My dad lost 40 pounds the year I was born. He was young, so young. He’d fled his home country to America to find freedom – leaving behind his parents and all he knew. He met my mom, and they exchanged vows. Two year later, I arrived with unexpected challenges. My hip never fully developed. My right limb was deformed with two missing bones and a disfigured foot that was quickly amputated. I would walk, but with a prosthetic limb. I always knew that I was different, but I never questioned why. Thankfully, my disposition is decidedly sanguine. Through most of my childhood, I limped along with a smile on my face and was unaffected by what my doctor’s called a congenital birth defect. At age 12, God’s mercy reached down and scooped me up into His arms. I heard the Gospel – that Jesus loved me, chose me, cherished me, died for me, and had a purpose for my life. I asked Jesus to forgive my sin and become the Lord of my life. Just as I was reaching the difficult teenage years, full of angst about identify and appearance, God revealed Himself to me and filled me with His peace. I will never forget the first time I read Psalm 139. I just knew that this psalm was written just for me. My birth was not an accident filled with defect at all. You see, God saw me – my unformed body in my mother’s womb. I am His workmanship --- fearfully and wonderfully made. My ESV Study Bible explains this so beautifully: I am fearfully “set apart”…God “set His love upon” me at the moment I was conceived. Every molecule in my body was designed purposefully so that His glory might be displayed in and through me. I am wonder fully made. And so are you, my friend. I pray that today you may know that you are a beautiful creation. You are the very image of our omnipotent God. He makes no mistakes. He redeems every moment of your life. He has designed you purposefully. I’ve always loved the image of the butterfly. I am reminded that daily, as I walk with God, He is transforming my life. Right now, I may be in a dark cocoon, but one glorious day, I will break free of this fleshly shell and fly. Choose today to spread your wings and fly for Him. You may be limping along, but His glory is revealed through you. You are wonder fully made. About LyliLyli Dunbar loves teaching. For 17 years, she mentored teenagers in the Christian school setting, and now she has serves as Associate Director of Curriculum at Trinity International University Florida. Lyli married her Prince Charming in her 40’s and has a heart for encouraging young couples and singles in God’s waiting room. She enjoys road trips with her husband, connecting with women through Bible study, and reading way too many books. Lyli writes about life lessons and faith on herpersonal blog. You may also connect with her on Facebook,Twitter, and Pinterest. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
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Divorce, abuse, joblessness, infertility, miscarriage, troubled relationships, financial problems… we all battle stress, however, is it possible to change the way we respond to it? We have our natural responses to stress, but are there ways that God wants us to respond? I highly doubt that I am the only one who is dealing with ridiculous amounts of stress; which is making me increasingly aware that my natural responses are ungodly. So the question remains, “By submitting our responses to God in prayer are we able to overcome our unhealthy responses to stress? Is it possible for the Lord to radically reshape the DNA of our hearts in how we respond?” If we want to become stronger warriors for Christ we must learn how to cope with stress in a Godly way. I believe that the One who knit us together in our mother’s womb, the One who spun the planets into orbit and the One who gave His life for us so that we may experience the “abundant life” through our relationship with Him, not only can but He wants to. He wants us to experience His presence in all areas of our lives; even how we respond to stress. Let’s face it, if we’re making an impact on the Kingdom, the enemy is ready to make an impact on us, and that is cause for a lot of crazy circumstances in our lives. Consider Job, an upright and Godly man who could easily be considered the most patient man in Scripture with the exception of Jesus Himself. Job became a target for the enemy and while he endured for a while, his circumstances finally broke him and “stressed him out”. If stress could consume him, isn’t this something that we should take seriously and look into from a biblical perspective. How do we respond to these situations and use our responses for the glory of God? First of all, we must identify the specific cause of the stress: In honesty, discover the root of the stress. Acknowledge the source and bring it to God. He knows the deepest recesses of our hearts; why is it so intimidating for us to say it out loud? We cannot realistically take our stress to God until its source becomes real and tangible to us. After we clear our