King of Kings would be called out to break this terrible curse in such a beautiful and personal way.  I don't know why generations of Chinese women had to endure the pain and why freedom didn't come earlier.  I just know and can see that WHEN the ministry of Jesus is given the chance to come it is done in a most glorious and beautiful way.

What I've learned from reading Gladys' story is that it is WORTH pushing through the pain and the hardships that try to stop us from going where God has asked us to do.  It is WORTH being a willing vessel and that Jesus will use us to bring His freedom to the captives.

The ministry of Jesus is still in effect today and His ministry flows out of His people.

Let it flow.

In Christ,



Becoming Untangled from Fear

I recently had the opportunity to watch Disney's newest movie Tangled.  My family and I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it is currently vying with Cinderella for my favorite Disney movie ever.  One of the reasons it ranks so highly, is because Rapunzel with her green eyes and golden hair reminds me of my own  blond green-eyed princess Mercea.  The other reason it resonates with me is because it opened my eyes to some of the things going on in my own life spiritually right now.  There are two scenes which I would like to share with you.

Background: In case you haven't seen the movie here is a little background.  Tangled is a story about Rapunzel with her long golden hair.  She was born a princess and her hair had magical powers which could bring healing.  As a baby she was kidnapped by an evil woman, Gothel, and placed in a tower so high she could never get free.  Gothel kidnapped Rapunzel because the power of Rapunzel's hair keeps Gothel young forever.  Rapunzel grows up believing that Gothel is her mother.  Gothel tells her that she must never leave the tower because of evil people would mistreat her and use her for her hair. Rapunzel longs to enter the world she sees from her tower but her trust in her "mother" Gothel keeps her locked up in the tower.

Scene 1: There is one scene in the movie when Rapunzel leaves the tower for the first time in her life.  She has felt called to the outside world but is torn because she feels she is rebelling against her mother.  The scene cuts back and forth between the different emotions Rapunzel feels:

She is dancing  and doing cartwheels in a field of flowers.

The next second she is crying because she is afraid.  She remembers all the things her "mother" would tell her about why she must stay locked up in the tower.

The next second she is running and screaming with joy "I'm free!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

The next second she is feeling like the worst person in the world for leaving the tower.

This continues on for several rounds but you get the idea.  Perhaps it's a female thing but I could totally relate.  Before my season of rest, fear was beginning to have a strong hold in my life.  I've been dealing with the fear of death, the fear of failure, the fear of loving my family with abandonment and more.  During my time off I've dealt with all the emotions Rapunzel experienced.  I love being free and God would speak to me about being free and my heart would leap for joy.  Later, however, the places of fear would remind me why I want to stay locked up and not care anymore.  It has been a back and forth emotional teeter-totter as God has been wooing me out of fear into trusting Him.

Scene 2:  This scene was the most powerful scene for me because it "revealed the face of fear" to me.  Rapunzel eventually realizes that Gothel is not her true mother and as it dawns on her she tells Gothel:

"All along you have been telling me that you kept me

 here to protect me from others,

while the truth of the matter is that you

were keeping me here for your own selfish gain."

That was extremely eye-opening for me.  Rapunzel had believed everything Gothel had been telling her because she believed Gothel was telling her those things to protect her.  She realizes, however, that Gothel only said those things to protect herself and it has nothing to do Rapunzel's own good. As you know, I believe we are in a spiritual battle with the enemy.  The words from this scene revealed the motives of the enemy.  He absolutely loves it when we choose to let fear reign in our lives because it keeps us holed up and out of his way.  Yes, fear can masquerade for a while as something good and something that protects you but soon you begin to realize that this isn't where you belong.  As I heard this, it helped me to see that living in these places of fear is not for my good or benefit it is actually for the enemy's benefit and he would more than love to keep whispering these lies and keeping me entangled for his gain.

Whenever God reveals to me the lies I've been living under I ask Him to replace that area with His truth.  So here is what the voice of Truth has to say about fear:

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear,

 but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Romans 8:15

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves,

 so that you live in fear again;

rather, the Spirit

 you received brought about your adoption to sonship.

And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”

John 10:2-3

The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep.

The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.

He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.



In Christ,