Day 87, 88, and 89: "Then God Opened Her Eyes"

Genesis 21:17-19 

Hey People! 
Sorry we missed the last two days! We have three verses for you today though!
-L.

Genesis 21:17-19English Standard Version (ESV)

17 And God heard the voice of the boy, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What troubles you, Hagar? Fear not, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. 18 Up! Lift up the boy, and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make him into a great nation.” 19 Then God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water. And she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

Day 86: "You Alone, O LORD"

Psalm 4:8English Standard Version (ESV)

 In peace I will both lie down and sleep;
    for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.

Day 85: "Because [They] Feared God"

Exodus 1:21English Standard Version (ESV)

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

Check out Exodus 1:15-22 for the story of how Hebrew midwives risked their lives to save the baby boys they were ordered to kill because they feared God more than the king.

Happy Sunday!

-L.

Day 84: "Power and Love and Self-Control"

2 Timothy 1:7English Standard Version (ESV)

 "for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control."

Day 83:"Before the LORD"

Psalm 37:7English Standard Version (ESV)

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;

 fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way,

    over the man who carries out evil devices!

Days 81-82: "Enduring Forever"

Psalm 19:7-9

Psalm 19:7-9 (ESV) "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the Lord are true, and righteous altogether."

Day 80:"Take Courage"

Psalm 27:14 ESV

Wait for the Lord;

    be strong, and let your heart take courage;

    wait for the Lord!

Day 79: "To Stand"

Luke 21:34-36

Luke 21:34-36 (ESV) “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” 

Day 78: "Your Redemption"

  Luke 21:25-28

 

Luke 21:25-28 (ESV) “And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

Day 77: "You Will Gain Your Lives"

Luke 21:18-19

Luke 21:18-19 (ESV) "But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives."

Day 76: "Bear Witness"

Luke 21:13-15

Luke 21:13-15 (ESV) "This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict."

Day 75: "Led Astray"

Luke 21:8-9

Luke 21:8-9 (ESV) "And he said, 'See that you are not led astray. For many will come in my name, saying, "I am he!" and, "The time is at hand!" Do not go after them. And when you hear of wars and tumults, do not be terrified, for these things must first take place, but the end will not be at once.'" 

* * * * *

There are five different passages in Luke 21 referencing fear/fearlessness/faith. We will be going through them in the next several days! I'd encourage you to read through the whole chapter in context to find the different connections and be encouraged by the words of Jesus.
Have a blessed day!
-M.

Day 73-74: "Your Faith Has Healed You"

Mark 5:25-34 (ESV)

 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse.  She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.  For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?”  And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’” And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”

She did the unacceptable; though 'unclean' she touched the only truly clean person and unlike any other time, the clean did not become unclean but made the unclean clean.
-L.

Day 72:"Boldly to Proclaim"

Ephesians 6:18-20English Standard Version (ESV)

 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,  and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.

You're not the only one who struggle with fear. Take some time to pray for the believers around you (especially those in leadership) that God would give them boldness to speak His truth.

-L.

Day 71: "The LORD Your God"

Deuteronomy 1:21(ESV)

See, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the Lord, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

Day 70: "Whom Shall I Fear"

Psalm 27:1 (ESV)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;

    whom shall I fear?

The Lord is the stronghold of my life;

    of whom shall I be afraid?

Day 68: "About Tomorrow"

Matthew 6:34 (ESV)

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

Focus on the future has been such a struggle for me, but Jesus was right, there's plenty to do today. God's already done the planning. So don't worry about the future, ask God what He planned for today, for right now even, and live in that, focus on what belongs in today. Who knows what tomorrow will bring you've got enough to do today.

-L.

Day 67: "Seek First The Kingdom"

Matthew 6:31-33(ESV)

 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

When I Read "The Shack" 3 Years Ago...

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God." - Colossians 3:3

"And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as He is pure." - 1 John 3:3

Hi friends!

I have a story for you! It might sound like a bad one or a scary one, but it's actually one of the greatest stories of God's victory in my own life. The movie adaptation of "The Shack" came out this year, but three years ago today I read the book for the first time and it was a tool God used to bring freedom and redemption into my life. I've had a desire to tell this story for a few months, but I realized last night that God's timing lined up for today to be the day I needed to post this.

I am a victor over an addiction to pornography, by the grace of Jesus Christ. It's high time I tell the story of God's goodness and power in my life because I don't deserve to hide it all inside away from prying eyes; I can't help but shout from the rooftops just how powerful and amazing my Savior Jesus is.

