What does it mean to be a witness in this world? I think, first, of the calling of others to place their faith in Christ. And this is certainly a central part of our witness. Yet, as I step out into the world through my newly released book, the story of my darkest moments walking through mental illness, I see a fullness to my witness. I can share the hard and allow myself to be exposed, because the glory of God rests securely upon me through the spirit of Christ living in me. Through this, I can call others to a holistic healing from all the brokenness and fallenness of this world. And I can underscore this healing through proclaiming in a way interwoven with my story, that in Jesus, we overcome. The following is an excerpt from my book, A Million Skies: Secure in God’s Strength When Your Mind Can’t Rest. This is from the conclusion of the book, as I proclaim the truth of how I have overcome the devastation of mental illness through the healing of Christ: From Death to Life God spoke to me like I was altogether new in him. And I was. The woman who had twice entered mental wards in the past twenty-seven months had come through the fire and was refined. Those days of so much darkness and looming death were behind me. He was making a promise and urging me to hold it tight. I would not face the darkness I had once faced because he was bringing me from death to life in my mental illness journey. It isn’t easy to affirm with integrity the promise of not facing so great a darkness as I had in my major manic episodes because my struggle is chronic and ongoing. Mental illness, like any other physical frailty, takes us into heartbroken places where we grieve what has been lost. Although I still struggle with symptoms, the all-out war upon my mind is over. God has led me through the battle, and I can see the sun shining brightly. My faith gives me confidence that I won’t be defeated. Until that morning of sweet communion, doubt had haunted me. I feared that I might relapse or even be overcome by insanity. I could never seem to master the pull that the darkness had on me, and I feared that one day its lies would eventually take their toll and destroy me. In my younger years, I always found it easy to rest in God’s presence and could easily connect and hear from him. But it had become a constant struggle to hear from God after my manic episode in Hungary. My mind raced like ants from a destroyed anthill, scattering in a thousand directions. I was weary from my struggle for genuine repose of any kind, and I wondered what had happened to the woman who used to enjoy the peace and presence of God. I had left my ministry job and moved to a job in sales, which fit me horribly and exacerbated the problem of my busy, disconnected mind. The same questions continued to bubble to the surface: “How long can I go on this way? Will I simply survive with my mental illness or will I thrive?” I longed for the latter but feared the former. But on that warm June morning, every voice of death was silenced. God spoke overwhelming victory as the narrative of my life. He called me to believe it right then and there. My faith had been like a sputtering light bulb after my intense manic episodes and their accompanying lies, burning bright on some days while flickering dimly on others. But now! I embraced my hope, the surety of my faith, like the fullest sunshine of a cloudless midday sky. What has followed is a sweeter communion with God as the remembrance of that morning has continued to illumine my path toward the new day. God showered his truth on me, and now I know without the shadow of lingering doubt that nothing can separate me from his love. My friend, God wants you to know this deeper life also. He desires to renew your life by speaking truth into you again and again. He longs to see you truly rise from death to life. Colossians 1 says, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Col 1:13–14). God claims you as his very own for all time and eternity, and he desires that in this moment, as you’re reading these words, his truth will set you free. From Evil to Good As I have written before, the Evil One wants nothing more than to destroy you. I believe mental illness is a part of our fallen, broken world but not spawned by evil. Therefore, mental illness itself is not evil. But the devil, the great liar, exploits our struggles with mental illness, making us more susceptible to patterns of lies, paranoia, and much more. He is the imposter, the thief, but not the true shepherd of our souls. He nearly destroyed my life, and he also wants to rip yours apart. His diabolical plans are bound in the lies he feeds us and his attempts to grow those lies. Yet, God is ever greater, infinitely rich in mercy, grace, and love. It is easy to fall into a trap of shame and “less-than” thinking. Wanting to reach a “normal” place where I don’t need medicine and treatment to maintain my mental wellness, I can hear whispers of lies telling me something is wrong with me and I am too broken to be fixed. Wanting to be free of those voices can make me want to skip treatment and venture