This past weekend the Holy Spirit ran through my heart, God grabbed my soul and Jesus came ALIVE! He died for us…but He is now ALIVE in each and every one of us…if we allow Him to be. Do we deny Him this…do we allow Him to be alive in us… or do we place doubts in Him?
“Here I am to worship. Here I am to bow down. Here I am to say that you’re my God. Because your altogether lovely, altogether worthy, altogether wonderful to me. We are here for YOU!”
I was blessed to spend a weekend with 180 other women…not sure many would call this blessed haha!...but it was BEYOND a blessing! I met women from Canada, Boston, MA, Omaha, NE, Los Angeles, CA, Phoenix, AZ, Tampa, FL. Women that live next door to me in Alpharetta, GA and some as far as Europe. We all came together with the belief that through this weekend, through the blessing of Our God that we would become Blessed Among Women…and I hope that anyone who reads this…realizes this too was our hope for you. That ALL women know that they are Blessed among Women…but only with Jesus!
The theme for the weekend was…wait for it…Blessed are you Among Women… We dove into Scripture and looked deeply into some of the most prominent female characters; Eve, Hannah, Ruth and Naomi, Mary Magdalene, and Mary, Our Mother. WOW…I mean seriously, how can six women who existed thousands of years ago be relatable now?
I want to give you the scripture versus for each of these women’s story because if you are anything like me…I hadn’t read them for myself. I grew up hearing them, I feel like I knew them….but I had no idea!
Eve~ Genesis 2:5-25
Hannah~ 1 Samuel 1-28, 2: 1-21
Ruth and Naomi~ The Book of Ruth
Mary Magdalene~ John 20: 1-18
Mary~Luke 1:25-56
Every woman is the leading lady of her story…have you ever thought about your own story? I know what you are saying…Please…who has time to think about this with laundry, cleaning, baking, cooking…and the list goes on. But really think about it.
What is YOUR story?
Okay, now take your story…all the beautiful details, the tough ones we might write out, the horrible ones that we would definitely write out and ask yourself….Who is writing my story?
In the Story of Eve…well we know what happened right….she ruined it for us ALL! And seriously, for an APPLE. Thanks! But there is so much more. Eve had everything! She had a man who loved her, a beautiful home full of everything that a woman could ever need, she was beautiful! And she allowed a lie to ruin this all. The serpent told her that God was holding out on her! The serpent fed her lies and made her doubt in God…relatable…I think so!
What lies has the serpent fed to you to make you believe you are less than what you were meant to be, what God wants you to be? If only I had this….I would be happy? If only I had a better job…if only I had that car…if only I had her beauty…if only I had a better husband…if only I had a husband…if only I could loss those pounds…if only I could hold my Oliver…I would be happy. The same serpent that tempted Eve is alive and well in each and every one of us; SCREAMING lies to us! And Eve hid and so do we. We are hiding because God will take the apple from us…these ifs that we think will fulfill us. We turn from God because of these lies.
What would you change in your story? Here is the pencil with a BIG eraser. What would you change? Oh my would there be a couple things I would change…I would start with the lies girls told me to hurt me and convince me I was less than what they were in high school and then move on to the complete disrespect of myself in college, telling myself that my actions were making men love me, that birth control was just a pill, that God didn’t see what I was doing, that going to Church wasn’t necessary because God wouldn’t want me there. That my body was all I was. And then God blessed me with Zach…thank you…but lies were there, too. That us living together before our marriage was no big deal. That even though I knew the foundation of our relationship was lies, God didn’t see it. That the choices we made before we took our vows wouldn’t matter because we LOVED each other. And the lies grew a little bit bigger…that my son’s death was my fault, that I did something wrong to cause this in our family. That every other pregnancy would be the same. Lies. (And these are what I feel are lies in my life…no judgment what so ever on anyone else). But the one thing that wasn’t a lie….GOD LOVES ME! God is a forgiving GOD! And he is always fighting for me…for my heart…for my love! And because of this….I would change NOTHING in my story…because every mistake I have ever made…He has shown through…He has held my hand and said I am with you! God gives us conflict to make us the heroine we are supposed to be!
….His story is ALWAYS better!
Give up the pencil. Give up writing your story and allow him to be the Author!
2 comments:
Beautiful post Rebecca! I am actually forwarding it to a certain person I was thinking about while I was reading your personal story. Thank you so much for recapping your amazing weekend and all you learned. You are a light spreading the word. bravo.
Rebecca, this post truly spoke to my heart. I have been dealing with this very issue a lot lately- lies whispered in my ear that make me doubt what I know to be true and the blessings that God has given me.
I, like you, would certainly erase some details of my past- the same as you with those high school mean girls, acting out in college and living together before marriage. So many things could be different, but thankfully, all my past mistakes have led me to the stronger relationship with God that I have today and this new realization of what's important and what's right.
I hope we can all learn to listen to God's voice instead of Satan's whisper!
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