hearts, pray for Him to give us His eyes in the specific situation. Write down what we are specifically bringing to God and wait for His response. Ask how He would want us to respond. Acknowledge the things that we have absolutely NO CONTROL over – He holds them in the palm of His hand - you know. Surrendering to His control is a huge step toward freedom from our control issues, because isn’t “feeling out of control” the trigger of our stress in the first place? Sometimes He will change the circumstances but more often His desire is to change our heart through the circumstances as we continuously submit to His authority over our hearts and our reactions. {tweet this} Secondly, we need to be honest with God and with ourselves about how we are responding to the stress. Let me be transparent with you. My natural responses to stress are ugly and not in any way Godly. I am a stress eater - I can gain weight like nobody’s business when life gets rough. I also consider myself a stress head banger – meaning I feel the need to bang my head against the wall until the circumstances pass (not literally, it’s just tempting). Stress causes me to want to hermit (sleep until it passes) and sometimes even withdraw from life’s most precious relationships – even my children. The other week, when I was praying my ugly heart prayer, broken, frustrated and asking God “Why and how much longer?” I was frustrated because these circumstances felt never ending. I felt like I was missing months of my children’s childhood because my mind and my vision were so clouded by overwhelming circumstances. When worry consumes us it makes it hard for us to enjoy the preciousness of life happening all around us. Yes, Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow has enough troubles of its own”. That is a fact. That is a promise of God that, “He clothes the fields and feeds the birds, how much more will He take care of his own” (Matthew 6:25-34). However, it is possible to “know” that, yet when we’re riding the faith roller coaster - there are good “faith” days and there are difficult “faith” days. I know of a Pastor who lost his 6yr old son in a horrible playground accident. One Sunday he mentioned how his heart still grieved the loss of his son, and a church member scolded him for his lack of faith. Friends it breaks my heart when brothers and sisters in Christ criticize one another, rather than holding each another up to the Lord in prayer. We’re in this race together and faith is a daily battle! The Lord promised us that our time on earth will be filled with trouble. As brothers and sisters in Christ we are told to bear with one another and build each other up – never tear each other down. The fact that we don’t have to fear is a promise, but it is a promise that we learn we can cling to as we walk with Him daily and experience His grace. It happens on the roller coaster of faith that we finally learn we can truly trust His goodness. After my long, repetitive ugly prayer is when He so graciously responded, I want you to surrender the way you handle stress to Me. If you want to be strong for my Kingdom, if you want to be able to withstand the obstacles the enemy is throwing, and will throw, at you, you have to learn to cope My way. What I have planned for you will require you to understand what it means to totally depend on Me alone, not your ability to “fix” things. You must learn to trust, embrace, and lean upon ME!! The thing is, I thought I was depending on Him fully. These past 2 years it seems that my family has been learning how to literally “walk by faith and not by sight”. When living by faith - life is completely out of our control (which is where it should be, isn’t it). There’s a big difference, however, between walking by faith in contentment and walking by faith while holding on for dear life and praying this ride will be over soon. Jesus wants us to run to Him, with everything, instead of scrambling to get circumstances back under our control – circumstances that are meant to be out of our control – Run to Him! Instead of running to food - run to Me! On the treadmill while listening to worship music. Instead of taking a nap to avoid the stress, hiding from life – run to Me, rest if it’s needed but not to escape reality. Instead of avoiding household responsibilities - turn on a sermon podcast or worship music and clean while you spend time with Me. Instead of being overwhelmed by your children – Be intentional, Fight it. Fight with everything you have to see them in the moment. Run to your room and beg God to give you the strength to focus on them. The Lord cherishes our honesty of heart in admitting our weaknesses and rewards it every time! Instead of worrying, crying, panicking – refocus your attention on Me. Look for My hand at work around you. I am always with you. I will never forsake you. Seek me and you will find Me. Run to ME! Instead of running to a friend to vent or addictive things of this world to cope – Run to ME! Be addicted to ME! Cry ugly tears to