out on my own. Doing so makes me more vulnerable to the lies and to the evil one who wants to destroy me. Only recently have I been able to really think about my places of pain before, during, and after my hospitalizations. In those times, I felt like I was fully being handed over to evil. Yet, I have come to realize that even in those days, a sovereign God held me and everything around me in his hands. I don’t write these words easily because the terror was so real. But when God poured into my heart that June morning, I recaptured my faith that he and his work are the greatest, most supreme, and sovereign of all. In The Great Divorce, C. S. Lewis depicts a journey between heaven and hell. Those in hell are like ghosts, gray, ugly, and dead. Those in heaven are solid, grand, and full of color and life. Lewis depicts one man, a ghost living in hell, with a red, hideous lizard on his shoulder. This tiny, treacherous beast is incessantly lying to him. Yet, the man is terrified of the angel from heaven who is trying to remove it. During a struggle, the lizard warns that the man will die without him. Eventually, the man allows the angel to remove the lizard, and he almost instantly becomes a dazzling being, one of the “solid people” and the lizard becomes a great white stallion. The two become one and ride the heights of heaven with majesty and glory.* (end of excerpt) As I conclude the book, I talk about how that red lizard is like mental illness in my life. When I turn it over to God, he can make it my greatest strength which leads me perpetually to Him. In the end, when I stand before Jesus, nothing will be between me and my deepest longing—the arms of God Himself. While mental illness has sought to own or define me, nothing truly owns or defines me except the perfect love of God given because of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Will you own this same longing, and reach out to Jesus to heal you truly, today, tomorrow and forever? About Abby Abby is a small-town loving, big city adventurer. She and her husband have worked with high school students most of their lives! Since their internship in Budapest, Hungary in 2005-2006, they have been working with the ministry of CRU. In May of this year, they moved to Hungary answering God's call to work long-term with the students of Central and Eastern Europe. Abby loves to laugh, especially at herself, has a passion for God and making Him known and is ever learning how to do that with three small children, ages 5, 3 and one month. She wouldn't trade the journey for anything! She blogs regularly at Fan the Flame
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 God woke you and I up this morning for one purpose: To "Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples." 1 Chronicles 16:24 He "made all things, and everything continues through him and for him. To him be the glory forever." Romans 11:36. And 'There is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him." 1 Corinthians 8:6 "Why does the earth spin? For him. Why do you have talents and abilities? For him. Why do you have money or poverty? For him. Strength or struggles? For him. Everything and everyone exists to reveal his glory. Including you." Max Lucado Declaring His glory involves speaking up. For many years of my Christian life I was the talker. I answered every question because I knew all the answers (or so I thought). Then life got hard and so did my heart. I began to be bound by fear of offending or fear of making people feel stupid. So I didn't share much. Loud mouth became quiet. For example if someone asked my how my time with the Lord was, I would say "Oh just ok" when it had been incredible because I didn't want to make the other person feel guilty if they hadn't had a stellar time with the Lord. Twisted huh! That's where bad boundaries will get you. Well, praise God, He began to heal my wounded head injury (spiritually, since I was believing twisted lies.) And enabled me to see that the good and the bad both point to Him. I can delight in and be excited about the amazing things God has done in me and can share it with people just as much as I can be in awe of how He redeems the bad because it's not about me at all. Oh my, I guess that is just a long way of saying that what people think, whether good or bad about me, my reputation is really not even about me. We don't need to worry about what others think about where we stand in this world. It's all just about focusing on Him and let Him place us with the platform He desires. Because don't all platforms reveal Him? The huge- because Jesus is famous, the most famous. But He is also unknown, waiting to be discovered. He is overlooked, disreguarded, yet still gives His all, still loves and serves no matter how He is received. And like the blog writen for His glory that none knows about, He is also displaying His beauty even if no one sees it. Like the stars being born, or the beautiful flower on the mountain side. Where God has placed and ranked you and I in life is all for His glory. Check out the rest of the Not About Me November Series  About