Go Tell it on the Mountains!

Hello my sweet, lovely, FEARLESS women! Yes, today is No Fear Friday, where you can lay your burdens down and get a Pick Me Up from the Lord! He is so good, in so many ways.

When was the last time you told someone how good Jesus has been in your life? Sometimes in all the bustle of life we don't stop to think about the daily miracles that He speaks into our lives.

I woke up this morning. That is a minute-by-minute miracle.

He numbers my days and only He knows when my last breath will be. When I stop to remember that I usually have a more calm and productive day.  If it were my last day, would I want it to be a day where I lived in fear? Heck NO!

 A place to start  realizing God's miracles in your day is to write it down! Start small, like I have a house, food, all of the obvious goodness He bestows. As you exhaust what will seem like obvious goodness, you will have to search deeper to what we think is less obvious but really it will be more rooted in God's goodness woven in His creativity for your life then you ever thought possible.

So once I have my list, wouldn't I want to tell others about the goodness of the Lord? Heck YES! Because really, if the Lord has blessed you, why are we afraid to tell someone? We tell everyone we know about the awesome bargain that we got at Sam's club? Now really, will the 20 rolls of toilet paper for $2.00 change someones life?  I think I can safely say no on that one.  Will being introduced to a saving knowledge of Christ change their entire life and more importantly, their life in eternity?

Profoundly.

The fear of telling someone about the Lord is a fear of not being like everyone else, being called a Jesus Freak or worse. Really it is just plain fear of rejection. Being rejected is being told we are not good enough, not worth hearing, not worth anything.

The Lord has helped me overcome my fear of rejection in small steps. It started with Him making sure that I know my faith. That is the foundation of overcoming any fear. Know what you know! He had people come into my life that have made me have to tackle hard questions and find well-reasoned answers. If you don't know, go find out. Do not be afraid to say, "I don't know all the answers, but I will find out for you if I can." But make sure you find the answer if you can, it benefits you and ultimately them when you pursue the truth.

Ask people if you can pray fro them. This is a great one to open the lines of communication to the others about Christ.  Someone will usually come into my office and start to complain about something. I listen and then I try to find an opportunity to say "How can I pray for you in this?" I have never had anyone say "don't bother praying for me". They are a bit shocked sometimes but ultimately I get a prayer request from them and then I pray about it.  Guess what? God shows up and they will then come into my office, days or weeks later and say "Man, have you really been praying!" and they will proceed to tell me how the situation has changed.

Guess what again? They will now ask me to pray about another situation that has been weighing on them. As I pray for them, I pray that the Lord will provide times when we can go deeper in conversation about Him.

He always obliges.
And a thread of trust begins to form with that person and more of their hurts and life begin to come out and afford more things for me to pray about. That is when I usually ask to pray WITH them. These are my most precious times when I can participate in prayer with someone struggling. I love to pray for people, but there is something intimate about praying WITH someone. I think because when we pray we are put into deep communion with the Lord at that moment. By praying with someone, you have helped intimately link their arm through the Lord's and have started a lifeline to the Savior.

He asks us to participate in telling others about Him because the miracle is not just for the other person. He will work a mighty miracle in your life just because you faced that fear and spoke up for Him.
He will more than be capable of taking care of the rest for that person, but do not be afraid to be the person that starts to thread the needle.  He guides the needle and thread and will make a beautiful piece of artwork with your life.

My challenge to you this season is to start the thread. Study your bible first and foremost. Get into a Bible study if you don't know how to study the bible. Check with churches to find out what is available.

Then ask God for opportunities to tell someone something about what the Lord has done in your life. Ask Him to make you aware of the opportunity (sometimes I was a bit dense in the beginning) when it comes up!

Then pray. Pray for to overcome your own fears. Pray for open hearts to receive.

Pray.

And so continues the tapestry God is weaving to spread His Son Jesus through out the world.

Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Reach out and touch someone!

Hi Peeps! Welcome to No Fear Friday, a day of the week when the Lord gets a hold of your fears and builds your faith, one prayer and step at a time.

I want to talk about friends today. Most times our fears stay fears because we don't let anyone know about them. If we are the only one fighting them, how can we win over our fears? God can do all things for sure but He also calls us to fellowship with others as well for they will help us when we can;t help ourselves.

I was reading in my Bible today 1 John 4:18. "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear." What struck me was the commentary about that verse. Love prompts us to seek out other; fear causes us to shrink from others. Keeping fears and troubles a secret keep us under the power of the devil and away from experiencing the full love and healing of God because he fills us with condemnation. He makes us wonder what others will say if they knew such and such about us? They wouldn't want me to be their friend if they knew this about me.....

