Testimony and wisdom from Kristie

Marvelous Monday ladies!

Thank you for letting join you on Friday afternoons.  I am impressed by your spiritual maturity and your deep desire to search our God’s direction and will for your lives.  It is inspiring to sit with so many young women who are devoted to the Lord.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share a little about myself because I do not cross paths enough with you to really get to know you right now.   And how timely that Shannon discussed insecurity, one of my “life” topics! 

Growing up, I lived on a small farm with my parents, a younger brother, a herd of beef cattle, dogs, and various horses and ponies.  On Sundays and Wednesdays we were in church for Sunday school, youth group and AWANAS. (Any previous Pals out there?)  On some Wednesday night, after AWANAS, I gave my life to Jesus Christ while home alone in my bedroom.  Being young and alone when I accepted the great Gift, I questioned my salvation for years.  I would hear an invitation to accept Christ and in my ear a small ugly voice would say, “Should you go? Did it really count before? Are you really saved?”  My constant questioning of the surety of my salvation also crept into other parts of my life.  I was not trusting God.  A small foothold I granted then helped freeze me into inactivity, into non-growth, and into ineffectiveness. 

Insecurity haunted me everywhere, especially during my high school and college years.  Every time I passed people chatting in the halls, the ‘her” they discussed was me.  Every effort I made was insufficient.  Nothing I had was good “enough”.  My deepest valley happened during veterinary school when my good friends from undergrad moved on and I was still in Blacksburg, now alone.  (I thought.)

--Here is when I found 2 Timothy 1:7. (For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.)   

--Here was when I began to grab truth and hold so tightly that the fog began to lift.  I was beautifully made by Christ, a great craftsman with a masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.) 

--But that didn’t sink in until May 2007 when my daughter was born and my husband fell ill.  Yes…of course…at the same time.  Here I learned of the strength Christ provides when we are weak.  (2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me). 

--Here I learned firsthand that He will never leave me or forsake even if someone else would.  (Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.) 

--Here I poured the last corner of foundation from which a house could be built.  (Luke 6:48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built.)

Today I still face battles, but I want to share with other young women my lessons.  If that saves anyone a day of trouble or doubt then the transparency was worth it.   Overcoming an obstacle like insecurity, or offering forgiveness, or establishing boundaries, or controlling emotions and our reactions/responses, or….  None of these are overcome in a day.  No light switch is flicked for a final change but instead throughout life we reach out daily to the dimmer switch and make slow “imperfect progress”.  (Than you Lysa Terquerst)  But the most awesome realization is that no matter where I am in a battle my Lord, Jesus Christ, is with me and with you every step of the way. 

Thank you all for being a blessing in my life, Kristie

Meditation Monday: Waiting by Jen S.

This week's post is from Jen S. Thanks for your thoughts and the Scriptures you shared!

STOP! Before you read, I encourage you to pray. Place your worries, your doubts, your troubles, you anxieties, or whatever is holding you down and leave it before the feet of the Father. Truly, I ask you to cast all of those things before the Father.

One word. Waiting. Whatever the reaction may be when this word is said, we all are very familiar with this. This semester has been an incredibly challenging season of my life. A couple areas of my life that the Lord has been refining and growing are trust and waiting. Specifically, I want to touch on waiting a bit and how it could relate to what you ladies may be encountering.

This semester has been filled with sitting before the feet of the Father and surrendering my anxious heart, racing thoughts, and the desire to become impatient. It's been a hard thing to surrender. I've been realizing that my need for control and for an even bigger problem, the compulsion for the "unseen or unknown" areas of my life to be answered. I've been searching for answers and solutions, but my understanding is limited. Because of this, I've been trying to create my own vision of what the future looks like and in turn, God has reminded me how I am never in control. I may try. I may fight. I may resist, but I am fighting against Him. Are there things in your life that require you to walk by faith? Are you resisting God's perfect plan of the things that lay ahead of you? Right now, I challenge you to thank Him for His unfailing love and how he guides our paths. Something that could be intertwined to this idea: trust. Who do you trust? This seems like a silly, simple question, but I challenge you to ponder on this. Are you rooted and established in the truth of God's promises within His word or do lies fill your hearts and minds with doubt?

Marinate in these truths:

“But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,

   whose confidence is in him.

He will be like a tree planted by the water

   that sends out its roots by the stream.

It does not fear when heat comes;

   its leaves are always green.

It has no worries in a year of drought

   and never fails to bear fruit.”

-Jeremiah 17:7-8

For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.

-Psalm 33:4

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

-Romans 5:3-5

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

-Romans 12:12

For great is your love, higher than the heavens;

your faithfulness reaches to the skies.

-Psalm 108:4

The world is noisy and the sphere of influence and its voices are all around us. Sometimes, it could get hard to hear the Lord's whisper when the things of this world are shouting contradicting statements. More specifically, a word that we are all too familiar with seems to model the season of my life perfectly. Waiting. There is beauty in this idea of waiting and yielding to the Lord's will that I have been missing out on. My hope is that inexpressible joy would be filled in all of your hearts right now. See, waiting is a daily occurrence. With patience and endurance, some are able to handle mustering through this and others, struggle and feel defeated. We begin to grow weary, anxious, fearful, and letdown. Whether you are waiting in line at a dining hall, checking your watch in the hope you didn't miss your bus, or counting down the seconds until lecture is over, we find ourselves in the sea of waiting. In this time period, it is crucial to continue to gaze upon the Father and acknowledge that in His time, he makes things beautiful. (Ecc. 3)

Lastly, I encourage you all to listen to this song. While you are waiting, praise and thank the Father! Because His design is perfect and the intentions are for our good, we can rest in knowing that He who is faithful to begin a good work in us is good to finish it to completion. Therefore, it will not be lacking anything! Love you sisters!