Lysa TerKeurst _{Leading Women in the Adventure of Faith}

If you clicked over from Encouragement for Today I’m glad you’re here. Below is an article I pulled from my book “Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl.” If you’d like to win 2 copies of my book, one for you and one for your friend, see below.

One day I got a phone message from a neighbor named Holly. She said that she knew I liked to run and suggested I give her a call if I ever wanted a running partner.

What I didn’t know until much later is that God had been prompting her to call me and wouldn’t let up until she did.

Holly and I did start running together and what began as a simple act of obedience on her part developed into a deep friendship. This was a huge answer to prayer, because I had been praying for a friend exactly like Holly.

Not only is Holly one of my closest friends, but she is also now my executive assistant. In other words, she keeps me straight on many levels, and I love every minute of it.

One day Holly gave me a unique gift that made my heart feel forever safe with her. Though it wasn’t costly to her, it became priceless to me. She committed to me that she would never say anything dishonoring about me. It was more than just a commitment to me; it was a covenant promise she’d made with God. I can’t even express what peace this brought to my heart.

It’s not that I feared my other friends were gossiping about me. I did not. And I can’t say that my other friends wouldn’t make this same promise. They probably would. But Holly verbalized this commitment boldly—in a way that has defined our friendship and built a beautiful trust rare between women.

Since we know the tsunami-type destruction gossip can cause, why is carelessly tossing out hurtful words about others so alluring? Gossip is easy to slip into and hard to walk away from.

If we just assume we won’t be tempted to gossip, we are fooling ourselves and potentially setting ourselves up for trouble. Verbalizing to a friend that she can trust we will never betray her puts action wisdom Bible teaches us about our words:

“He who guards his mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity” (Proverbs 21:23).

Before I get together with friends, I do two things: I consciously decide not to utter a negative comment or “piece” of gossip I might have heard, and I prepare in advance some positive discussion items. Instead of hoping conversation with friends goes in a healthy direction, why not help steer the conversation?

Imagine the number of relationship issues that would simply vanish if we were all more committed to loving words. Why not commit today to make this kind of love a reality with those you care about?

Not only was I encouraged by Holly’s commitment to never say anything dishonoring about me, I was challenged by it as well.

Refusing to gossip is a rare and beautiful gift. Would you like to join me in accepting this challenge by making the same promise? It not only makes friendships richer but, more importantly, it makes our relationship with the Lord more authentic and believable. We honor God when we honor each other.

I’m giving away 3 friendship packs today – 2 copies of “Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl“. Please leave a comment below telling us who you are going to commit to making this same friendship challenge with.

Today, I want to talk about asking the Spirit of God to lay across our heart.

For the past couple of months I’ve sensed I need God’s most tender mercies more than ever right now. It’s not that I’m going through any kind of crisis. I just feel completely desperate for Him.

If you’ve ever heard me give my testimony you know part of what I share is being a little girl twirling around next to my Daddy wishing I could know for sure that he loved me. I think in his own way, he did love me. But something was broken in our relationship that left me feeling desperate for reassurance.

Over the years, God has healed my heart in miraculous ways. God has whispered all those things I wished my earthly father would have said. I know for sure God’s love for me is deep, unwavering, and certain.

But there are still times I catch myself twirling again. Crying out again. Wishing I could feel totally secure. Hating my insecurities. And mad that this struggle I thought was over, surfaces still.

Maybe it always will.

And maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

For it keeps me desperate for a reassurance I can’t get any other way.

I can stand in an arena with thousands of people clapping for the message I just gave… and still feel my heart desperately twirling.

I can hear my husband tell me a hundred times that he loves me and no, my butt isn’t big… and still feel my heart desperately twirling.

I can conquer my food demons and finally fit back into my skinny jeans… and still feel my heart desperately twirling.

The only thing that stops the desperation, the uncertainties, the insecurities, the twirling… is for the Spirit of God to lay across my heart and make it still. The blanket of His presence and His protection is the only perfect fit for the deep creases and crevices carved inside me.

I don’t know what tough things you’ve been through in your life sweet sister, but I do know brokenness is universal. We all have things in life that trigger deep insecurities and our own personal twirling about looking for reassurance.

