"What is the Lord capable of?" A guest post by Cynthia Giles

I read the phrase: “turn your scars into stars” from Kimberly Pothier. This phrase is a testimony of what Christ is capable of.

Ephesians 3:20

The Lord is able to do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we dare to ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us.

Are you broken?

The Lord comforts and saves the heart crushed in spirit.

Are you lacking money or resources?

The Lord makes you a royal heir, with access to wisdom which is worth more than rubies.

Are you depressed?

The Lord offers exceeding joy as a recipe for strength.

Are you fatherless?

The Lord will adopt you as a daughter or son. The Lord will grant you double for your losses.

Are you lonely?

Neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation can separate you from the love of God and his omnipotent presence. Seek friendship through prayer.

Are you abused?

       

Be strong and courageous. The Lord is your advocate and redeemer. The darkness is light to you.

Are you tempted?

Do not fear. The Lord will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear and he will provide a way out.

Are you sick?

The Lord brings deliverance and his power is made perfect in weakness.

Are you oppressed?

The Lord is your refuge and relief from despair. You serve the Lord of the breakthrough. Where the spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.

Are you a widow?

The Lord is your bridegroom, defender, romance, and best friend.

Are you anxious or part of a stressful situation?

The Lord is faithful. Do not be discouraged. He goes before you. The Holy Spirit is a counselor.

Are you forgotten? 

The Lord accepts you as a chosen one, set apart to do good works.

Are you insecure? 

The Lord transforms timidity into a spirit of power, love, and self-control.

Are you under the weight of shame?

The past doesn’t define you, it refines you. The Lord makes all things new. You’re pure.

Did you make poor decisions leading to irreversible mistakes?

The Lord keeps no records of wrongs and remembers your sins no more.

Are you lacking love?

The Lord is love. He rejoices and delights in how he created you. His love endures forever.

I hope your need was listed with an answer. What do you need today? Write a list and pray. Ask God to reveal the answer to your need. God wants to be there for every bit of your story, the good, bad, pretty, and ugly. God wants you to ask hard questions. The Lord knows we are prone to doubt so release the guilt and ask. You’re going to be okay.

The Lord desires the best for you when it’s difficult to accept his answer. If you misunderstand or wrestle with the Lords answer, ask another question. Trust his character. Maybe theirs part of the story you can’t see yet. Be strong, take heart, and wait on the Lord.

The Lord holds the answers to the questions in your heart.

Philippians 4:19

And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.

2 Corinthians 9:8

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

God wants to meet your need. Ask for the answer. God wants to hear you ask.

Matthew 7:7

Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.

Cynthia Giles enjoys writing in all types of genres and styles. Her goal is to honor God by remaining humble and thankful for the opportunity to make a positive difference in the world. She is a published writer and spoken word artist who performs at various events. She holds a bachelor's degree in Integrative Studies, with concentrations in English and Writing from Kennesaw State University. Connect with her on facebook at facebook.com/cynthia.spokenwordartist

Gorging on Chocolate Love - A Guest Post by @RobEagar



Photo by rob Eagar

Gorging on Chocolate Love 

By
Rob Eagar 

 

Have you ever gone a long time without eating and felt your stomach groan with hunger?  In those situations, what was your body telling you?  Obviously, it was crying out for some nutritious food.  Yet, how often have you consumed chocolate candy out of desperation or convenience, just to get rid of those hunger pangs?  I’ve done it several times. 

What happens?  Initially, feeding your empty stomach with chocolate feels great.  The ache goes away, your hunger disappears, and all of the sugar and caffeine hitting your system gives you the sensation of feeling “high.”  Buzzing with bliss, you wonder why you don’t eat chocolate for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

About thirty minutes later, however, everything changes.  A sharper pain than the one before grips your stomach, and your head becomes dizzy.  All of your pleasant feelings degenerate into discomfort worse than your original hunger.

What caused this pain to result? Was there something wrong with the chocolate? No. Chocolate candy is safe to eat, but it doesn’t contain the nutrients necessary for your body to survive. Therefore, when you are hungry, chocolate alone cannot help you. Instead, it makes you feel worse. For your body to thrive, it must receive a steady diet of nutritious food. Then you can enjoy chocolate as a fun dessert. However, you will get sick if you try to live solely on chocolate.

