I mentor a lot of women… A lot! Some days I am overwhelmed by the complexity and struggles that women face. From jail ministry, where women have committed unexplainable and despicable crimes. To women who are finding their way as they struggle hopelessly through heavy and challenging circumstances they are navigating.
Yesterday I met with a woman who is living in a messy marriage in the aftermath of her affair. Both parties contributing to the downward cycle after having experimented with polygamy, drugs and witchcraft.
Today, I will be meeting with two girls who are incarcerated. One of them is merely a child. I honestly don’t know what she’s incarcerated for, but she is being held in the mental health unit. As I speak with her, between her random rants, I wonder if she even has the ability to comprehend the truth and revelation of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The majority of the women I meet with are starving for truth and someone brave and bold enough to not only tell them, but explain why it’s truth. They’ve been to psychologists who prescribe medications for anxiety or read self-help books that promise that losing weight, exercise, healthy diet, meditation and mindfulness are the keys to happiness, but never point them to the true source of help and hope.
When I lament on this page about the brokenness of this world it is because I have a front row seat to it. It used to weigh me down, but now it invigorates me that God is using me – inadequate, incompetent, insignificant me – to be bold and brave enough to show them that Jesus loves them so much that he was willing to die for them.
If you’re struggling in a mess of your own (and who isn’t?) I urge you to pick up your Bible and read it today. I always start in the book of John for people who don’t know where to start. Jesus talks the most in the book of John so you get his teaching spoken word for word. It also tells you how to get to heaven, gives incredible examples that models how Jesus lived and you’ll find the life giving truth found in John 3. Everyone should memorize John 3:16.
Thanks for reading this long post. My heart is for all of us navigating the messy stuff of this life to be bold and brave enough to put our trust in Christ and Christ alone.
“For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.” Romans 1:20 NLT
Yet, Job wonders where he is. I love Job and his “humanness”. Who hasn’t wanted to find God to sit down and have a talk with him. We would ask questions like, “Why God…?”
Job also gives us the answer, “When he tests me, I will come out as pure gold.”
Hang in there. Keep the faith. Trust God even when you cannot understand what he is doing or why he is doing it. You will come through it as pure gold… refined, magnificent, invaluable, and shining brighter.
It was November 2020. Each day the hours of darkness grow while the hours of daylight recede. The house was dark when I sat down in my home office and again when I would shut my computer down for the day. I would make my way to the kitchen around the 5:00 hour to grab an unhealthy, processed, instant food to heat up in the microwave or pizza oven and I would finish the day on my recliner where I would polish off a bottle of wine while staring at another [television] screen to occupy my boredom and exhaust the remaining hours until bedtime. Awakening to a pot of bold caffeinated coffee to do it all over again. Day after day I kept thinking, “This isn’t living”.
The pandemic was doing what any extrovert dreads – isolation, lack of social connectedness, limited variety in activity and repetition. Feeling depression growing ever deeper within me, all I wanted to do was sleep. Sure, I could exercise, but only to, yet, another screen. I could bundle up and get some crisp, fresh, cold November air, but why would I do that? It’s cold, it’s dark. So what do you do when you feel life draining from you? Out of desire to reverse the dark hole I was finding myself digging day after day, I took a personal assessment and questioned myself, “What do I need right now and where can I find it?” I need people! I need physical activity! I need to stop trying to satisfy the void in my life with wine, unhealthy foods, watching depressing news and binge shopping on Amazon.
My conclusion? Get a second job! So I did. A part-time job in the evenings at Fedex Express! My husband doubted I could do it because the criteria was having the ability to work in extreme temperatures and lift up to 50 pounds. His doubt was enough for this old farm girl to give it a try and here I am, a little over one year later, in cold, frigid Wisconsin February, with $15,000 less debt, an entirely new circle of friends. Conversely, I feel GREAT, blessed, motivated and proud. I even took off a few pounds. #WINNING!