Laura Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2002 and serve with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right  There are so many things in this life that clamor for our attention, wooing us to live to get what we want when we want it. Can't we all use the reminder that this life is not about us, but rather about making the invisible God visible? It's been said vision leaks so we need to be reminded often of why we really exist. As we train ourselves to think through the lens of it just not being about us, it will begin to change the way we think and act about things. For the last eleven years we've been doing this great little exercise to re-focus and re-center our attention and affection on Jesus. It's called Not About Me November. It's an entire month where we seek God and seek ways we need to make life more about Jesus and less about us. After all, He must become greater and we must become less. Each year it proves to have incredible soul shaping value. The exercise of saying no to our flesh and pointing to Jesus produces beautiful, meaningful fruit. This year as we point to Jesus, we'd love for you to join us. So there are a couple ways you can join the experience. 1. You can take the challenge of posting something about (_your topic of choice)_ not being about you, but about Jesus everyday on social media (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter... etc) or as often as works for you and use the hashtag #NotAboutMeNovember (I would be grateful if you tagged @laurakrokos and @missionalwomen so we can encourage you.) 2. Invite your people to join you. It's encouraging when there is others taking the challenge with you. You can do it with your family (maybe with kids not online, everyone can write something on a chalkboard and talk about it at dinner or something), small group, ministry team, online group, homeschool group... the sky's the limit. It really is so good for your soul to see how God continually shows you things that you need the reminder that it's just not about you. AND it's so encouraging to see what others share bringing on the, "Oh wow! That's right! I hadn't thought of that!" moments. Here are a bunch of examples from previous years to get you thinking of things you could share: Also check out the #NotAboutMeNovember hashtag on Instagram. The Not About Me Series
About Laura Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2002 and serve with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site. If you'd like to read more from this contributor, type her name in the search box on the top right.
 Inadequacy is a feeling I would say I am well acquainted with. Being a mother has taken all of my flaws and placed an unignorable spot light on all of them. The first child God placed in my charge revealed my tendency to revert to anger in times of uncertainty and stress. After the second child, crippling fear and anxiety became my reality as I was not only responsible for two little lives, but my own health was now hanging in the balance of the unknown. I have spent the last two and a half years rebuilding my faith from the foundation up. God lead me to trust Him with everything, and I had to come to the devastating realization that I was, in every sense of the word, inadequate. I had sinned in fear and self-righteousness for far too long, and I was falling painfully short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). Fast forward a bit through the construction process, and I find myself at today. Sixty plus days into the COVID-19 quarantine, bound by the military travel restrictions, and the last five days have brought nonstop rain, so our duck pond trips have been curtailed. Dismal, would be the first word to come to mind for most. Low and behold, I look down at my phone and see, “TORNADO WARNING. TAKE SHELTER IMMEDIATELY”. I paused my audio book, abandoned my pile of laundry, sent my four year old to grab a stuffed animal, woke up my son from his nap (which in case you aren’t aware, is a cardinal sin), grabbed a stack of books and ushered us all into our innermost room with no windows, the laundry room. Oh wait, the dog… Boomer! Get in here! Okay. All safe, right? We sat there for a minute while I explained the strange behavior. My husband is a military pilot and always has the latest and greatest on the weather updates, so I phoned him. He politely laughed at my precautions, threw around some meteorologisty terms and assured me that we will be fine. Knowing he was probably right; I bolstered the children and we left our linen scented stronghold to go watch a movie until the storm was over. My husband then texted me that it may have changed direction, so as an extra precaution, I should secure the toys and loose items in the backyard. I put my phone down, and sat there for a moment, trying to draw from a reservoir of peace and faith that I knew, as a Christian I should have in all circumstances. Wrong. It is not me. I do not naturally possess this peace and faith. When fear or other sins infect our mind, we grieve the Holy spirit and put our abilities above Him, trying