Unfortunately, many singles enter dating relationships by trying to “eat chocolate on an empty stomach.”  They approach one another with hungry hearts, hoping that the other person will feed them.  This condition can be especially acute when a man or woman feels lonely, rejected, or starved for acceptance.  Without love, people become desperate for something to fill the void inside their hearts.  A romance, with its potentially sweet taste and emotional highs, seems the likely solution to their hunger.

Looking for love in all the wrong places
As a single adult, I was hungry for love and searched repeatedly to find a woman to fulfill me. Every new romance that I entered felt like a chocolate sugar high, with soaring emotions, exhilarating self-esteem boosts, and a sweet sense of security.  In the headiness of romantic rapture, my heart thought that a woman could fulfill me forever.  Nevertheless, the euphoria inevitably collapsed.  Sometimes, it took weeks.  At other times, it took months.  My wife’s happiness vanished after a year of dating and seven months of marriage.

Regardless of how wonderful a new dating relationship feels, the romantic bliss will eventually wear off.  Human affection may taste good, but like chocolate, it cannot give our hearts what they need for survival.  The true hunger of our hearts is to be accepted unconditionally.  We need more than just attention, friendship, or sex.  We long for someone to love us despite our faults, mistakes, and imperfections.  Our hearts remain hollow when no one completely accepts us.

Unconditional love
Humans, however, cannot give each other unconditional love. We get upset or impatient when someone fails to make us happy.  Furthermore, we base our love for someone on how well they perform.  The root of this problem is sin, which causes constant mistakes, conflicts, and disappointments.  No one is accepting, patient, and forgiving all of the time. Therefore, human love is like chocolate, because the pleasure doesn’t last.  None of us has the ability to accept people unconditionally.  The affection we give to each other may taste good initially, but the thrill disappears as our selfish motives demand performance, and this problem lasts from the cradle to the grave.

I don’t mean to sound fatalistic, but we must acknowledge the reality that human love is performance-based.  It always has been and always will be.  You can date anyone in this world, but that person cannot give your heart the unconditional acceptance that it craves.

This truth also applies in marriage.  Someone once asked a pastor, “What is your wife’s opinion of you?”  He replied, “It depends on what day you ask her.  Some days, she loves me. Other days, I drive her crazy, and she wonders why she married me.  My wife and I wish we could love each other perfectly, but it is impossible since we both sin and make choices that hurt each other.  God is the only Person who loves us regardless of how we act.”

Is marriage the answer?
Consider those around you.  How many of your married friends warn you that marriage is tougher than you think?  Yet, how many of your single friends complain of feeling incomplete without a spouse?

All too often, we neglect what our hearts really need and attempt to satisfy ourselves with a cheap substitute called romance.  In essence, we try to live on an unhealthy diet of chocolate, but our hearts cannot survive under the demands of performance-based love.  We inevitably burn out, wear out, or drop out, from trying to please others.

In my case, I had to reach total exasperation before I grasped that dating and marriage would never fulfill me. I appeared successful to many people, because I’d had several girlfriends and reached my goal of marriage.  Those romances, however, never fulfilled me. Either I required too much of a woman, or she expected too much of me.  We were sincere in our desire for lasting love, but we couldn’t make it happen.

Real love is out there
You don’t need a new set of dating principles or techniques.  A perfect love waits to delight you.  This love, however, cannot soothe the ache within your heart until you stop chasing after romantic passion or passionate sex.  Those shallow quests lead to emptiness.  The hunger in your heart is for real passion.

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life.  No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again.” (John 6:35 NLT) 

Passion awaits you

Stop settling for less than what your heart truly desires.  A higher love waits to take you beyond the jaded, cynical disappointments that result from most dating relationships.  No longer does your heart have to survive on the cheap chocolate of empty romance.  You were made to experience more than just manipulation, performance, or selfish indulgence.  You were created by God to share in the ecstasy of real love, not just when you get to heaven but in life on earth as well.  Before you can truly love another person, however, you must first understand how much you are already loved.  So open your heart, and prepare for the passion that awaits you.