Me! Ask Me! Seek Me! Don’t be afraid to fall on our faces, acknowledging how helpless we are, believing - remembering how capable He Is! “Sorrow may last for the night but Joy comes in the morning!” That is a promise when we take our tears to Jesus, when we wrestle our hearts out with Him for the night – He brings new, HIS insight into our circumstances by Morning! He does! A night spent in tears with Jesus is never a night wasted! This, like all battles, is not something that we can conquer overnight, it is our nature to cope in our own strength – but God wants us to learn how to cope in His strength. No matter what things you may be running to in order to cope with your stress – He is patient with us! Praise the Lord, He is abounding in grace as He graciously peels away layer after layer of our sinful flesh in the process of learning to follow Him with our coping. Through constant submission we will learn how to allow His grace to prevail through life’s trials. Stress is a fact of life, something with which we will always be in battle. The difference is whether we will choose to face it on our own or take it to God. God is after His glory and I want God to receive all of the Glory from my life, even my greatest pain. If I am constantly whining, complaining, and fussing with fear while following Him, how am I any different from the Israelites in the desert? The most exciting thing about this process is –the way the Lord will teach us to respond will build within us a living, tangible example that will show others beautiful glimpses of the character of our God. We will be showing a world that is full of sorrow, pain and worry -we serve a God who cares, loves, and jealously desires to replace the deepest grief in our hearts with His peace that passes all understanding. About Melissa BradleyMelissa Bradley is married with two small children. She is a co-founder of a City-Wide Women’s Ministry, The Well. She currently serves and assists in various churches around her community. The burden of her heart is to see the churches in her city come together to be the hands and feet of Christ. She is passionate to live every day missionally. You can also find Melissa at www.Melissa-Bradley.com. 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Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs Recently, Malcolm and I were watching a documentary about the ancient pharaohs. Malcolm made a comment while watching the huge statues and monuments made to each pharaoh, "That just proves how they were not gods." "What do you mean by that?" I asked "Well, if they were really gods, they wouldn't have to work so hard to be remembered," he replied. Wow! I was hit with the truth of this statement. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. (Romans 1:20 NIV) Since God is really the only true God, then He didn't and doesn't have to try hard to be remembered. Creation proves His existence, with His fingerprints covering His masterpieces. His Word has outlasted, outnumbered, and out-sold any other ancient and modern document in all of human history. When You're God and have created things all things to point to Yourself, You don't have to try hard to leave a legacy! We, as humans, have a desire to be remembered and do something to outlive ourselves. As Christians, we have the capability to really make an eternal impact - the ultimate in legacy leaving! You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. (John 15:16 NIV) God desires that we will bear fruit - but not for our own benefit. Bearing fruit may have personal benefits, but that's not the goal. The goal is for God's eternal legacy, not our own. We may be a piece in his plan, but the plan is not about us! Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for being God, for being the reason for why we bear fruit. Thank you for bearing fruit in us in the first place! Please show me how I am living my life for my own gain and for a legacy that I want to be about me. Please change my heart and mind for your glory! Check out the Not About Me November Series About LeahLeah works with Master Plan Ministries at Fort Lewis College in Durango, CO. Other than watching college students' lives change, she enjoys getting her mind blown by God and His Word, watching sci fi, baking cupcakes, and spending time with her hunky husband. