When Words Hurt

I recently had some remarks thrown at me that hurt. They maligned my integrity. The words were not true, and I knew that in my heart, but it hurt, nonetheless. My heart rate went up and my adrenaline was pumping the rest of the day.

Photo by Magdalena Roeseler

The words will probably never be forgotten. I can physically erase them from my computer, but I will never be able to erase them from my mind.

I was so distraught at first, all I could do was hide in my closet on my knees. I don't think I really even prayed. I just sat stunned. How could someone say something so hateful?

Then I felt I needed to cleanse my house of the words. They were not said aloud, but their presence was felt. So I set some lavender diffusing and scrubbed my tile floors while blasting Maranatha Singers worship albums. Those songs always draw my soul into peace, probably because they are mostly straight out of scripture.

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?  Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?  As it is written:

“For your sake we face death all day long;

we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

Romans 8:31-39

When words hurt, remember: God is on your side. Whether the words were true or not, God's opinion is the one that counts.  People will disappoint. Your best friend will fail you. Your relative will hurt your feelings. You are a daughter of the King. God is always by your side, and nothing the enemy throws at you can keep you from the Father's love.

Don't Just Survive...THRIVE

Yesterday, my church held an event for the women of our community called Together With Hope. I gave this devotional at the start and I hope it gives you encouragement.

Don't Survive - THRIVE

Our theme verse for today is Jeremiah 29:11 – (NKJV) "'For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,' says the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.'" I think we’ve all heard this verse many times as an encouragement when we are going through a hard time. And we all go through hard times, right?

But I wonder how many of us know the context and history of the verse? I was sort of familiar with it, but I wanted to know what God’s heart behind saying this really was, so I started reading Jeremiah. Here is what I have learned.

The people of Israel were in rebellion against God. God pleaded with them over and over to repent and turn back to him. Many prophets were sent to Israel telling them to turn back to worshiping their one true God. However, when the people continued to refuse, God warned them that they would be exiled to Babylon for 70 years, one year for each of the Sabbath years they had ignored.

Well, the people didn’t like this, and many false prophets arose telling the people that they would not be serving Babylon, that the captives who had already been taken away would return and the temple articles that had been stolen would also be returned.

We hear that a lot, don’t we? I’ve been told many times that God doesn’t want me to go through difficult times. But is that true? Well, in chapter 28 of Jeremiah, God said straight up that this was a lie, that they were not going to have peace and prosperity, but captivity – and then Jeremiah uses my favorite means of telling an obvious truth: sarcasm. “Of course! You are so right! That is exactly what is going to happen! God isn’t going to let you go through a hard time. What could you possibly learn from that?” And then Jeremiah tells this particular false prophet that because he’s telling lies, he’s going to die. And so he did.

Then Jeremiah writes a letter to the people who were carried away into exile in Babylon. He tells them to build houses, plant gardens, marry, have children and grow in number, and to also – strangely it would seem – to pray for the peace of the city which held them captive; because if their city had peace, they would have peace. (hmmmm. Something to think about.)

God told them not to long for the good ole days, and not to listen to the false prophets saying that the exile wasn’t God’s will. Because God had set a certain amount of time for them to be in exile: 70 years. And when that captivity was over, God would visit them and return them to Jerusalem.

Then comes our verse: (International Standard Version) "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans for well-being, and not for calamity, in order to give you a future and a hope.'" But I'll get back to this verse, because what follows is just as beautiful.

God then says, "Call upon me and go and pray to me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find me, when you search for me with all you heart." However, those who rebelled against their captivity would die, or have famine and disease. God wanted them to listen to him and thrive in their captivity rather than fight it and be miserable and die. Next comes this beautiful love letter in chapter 31 where God tells Israel his plans for them and makes a new covenant with them.

Now, back to our verse that was written to the people in captivity under Babylon: (New English Translation) "'For I know what I have planned for you,' says the Lord, 'I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope.'

Filled with hope.

Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I don’t know about you, but I often have the mindset of just getting through the day; just surviving the current difficulty I am facing. But I have to conclude from my study of this scripture that God doesn’t want us to just survive, he wants us to THRIVE in our struggles.

Are there still hard times? Of course. Did God know the people were suffering in Babylon? Yes! BUT…he wanted them to thrive while they were there - to settle down and marry, build a house and plant a garden.

The Israelites were feeling defeated and worn down because they had been carried away from their homes, family and friends. God wanted them to make new homes for themselves. He wanted them to THRIVE in the lonely place they were living.

Why? Because he knew his own thoughts towards them. He wasn’t thinking thoughts of destruction. He wasn’t thinking evil towards them. He wasn’t thinking about how to harm them or the most evil way for them to experience disasters.

What was he thinking? Our verse tells us. He was thinking thoughts of peace. He wanted things to go well with them. He wanted them to prosper. The King James Version says his thoughts were to give them an expected end. An expected END. Hope! He wanted to give them a future filled with hope.

Are you filled with hope for the future? Are you struggling right now? I know sometimes it’s hard to have hope when you are in the middle of the war. I know it’s hard to just survive, let alone thrive through the difficulties of life.

