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Woman.of.God

05.28.2019 by Mackenzie Carter //

Welcome to FACETS and spring (for real)!  I (Tracy) can’t wait to introduce you to Mackenzie Carter as she shares her writing and communication gift with us.  Truth be told, as I read her piece ahead of time, it moved me. A lot! I pray God touches your heart through it at least as much as He moved mine. Rhema. A good word, fresh and in season for all God’s girls.

What does it mean to be a woman of God? (Guest: Anne)I wish I could say that I am an expert on this subject, that I have steadily walked this out with beautiful grace and dignity, but that would not be true.

I stumble and fall – quite literally

all. the. time.

I have allowed myself to be tossed about with emotions and questions throughout the last twenty-two years of following Christ.  I have struggled with shame.  I often feel I am not deep enough, a bit quirky, and maybe a little too loud and excited for most.  Questions often fill my mind – Am I ok?   Do I belong?   Who am I?

What would I want preached to myself during all those times that I question or stumble?

Fellow women of God, maybe you need to hear this too.

Quit trying to earn everyone’s love.

 Jesus loves you.  The King of the Universe.  Live your life falling more and more in love with Him.

Though sometimes it may feel this way, God is not mad at you.  He doesn’t pace back and forth in heaven frustrated as He thinks about you.  He is not the voice of the critic in your head.  It is quite the contrary.  When God thinks about you and I, a smile warms His face.  A love that can never be squandered fills His heart for you.  His thoughts about you are kind.  His plans for you are good.

When Jesus died on the cross – you were on His mind.  His blood covers you.  He breaks strongholds.  Fear and shame flee at the sound of His Name.  You have been made into a new creation.   There has never been a day that He has left you alone.  He delights in YOU and I.  He is proud of you.  He will be faithful through all your years. In the midst of insecurity and doubt, you are held, known, seen, and loved.

Anchor yourself in the Word of God.  It is your steady in a world of turbulence.

Being a woman of God inherently means knowing Whose you belong to and Who defines you.  Honestly, it is way too easy to look around, desperately trying to find affirmation from likes and hearts on social media, peers, what group we belong to, or our titles.  You are a woman of God – OF GOD – not of the world, not of Insta or Facebook. Our worth – the meaning of our lives can only come from one place if we are to be truly satisfied. That place is Jesus.  The faithful One.  The One who invites us to follow Him and find our identity in Him.

My friend, we were meant to live an abundant life of abiding in Jesus.  That is where true joy and satisfaction are found.  We are daughters of the King.  We are women of the Word – the unchanging, never wavering Word of God.  Culture shifts, the trends change, but the Word of God remains the same. It is this – the Word of God that defines who we are as a women of God.

Take hold of the Word – read it, believe it, and live it out.

Follow the ancient paths.

Remember the ones who have gone before who lived solely for Jesus – the Elizabeth Elliot’s, the Mother Theresa’s, and the Amy Carmichael’s.  Remember the mentors who simply showed you Jesus.  This world is trying so hard to suck you into the vortex of comparison and self-focus.  Don’t you give in. You were meant to live a counter-cultural life.

Therefore, I urge you, sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

Romans 12:1-2

Live a life worthy of the One who called you.  Live every moment as a continual act of worship unto God.  Be the one to go against the grain.  Don’t worry so much about being “on trend”.  Trends are here today and gone tomorrow.  Become the woman you would want to sit across the table from in twenty years.  Faithful, shining with beauty from within, holy, full of grace and mercy, kindness on your lips, wise from the Word of God being hidden in your heart, and closer to Jesus than ever.

Run together with other women.  

You are not alone as you walk this road.  I know this can be so hard sometimes.  I know you have been hurt and betrayed.  I know it feels like sometimes going it alone would be easier.

My friend, you were never meant to be an island.  It sure can feel like it though, can’t it?  All of us trying so hard to accomplish it all, achieve it all, look and feel the best doing all the things.

We were meant to run together.  We were meant to encourage each other in the hardships, to be honest and open with one another, and to cheer wildly as we see our fellow sisters move forward.  Y’all, this life is not easy, so lend a hand.  We are not in competition! We were made to celebrate one another.

“If we don’t open up, we will miss out on other women’s wisdom and perspective.  We might even walk around with a bunch of burdens we shouldn’t be trying to carry alone.”   ~ Sophie Hudson, Giddy Up, Eunice

Always trying to get ahead may be stifling your progress. 

Bloom where you are planted.

