Faith – Page 9 – Women's Ministry

Unshakable

June 6, 2013July 5, 2013by hcfwomen3 Comments

Unshakable: (adjective) utterly firm or unwavering, incapable of being shaken.

Luke 6:47-49 tells us that anyone willing to come to the Lord and put His words into practice is like someone building a house on a foundation set upon a rock. The house can withstand any storm.

What we build our house upon may be all that is left after a storm passes…it matters!

Well, the only way to be unshakable is to have a solid foundation and you’ve got to start somewhere. Our journey started when I was told a diagnosis no mom wants to hear; death was inevitable for our unborn son. After an unexpected delivery at 28 weeks, he was diagnosed with 22 fatal conditions. He was beautiful, so very perfect in every way. After 3 surgeries, a few close calls and 66 days in NICU, he passed away peacefully as we held him.

His name was Callen Clark Wright and the journey of his incredibly short life changed our family forever…it made us unshakable.

When we first heard of a possible diagnosis, we laid the foundation for the situation before us and declared these things aloud: “We will not blame ourselves or each other, and most importantly we will NEVER blame God.” We had no idea what exactly was before us but we knew we had to have a foundation-a sturdy place to start.

During our time with Callen the one thing that remained true was that God was with us. Many people told us how they could clearly feel God’s presence and some could literally see Him. Most people do not understand how we are even still standing. Yes, the loss of a child is very painful in every way.

The grief process is not marked; there are no road maps to get through it, partly because it never ends. But there is hope. Hope that the foundation you built your family on will remain standing through the flood and will allow you to be unshakable in the midst of the process and eventually continue to build.

Being unshakable is not easy, and you cannot do it in your own strength. God is the key to becoming unshakable. He will help and guide you. God will bring joy from the pain. God is the perfect foundation to build upon because He is faithful, always constant, NEVER failing.

PRAY and call out to Him. God will meet you in your circumstance. No matter how small or big it may seem, He is still bigger. Nothing happens to us without passing through His hands first. He will allow us a chance to prevail and become stronger in our faith, but we must be unshakable in our relationship with Him to succeed.

Be encouraged! With God, YOU CAN DO THIS! All things are possible when He is your strength, your foundation, your UNSHAKABLE God Almighty!

This post was written by Victoria Wright. She attends the Plainview Harvest Campus with her husband Justin and two beautiful children, Caycen and Carly.

Faith, Identity

Beauty, not the Beast!

January 11, 2013December 28, 2016by hcfwomen1 Comment

The point God has taught me lately has not been anything earth-shattering, nor has it even included a “wow” moment. But I know that if I struggle with this sometimes, coming out to share it might help someone else who needs to hear this truth. I have found myself looking in the mirror and questioning, “Am I beautiful?” Sometimes my mind ponders if I exercise more, work harder, or if I am a nicer person it will add to the beauty that God sees in me. While all of this, in part, adds to a beauty of a certain kind, none of these things can change the way the Lord sees me. Even if I have messy hair, no makeup, and haven’t worked out in a week, that doesn’t change the fact that God looks at me and says, “You are beautiful!” He looks at a different kind of beauty: MY HEART.

I am learning that what this world calls character (excellence, habit, frame of mind, emotions, reputation, personality) God calls beauty. These things are shaping who I am and who I will be. Let me throw in here that even if I have a really bad day, and I am snapping at everyone in sight and have a self-loathing attitude, God still tells me that I am beautiful. At the time I might not be listening, but if I can learn to stop and breathe during hectic moments in my life, I know that I will hear Him confidently say, “You are beautiful!” Sometimes that is all I need to hear to change my attitude completely. He doesn’t put any measure on what I have done that day to call me beautiful. These portions of character are not instantly attained. In fact, it sometimes takes years to begin to make some parts of character a habit! I constantly ask the Lord for strength and little reminders of the goals that I want to pursue. I want a pure heart with a good conscience. Every decision that I make is something that will affect me and others around me.

In the last few weeks I have been reading and re-reading Romans 8. It still boggles my mind to think that I have the Holy Spirit in me constantly, and I have a choice to listen to the lying voice of the devil or the unchanging voice of the Lord! I hope that I never lose that awe of what God has shown me in this passage. I am a new person. I am not who I once thought I was. I am filled with the Holy Spirit who shapes who I am with every action or thought that I have! Who are we portraying? Are we portraying a selfish attitude or a willing spirit? We are His children and because of that His beauty is constantly in us! Will we allow Him to show who He is in our lives?

This post was written by Hannah Dillard.

Faith

God-emotion

October 6, 2012July 5, 2013by hcfwomen5 Comments

My daughter just hung up on me. She asked a question but did not like my response. I called her back but she did not answer. The choice I have is to react with my human emotion or with the gift of God-emotion given to all who live in Christ. There are numerous occasions in our interactions with others that we choose between being moved by our human nature (e-motion) or allowing God to move us (God-emotion). Wisdom and private victory begin in knowing we have a choice.