But here’s the amazing thing.

While brokenness is universal- with God redemption is also universal. No matter what cracks and crevices we have in our heart, if we seek the truth of God above all else He will work all things out for good. “Whatever is true… think about such things… And the God of peace will be with you,” (Philippians 4: 8-9).

Lord, may your spirit fall fresh upon each of us today. Remind us. Reassure us. Rest upon us. Help us to be still and know that you are our God.

It would be my complete honor and privilege to pray for you and whatever circumstance you are facing right now. Please leave your pray request in the comments box below. Throughout the day my team and I will be lifting you up.

This weekend I will be speaking in Fort Wayne, IN with EWomen at the Allen County Memorial Coliseum. I would be honored to meet you at my book table. Please click here for more info on this event.

It’s a Holly Day today~

Lysa is once again tucked away in a quiet place making the most of her writing time for her next book. Thank you for your sweet comments yesterday. We were so moved by the words of one of our blog friends, that we wanted to share them with you today~

Lysa,

I read an article on CNN today about people who live in a garbage dump, my mind can’t even begin to grasp how they even survive a day.

To always be dirty, feel the pain of hunger, to dig through trash in the hope of finding something of value. Oh how God has convicted me of my behavior through your recent post and the article.

I have been comparing myself to others and coveting what they have. Coveting is such an ugly word yet it is the sin that puts a wall between me and my Heavenly Father.

I keep remembering your words in your book, “Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl”, that I am not equipped to handle their good or bad and that God has given me what I am equipped to handle.

But the struggle with Satan rages on in my mind as I allow myself to become victim of his whispered lies. “The life we waste everyday because we want a better one or because we are never satisfied with it, is the life that many wish and yearn to have and would give everything to have it” is a quote by the photographer in the CNN article.

I pray that I will never forget that quote and that when Satan whispers, I will not give him an opportunity to write his words on my heart. May I yell the truths of God’s word to Satan when he tries to weave his web of lies.

Perspective does change everything.

All of that to say thank you for your post about the Dream Center. I am so happy that you have challenged me to send a card with encouragement to souls who just need to know someone cares.

Thank you for allowing God to use you and your words to challenge and convict me. A challenge to focus on others instead of myself, a challenge to remember the blessings in my life, the challenge to be the hands and feet of God that I am called to be. I did not post a comment to the article but I will be sending a card with encouragement with one of my favorite verses.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

Amber

“Wow… look at her marriage.  They seem to have it so together.”

“She eats whatever she wants and never gains an ounce.  Must be nice.”

“Her outfits always look so snappy while I have a serious case of the frump.”

“I wish I had her job- her smarts- her income. Sigh.”

Whenever I get an overly idyllic view of someone else’s circumstances, I often remind myself out loud, “I am not equipped to handle what they have—both good and bad.”

When I want the good things someone has, I must realize that I’m also asking for the bad that comes along with it. It’s always a package deal. And usually if I just give a situation enough time to unfold, I thank God I didn’t get someone else’s package.

One of the first times I came to understand this truth was in middle school when I met a beautiful girl at the children’s theater in my town. We were both budding child actors cast in a Christmas play. During rehearsals I remember feeling envious that her long dancer’s legs could move in ways my stubby limbs never would. Her legs were muscular and lean and graceful; mine couldn’t be described with any of those adjectives.

One day she felt an unusual pain in her left leg. A doctor’s appointment turned into a battery of tests that turned into a hospital stay that turned into a diagnosis. Cancer. A surgery to remove a tumor turned into an amputation turned into a complete life change. Her world became filled with words no child should ever have to know: chemotherapy, prosthetics, hair loss, and walking canes.

As a young girl I was stunned by the whole thing. Especially because I clearly remember night after night watching her glide across stage and asking God for legs exactly like hers.

Of course not every situation is as dramatic as this one.  But, it’s a good life lesson.

I have learned that I am not equipped to handle what others have—both good and bad. I am, on the other hand, completely equipped to handle what I’ve been given.  And the more time I spend being thankful for my life, the less I look around wishing for something else.

Today’s article is taken from my book, “Becoming More than a Good Bible Study Girl.”