More from and about Rob Eagar can be found here and on his professional site at www.startawildfire.com.

Rob's Book, Dating with Pure Passion

 

"Dating with Pure Passion," Available on Amazon at: http://www.amazon.com/Dating-Pure-Passion-Courtship-Formula/dp/0736916709/

CHRIS TOMLIN ENOUGH from blaze25z on GodTube.

When Your Presence is a Ministry - A guest post from @KelliWommack

Photo By Kelli Wommack

When Your Presence is a Ministry 

ByKelli Wommack 

In my role as SERVE minister at Christ Community Church, I have the awesome privilege and responsibility of helping people find their unique ministry within our church and ultimately the Kingdom of God. I explain in classes and in consultations that every Christian has a ministry. Just like our human body, the body of Christ is made up of many parts and each part is necessary for the Body to function properly.

One day, after our church services, a woman walked up to me. This gentle-spirited woman had been through our classes. I had met with her about a year ago and together we discussed how God had created her with certain gifts, talents, and experiences along with a vibrant personality and passion. I had given her several suggestions for ministry placement. She served a trial run in a couple of those ministries and after a time, found that she was still struggling with direction. I told her to continue to pray that God would show her where and how He wanted her to serve.

So, the day she approached me after the service, I noticed that she had a big smile and a feeling of contentment. She said, “I think I have discovered my ministry. But I don ‘t know what to call it. I don’t think there is actually a name for it.”  I was not bothered by the idea of a nameless ministry, but very curious to hear about it. She began to tell me that she had observed when she was most fulfilled, and most fruitful. She felt that her greatest ministry was “just being with people – just listening to them, praying for them, fellowshipping with them, just BEING with them.” I totally agreed with her assessment because I had been one to benefit from this “nameless” ministry of hers. And then I said, “There is actually a name for that...” She was bewildered. “Really?” I replied, “Yes, it is called the MINISTRY OF PRESENCE.”

In the U.S., we have so disciplined ourselves to be taskmasters -- to do, and to check off lists. And sometimes, in fact, many times, God is not calling us to 'do' anything. He is calling us to 'be' there for people. I am much more aware of this when I have traveled to other countries on mission trips. Yes, I may be there to teach at a conference, or to help with an evangelism effort. But when there is nothing on the schedule, there is still something on the schedule. That something is just being with the people – listening to their stories, talking with them, and praying with them.

Do you have people around you that need your 'ministry of presence?' Maybe it is your spouse, your children, your co-worker, or your neighbor? We don’t have to have a task to complete in order to minister to others. Let’s be present and in the moment. Undistracted. Completely focused...on them. Let’s minister with our presence.

Kelli Wommack  Bio info 

Kelli is a motivational speaker, writer, and blogger and loves seeing people reach their full potential in Christ. In her role as Serve Minister at Christ Community Church in Georgia, she has the awesome privilege of rallying others to find their unique place of ministry. Her favorite home team includes her loving, funny, yet quiet husband, and her two loving, funny, and not so quiet children. Connect with Kelli:

Facebook:

Kelli Wommack Ministry Page

Twitter:

KelliWommack

Website

Living for ONE

Boiling Point - A guest post from @Rebecca_Halton

Photo by Debra Courtney

 Boiling Point: When and why a relationship boils over, plus tips for what to do when we get burned

ByRebecca Halton 

We’ve all probably experienced it at one point or another: We get that call, e-mail, text or personal confrontation. Something that’s been simmering beneath the surface (unbeknownst to us) finally boils over. You’re listening to your friend or family member, and at some point you find yourself thinking (or saying):

“Why didn’t you just tell me that before?!”

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not just pointing the finger here (I’m learning how to communicate better, and sooner). But I’ve recently had it happen to me. Twice. Before, when I’ve been on the receiving end of someone’s “boil-over,” I used take on guilt for it. It can be easy to perceive someone’s reaction as your fault.

It can be especially difficult to not feel unhealthy guilt, if someone tries to blame their lack of better communication, or their reaction, on you (directly or “between the lines”). Or it’s especially difficult if someone has a strong emotional response, to something they say you did (or didn’t do). Even if you weren’t aware you were doing it (or not) in the first place!