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs Can you believe we’re already in month 12 of 2013? This is very overwhelming news to me. Not only that this year is flying by but I have 1 month left of this decade in my life. I am crossing the line into the big ugly 3-0. Over the last several months I’ve caught my mind wondering through the past 10yrs. How many opportunities have I missed to share the gospel? Did I accomplish all that God invited me to do? No! I didn’t. Actually I remember saying “no” a lot. I remember times I went to the grocery store and my emotions were so frustrated over my own current circumstances that I never considered the people God may be placing in front of me. I remember God inviting me to minister to a need, but I was too embarrassed or scared to step out of my comfort zone and pray with a stranger or speak up when I knew He was nudging me. I remember times I felt like the Lord wanted me to sacrifice my last dime for a need, but I didn’t trust Him enough to let go of it. Granted there were some amazing moments over the past 10 years. Moments I was blessed to jump out on faith and watch as He weaves circumstances to carry my family right where He wanted us, but I am truly in grief over the fleeting moments I allowed to slip through my fingers thinking I would get another opportunity. I am not sure where you stand on tattoos, but I am through wasting moments. I’ve been praying over this thing for 3 years now (because I am such a wimp). I want a tattoo on my foot. I realize this may sound completely random, but in my heart this is a huge deal. I want one that says Beautiful, Romans 10:15. This would be my covenant between me and God. Because with as much grief as I am experiencing right now over the missed opportunities from the last 10yrs, I cannot imagine lying on my death bed one day and grieving over a life wasted. I want to die with Beautiful Feet and I want something that serves as a constant reminder for me to continuously jump outside of my comfort zone and serve the Lord. I pray that the next 2 months will close out with moments filled with giant faith leaps that I do not say no to. I pray that my next decade will be consecrated in the pages of my life’s book as the decade I daily said, “It’s not about me” and followed God in wild, passionate, surrendered faith. Check out the Not About Me November Series About MelissaMelissa Bradley is married with two small children. She is a co-founder of a City-Wide Women’s Ministry, The Well. She currently serves and assists in various churches around her community. The burden of her heart is to see the churches in her city come together to be the hands and feet of Christ. She is passionate to live every day missionally. You can also find Melissa at www.Melissa-Bradley.com. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs "Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water? Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, 'Here we are'?Who endowed the heart with wisdom or gave understanding to the mind? Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens..." Job 38:34-37 Wisdom and understanding are all about Him. From Him and for Him I absolutely am fascinated in thinking about how much God knows. Everything about me physically, mentally, emotionally, socially... everything. And about you. And about my great great great grandma, who I don't even know who she is. But God knows her. He knows everything about her. Why she made every decisions she ever made, why she felt every feeling she ever felt. Why she loved what she loved and hated what she hated. He knew her. And to think that anytime we know something, it is because He has given us minds to understand. Brains that work and process information. And He has revealed the workings of what we learned. Like technology. He chose now, this generation to have access to reaching the world through a computer screen. Or how He allowed scientist to think the world was flat for so long (when He spelled in out in scripture that the world was a sphere) but then He provided informaton and understanding through science to learn the earth really was in fact like He said it was, a sphere. And I love how He has revealed His plan for the redemption of mankind progressively. Beautiful!!! And not only is it beautiful that He reveals knowledge but that He also hides knowledge. Austin and I were discussing what things, what information, we will not tell our kids at this point. And we came to the conclusion that it would be things that will cause them harm. I think God is the same. He does not tell us things that would harm us. The Holy Spirit is the teacher, the revealer of truth, the One who gives us understanding, insight, disernment, revelation. The truths I know are because He allowed me to understand.He gave me the ability to understand and is the One who enabled it to not be hidden any longer. To say, "I get it" is a gift from Him, through Him and for Him. Check out the rest of the Not About Me November Series About LauraLaura, the creator and host of Missional Women is married and has four kids, two of whom are adopted. Laura and her husband have been missionaries to college students for 11 years serving with Master Plan Ministries. Laura is the Staff Women's Development Coordinator and has discipled over 150 girls, led over 30 Bible studies and speaks to college and women's groups. 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, and A Devotional Journey through Judges, a devotional to accompany the free online Bible study at TheBookofJudges.com. You can find her on facebook,twitter, pinterest, youtube, instagram and her author site. Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs.