If you’d like to enter to win one of three copies I’m giving away today, leave a comment below.  I’m taking the rest of the week off to spend some special time with my family, so I’ll announce the winners on Monday.  Have a great rest of your week!

Here is my prayer for us this weekend, May we catch even the slightest glimpse of the tender mercy of our Jesus.  For one drop of His mercy realized is better than an ocean of the world’s comfort.

The marriage situation that seems impossible.

The finances that never balance.

The hope so deferred it makes the heart sick.

The anxiety over a child bent on a wayward path.

The diet you are sick of.

The broken promises of a friend.

The lack of true friends.

The constant messiness always distracting the peace you want in your home.

The impatience and frustration and anger and disappointment in losing it once again.

If only we knew how deeply Jesus understands, cares, and feels for us.  If only we could see the wonder of His love.  The skies He paints, the flowers He blooms, the world He arranges just for us.

If only we knew to open our hands and catch the drops of His tender mercy.  If only we knew how to stop clinching our fists feeling the weight of trying to fix it all ourselves. 

If only we knew to stop in the midst of it all and whisper, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.” 

Just a whispered breath formed in the wholeness of His name carries all the power and mercy and wisdom and grace we need to handle what we face.

If only we knew.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are- yet was without sin.  Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need,” (Hebrews 4: 15-16).

Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.
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I will be speaking at East Paris Baptist Church in Paris, TX on February 11-12. I would love to see you there if you live nearby! Please click here for more info on this great conference.

In my Proverbs 31 Devotion today, I shared sometimes people don’t care to meet our Jesus until they meet the reality of Jesus in our lives.

It’s His story woven through our story that will reach people in deep and wondrous ways.  I like to call this our HIStory.  When we live out the truth through our lives, we help others meet the reality of Jesus.

But don’t get caught up thinking it’s only the dramatic parts of our story that make up a testimony.

I have a friend who grew up in a wonderful home and went to a Christian college.  Her story didn’t have a lot of drama in it, so she started to doubt that her testimony was really worth sharing. 

One night, early in her freshman year, the girls in her dorm building all met to get to know each other.  They sat in a circle and one by one shared how they came to know Jesus.  My friend panicked.  She didn’t think her story was good enough.  So, she made something up.

“I was a pole dancer in a cage when someone came up to me and handed me a track.  I got saved on the spot and have been following Jesus ever since.”

The minute the lie came out of her mouth, she wished she could take it back.  A few weeks later, she gathered the same group of girls and confessed what she’d done.  Jesus slowly revealed to her, her conversion didn’t have to be dramatic to be worth sharing.

She was in need of a Savior just like everyone else.  She still had points of need in her life- messes that needed the touch of the Messiah.

Whether our story is dramatic or not, we are all messy people.  The best way I’ve found to share Jesus with others is to look for an intersection between a point of need they’ve expressed and one I’ve walked through.  A mess from my life (big or small) to which they can relate.  Kid issues.  Marriage issues.  Financial issues.  Weight issues.  Health issues.  Job issues.  Insecurity issues. 

Remember our mess, touched and turned around by the MESSiah, becomes our greatest MESSage.

What messes have you walked through in the past? 

What messes are you learning how to handle right now? 

What Bible verses have helped you? 

What whispers of hope have you gotten from God? 

How have you applied what you’ve been learning? 

How has this process helped you?

I’m convinced this world doesn’t want to hear from people standing on soap boxes pretending to be perfect. 

Who people desperately need to hear from are fellow messy travelers willing to notice… pause… care… intersect… admit… share…and give the gifts this world can’t ever conjure up.

Real truth.  Real Hope.  Real peace.

Deep soul comfort.

“[God] comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God,”  (2 Corinthians 1:4).

God didn’t comfort me in my mess to make me comfortable.  He comforted me, to make me comfort-able.  Able to take the comfort I’ve received from Him and multiply it out into the world. 

Who is in your sphere of influence that you feel led to notice… pause… care… intersect… admit… share… and give to?  Mine is Jen.  A lady who works at a local drive-thru. 

Tell me who your fellow traveler is and I will personally and intentionally pray for you both this weekend.

I will be speaking on this and many other topics in South Sioux City, Nebraska in January. I would love to meet you there! Please click here for more info.