Faith, Trust

A New Season

by hcfwomen7 Comments on A New Season

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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Identity, Marriage

The “Good Wife”

by hcfwomen7 Comments on The “Good Wife”

I think that for the majority of my marriage I thought being a “good wife” was all about the daily tasks and chores I got completed: grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, ironing, sex :), dishes, bills, etc.  Then the kids started coming, and the list became even longer and more time consuming.  More laundry, more dishes, more cleaning, more cooking…you get the picture!  My worth became equivalent to the number of items I got marked off my list for the day, which some days, honestly was not a single one.  This left me feeling discouraged, worthless, and like I was not measuring up.  After all, if that Proverbs 31 chick could do all that and still rise before the sun, why couldn’t I??  It didn’t take Jonathan very long to discover something was off (it could have been the fact that he was out of clean underwear and there was not one single edible thing in the fridge.)  He approached me one day and said something very profound, as he often does… “Kristen, I can honestly hire someone to do just about every single thing on your ‘list,’ but what I can’t pay money for is a wife.”   What did that even mean??  Was he thinking of hiring a maid and a nanny?  Did he get a big bonus I was unaware of?  What is a “wife” anyway?  I thought I was magically poofed at the altar!  Proverbs 31:10 says, “An excellent wife who can find?  She is far more precious than jewels.  The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain. She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.”  Proverbs 31 goes on to state all the “things” this amazing woman does!  Her list is truly endless.  For so many of us she is the role model we strive to become; she is the original “wonder woman” if you will.  And for so many of us, we feel like we are constantly missing the mark. Heck, I don’t even sew!  What we really miss is the heart behind ALL she does!  Her list seems endless, and so does ours.  Am I marking things off my list for the sake of my own personal satisfaction? What is the heart behind everything I do?  You see, we are all called as wives to a specific role in our home.  To the degree I wholeheartedly fulfill that role directly impacts my husband’s ministry!  This was huge for me!  Am I allowing my husband to reach cities or nations?  The “things” we do are a part of who we are called to be, but no one can minister to my husband’s heart the way I can!  That ministry, that HEART, starts the moment my feet hit the floor and lasts all day long.  That HEART is the first thing he feels when he walks in the door at night! That HEART is the definition of a “good wife”!

This post was written by Kristen Wright. 

Faith, Parenting, Trust

A New Perspective

by hcfwomen2 Comments on A New Perspective

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

by hcfwomen3 Comments on Light, Linda, Light

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.