to control all we can. It takes the volition granted by God to put the Holy Spirit in the driver seat, not emotion; walking in step with the spirit is the way to produce that fruit of peace (Gal 5:22). The process goes like this: take every thought captive (2 Cor 10:5), remember promises in scripture (Col 3:16), trust my problems to God and then have faith in Him because HE will give me rest and deliver me (Psalm 50:15). So, I gathered my children close, and said, “Do you remember our memory verse from this week?” and without missing a beat, my four-year-old spouts out Psalm 56:3. “When I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.” Yes. Yes, dear one! And that, that is what we will do. In this moment that could be chaos, we will pray that God sends his guardian angels to protect us and our city. We will pray for calm skies, and calm hearts. What peace filled my home at that moment, I can only hope you know. At that instant, I was completely filled, and made adequate by the redeeming love of God (Isaiah 26:3). As I headed out to the back yard to collect chairs and loose gardening tools, I heard my daughter comforting my son that even if the tornado sucked up our whole house, mom will figure it out, and God will keep us safe. And If the tornado destroys our vegetable garden, it's okay because she would rather plant flowers instead. That little girl is truly a marvel. Our adequacy in all situations comes from reliance on Him, trusting Him to fill in the gaps where we fall short, and remembering to call on Him. I am not, and never will be, enough. But Jesus is. There is that gentle, loving reassurance that I don't have to be. The bliss that comes from knowing you are undeniably dependent on God’s goodness should be of great comfort during these times, and all the times to come. A prayer for today God know my and deliver me of my sin nature; my fear, unbelief and for my desire to control all things. Thank you, God, for sending your Son and for freeing us from the burden of perfection. Grant me the wisdom to call upon you in times of stress and uncertainty. Fill me with your Spirit and keep my heart from the temptation to turn to my sins and own devices. May we all seek your face continually. In Jesus name, Amen. About Jeslyn Jeslyn is a reverent student of the word. She lives to read, research and share God's wisdom. She is a dedicated wife and mother of two. Her husband, Jeremy, is a pilot for the Marine Corps so they are a family constantly on the move. This lifestyle has proved to provide fertile ground for witnessing and growing faith among friends. Homeschooling their children gives her ample opportunity to fill their days with study, outdoor adventures, baking, gardening, and reading all the books.
 I was just six weeks out of the hospital. It had been my second stay because of a hyper-manic episode related to bipolar disorder. It was also our 13th anniversary. My husband had given me a lovely card--that beautiful man. As I was reading it, I came to the verse he had written from Isaiah 51 and I could barely catch my breath. I asked him how he had come to that verse. He said, ‘I was reading it and just felt like it was for you.’ Beautiful man, indeed. And yes, we have a beautiful God of hope. It was verse 11 and it reads like this: “And the ransomed of the Lord shall return And come to Zion with singing; Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; They shall obtain gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” This is why Isaiah is my favorite prophetic book. It’s hope and it’s always breaking through in the midst of exile, severe discipline, famine and utter spiritual darkness. While I hadn’t been in deep sin like the people of Israel, there had been so much sorrow. My life had been shredded in 2015 when my first hyper-manic episode with bipolar landed me in a Hungarian hospital for two weeks, nearly killing me. I was in the midst of the exile of a gray landscape which had lost all color. Yet, here, through my beloved’s seeking the Lord on my behalf, I was given a precious, rock-solid hope. The ransomed would return to Zion, city of God, and their sorrow, my sorrow, would flee away. Discovering this beauty made me look at all of Isaiah 51. I found I had highlighted verse 3 before. And this bowled me over like the earth-shattering promise that it is, thus joining its sister in a double promise of receiving my deepest heart’s desire. “For the Lord comforts Zion; He comforts all her waste places And makes her wilderness Eden, Her desert like the garden of the Lord; Joy and gladness will be found in her, Thanksgiving and the voice of song.” I know there may be differing opinions on whether these verses are intended for the gates of Heaven, when all His own come Home, or can be applied to right here and now. But, here’s the thing: Jesus said clearly that ‘the Kingdom of God is among us.’ And what is His kingdom without His presence? And what is His presence without the fruits He gives--love, joy, peace and so much more! Sounds like a garden to me! That was a defining moment, reading that card. My soul expanded and I received a resilient hope, coloring everything. Since that day, I have indeed seen my Saviour, my Lord, tenderly, with great comfort, bring me to His garden. But the truth is, he doesn’t just want to do this for me, but for you too. If He can draw me from the land of my exile and wrap His beloved arms around me, touching the horrific memories of two mental ward stays, then, sister, He most definitely can and will do this for you! Take much heart, dear Zion, precious Bride of God, He has overcome and soon our faith will turn to sight. Taste the perfect, meant-to-be-eaten, fruit of redemption and make straight paths to Eden, to His sustaining presence, to the very garden of God. About Abby Abby is a small-town loving, big city adventurer. She and her husband have worked with high school students most of their lives! Since their internship in Budapest, Hungary in 2005-2006, they have been working with the ministry of CRU. In May of this year, they moved to Hungary answering God's call to work long-term with the students of Central and Eastern Europe. Abby loves to laugh, especially at herself, has a passion for God and making Him known and is ever learning how to do that with three small children, ages 5, 3 and one month. She wouldn't trade the journey for anything! She blogs regularly at Fan the Flame
 I heard this week that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail by the middle of February. Only 8% of all resolutions will be fulfilled by the end of the year. And yet, every year, we try. Something in us feels wired for hope. There’s something good that pushes us to seek more growth, more change. Whenever we move into a new season we carry hope that manifests in expectations, often unspoken. We have expectations for the new year, the new job, the new location, for what God might do. We have expectations on ourselves, others, even God. While hope is good, we are often disappointed. Why? Perhaps because we are hoping in the wrong things. A few years after our move back to the States, the last dredges of unmet expectations from this move were still acutely hanging over us as a family. We still longed for the kids to have solid friendships in the neighborhood, our son to find his niche, and I still wanted to figure out my ministry role. I spent so much energy trying to meet these expectations on my own. I was constantly making suggestions to the kids, trying to nudge them this way or that. I kept strategizing options; there was a scheming quality to my life. One day, I sensed God telling me, “You know, Gina, all those things you are trying to make happen—I can make them happen. But you have to trust me to do it in my time and my ways. And there might be things on that list that I don’t think need to happen. You need to trust me with that too.” So I gave up. I let go, mostly because I was tired and that’s a good impetus for letting someone else take control. I wrote a list of all the expectations I had for life here. And at the top, I penned, “If they need to happen, He’ll make them happen.” For months, I pulled out that list each morning. I didn’t pray through them because I found that when I did, I started to scheme again. I simply held the list out and prayed, “God, I’m hoping in you for this.” You know what? Those expectations began to be met. It was like watching a garden grow. First, the glimpses of green peeking through the dirt, promises of future life. Each bud spoke God’s presence to me: “I see you. I see what you need. I’m providing for you, far better than you can do for yourself. Trust me. Give it time.” We are often unaware of the mental energy we spend on trying to manipulate our world into the shape we desire. Inevitably, that leads to anxiety, frustration, and disappointment. It leads us away from God. Instead, He calls us to come to Him. I found it so helpful to name my expectations, to lay those hopes at His feet, and then step away. Isaiah 49:23 says, “I am the Lord; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” Verse after verse encourages us to hope in the Lord. Yet, in practice, we add our own agenda: “I hope in the Lord, that He will give me . . .” If we move into new seasons with a stranglehold on the way we expect life to go, we close our hearts to what God is doing. It sets us up for bitterness, disappointment, and frustration. Instead, God asks us to loosen our grip on life, and in the process, our hearts will open to something new. He invites us to bring our expectations before Him with an attitude of hope, presenting our requests while trusting Him with the outcome. We put our hope not in the end result, but in God. Expectations and Hope is an excerpt from Making Peace with Change: Navigating Life’s Messy Transitions with Honesty and Grace by Gina Brenna Butz, releasing February 4th, 2020. About Gina