 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. Proverbs 31:25

I know it is easy to want to look ahead and see what is coming.  Maybe it seems impossible to know how it is all going to work out.  Perhaps you are wondering if you missed it? Maybe you thought you would be somewhere completely different by now.

Be still.

Wait.

Don’t rush over the present – the very gift Jesus gave you today.

You have everything you need for today.

The truth is, God holds what is yours.  You are on your way, sister!  God has an appointed time for everything.  Stay in it, friend.

Run the race that is all your own.

Follow Jesus.  Obey His lead.  Allow His sanctification process to take place. His timing is perfect and His way is right.  He is faithfully leading you.

God is using everything for your good.

There is miraculous joy to be found in the journey, in the process – right here and now.  Look around and really see all that surrounds you. Live to the full right now.

Trust Him with it.

Woman of God, you have been called to live out the purpose set before you.

Build your house

 “A wise woman builds her house; a foolish woman tears hers down with her own hands!” Proverbs 14:1

Every time I come across this verse, it stops me in my tracks. I start pondering how am I building up my house-with words and attitude. How I am spending my time?  What I am pouring into my children?  How I am praying for my family?  How am I loving my husband? Am I making it count?

In Finding Your Purpose as a Mom by Donna Otto, she says that our homes are holy ground. Just like Moses took off his shoes at the burning bush, we are to take off our shoes as we come into our homes because of the great work God is doing in our midst.

I want to be a part of it. I don’t want to miss it.

If you are married,  rock your marriage.  You are the only one who can be your husband’s wife. Love him, encourage him, allow God to show you the joy and beauty of submission, be his teammate, and have fun!

If you have children, you are the only one who can be their momma.  Take the time and trouble to shepherd them, train them up, listen well, spend time with them, enjoy them at every stage.  You are raising the next generation of warriors for Christ.  Teach them about Jesus.  This is the most important calling of your life.

Woman of God

You are here on purpose for such a time as this. You have been called to pick up your cross daily and follow Him.  We are called to seek first the Kingdom of God.  Though this life is not about us, we get to take part in an incredible story – a beautiful tapestry of God’s faithfulness.  This life is for God’s glory.

Live for God.  Obey Him.  Trust Him.  Love ferociously.  Bring the Kingdom of God in your sphere of influence.

… Wasn’t that great? So many nuggets to ponder!

Add your voice to the conversation at FACETS of Faith’s Facebook page or sign up to receive our weekly blog post and comment to share what God is doing in your life as it relates to each topic.

Want to know more about Swordgirl Conference? Click Mackenzie’s bio link above to be directed to the Swordgirl conference web site.

 

Categories // Faith, Guest Perspectives Tags // affirmation, approval, bloom where planted, celebrate your sisters, community, enjoy the moment, Family, fellowship with godly friends, God's Glory, God's perspective, God's Word as an anchor, godly woman, Identity, Love, not of this world, Proverbs 14:1, Proverbs 31:25, real women, Romans 12:1-2, Sanctification, Swordgirl

What Has God Rescued You From?

04.03.2018 by Tracy Stella //

Welcome to April with its promise of fresh spring flowers soon to follow.  I’m looking forward to seeing new blooms bud, green grass come alive, and sunshine rays to warm my skin.  You too?

I (Tracy) pray you had a beautiful Easter and are still basking in the hopeful glow of resurrection Sunday. Because Jesus died and rose from the grave defeating death and sin, we have good news to look forward to every day of our lives.

What has God rescued you from? (blue)

His resurrection rescued me and you, not just for yesterday and today, but for all time.

Heaven with Jesus sounds a whole bunch better than hell!

My grandma would have said, “The world is going to hell in a handbasket.”  According to Wikipedia, that phrase describes a situation headed for disaster inescapably or precipitately.1

Hell is a disaster. However, it IS fully escapable.

Christ died so we wouldn’t have that dreadful destination in our future.

We all sin. We all need a Savior!

Maybe you are like I used to be. Easter meant chocolate bunnies, dyeing eggs, and baskets with way too much candy.  Those things are all fine, of course, but they miss something very important. Rather, Someone. Jesus. The One who died to cover our sin. The One who died to save us. The One who loved (and loves) the world. Each and every one of us.

Periodically, as a little girl I would go to mass with my grandparents. I’d hear the adults echo the priest. “The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Have mercy on us.”

I followed along, not knowing what the refrain meant.