Condemnation is never from the Lord, always from the devil. If you let others into you your life that can love and support you and pray with and for you, you will be able to withstand the ups and downs that come with overcoming hardship much better than going it alone.

I have a dear friend who was going through a horrible time this summer. She asked me to pray for her because she couldn't then. What happened is she was able to open up more and more and she was then able to have the burden lifted somewhat by having someone else help her carry it and her. Her energy could now go to starting to pray for herself instead of trying to carry an unbelievable weight that one person is not meant to carry.

What I also want to say is that when you invite someone in to help you with your burden, you also need to be prepared to hear somethings that you might not like to hear. A true friend will be honest and let you know what's up. They might push you a little or a lot. But if you trust this person and do not fear them, you can trust that they are doing these things because they love you deeply.

If yo are that person who has been asked to help pray or help shoulder a burden, please ask the Lord to always help you to say or do what He wants you to do and that you will be able to do so in a Christ like manner, showing love and compassion while speaking the truth.

The Lord brought a great image I had learned about in one of my Bible studies. In battle, Roman soldiers would link the arms that held their shields.


By doing this they were an unbreakable barrier to the force that was trying to overcome them.  Their individual strength  and protection was nothing compared to when they held each others arms.

Then they were unstoppable.

Link arms with someone today if you have not done so already. Do not let fear keep you in a solitary place to fight alone.

As always, if you need me to pray for anything, please email me or leave me a comment and know that I will be praying for you and linking shields with you sister!


Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!      

 

 

Ya'll are experiencing some FREEDOM!

Welcome to No Fear Fridays!  I day when you can get a dose of grace from the Lord and reality from me and my flaws. I hope that by being transparent, it will help you face fears long held inside and allow you to live a life of Freedom from Fear through Christ's saving grace.

When I first started writing these posts, all of about 3 weeks ago, I was hoping it would slowly transform some lives. Well, I should know better than to try and guess how God will use His Words to help a sister out. So today I want to highlight some women who have been brave enough to share their fear(s) with me so I can pray for them and I want to tell you how the Lord has worked a mighty miracle!

Karen from Bargain-ista first emailed me this: "Wow! I really needed this today! I will email you but just know that this post has helped me already :)."

I started praying for her and then emailed her to check on things ( please include an email if you feel comfortable so I can check in on ya'!) and she relayed a story about a co-worker she was having difficulty with. She was being eaten up inside by the situation but God was able to change her perspective after reading the post "Why do I care?".  God can change any perspective when we use His eyes instead of our own. It takes a weight off of our shoulders that He did not put there. We have put that yoke on ourselves and we continue to carry it sometimes waaaay past it's due overdue date. That is not the kind of workout I need or want. I would much rather work out my Trust and Faith muscles and put the burden on shoulders that can more than carry the burden.  Karen- SO glad you are letting God's grace work on your life.

Okay, so here is the super cool part of this.....remember the verse Psalm 68:11? Beth Moore had quoted this verse during her talk that started this whole No Fear Fridays idea.  It is also apart of the Great Forsake and Take which can be found here and is an entire listing of verses that deal with fear. Read them everyday, let them sink way down deep in your soul and start saying them when fear starts to prick your heart. If you do this, I promise you you will enjoy an inspired life of fearlessness and freedom through God's transforming Word! 

Okay back to Psalm 68:11. It says : "The Lords Speaks, and many, many women spread the good news."  Well, Karen does her bulletin at her church and she has decided to include one of these fear verses from The Great Forsake and Take in the bulletin each week!!!! So now we have one more woman spreading the Good News!!!! 

She also made a beautiful printable on the verse 2 Chronicles 20:17 so please go over and print it out. I have printed out 3 of them for various places in my house!

(This reminds me of the Breck Commmercial from the 70's: "And she told two people, and then she told two people...." I may be dating myself here.)

From here many people in her church will read these verses and hide them in their hearts and start to experience freedom.

Can I get a huge AMEN?!? 

This is just one story. I will share others on occasion because I don't want to stay mired in the whole this is what I fear stage...I want to show the lifelong Freedom stage that you all will experience. 

If you have experienced a change in how you are living without fear, does not matter how small that change has been. It is still a change and I still want to know about it so I can dance for joy with you and let others know that they can experience that change too! Let me know and I will include you here and we can get our praise on!

What if you are still living with some fear that won't seem to go away on its own, please let me know and I will pray for you.

If you feel led, please pray for these women as well:
Amy-panic attacks
Margaret- family issues
Jennifer- needed this post about No Fear Fridays, unspecified
Jenny- panic attacks, critical of herself

Here is one word for you to live by this week: FREEDOM
Always being renewed,

Please see the link party page to see where I link arms with those blissfully beautiful bloggers that host every week. So gracious they are along with these other sweet ladies!