Here are some helpful tips from me to you, for how to respond when a friend “boils over” — ask yourself or consider the following:

§  Was it really that you did something “wrong” (according to them)? (If so, and you know you did wrong by them, ask for forgiveness or otherwise try to make amends, if they’re receptive to having that process. Which, they may not be at first, or at all.)

§  What else is going on here that has nothing to do with you? You may have just ended up as the punching bag. It may not be as personal (about you) as you think — or even the other person realizes! If it’s a friend, and you’re familiar with what else is going on in her/his life, especially anything stressful, take that into account.

§  Be sensitive to what this teaches you about the needs of this particular friend. One of my natural inclinations has ALWAYS been, that when someone I care about is struggling, I pour on the support and/or encouragement. What’s wrong with that, right? Well, for some people (for whatever reason), they don’t want more support in those moments — or maybe they just don’t want the kind of support you’re giving. Make note of what your friend is saying, and keep that in mind for the future.

§  Be receptive to what this conflict reveals about you. Maybe you have become co-dependent on a friendship, using your role in the friend’s life to fulfill a deeper unmet need in your own life! Or maybe you do have some unrealistic expectations — either way, invite God to search your heart as well.

§ But don’t internalize their criticism as a condemnation of you as a person, or your gifts and talents! Some people like black coffee; some people want a little cream and sugar; some people want artificial sweeteners. It doesn’t mean black coffee is bad!

And I guarantee you: the very thing they’re complaining about, someone else will thank you for. For example, I know I have a gift for encouraging and empathizing — and in a world where there are so many hurting people who feel isolated and uncared for, that’s priceless. Just make note of it for that particular person (or for that particular set of circumstances in that friendship). And if it means modifying (or even ending) that relationship, let it. Just be careful to not let it wrongly modify who you are.

§  Be respectful — don’t be reactive! I know how much it can hurt. You didn’t have bad intentions. You may not have even been aware. But when someone boils over at or about you, in my experience the best thing you can do is respect where they’re at. And respect what they’re asking for. Believe me, it will be tempting to react.

If you feel misunderstood, you’re going to want to explain.
If you feel hurt, you’re going to consider hurting back.

Really try to reserve a reaction, and just respect. One reason being is that it lets the person know they can come to you — preferably sooner next time! They may have held back from coming forward (when things were simmering, vs. boiling) because they didn’t know how you’d react. Or they thought they knew.

But setting an example of respect in your response can not only help diffuse the discord, but it can also strengthen the relationship in the long run, and create a dynamic of reciprocity. (Hopefully they would be just as receptive, if you had a concern.) The other thing I’ve realized, is rarely (if ever) in that moment of heightened emotion, can you reason someone into feeling something different. Absorbing the blow may just have to be an act of grace (or mercy), as will be patiently waiting for a better opportunity to respond.

At the end of the day — through all my experience — I truly believe 99.9 percent of conflict between friends who do actually care about each other, boils down to one of two things: miscommunication or misunderstanding. And the devil can influence both. That’s why we, if we’re the one boiling over, need to step back and turn ourselves down a couple notches, before we inadvertently burn someone. And if we get burned by a friend, we need to step back, bring our hurt and the situation to God, who can best help heal, intervene, and cool things off.

Note: One resource I’m eager to read, and know is really helping a lot of people in the area of interpersonal conflict resolution, is Shelley Hendrix’s book Why Can’t We Just Get Along?

Coming Soon: I’ve told my story — and it’s made multiple appearances on the Westbow Press bestsellers list. Now, I want to help you tell your story! Join my mailing list, and I’ll send you exclusive information about a brand-new coaching program I’ll be launching this fall!

If you have ever considered telling your testimony through a book of your own — but didn’t know where to start or how to finish your manuscript — you won’t want to miss this exclusive opportunity to work with me directly! Whether you need help polishing a manuscript for consideration by a literary agent or publisher – or you’re exploring the idea of self-publishing (like I did) — I’d be honored if you’d me to help you reach that goal of getting your story out there!

If you’ve dreamed of being an author — getting paid to write — and you’re willing to roll up your sleeves, open your heart, and hear my honest feedback, I’d love to work with you towards making that dream a reality.