The last five women I have prayed for in public meetings have had a common thread in their stories:

I don’t feel in love with my husband anymore
I don’t feel the joy of the Lord
I don’t feel that God is near
I don’t feel necessary since my nest is empty
I don’t feel like praying

About forty years ago, a Christian speaker shared a poem as an object lesson and I wrote it in the front of my Bible. I was reminded of the poem when I prayed for these women.

Three men were walking on a wall, Feeling, Faith, and Fact.
When Feeling took an awful fall and Faith was taken back.
So close was Faith to Feeling that he stumbled and fell too.
But Fact remained and pulled Faith up, with Faith came Feeling too. (Author Unknown)

The women I prayed for had once experienced intense feeling that gave them great joy. What I heard in the heart of each of the women was the fear that they had “lost” those feelings. I realize it is absurd to even suggest that someone should not feel a certain way. The fact is that we do get angry or afraid or sad. We are human. But when those emotions come, we have a power over them that the world does not. The emotions do not have to consume us or rob us of the joy of the Lord (God-emotion). We, as Christian women, have the power to control that fear and the feelings that come with it, not in our own strength, but in the strength of the Holy Spirit. We can walk in peace that all things work together to them that love the Lord.

As believers, the fact is that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, and power and a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7) I have power over my human emotion. I have access to God-emotion.

I recently lost my husband of forty-four years. In the midst of grief, I found myself in the predictable stage of uncontrollable sobbing in the late evening and would cry myself to sleep. In the morning, my face hurt, my throat hurt and I feared this lack of control of my emotions could possibly erupt during one of my classes and frighten my students. I did frighten the precious intake nurse when I went to my doctor for help, God bless her. When she asked what my problem was, all I could do was cry. “Oh, oh, oh”, she said as she backed out of the examination room, “I’ll be right back with the doctor”.

My prescription came with the promise that it would stop the crying, the feelings, but not the grieving process. But, I soon realized that feelings are a gift from our Creator and are meant to give us enthusiasm for life, to move us to action. The word enthusiasm means God’s energy. The joy of the Lord (God-emotion) is our strength. Fear can be overcome with love (God-emotion). A sound mind (God-emotion) is available to guide our perspective and allows us not to sin and be robbed of our peace. God loves us and gives us the freedom to choose His energy, His God-emotion.

God grant me the wisdom in the midst of the turmoil of life to choose the gift of God-emotion when I am tempted to respond in the natural. Praise you for an escape from the prisons of fear and worry and doubt. Help me to walk the path of FAITH and rest in the FACT that you are God, that you love me, that I have been made righteous, and that you have given me the power to live an abundant life, no matter what I may be FEELING.

This post was written by Linda Hutcherson. To read more about her, click here.

Faith, Trust

A New Season

September 21, 2012August 19, 2017by hcfwomen7 Comments

In this season of my life, God has been working on some very deep roots of fear in my heart.

As a child, I experienced rejection from my biological family. Because of this, I think the hardest thing for me to do is receive unconditional love. I have always had this fear that as soon as I begin to trust someone, and let myself believe that I am loved, they will turn around and abandon me. Sadly, not only do I have this fear in my relationships with the people in my life, but I also have it in my relationship with the Lord.

However, I am learning that God’s love is very different from my love. I love the only way I know how to love, and my love language is quality time. However, God doesn’t have any one love language, nor does he show love in the same ways that I would. So, every time I begin to look at a situation and I cannot see God’s love in it, I have to remind myself to sit back and try to see how He wants to tell me He loves me, rather than how I want Him to tell me.

This is so hard for me to do because I’m afraid. What if I choose to believe he loves me and it ends up not being true, like how I believed that my biological family would never reject me? However, I’ve just had to learn that the only way that I can even begin to trust God completely is to meditate on the truths in His word about His faithfulness and unconditional love for me. All my life I have let others simply tell me that God is faithful and let that be enough, rather than seek that truth out for myself and believe it in my heart. So, now, I have to make the decision to trust Him, because I know that God is calling me to live a life that’s so much more than fear and a guarded heart.

In the past, I have felt as though I were Peter, a reed tossed to and fro in the storm. Anytime a situation would come along and I would feel as if God had abandoned me, I simply ran away from Him. I thought I would much rather be without Him than to “draw boldly to His throne of grace with confidence” as it says we should in Hebrews. If I did that, it would give God the opportunity to reject me and that was too big of a risk for me to take!

Nowadays, God has been molding me into Simon Peter: not the reed, but the rock. I was made to be someone who can stand firm when storms come and always trust in the love of God, no matter what I may have done or what my circumstance may look like. I know that He is calling out for me to trust Him and surrender my heart completely to Him.