Lamb? What’s with the lamb? And why does grandma make that little lamb cake anyhow? I was always fond of its creamy frosting and coconut shavings, not to mention its moist, melt-in-your-mouth texture. We’d gather in her sunroom.  She called it her solarium. Family tucked around the table, views of the farm on three sides, and weather permitting, a nice warm breeze through the open windows, sure to let the dust in from the over-sized U-shaped gravel drive.

Grandma cut into that cake and my taste buds danced in delight once its yummy goodness met my mouth.

At best growing up I was a Chris-Easter, and that not even every year. I went (sometimes) because that’s what people do on Christmas and Easter, even if they don’t understand why.

The little lamb cake symbolic of THE Lamb of God who took away our sin. If you haven’t dove deep into the old testament, you may not know that Jews had to sacrifice animals to atone for (a “fancy” way of saying cover) their sins.  When the Israelites sinned, they needed to sacrifice an animal. (Gross, I know!)

I go into all that because I had asked someone who went to mass most of his life what the Lamb of God meant. He didn’t know either. We can’t assume just because we hear something, even repeatedly, that we know what it means.

Sometimes people do things merely because that’s what people do. Like follow the leader, everyone does it.

But God wants us to be critical thinkers. After all, He designed us with brains. He wants us to ponder. To dig in. To learn. To grow. To grow to know Him in and through it all.

The Lamb of God is Jesus. He was sacrificed on a cross. His death covered all our sin. All!  Everything every one of us ever did (or will do).  Nothing and no one is beyond the reach of His redemption.

Yes, He saved me from hell. But He saved me from so much more than that! Hell is significant, so I don’t want to skip over it. No one wants to go there! It’s a place of torment, weeping and gnashing of teeth (Luke 13:27-29). Our worst day here on earth is microscopic in its misery compared to what hell will be like for those who do not choose to surrender their lives to Jesus.

However, it’s His love for us that so clearly spells all that out in the Bible.  He wants us to know, because He doesn’t want hell for any of us! Remember His proof? He was willing to die as proof of His love for us. (John 3:16)

He wants us safely tucked with Him as heaven descends upon earth and we spend all eternity with Him. No more sin. No more tears. Peace. Productive. A city bustling with activity. Toss any images out of your mind of floating on a cloud strumming harps. They’re just not true.  But music is allowed. Oh, there will be music!

Read the Bible. Sit down with a friend. Process what you are learning together. Again, think critically. Ask questions.  I still have some. It’s okay.  It doesn’t mean I don’t believe in Jesus. It just means some things about faith are confusing … and they require, well, faith.

Imagine me sitting tucked under a blanket in a rubbed worn chair near a pile of books stacked precariously high, coffee always close at hand, and a journal handy to jot down prayers and process my thoughts. My feet propped on the chair’s partner, matching worn footrest, because sometimes it’s good to sit awhile. Oh, and I can’t forget my little dog Enoch who gets some quality cuddle time with me as I explore God’s Word each morning, reflecting on what it says and what it means in my life.

One of the best questions I have learned to ask is this:

What is that saying, God?

I pray before I read, asking for God’s help to understand what the Bible is saying, and what He is saying to me through it.  I pray before writing these blog posts, because He knows who will read them and what each reader needs (and He knows what I need in the writing of it). Because I trust Him, I trust that process. And I trust the outcome to Him as well.

As I sat in my scruffy chair, the word stagnation came to mind as I thought about what God has saved me from.

What has God rescued me from? Stagnation!  It kept surfacing. Then, the Pool of Bethesda (although I didn’t know why).

I sensed they were related. Stagnation. Pool of Bethesda.

What are you saying God?

God’s insights and instruction are good things to ponder, of course.

Putrefy, decay, rot

Synonyms for stagnation.

God saved me from decay and rot. A graphic picture of what His goodness has delivered me from.

Stagnate means

  1. To cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc.
  2. To be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water.
  3. To stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing.
  4. To be or become sluggish and dull.2

As I mulled these ideas over, I visualized a yellow-green, slime covered body of water. Without movement and current, water grows stagnant. It loses life. And stagnation can take life too. Little by little life loses vitality if we aren’t learning and growing.

I learn so much about who God is through Scripture’s pages. I also learn much about who I am and what He has for me as I read the Bible. Through its pages I receive healing and comfort, wisdom and direction. Life. I receive fresh life each day through its pages.

Sometimes, I walk away from my quiet time knowing I was changed because of what I read in Scripture that day. Sometimes, I walk away not knowing the significance in that moment. But when the need arises, I know the truth in God’s Word. I can draw upon His thoughts that live in the core of my heart and mind, because He placed them there a little at a time while we had coffee together each morning as the sun ushered in a new day.

