YES TO GOD STUDY CHAPTER 4: BEYOND SUNDAY MORNING

"I still wanted my churchgoing experience to be more than just a Sunday morning routine."



This statement could have come straight out of my own thoughts. If I'm being honest, I would have to say that my whole relationship with Him feels like a routine. My quiet time is a struggle, my prayer life feels flat and lifeless, and church is something I feel I have to do, not something I want to do. Oh how I want things to change. Like Lysa, my greatest desire is to learn about Him, talk with Him, and apply His teachings so that they make a real difference in my life.



Keep Asking...

"His example challenges me to make it a habit to keep asking God for wisdom and revelation. In doing so, I admit my daily dependence on God and my need for Him."



Boy do I ever need Him. It is a comfort to me to know that I can keep asking. I really do want to understand, to know Him more, to feel His heart. I'm desperate for Him to "work" for me. I want to know Him better...I want to "know Him in even deeper ways than I ever thought possible".



Oh Lord give me a renewed desire to study your Word and seek your face...

Crystie

Yes To God study Chapter 3: When I feel Like I Don't Measure Up

This chapter hit me like a tons of bricks. Many, many times I feel I don't measure up. I feel like I'm not good enough for family, for friends, and even for God. I feel that I can't do enough to be worthy of God's love. I too often find myself asking, why doesn't Jesus work for me? Why doesn't he step in and help. Maybe its something I've done, or maybe I just simply don't measure up. Satan loves it when we ask these kinds of questions. When we get in this frame of mind its easy for us to justify distancing ourselves from God, His Word and prayer. Lysa says this once again reduces our relationship to a checklist of things we feel obligated to do. There are many times I do things because I feel like I should because its the good Christian thing to do.

To know I'm not alone help bring things into perspective. Realizing that everyone has moments like these and are able to move on, gives me hope that I can choose to do the same thing. It all comes down to resting. Resting on what I know to be true...when I fall, I can get back up. When I feel unworthy, I can pick myself up, dust myself off and choose to walk in His Truth. When I walk away. I can find my way back again. I must also realize that I may never measure up according to the world's standards, but that's ok because my worth comes from HIM.

Lysa states, God never intended for us to rely on others for our sense of well-being. Only He is equipped to provide that.

That takes a little pressure off to be perfect and try to win approval from others. The only approval I need is from Jesus and praise God I already have that!

Lysa also stated, Instead of resting my heart in the unrealistic hope that others will make my joy complete, I have to rest my heart with Jesus only.

Oh Lord help me to rest in you and you alone because you are my source for joy and wholeness and worth...

Crystie

Thoughts

I decided to try and put some of the thoughts I have floating around in my head down so that maybe I can process them a little better.

First let me say that the Beth Moore conference was well worth the 10 hour drive it took to get there. I enjoyed the conference and time with my friends...although they may not think so.

Several things throughout the weekend really spoke to me....

God's love is loyal. It is fierce...His love will fight for me. That is huge when you feel like all of a sudden there's no one in your corner anymore.

He guards His love for us...He maintains it, protects it, keeps it, watches over it. Do we guard our love? Not do we guard ourselves against love, but do we guard the love we have? Hmmmm that's a mouthful to think about.

He also maintains His love for me even when I don't deserve it...especially when I don't deserve it. Are we like that? Do we tend to withdraw our love when we are hurt? Maybe we should take God's stance and withdraw the blessing, not the love.

One of the biggest things He showed me was that my wounds have a purpose. My pain is not for naught. He gave it to me to serve a purpose in me...not so that I will serve it...WOW!

Beth said if we are not careful, our wounds can become idols. I think my wounds, my pain is bordering on that right now. Instead of praising Him, I give all the attention to the pain. That one kicked the breath right out of me. She also said that if you need Jesus, then you are blessed. If you need healing, need a miracle, then you are blessed. I've never looked at it that way. I've always considered it a sign of weakness, not a blessing. I mean, our wounds, our pain is the chief reason He came. Isaiah 61:1 says he came to bind up the broken hearted...not leave them to suffer without out hope. Sometimes my view of God is that He is distant at best...not right here with me binding up my hurts. We tend to take our wounds deep and our healing at the surface. We become what Beth called walking wounds. That is so me...I have allowed my pain and hurts to take over my entire life. I'm so ashamed...but thankfully God is forgiving.

One area that I have allowed to put me in the walking wound category is over a friendship that I have. I feel that I have lost it already and there's no turning back. Things are so different and its hard to accept. I have locked onto one thing that was said and it is consuming my thoughts. It is making me doubt all the other things that have been done or said in the past. I need to find a way to deal with the pain and move on...I don't want this wound to become an idol.

Another area is the depression that I face everyday. Its there, it hasn't gone away, its intense right now...you know it, I know it, God knows it. I need to find a way to live with it and praise Him and his goodness rather than give all my time and thoughts over to it.

So as you can see, my brain is full! Full of thoughts and changes that need to be made. I'm so thankful for a God who is not afraid to tell us the things that hurt. I'm thankful that His healing goes all the way down to the center of our pain, and that His forgiveness goes as deep as our sin. But most of all, I'm thankful that His love is bigger than it all...