Gina Brenna Butz and her husband, Erik, have served in full-time Christian ministry for nearly 25 years, 13 of them in Asia. They are currently raising their two third culture kids and an imported dog in Orlando, Florida, where Gina serves in global leadership development for Cru. She loves building furniture with her husband from reclaimed wood, watching her daughter play soccer, and sitting with others in their messy, beautiful stories.  Heading back to school is always an adjustment, whether we’re still actively going to school or whether we’re sending our kids. It seems like things never go completely smoothly—and I’m speaking from experience! There’s a bundle of new activities to puzzle-piece together, essential supplies and books that somehow didn’t get purchased a month ago when they were supposed to be, and, most difficult of all, there’s the mental adjustment of going from the glorious freedom of summer to the mundane day-in-day-out restrictions of school. I’m still a student, and making up my mind to go back to school has been difficult this year. My summer has been packed with exciting and stretching experiences that gave me the opportunity to look ahead in my life and look big-picture, setting goals to pursue and looking for ways to grow in my relationship with God. It’s hard to come down from that sky-high point of view and box myself back into the rigid daily routine of classes, work, and ministry activities! It’s been very easy for me to slip into selfishness lately, focusing on myself and what I wish I was doing instead of looking for what God wants for me in my situation. Thankfully, the Lord is faithful to correct and disciple me, giving me a picture of the attitude He wants me to have and conforming my heart and mind to His image. This time His correction came from Col. 3:22-25, verses many of us are familiar with. “Bondservants, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” Whenever I’ve heard teaching on this passage, I’ve heard it applied to employees, and with good reason. By working a 9-5 job for someone, we put ourselves under their command, obligating ourselves to do the things they ask, which is the basic definition of the word “bondservant” used here. That’s why this passage is so important for those of us who work regular day jobs. Paul tells us to be obedient to our masters, to serve them sincerely and honestly, and to work as to the Lord, since He is the one who will ultimately reward us. Great guidelines for workers! But there’s more to it than just working a regular job. As I read this passage, I realized that I am a bondservant in so many ways other than just my job! There’s my teachers, for starters. My teachers are basically my bosses right now because they control so much of my time—going to class, sitting in class, and doing assignments outside of class. I may not want to do these things, but I’m obligated to do what they ask in order to get what I need, much as a slave must obey his or her master in order to be cared for by them. I’m also under obligation to my family in a lot of ways. As any woman knows, there’s a lot that goes into making a household function, no matter how large or small it may be. Meals must be cooked, dishes need washing, there’s laundry to do, toys to pick up, and kids to ferry to and from school/activities. Chores like these are not at the top of anyone’s “Fun Things to Do” list. We don’t get paid to do them, and we don’t usually enjoy them, but they must be done. Again, that’s the kind of work slaves do: unpaid, undesired, forced labor. Whatever our role in society—mother, wife, employee, daughter, student—we all are currently and will always be at the beck and call of someone, whether it’s our employers and teachers, our husbands, parents, or our kids. The question is, once we learn this truth, how are we going to react to it? Unfortunately, my first reaction is entirely selfish. “Wait! I don’t want to be a slave to (fill in the blank). I want to be in charge of my own time and do what I want to do!” But God desires a different attitude in me. The question He wants me to ask is “Hey, this is where God has placed me. How does He want me to glorify Him in this situation?” Now, I’m not saying we’re supposed to be doormats, allowing ourselves to become overworked and worn out by serving beyond our abilities, but in the areas in our homes and workplaces where we have responsibilities, how can we accept the position God has given us and glorify Him in it? This is where Col. 3:22-25 comes into play. Paul advises us as bondservants to obey our earthly masters “with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord.” What a different perspective from my selfish, me-centered attitude! Instead of wondering how I can get out of doing those all-too-necessary things around the house, like dishes or cleaning, I should be looking to serve my family with sincerity of heart. For me, maybe that means that instead of waiting until my mom complains about the filthy bathroom before I clean it, I clean it when I notice it needs it. What does it look like for each of us to serve with sincerity of heart? We are not called to do the bare minimum; Paul is encouraging us to a service that comes from the heart and which is motivated by the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the “why” of the sincerity of heart. We might think we’re working for our bosses