Thoughts like, the Pool of Bethesda.

I’d read about it before. Lots of times. But I didn’t know what God wanted to say to me and you through it now. Fresh. Alive. Anything but stagnant.

You can read the entire account of the healing at the Pool of Bethesda in John 5:1-15.  I encourage you to (even if you’ve read it many times).  I’ve shared an excerpt below.

Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”─John 5:1-6 NIV

Several things stood out to me as I read through this text. First, Jesus attended a Jewish festival.  There’s lots of debate in the commentaries as to which one, so I’ll leave that lie for today. Jewish festivals in general, though, were religious celebrations. Easter is a religious celebration. Interesting timing that God would bring this Scripture forward to use in such close proximity to our Easter celebration.

There were five covered colonnades where the disabled used to lie─the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. Think of the five colonnades as an ancient infirmary. Commentaries referred to a medical hypothesis that the five areas were used to separate patients.3 Disease has a way of spreading. Sin too.

So, we’re situated near this ancient infirmary near the pool of Bethesda where a great number of disabled people used to lie.

When I think of my story, I think of how long I lay near the pool of Bethesda desperately in need of healing, but not ever grasping for the healing God was handing out to me. Salvation. My life preserver. But it took me awhile to grasp it.

But I eventually did. I used to lie near the Pool of Bethesda.

I used to lie there.

Eventually, I wanted healing.  God helped me into the pool of His mercy. That’s what the Pool of Bethesda means, house of mercy.3 God’s mercy is not just a one-time deal. He extends it over and over to me (and you too). As I learn and grow with Him, He keeps teaching me. Stretching me. Stirring up the waters.

He asks this question: Do you want to get well?

Do you want to get well? For your soul’s sake. For your eternal destiny?

Do you want to get well? So you can be assured of who you are? Of who you are to Him?

Do you want to get well? So you can make a difference in others’ lives? Healthy people help people.

Do you want to get well? Because just like I copied my grandma not knowing why, our children and grandchildren DO follow our example.

Do you want to get well? Because you know in your heart life isn’t meant to be lived the way you’ve been living it? (Whether you know Christ or not.)

Do you want to get well? Because peace and healing has been purchased for us all by Jesus’ sacrifice.

When we don’t experience the good things of God as believers in Jesus Christ, we need to come back to Him each time and say, “Lord, help me to step into the Pool of Bethesda. I want to get well.”

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”─John 5:7 NIV

When the waters were stirred at the Pool of Bethesda, that’s when the healing happened. If circumstances feel stirred up in your life, God wants to bring healing, comfort, and mercy to you too.

If you ever feel alone in your struggle, know that you are not. God is with you. He will help you get into the Pool of Bethesda when the waters stir. Trouble in our lives has a way of stirring us closer to Christ Jesus. Let Him extend His merciful hand to you. He’s stirring the waters of healing even now. Will you get in?

When the disabled man finally got in the pool, God healed him “at once”.

When I think of how quickly God has brought healing in my life and how far He has traveled with me, it makes my eyes water with emotion. Nothing short of a miracle how far He can bring a wounded soul. Not idle. Not strumming harps. Sometimes jumping hurdles. But a really good place. I’m grateful!

And I know He wants that for you too!

He brings us into His peaceful presence. He accepts us as we are but loves us far too much to leave us that way.

The man went away and told the Jewish leaders that it was Jesus who made him well.─John 5:15 NIV

I pray that is our story too. That we would each share how Jesus has made us well.  It’s a process, not requiring perfection, but not settling for stagnation either. Whether we are saved six days or 60 decades, let’s not settle for stagnation.

Let’s step into the Pool of Bethesda, God’s house of mercy.  If you want, we can wade in together.

Join the conversation here or on our Facebook page.

Signature Image: Tracy Stella

 

1 To hell in a handbasket. (2018, March 11). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_hell_in_a_handbasket

2 Stagnate. (n.d.). Retrieved April 02, 2018, from http://www.dictionary.com/browse/stagnate?s=t

3 Jamieson, R., Fausset, A. R., & Brown, D. (1997). Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

Categories // Resurrection Power, Tracy Stella's Perspective Tags // Atonement, Do you want to get well?, healing, Heaven, Hell, John 5:1-15, Lamb of God, Pool of Bethesda, Redemption, Rescue, Salvation, Sanctification, sin, Stagnate, Stagnation

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