Elizabeth Stone once said, “Making the decision to have a child - It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” But what happens when that child is gone? What happens when children grow up, leave for college? What happens when time is cut short and your heart is not only outside your body…but far off, distant, in a place you cannot see? What happens when your heart is scattered in a thousand pieces, and there seems no way to retrieve each one of them? I lay my Bible down and sit at the round table. A beautiful soul describes how everything she has known has been stripped straight from her. Pieces…scattered. And how do you know who you are, when everything is gone, and there is no visible substance to stand upon? Another tells of her scattered pieces; how life has tossed her, shaken her from what she used to cling to. I can relate. As a foster parent, it is can be easy to lose your identity, or to place your joy in people or scenarios that might fail you. Sometimes, (no a lot of the time) I forget that I am only human. I remember the day He left. I took his hand and we walked nearly a hundred steps around a park I haven’t dared to go to since. He didn’t say a word; didn’t run to play, didn’t race around like his little legs usually do. We just quietly walked, hand in hand, on that stone lined path, as if we both knew, huge pieces of our hearts were about to be torn out of us. After nearly two years, did he know what was coming…the loss, the tears…as I left him with his new parents? Sometimes it’s hard to find out who we are, when life comes to wreck us, health fails us, people betray us, loved-ones leave us, never to return home again. Our identity can feel scatters, lost, tossed into a million places. At that circled table at our women’s group; we worship. We lift God in our center, offering Him abandoned hearts, willing heads, and empty hands. All of us standing with pieces scattered. None of us are alone in our brokenness. Yet there, abandoned under His banner of love, something happens; God grabs those lost, broken, hurting pieces and glues them to the Rock (Him). And even if a sledgehammer comes, we have nothing to fear. No matter where our hearts lies, nothing can divide what He died for. Our son sweeps across my mind, and then another Son reminds me that nothing we have left or lost, nothing that has been torn from us, will separate us from the love of God. He takes our fragments and makes us whole. It is because of His sacrifice, we can lay at His feet even the most destitute pieces of our soul. That path, our little boy and I walk that day… It’s rock footing, no coincidence…Our moment, our unspoken message, that stone…a forever reminder…. We don’t need to hunt for, dig for, or fear leaving our hearts outside our bodies. Radical love is a call to abandon ourselves; trusting God, in His time, in His way, to pick up the pieces. For isn’t real, sacrificial love to give and keep giving, even when we know we aren’t getting anything in return. And if God is our identity, can’t we trust Him to pick up the pieces? Make us whole? When it’s all about Him anyway. Check out the rest of the Not About Me November Series About JenThough born, raised, and still living only miles from where she grew up, Jen's heart lies in the nations. Jen loves the beautiful tapestry found in the wide diversity of people, different cultures, and all nations. Jen and her husband have been married twenty years, and have parented fifteen kids and counting; twelve foster, one adopted, and two bios. Her multi-racial family reflects her passion for unity, desire for faith without walls, and missional mindset to share both the gospel and the power of redemption to a world desperately needing the hope found in Jesus Christ. Jen and her husband have led in a variety of ministries; including prayer, small groups, children's, and women’s. Jen advocates for the orphan as a board member for the non-profit, A New Song; and loves doing missions work internationally, along with her family. You can find Jen writing about faith, while challenging her readers at her blog, Rich Faith Rising, as well as at tweeting faith-filled messages @Jen_Avellaneda . Jen is also on facebook. Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs.
Emotions.
They point to what's going inside our head. Pretty smart of God if you ask me. They are a result of our thoughts which makes what God says about "taking your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ" a big deal. Our thoughts effect much more than the inside of our skull. I can think of two tendencies in dealing with emotions based in thinking it's "all about me". We can either act as though emotions are the authority or we can go to the other extreme of totally cutting them off. Neither of these options honor God. Our emotions, given, gifted, created by God to be part of human existence, let us experience God's character. We feel anger toward the evil of girls being sold as sex slaves. We feel affection toward good friends, anticipation, excitement and so on because we were made in His image. He feels. God feels. Jesus, "the fullness of deity in bodily form" wept. He wept. Shortest verse in the Bible, yet perhaps the most powerful. The God of the universe, broke into time and wept. He agonized in the garden. He delighted in the children. He was angry with the Pharisees. He longed for the disciples to have faith. But since we are but flesh, we don't always have right feelings because we don't always have right perceptions. If we saw things rightly, in light of what's true, in light of the big eternal picture then our emotions would be a bit more reliable than they are. So what do we do with our emotions? How can we keep them in their proper place of not discarding them as though God didn't value them, but also not using them to make decision or idolizing them? Examine them, test them to see if they are based on truth. Or in other words, ask, "What does this emotion show me I am believing, and ultimately believing about God?" "Then the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it." Gen. 4:6-7 God challenged Cain to examine his emotions, not just be driven by them. "Why are you angry?" (He asks the same thing of Jonah in regards to the plant He had provided him after it died). Then God tells him how to get his emotions in line with reality "do what is right" (which comes from a thought) and the feelings will follow. When what we think is true, the emotions that result are a powerful display of God's heart. Our feelings are not about us, they are pointing to the One who made them, feels them and can heal them. Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and. Psalm 42:5 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.
Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top. Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs Elizabeth Stone once said, “Making the decision to have a child - It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.” But what happens when that child is gone? What happens when children grow up, leave for college? What happens when time is cut short and your heart is not only outside your body…but far off, distant, in a place you cannot see? What happens when your heart is scattered in a thousand pieces, and there seems no way to retrieve each one of them? I lay my Bible down and sit at the round table. A beautiful soul describes how everything she has known has been stripped straight from her. Pieces…scattered. And how do you know who you are, when everything is gone, and there is no visible substance to stand upon? Another tells of her scattered pieces; how life has tossed her, shaken her from what she used to cling to. I can relate. As a foster parent, it is can be easy to lose your identity, or to place your joy in people or scenarios that might fail you. Sometimes, (no a lot of the time) I forget that I am only human. I remember the day He left. I took his hand and we walked nearly a hundred steps around a park I haven’t dared to go to since. He didn’t say a word; didn’t run to play, didn’t race around like his little legs usually do. We just quietly walked, hand in hand, on that stone lined path, as if we both knew, huge pieces of our hearts were about to be torn out of us. After nearly two years, did he know what was coming…the loss, the tears…as I left him with his new parents? Sometimes it’s hard to find out who we are, when life comes to wreck us, health fails us, people betray us, loved-ones leave us, never to return home again. Our identity can feel scatters, lost, tossed into a million places. At that circled table at our women’s group; we worship. We lift God in our center, offering Him abandoned hearts, willing heads, and empty hands. All of us standing with pieces scattered. None of us are alone in our brokenness. Yet there, abandoned under His banner of love, something happens; God grabs those lost, broken, hurting pieces and glues them to the Rock (Him). And even if a sledgehammer comes, we have nothing to fear. No matter where our hearts lies, nothing can divide what He died for. Our son sweeps across my mind, and then another Son reminds me that nothing we have left or lost, nothing that has been torn from us, will separate us from the love of God. He takes our fragments and makes us whole. It is because of His sacrifice, we can lay at His feet even the most destitute pieces of our soul. That path, our little boy and I walk that day… It’s rock footing, no coincidence…Our moment, our unspoken message, that stone…a forever reminder…. We don’t need to hunt for, dig for, or fear leaving our hearts outside our bodies. Radical love is a call to abandon ourselves; trusting God, in His time, in His way, to pick up the pieces. For isn’t real, sacrificial love to give and keep giving, even when we know we aren’t getting anything in return. And if God is our identity, can’t we trust Him to pick up the pieces? Make us whole? When it’s all about Him anyway. Read the rest of the Not About Me November series.About JenThough born, raised, and still living only miles from where she grew up, Jen's heart lies in the nations. Jen loves the beautiful tapestry found in the wide diversity of people, different cultures, and all nations. Jen and her husband have been married twenty years, and have parented fifteen kids and counting; twelve foster, one adopted, and two bios. Her multi-racial family reflects her passion for unity, desire for faith without walls, and missional mindset to share both the gospel and the power of redemption to a world desperately needing the hope found in Jesus Christ. Jen and her husband have led in a variety of ministries; including prayer, small groups, children's, and women’s. Jen advocates for the orphan as a board member for the non-profit, A New Song; and loves doing missions work internationally, along with her family. You can find Jen writing about faith, while challenging her readers at her blog, Rich Faith Rising, as well as at tweeting faith-filled messages @Jen_Avellaneda . Jen is also on facebook. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
Sharing this article over at these awesome blogs Words of affirmation and touch are my love languages so when someone says something to me affirming it means a lot. When a friend says something encouraging to me, I hear them speaking to my soul saying, "I think you're important and valuable like God says you are." I feel loved. My mom is one of the greatest affirmers with words I know. Because of her example saying kind things comes naturally to me which just recently I realized was something that doesn't come naturally to everyone. I had a friend mention she has a hard time knowing how to compliment her boys. So that got me thinking and out came this list.