God is so amazing. He used my discomfort, debt, depression and discouragement and gave me a whole new perspective on life. I can’t tell you how much I now see the world in a whole new way through this experience. First and foremost, I will no longer underestimate how God can use our grim circumstances to plant us right in the middle of somewhere that gives you so much more than you could ever ask or imagine. Secondly, how much we need to appreciate people who do what they do so we can get our products conveniently delivered to our door. Be sure to thank a delivery person!
Another way God amazed me is that He gave me a mission field. I don’t have anything to lose by talking about Jesus at Fedex so as we’re stacking boxes, unloading trucks, loading the big plane or tackling a project together, we get to know one another. I get to hear about their love for video games, pets, kids, cars and music. I learn about some of their dating, family and health challenges and a subject near and dear to my heart, their hurts, habits and hang ups; otherwise known as addictions. I get to pray for them, and I do, daily. My Fedex team has become a very important part of my life and I am seriously dreading the day when God redirects me to somewhere new. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about leaving, but we’re still waiting for Covid to be declared an endemic so I’m actually very happy to spend my evenings with my new found friends. The moral to my story is this: I know people are out there whose mental health has taken it’s toll be it from isolation, stress, fear, darkness, boredom, debt. I know that what you are dealing with is very serious and it is real and it is hard. Do a self assessment like I did. What do you need right now and where can you find it? Then pray and ask God to guide you into something, some place, some where, that will lift you up, transform your life and bring fresh perspective to how He can use you, grow you and above all restore you. Maybe it is a second job, maybe it’s a new hobby, activity or volunteer opportunity, but a ministry. Our God works in mysterious ways and there is no question that He knows what we need more than we do.
So let me end with this…
“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.” Matthew 7:6-8
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
It was a 21 degree day here in Wisconsin, but the dogs needed a walk and after a half a bag of chocolate covered peanuts, so did I. I got bundled up, tucked my air pods in my ears and headed out into my country neighborhood while listening to “Understanding The Times”, Jan Markell’s weekly podcast.
The battery on my phone was low when I left, but the cold temperatures helped it drain completely leaving me alone with the sound of my feet slapping the pavement and the huffing breaths of my dogs.
Being alone with no one to talk to, I started talking to God and it went something like this:
“Hi God. Thank you for this beautiful day. Yes, it’s cold, but the sun is out and that’s awesome. Thanks for that. Hey God, look at your creation? As if you need to look, you know it already – intimately. It’s amazing. You are so detailed! The sky is breath-taking (as usual) and the trees, Lord, seriously, you made these trees! Your handiwork is crazy perfect. So much so, I can’t even grasp it all. But God… everything looks dead. But it’s not is it? The cool thing is, that in a couple of months it will literally spring to life. It will be gorgeous. I love it when you do that, I love it when you bring the death of winter to life in spring. And then, when summer comes it almost feels like your creation is shouting your name, but then fall comes and everything subsides and returns to winter, again. Looks dead, but not dead?!”
Strange.
“Lord, I guess in many ways this is like my day. I wake up in the morning and my eyes are hardly able to focus. Once I shower, put on make up and prepare myself for the day, I emerge a new person. I go about my day fully alive, vibrant, a representative of being created in your image and fully alive. Yet, upon return home I reduce my pace to slow down and I slip into something more comfortable, wash away all that made me look my best and end my day back in bed. Similar to the trees, I am dead (to the world), but I’m not really, I’m just sleeping. Dormant. At rest.”
“Yet, upon further thought, this is like my life. I was born and incapable of doing anything by myself and for myself, but I grew. Even up into my 20’s, then 30’s, and maybe early 40’s, when I was in full bloom. I looked accomplished, my life appeared to be perfect, all I had worked for had paid off and I felt accomplished. By the world’s standards, I was successful. Yet the birthdays kept coming and now I am much older and in a comfortable place. I have a lot of regrets, but the future has hope. I’ve learned from my mistakes and now my life has so much more purpose. I’m fulfilled, somewhat content, peaceful and grateful. I’m not as interested in being “all put together” anymore. I am much more interested and invested in growing my character, building my legacy and making a tangible difference with my life, in whatever time you have planned for me while I remain on this earth; which could be a day, a year or dozens of more years, but I’m not chasing after any one thing anymore, Lord. I’m living! But I am reminded every single day with the body aches, wrinkles and young adult children, that the end is coming.”