Crystie

How Long?

This song perfectly puts into words the prayer I'm praying right now...

How long must I pray? How long do I have to wait? I'm begging you to notice me...to turn to me.

I have so many questions without answers, so many tears, so much pain...How long must I wait?

If you are everything you say you are, please come close and hold my heart...I want to hear you calling my name...

Sing Over Me

"The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save,
he will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with His love,
he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17 NIV


"Don't be afraid, don't despair,
Your God is present among you,
a strong warrior there to save you.
Happy to have you back,
he'll calm you with his love
and delight in you with his songs."
Zephaniah 3:17 MSG


What balm to my soul to know that my Lord is singing over me...

Again...

Its happening again...I don't want it to, but it is.

I don't know if my heart can take it...too much pain and another loss. I don't want to go through this again.

I don't understand why, I just know that the problem has to be me. I wish I knew how to fix "me" so this wouldn't have to happen again.

The depression I deal with has robbed me of so much in my life and its on the verge of taking one more thing that's precious to me and I don't want it to, yet am powerless to stop it. Why does it have to win again?

The last time I faced a loss this big, it nearly did me in. I don't want to be here again.

I've talked to God about it, I've begged Him not to take it, I've even tried a little bargaining...only to realize I don't have anything to bargain with.

Why can't it be the loss of depression? Why can't that be the thing that is ripped from my life? I wouldn't miss that, wouldn't mourn over it, wouldn't have to try to find a way to put my heart back together again.

I tried not to let "me" get in the way, I tried not to care, to love, to trust, to want, to need or to cling to. I tried to keep it in its proper place, to know where it belonged, to keep it from getting between me and God...and yet here I am again.

I don't want "me" getting in the way. I don't want the depression and all that it does to me to win once more.

Why does it have to be this? Lord, I don't want it be this...again.

Truth and Lies

Have you ever been lied to? Did you believe the lie? How did it make you feel afterward? Horrible, I’m sure. No one likes being lied to. Lies can shake you to your very foundation. They can cause you to lose trust, to question your beliefs, to doubt. They can create havoc on your self-esteem. No one likes a liar, but everyone is lied to on a daily basis.


We have an enemy who is set on destroying us and what we believe to be true. That enemy is Satan. He makes it his life’s mission to destroy us with his lies. As Christians though, we have a weapon against those lies…God’s Word. We can dig in God’s Word and counteract every single lie he tells us.


I can say, that on a personal level, I am being bombarded with the enemy’s lies right now. I am very vulnerable and he is taking advantage of it big time. Over the past week, I have dug in the Word (still using my shovel), to discover God’s Truth for myself so that I can fight back.

Since I know that the enemy’s goal is to destroy all of us, I thought I would share what I found. I hope that it gives you a little defense against his lies.


LIE: God has left me.

TRUTH: Joshua 1:5, 9 “…I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Isaiah 43:1-3 "But now, God's message, the God who made you in the first place, the one who got you started: Don't be afraid, I've redeemed you. I've called your name. You're mine. When you're in over your head, I'll be there with you. When you're in rough waters, you will not go down. When you're between a rock and a hard place, it won't be a dead end."

Hebrews 13:5 "...Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Psalm 145:18 "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth."

LIE: I'm ugly.

TRUTH: Psalm 45:10 "The King is enthralled with your beauty; honor him, for he is your Lord."

LIE: I cant be forgiven.

TRUTH: 1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."


LIE: My life has no purpose.

TRUTH: Jer. 29:11 " 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 a hope and a future."

LIE: I'm too tired to fight.

TRUTH: Matt. 11: 28-30 "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest."

2 Cor. 12:9 "But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Psalm 55:22 "Cast your cares on the Lord and He will sustain you; He will never let the righteous fall."

LIE: My mind won't ever be whole.

TRUTH: 2 Tim. 1:7 " For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, and love, and a sound mind."


LIE: I cant do this anymore.

TRUTH: Phil. 4:13 " I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength."

James 1: 2-4 " Consider it sheer joy, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do it's work so that you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way."

LIE: My pain doesn't have a reason.

TRUTH: James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

LIE: I can never escape my past.

TRUTH: Isaiah 43: 18-19 "Forget about what's happened; don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present. I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out! Don't you see it? There it is! I'm making a road through the desert, rivers in the badlands."

Phil 3: 13-14 "...but one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward."

LIE: I will always be afraid.

TRUTH: Isaiah 26:3 "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you."

1 Peter 5:7 "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

1 John 4:18 : There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear..."

LIE: God doesn't love me.

TRUTH: Jer. 31:3 "The Lord appeared to us in the past saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with lovingkindness...."

1 John 4 :16 "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love, lives in God, and God in him."

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Psalm 13:5 "But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation."

Psalm 48: 9 "Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love."

Isaiah 43: 3-4 "Because I am God, your personal God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior, I paid a high price for you: all of Egypt, with rich Cush and Seba thrown in. That is how much you mean to me! That's how much I love you! I'd sell off the whole world to get you back, trade the creation just for you."


Breathe in His Truth today,

Crystie