This post was written by Erica Bright.

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Faith, Parenting, Trust

A New Perspective

July 26, 2012December 24, 2016by hcfwomen2 Comments

As I sit here watching my precious baby in a painful situation from the world’s view I write this with a new perspective. Almost a year ago we began a journey of one of God’s greatest miracles. Weeks later our doctors noticed something abnormal on an ultrasound; our little miracle had a congenital heart defect. At this time we had total peace and no uneasiness because of the reassurance of our Father. We had complete confidence that God has great plans to give our sweet girl a hope and a future. “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future, Jeremiah 29:11 NIV. On October 25, 2011, we were blessed with the gift of our precious daughter. Holding our little miracle for the first time was so amazing, but quickly interrupted by nurses whisking our sweet baby away to her 15-day stay in her NICU suite. Oh, how I just wanted to have my sweet baby girl in my arms at all times! God just kept reassuring me that this was just for a moment in the grand scheme of life. And sure enough our baby was soon home with us. Thriving and blessing everyone she encountered, she rocked the next few months of her life. We enjoyed every single minute with this little precious one. Then, January 23, 2012, it was time to repair her tiny heart. While in surgery, God spoke to one of my good friends, telling her that He has Tenlee in the palm of His hand. That He is covering her with His feathers of protection. “He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart,” Psalm 91:4 NIV. She came through surgery like the little warrior princess she is, shocking doctors every step of the way. Then, early morning on Jan 25th, ‘how precious life is’ was really put into perspective. Our little miracle received CPR for 2 1/2 hours. In this moment, we started questioning the plans God had on her life. A nurse came to me asking if we wanted them to stop CPR. I immediately said no. Later that morning, one of my good friends asked me if I had prayed about that decision, my answer was no. I later was praying about that, wondering if I had made that decision out of selfishness. God quickly told me that I had prayed about it. I have prayed for it for years. I had prayed for this child and the miracle of life. From that day forward, God has given me a new perspective on life. The gift of life. Every day is a gift from our Father who loves us so. God reminds me that He gets us safely through the days. He reminds me to let thankfulness and trust guide me throughout the days. He reminds me that the most persistent choice I can make is to trust Him. He reminds me to breathe Him in with each breath. I’m in absolute awe of what an amazing Father God we have and have a new perspective on this thing we call life, the gift of life. “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal,” 2 Corinthians 4:18 NIV. Through our precious baby girl, God has brought people to Him, mended relationships, strengthened friendships, shown his goodness, revealed His strength and forever changed people’s lives. We call her our “little world changer” and we are seeing more and more of this lived out daily.

This post was written by Kisa Luther.

Faith, God's Presence

Light, Linda, Light

June 12, 2012July 5, 2013by hcfwomen3 Comments

I imagine myself as an insect flirting with a neon electric trap and God shouting, “Light, Linda, light, so I can zap you with current of my Spirit!” Normal life has a way of filling up all moments of it to capacity with good things that need our attention and leaving no occasion for the best things. Abundant life, however, demands that our hearts be fed daily with God-time. What that would look like for each of us cannot be put into some kind of formula, such as thirty minutes of quiet time at a certain time of day. Rarely can any one person’s life be so scheduled.

The Psalm that says to “Be still and know that I am God” comes from a passage of scripture that contains references to mountains being carried into the sea, roaring waters, heathens raging, kingdoms being moved and the earth melting. Sounds like the daily life of any wife or mother, right?

“There are mountains of laundry, roaring stomachs, televisions raging, children moving and I’m melting, and you are calling me to be still, Lord?”

Interestingly enough, God is calling us to be still in the middle of the mountains, not when they are gone. He reminds us that He is our refuge from the stress and our strength during the “busy”ness of our daily lives. Often we have to literally steal moments of God-time in the midst of our daily routine. For those of us who also suffer from attention deficit disorder, focusing on Him is doubly challenging, but His promise is peace and joy for those who choose to swim in His presence.

Yes, I did say swim in His presence. That same passage of Psalm makes clear that there is a river that runs through the City ofGodand that He is in the midst of it. Imagine that river running through your daily routine and being available to you 24/7. Imagine its beautiful, still waters that beckon you to immerse your mind and heart for just a moment to help you focus on His work in your day after day obligations. Let Him take you into His current and help you float through your commitments of the moment.

Brother Lawrence (1614 to 1691) was a poor, obscure monk whose conversations have been recorded in a little book called The Practice of the Presence of God. “We can do little things for God,” he wrote. “I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God.”

Abundant life beckons us, dear ladies, with the practice of the presence of God. Zap!

This post was written by Linda Hutcherson. To read more about her, click here.