My dear friend, Charise McNutt, is going through a hard season with multiple sclerosis. She recently said something that resonated with me:

"Oh, what a lie we believe when we think suffering and trials are not a part of walking with God." 

There will be an end to your captivity. But God wants you to learn and thrive in the hard times. Your hope is that there will be an end, but your thriving is in the now. Because God has not forgotten you.

But How? How do we thrive? How do we not just trudge through every day surviving by sheer willpower? Because of hope. Hope that God has a better future for us. Now, admittedly, sometimes that future isn’t here on earth. Some of the Jewish captives died in Babylon. But we have to remember, as Christians, we are strangers here on this earth. Our citizenship is in Heaven, and THAT is where our hope lies.

We can endure and THRIVE through anything here on earth because Jesus has overcome the world. He is the anchor of our hope. Without Christ we are hopeless.



If you are in the middle of captivity and feeling hopeless, look to Jesus. Jesus is your hope. Only Jesus can give you hope in the midst of tragedy.

~-~-~-~

Joy and Rhonda, part of the events team.

Our theme verse.

A huge thanks to Furniture World for helping decorate our stage.

Annie Sotski started us off with her testimony.

Emily Norris

Worship between testimonies was led by Chelsea Schmieg and Stephanie Morgan. 

Camille Cooper

Randa Bush

Marilyn Kyle

We were closed out by Sybil Mohr's testimony.

Jesus Doesn't Accept Everyone

Lately I've been hearing a lot about how Jesus' life on earth was all about love and acceptance.  I would never want to mislead anyone into thinking that just because they try to be a good person, they will be accepted into heaven, because that is simply not true.

Christianity is about love, but not necessarily about acceptance.  Acceptance says I will continue to let you do things that will hurt you.  Love says I will gently correct you. 

Jesus did NOT accept everyone - he didn't accept the Pharisees, and in fact said some pretty harsh things to them.  He did not accept Peter when he blasphemed, yet loved him when he repented.  He welcomed tax collectors, prostitutes and sinners with open arms, just as they were. Then he showed them love and compassion, he healed their infirmities, and then he told them to stop sinning and sent them away changed.  Love is not the same as acceptance.  

Any mom who has a toddler knows that love and acceptance do not always co-exist.  When your toddler wants to play with something dangerous, you lovingly make them stop.  You are not tolerant of the dangerous behavior, and you do something about it.  Love, tolerance and acceptance are totally different.  Love trumps all.  I will not tolerate sin in my child's heart because I love him.  I will not accept lying from my kids because I love them. I will be compassionate and gently show my children that the sinful condition of their hearts needs to be fixed by Jesus.

The only way that God will accept you into heaven is if you have declared that Jesus is the Master of your life and you have submitted your will to him.  He will not accept you if you have only been a "good person."  Make no mistake, God loves you; he loves us all.  However, he will not accept us all.  Our sin has made it impossible for God to be accepting of us.  The only way God will accept you is if you have accepted his son as the redeemer of your sin.

I don't want my children to grow up thinking that in order to love someone, they have to be accepting of that person's sin; differences, yes - sin, no.  And I want my children to show love to everybody, even when they disagree with them.  It is possible to disagree in love.

So on this Good Friday, the day we remember how Jesus suffered and died to cleanse us from our sins, I am praying that you have accepted Jesus as your Savior, so that he can accept you into heaven.

Redeem the Time

Lately the Lord has been telling me to be purposeful and intentional about what I am doing.  Instead of going through my days on autopilot, to be consciously thinking about my actions and my words.

The other day, I randomly* read Ephesians 5:16, "redeeming the time, because the days are evil."  The phrase "redeem the time" has been going through my head since then.  Every time I sit down at the computer, "Redeem the time" is the chorus in my head.

How am I using my time?  Am I using it wisely?  Am I making the most out of every minute that I have?  Honestly, no, I'm not.  And since I read that verse, every time I start to do something that is not fruitful, the phrase runs through my head, "Redeem the time."

The NIV version of verses 15 through 17 says, "Be very careful, then, how you live--not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.  Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

It would be so much easier to float through life doing only what needs to be done just because it needs to be done.  But I want so much more than that.  Instead of just telling my kids to "knock it off and behave," I want to explain why they should behave and the heart condition lying underneath their disobedience.  That is being purposeful, and redeeming the time that was spent in disobedience.

I want to instill in my children that living life to the fullest is being purposeful about how I spend my time.  I want them to look back on me and see a mom who was involved in their lives, constantly teaching by example.  I don't want them to look back on their childhood and picture me always sitting in front of the computer or having the TV on.

I am realizing more and more that how I am, how I act, and how I talk is who my children will be, how they will act and talk.  We always want better things for our children.  Resolve with me to BE the better that you want to see in your kids.

I challenge you (and myself) to redeem the time this week, living as someone who is wise.

So be careful how you live.  Don't live like fools, but like those who are wise.  Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days.  Don't act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do. Ephesians 5:15-17 (NLT)

*I don't think "random" is the correct word, because the Lord obviously had me read those words for a reason.  But I say "random" because I was just perusing the text, looking for something else and I came across those words which stuck with me.