or our family members—after all, they’re the ones we interact with—but in reality, as Christians, we should recognize that no matter where we are and what we’re doing, we’re serving the Lord. Each day, as we go about trying to accomplish our own goals and plans, even our smallest acts are actually helping to carry out God’s larger purposes. In the old ranching days in Colorado, there were three types of men on a ranch: there were the ordinary cowboys who rode herd on the cattle, there were the foremen who rode herd on the cowboys and gave them their orders, and there was the owner of the ranch, who ran everything and had the overall vision for how the ranch should be run to make a profit. Now, the cowboys had a lot of contact with the foremen who gave them their orders every day, but they weren’t working for the foremen. The foremen weren’t paying their wages. The cowboys truly worked for the ranch owner, the guy who employed them. This is how it is in our lives, too. We might be taking orders from somebody or doing jobs for somebody, but that person isn’t the one who’s going to ultimately pay us in real, eternal wages—God is. That means even the boring and disagreeable things I do each day, I do to please my true employer, God, because my actions are contributing to His plans. It reminds me of Matt. 6:1-6, where Jesus tells his followers not to do things merely for the sake of being praised by others. Jesus sees and cares about our hearts and our motives, and he wants us to be focused on serving Him, not trying to please people. Often this seems impossible. My flesh is so unwilling to bow down and submit to what God wants, not just sometimes but all the time! But that problem is not outside God’s range of power. He has the power to change my heart when I ask Him, and He is faithful to not only give me the willingness to do what He asks, but the ability to do it with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength. We won’t get to see the big, beautiful picture that God is painting with our small acts of faithful, sincere service until we get to heaven, but no matter whether we’re being meticulously honest about clocking in and out at work, trying to respect teachers both in and out of class, cheerfully driving the kids around town, or being on time with dinner, we can know that we are participating in carrying out the bigger vision of our Creator. Whatever your role is and wherever you’re currently serving, I hope that encourages you as much as it did me! About Anna
Anna is a 20-year-old nursing student from Durango, Colorado who is currently dividing her time between her classes and clinicals and all of the fun things she likes doing. She enjoys writing and playing the mandolin, but some of her greatest pleasures are camping/hiking/being in the mountains, doing ministry activities with MasterPlan Ministries at Fort Lewis College, and interacting with people. She loves to see God working in people’s lives, and wants to make herself available as His tool, wherever she may be.  This is a guest post over at my friend Lyli's blog. Read the entire post here. Desperately we waited for answers as we sat by the hospital bed where my four year old little girl was strapped down so she wouldn’t yank out her breathing tube. She was having seizures, hallucinations and ultimately had a blood plasma transfer. During the three weeks we were in the ICU of Children’s hospital I experienced dramatic highs and lows of seeing God comfort and care for us through the support of the body of Christ and felt deep wrenching pain when my daughter didn’t recognize me as she hallucinated I was someone else trying to get her as she cried out for me. Transitions and the unexpected have a way about exposing what we really believe about God. They open up our eyes to places of our hearts and minds we didn’t even know were there. Two of our other kids, who we adopted at birth and are biological brothers, we’ve come to understand in the course of the last year have severe mental illness. Their explosive anger comes as quickly as turning on a facet and over minor things like what is for dinner. Dealing with their daily explosions made the hospital visit feel like a retreat. Our life has been a constant place of transition trying to figure out and get each kid the help they need. The boys constant irritability and opposition has brought us to a place of desperation for Jesus I didn’t know was possible. And exposed deep down doubts about God that never would have been exposed if all this didn’t happen. The cumulation of the boys and my little girl in the hospital brought thoughts to my mind like, “Is God powerless?” “Is He weak?” It has brought lies out of darkness and into the light. And when things are in the light they can be exposed for what they are, lies, rather than grow pungent in darkness. What we believe about God is the most important thing about us and effects everything we think, say and do. Just as... read the rest here. About Laura Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 14 years serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.