“Here’s the thing. To this world, it will appear that I will die and my life will pass away, but I won’t be dead. My soul won’t die! Just like these trees. I may look like my season or my life has expired and my physical body will be cold, unfruitful and void of any evidence of life, but it’s not true – I will be alive! But instead of lying in bed softly breathing, I will be with you, Father, and we will be together in heaven!”
Girlfriends reading this… Do you see that we are all in a season. In my current season, I am feeling a greater sense of urgency to tell more people what I know, what I have learned and how they can be assured of eternal life like I am. I read my bible everyday and I can’t get enough, it truly is life-giving and inspired by God. I splurged today and bought myself the Charles Spurgeon study bible. In it, I read his biography and he was known as “Prince of Preachers” and I am inspired. Inspired to live and lead a life that makes an impact.
I may not have an audience of millions in my lifetime, like he did, and I most certainly haven’t done anything deserving of a legacy that is preserved for over 200 years as his has, but what if there is one? Is there one of you out there who is reading this and wants to know God and have confidence that they aren’t going to die and knowing where they will spend eternity… heaven or hell?
I don’t care what season of life you are in. I wish I would have asked myself more questions and sought more answers in my teens, 20’s and 30’s. But apparently God wanted to give me a heart and a passion FOR you when I am nearly 50. Are you 70, 80 or 90? What’s your story? Are you ready to meet your creator… or not?
If it is you and you are the one that I am writing this for, will you please email me at liveoutloudblog@gmail.com.
You only have eternity to gain. I’m not scary, I promise. I’m just a girl who loves the Lord and believes there are more people out there that want to know him too.
A valuable chapter which deals with the regulations that would control a king. I do have a verse that jumped out at me and inspired this blog today. It’s verse 19, “It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees.”
It is written to instruct a king, but I see application for us. What if we made it personal and read it as, “God’s WORD is to be with YOU, and YOU are to read it all the days of YOUR life so that YOU may learn to revere the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of His law and these decrees?”
God may have been giving advice to prepare a king for his role as a leader, but I also know that the bible is our source for preparation in our daily lives. When I imagine the roles and responsibilities of a king I think of all the decisions he has to make, the people who are depending on him to lead them and the great responsibility on his shoulders not only in his household, but in his kingdom.
How is that different from our lives? We have decisions to make, we have people who are depending on us to lead them and we have great responsibility on our shoulders in our households and our workplaces, neighborhoods and communities. Should we need God’s Word less than any king of any land?
I think verse 19 has a very important instruction for us and I’m blogging this to help us remain firm in whatever life is throwing at us right now. You’ll find what you need in His Word and He is all we need. That may sound cliche, but I’m not intending it to be. Read, pray, meditate on his word daily. God sums it up perfectly in Joshua 1:8, “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”
I remember my parents used to say, “So if your friends jumped off of a bridge does that mean you will too?”
I don’t remember the context anymore, but I’m sure I did something wrong and justified my actions with, “…But my friends did it!”
As a finale, in the disapproval of this excuse, they would say, “Well why don’t you stand up for yourself, don’t let people walk all over you!”
Deuteronomy 13:3 has something to say about following others, namely prophets and dreamers. “You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.”
In his commentary, John MacArthur, says, “God, in His sovereignty, allowed the false prophets to entice the people toward apostasy to test the true disposition of the Israelites’ hearts. And while the temptation was dangerous, the overcoming of that temptation would strengthen the people in their love for God and obedience to His commandments.”
It’s a test. God is testing their hearts and if they have the courage to stand up for themselves, it strengthens their love for God and gives them confidence to be obedience to His commandments. I think this concept is incredible… hard to do, but incredible.