Here's how "The Shack" plays into this story. Let's rewind to January of 2014. I'd been hiding an addiction to pornography for a year and a half at this point and desperately wanted out, however, I also wanted no one to ever know. I challenged myself to go 100 days without reading or looking at explicit content. I was hoping for freedom, but I didn't know if I could ever have it - after all, other Christian homeschooled girls definitely didn't struggle with this kind of sin. No one ever talked about it, so obviously it wasn't present... right?

Fast forward to March 7th, 2014. I'd gone back to the internet a few times during this 100 day "clean" challenge and I felt like I had failed, but I was still fighting hard. A week or two prior, a good friend had lent me a book called "The Shack" and I decided I should read it so I could return it to her. I had no clue what lay in those pages, but as I read through the book in a single afternoon, God used the story of grace more powerful than any sin someone could commit to break these chains of addiction in my own life. 

And I felt free. Free to love Jesus more than myself and my desires. Free to say that I am forgiven and redeemed. and free to choose to walk away from the lie of goodness and escape from the world that pornography tried to offer.

I can tell you from experience - you will never, ever, ever find lasting joy in anything other than Jesus Christ. I tried.

I was free from the bonds of this addiction, and it has been a hard battle to continually say no to temptation - because it's always there. I had to and have to choose to love Jesus more. After this exploration of freedom began, so also a new fight began in my heart: The fight for honesty. This fight would be much harder because it was a battle of my own will. God was teaching me in this time that I was not going to be "found out" because it would not help me learn the lesson that He needed me to learn - I had a choice to obey what God called me to, and I needed to take it.

Through the next year and a half, I still struggled sometimes with going back to read explicit content but the constant feeling that haunted me was that I'd have to tell someone what I'd done; what I'd hidden behind a happy persona for years.

Fast forward again to October of 2015. I went to a worship night at school and God was really convicting me that I needed to open up. That night a girl I didn't even know prayed over my for healing of jaw pain and TMJ issues that I'd been having for over two years. God chose to heal my pain, even though I tried to use it to make a deal with God that I'd open up only if He gave me what I asked for. Yet His love knew no barriers and that night I was able to share with my mom that God had healed my pain and that I'd struggled with lust for several years. I was so close to telling the whole truth, but something in my feared still that I was too dirty, too unworthy to be known and loved.

The breaking point came a month later as I sat frozen to the floor in a friend's basement where two of the people closest to my heart tried to get me to even speak. I couldn't feel anything but how cold it was and that this fear would eat me alive. It was not easy to say out loud the thing I thought was the worst of my humanity. But finally I said the words, "I'm a recovering porn addict" and my friends rejoiced at my confession. The healing had begun.

Over the last year as I grew further and further from the shame of my past and the temptation to let it own me yet again, I've opened up to a few people close to me and told them at least parts of this story. Even in the last several months, I've been attempting to bring it up in less "super-spiritual" or intense conversation because I know the Lord has called me to make known that He's freed me. And putting this now in writing is one of the keys to that calling.

God laid in on my heart about three months ago to write this story out as a testimony to what He's done in my life. Since confessing with my mouth the sin I've committed, I've become able to see that I also can confess with my mouth the grace and love the Father has lavished on me, that I should be adopted as a child of God. I'm loved no matter what I've done and no matter what I will do.

Today it's been three years since I first read "The Shack" and though I haven't seen the movie yet, I plan to and I'm sure it will be an emotional moment for me to remember the work God began in my heart as I read that story for the first time. Whatever you take away from reading this, I hope you see clearly that these words do not convey defeat. My story is not one to be hidden away and not one to be discussed with hushed words any longer. It is a story that there is a God with a love so deep, so far-reaching, that he could reach even me, a prodigal who ran as far as she could and a broken girl who thought she would never be lovable again.

I know and believe I am loved, I am forgiven, and I am free. My story is that Jesus loves me.

Thank you all for reading! You all have a special place in my heart, even if I don't know you very well or haven't seen you in a long time. If you need prayer or a listening ear, let me know, I'd love to be there for you!
-M.

Day 65:"The Flowers of the Field"

Matthew 6:28-30

Matthew 6:28-30 (ESV) "And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?"

Day 64: "A Single Hour"

Matthew 6:27 (ESV)

And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

Days 62-63: "Look At The Birds"

 Matthew 6:25-26

"'Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?  Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"

Day 61: "But God Meant It for Good"

Genesis 50:15-21 (ESV)

15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

I love this passage because Josephs brothers had nothing to be afraid of, not because they hadn't done anything wrong but because Josephs had forgiven them. 
-L.

Day 60: "Accept Correction"

Zephaniah 3:7 (ESV)

I said, ‘Surely you will fear me;

    you will accept correction.

Then your

 dwelling would not be cut off

    according to all that I have appointed against you.’

But all the more they were eager

    to make all their deeds corrupt.