 If someone were to ask you to sum up David's life what would you say? Well, he was not well liked by his brothers and was belittled often, he had a job that was not looked upon as important, he did some pretty amazing things like kill a lion and bear but no one seemed to know or care. He had a pretty amazing confidence and love for the Lord that moved him to run to fight someone 3 times his stature and won. But before that he was overlooked and wasn't even considered to go help with "important" tasks. After battling Goliath he was put to help King Saul who ended up being super jealous of him and tried to kill him... a lot even though he was super faithful in serving him. Eventually he was made King but really messed up his family life. He ended up committing adultery and murder. So here we have a hero from the Bible. What do we learn? God alone is worthy of our full confidence, people will fail us. Hope and security needs to be put in God alone. He is the only One worthy because He is the only One that will never let you down. Parents, friends, spouses, spiritual leaders. all of which David was will let us down. Our security and hope can't be put in people because they aren't capable of living up to our hopes. We can learn from them but they are not worthy of your 100% hope and faith. So how can you can tell if you are idolizing a person? What would be your reaction if that person failed? what would it do to your faith in God? Not only will others fail you, you will fail yourself. I fail myself a lot. Not only mentally, but emotionally, staying patient with my kids and with Austin, socially-in wanting to be always thinking of others but I find myself thinking about me again. Physically, having one more cup of coffee than I should, or too much sugar. Spiritually, in not trusting God in the midst of chaos. I fail and I know I am not alone. How depressing if my goal in life was to not fail. Unless I was really stupid, I would wake up one day and realize that I will never be perfect and then what? The Bible doesn't say, get it together and never fail. It says, "A righteous man falls 7 time and rises again." And God is not meaning, pull yourself up by the bootstraps but rather fix your eyes on Christ and know that Jesus died for that mistake too. God Redeems God is a redeeming God. Mistakes and sin don't make us unusable. There is no place for shame- if you are a follower of Jesus, you are not defined by your sin, you are defined by Jesus' blood. You are a child of the King. Satan wants to accuse you and tell you that you are less than you are. But God says, you are holy, pure, blameless, chosen, adopted, deeply and radically loved unconditionally, being used for His purposes. There is no place for guilt- if you have submitted your life to Jesus, you have been declared innocent. Your guilt was transferred to Christ the moment admit He was God and you have offended Him. No matter how much Satan or your old self wants to make you feel guilty, the reality is, you have been declared forgiven, innocent. There is no place condemnation for those in Christ. Our sin doesn't surprise God. Jesus came through the line of Bathsheba, a prostitute. God redeems at the expense of His own hurt. It's not about us getting it together but putting more hope in Gods ability through us than in our perfection. His redemption was at the expense of His own hurt. Took His own wrath to plow through bringing beauty in our sin-making Himself famous. He doesn't ignore it-He took on His wrath because of it. He deals with it and makes it a megaphone for His fame. God alone is worthy of your full confidence. Others will fail you and you will fail yourself but God never fails. His plans always succeed. So in the face of failure we have hope that we can not thwart God's plans. Others or us can not mess up what God wants to do so badly that it's beyond redemption. So put your hope in God. When your shut down or when others fail you. When you totally messed up, put your hope in God, the Redeemer and know that you are not beyond His reach. This is the hope God offers in the face of failure. * What are some ways you have seen God take failure or something bad or painful and make it beautiful? * What are some things in the past you are still waiting for God redeem/make beautiful? *What are some current things you have failed yourself or someone else has failed you? What promise of God can you cling to in that situation? About Laura Laura, the founder of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 14 years serving with Master Plan Ministries where she is the Women's Development Coordinator. Laura has authored 5 books, including an award winning 12 week Bible Study on First Samuel, Beholding Him, Becoming Missional, Reach; How to Use Your Social Media Influence for the Glory of God, A Devotional Journey through Judges, and Discover God's Calling for Your Life. Most recently her resource for Bible studies, The Connect Cards was released by Cru Press. You can find her on facebook, twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram, periscope, blab and her author site.  Life is hard. Sometimes it gets so hard that you just feel like giving up whether that be trying in relationships or serving when it doesn't seem to matter or a host of other things. Here are four things you can do when you feel like giving up. About Laura
Laura, the creator and host of Missional Women is married and has six kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries since 2002 serving with Master Plan Ministries. Laura is the Staff Women's Development Coordinator and has discipled over 150 women, led over 30 Bible studies and speaks many times a year. Laura is an author and creator of ministry tools and resources. You can find her books and resources at the Missional Women store and connect with her on facebook,twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram and her author site. |