Just yesterday I found an article about Natalie Grant and posted it on our Godly Girlfriends Facebook Page last night. The article explains how she left the Grammy Awards – She took a stand. Not a belligerent, holier than thou, in-your-face-for-Christ type of stand. She left in a subtle way… she was guarding her heart and her mind (Philippians 4:7) and taking her thoughts captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5). She passed the test!
I had the privilege of meeting Natalie at a Women Of Faith Conference on my 40th Birthday and have always admired her singing talent. Now I admire her for her courage to model Jesus in an environment void of any morality. This leads me to ask the question, “Will I take a stand for Christ? Will God test me to find out if I love Him with all of my heart and soul?” Just like our Godly Girlfriend, Natalie, I hope we all have the courage to stand firm in our faith. (1 Corinthians 16:13).
Thank you Natalie for being an example for us to follow.
I remember a song we used to sing in Sunday School class when I was a young girl. It went like this, “King of Kings and Lord of Lord’s, Glory! Halleluiah.”
Verse 17 reminded me of that song, “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.”
Sometimes I read the bible and I’m looking for something that is tangible and applicable; where I can close the book and walk away with a verse or a thought that I can immediately apply to face life. Other times, like today, God seems to stop me in my tracks and provides me with one big, broad reminder and truth – He is God.
That’s what Deuteronomy 10 speaks to me; He is God of everything. Especially over those little gods like ice cream, i phones, money, jobs, hobbies, collections, children, husbands, etc… He is also the Lord over all the lords in our world like presidents, pastors, princes and kings, teachers or any other authority figure we may esteem to be our leaders. Verse 17 reminds me that He is a great God; mighty and awesome. That in itself is great, mighty and awesome.
Just for perspective today… meditate on that. “King of all kings and Lord of all lords.” When we take a pause and recognize just how magnificent He is we don’t need to worry, fear, be anxious, doubt, be depressed, care what others think, limit ourselves, cower, avoid, withdraw or retaliate. God is the “Big Man”, He’s got your back.
Have you ever been in a fight with someone who keeps circling back to the past; bringing up issues that should have been long gone, forgiven, over it – past! When that has happened to me I feel as if they aren’t even participating in the current argument and they just can’t seem to let go. It’s like I’m some kind of punching bag… I have no defense.
What if God did this? Remember the time when you took that box of pens from the office, rounded up the mileage on your expense reimbursement, told your parents you were home by curfew, but they were out of town so what’s a little white lie? What about the gossip you initiated about a ‘friend’, the cheat sheet you hid in your sleeve to pass your high school exam or the plagiarism used to write that college paper? That door ding you pretended not to carve into the door of that parked car, that tantrum you displayed when your checkbook didn’t balance or that time you turned your nose up on that homeless beggar who wanted some pocket change for food?
What if God rehashed our past?
Does the thought scare you? It does me. Maybe you don’t remember the time you got in late for curfew and lied to your parents. God would remember that. Can you imagine getting to heaven and all of a sudden God starting pulling out His list of your wrongs? This alone makes me pray out to God, “LORD, I am not worthy!”
BUT YOU ARE WORTHY! We are worthy through Christ. Deuteronomy chapter 9 is Moses reminding the Israelities how bad they were, but verse 6 says, “Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
It’s not because we are sinners God is giving us eternal life, it is because Christ is your LORD and savior and through His sacrifice of His blood, took our sins away – past, present and future. Thing is… it’s not just given automatically. We have to profess Him as LORD of our lives, believe in our hearts that Jesus did take our sins away, turn away from our selfish ways, and live for Him. I used to think it was a simple prayer…. Oh, it’s simple alright, but you have to mean it with your whole life.
If you can’t find the words, pray with me:
LORD Jesus, I need You. I want You to be my Savior and LORD. I accept Your death on the cross as the complete payment of my sins. Thank You for forgiving me and for giving me new life. Help me to grow in my understanding of Your Love and power so that my life will bring honor to You. Amen.
Godly Girlfriends 