Affirming people communicates respect and disarms the question, "Do they like me?" And I'm not sure if you've noticed but when people are comfortable around you, they open up and are more open to receiving what you have to say. Honest affirmation can be compared to preparing the ground to receive the seed of God's Word. And Jesus was such a great example of affirming people. He seriously was bragging about people and their faith all the time. Remember that one time when he even bragged about the prostitute even at the offense of his host? So here are 25 ways to affirm people. These will hopefully get the ideas rolling since there's a thousand more. Can Christ overcome our mind-consuming Battles with bitterness? Why is it that it’s easy for us to bring “the big stuff” to God? Cancer, broken marriages, financial problems. But when it comes to matters of the heart we try to handle it ourselves. We think “God, we’ve got this. These heart problems are just things that I struggle with. I shouldn’t still be hurting over something as simple as bitterness, so I’m going to pretend that I’m not. Or I’m just going to wait it out and hope these nasty feelings go away. God would be ashamed of me if I told Him I was still battling this.” Here are some practical barriers we must put in place to guard against this sneaky, consuming beast! 5 Barriers to Guard Against Bitterness1. Pray that God will overcome it. Continue praying that He will, until He does. The problem with bitterness is it is consuming, it’s comes out of left field and has the tenacity to take us out! It speaks loudly and constantly, it’s a voice that feels impossible to shut out – but I promise you friend it is Not Impossible! Praise God! Not only pray for your own heart but pray the person that hurt you. Pray specific good things, the very hardest thing to pray for them and watch what God does. 2. Our view of God must be bigger and viewed with higher respect than what’s frustrating us. God, and what matters to God should consume my mind first. God and His view of me and how He wants me to view things should be the filter by which I see the world. 3. Focus – say out loud your blessings & the good things God is doing in your life. Because we’re sinful when these ugly feelings present themselves we like to bask in them. I’m a Southern Girl and in the south we use the term “waller”, even though we know the proper way to say it is wallow; wallow doesn’t correctly explain our sick relationship with these ugly feelings. We waller in them, we get filthy, there is nothing dainty or cute about it. These ugly feelings can cause us to make idiots of ourselves when they drive our mouths to say things that are better left unsaid. Can you relate with me here? There have been times in my life that I have been caught muddy from head to toe from all the ugly wallering I’ve done. 4. Don’t let your frustrations “Define” you. The things that cause bitterness also try to claim they define us! * Your Job * Your Relationships: family member(s), friendship(s), an estranged child, co-worker(s) * Financial struggles * Car Problems * Infertility * Singleness You do not begin and end with these things. When we place all of our focus on one of these things we have allowed our heartache to become our idol. Anything that we give the power to steal our focus from God becomes our idol. 5. God’s plan for you is BIGGER than what is momentarily hurting you. {Tweet this} When we focus on our bitterness (anger, frustration, hurt) it blinds us to where God is at work in our lives and we miss the blessings He has in store for the heart surrendered to following Him. The enemy wants to steal that joy and replace it with bitterness. Today if that sneaky snake of bitterness tries to worm its way into our hearts let’s refuse to let him win this battle! May we choose instead to make Philippians 4:4-8 our Battle Cry Against Bitterness! About MelissaMelissa Bradley is married with two small children. She serves at a church plant in Hendersonville, NC. The passion of her heart is to live every day missionally. You can also find Melissa at Beautiful Mommy Feet, she and her husbands personal ministry page, a women’s ministry page -Radiance and on Facebook. Want to read more from this contributor? Put her name in the search box at the top.
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