For my third choice I decided to read the book A Woman after God's own Heart by Elizabeth George. I read another book by her entitled Loving God with all of your mind which I thoroughly enjoyed and wrote a review about it that can be found under the book section. This book is Elizabeth's call for women to follow God with all of their heart and to seek to let Him have full control of their life. It was a blessing in so many ways and reminded me of several things that are needful in my life. I thought I would share just a few with you all.
1. A whole-hearted love for God looks to Him through His word and prayer....ready to act on His expressed desires. As I spend time in God's Word as well as in prayer it provides me with the opportunity for God to speak directly to me. This quiet time is essential in my pursuit of God. I cannot know what God's will for my life is if I don't spend time with Him each day. As I create the habit of seeking Him daily I will know what He desires for my life and can pursue it. 2. A woman after God's heart will cultivate a servant's spirit no matter if she is single or married. Wherever you are in life you can still serve. We are all called to serve others in love, Galatians 4:13. Our society tends to breed selfishness, calling us to look out for ourselves but that is not to be the description of true followers of Christ. A woman seeking God with all of her heart looks for opportunities to serve wherever, whenever and in whatever way she is able. 3. Don't give away to others what you have not first given away at home first. Our loved ones should always be our first earthly priority, after all they are given to us by God. As I just mentioned, we are called to serve but that includes our family. How often we go to great lengths to help others in need yet neglect the needs of our family. Elizabeth shared how she would make meals for someone in need at their church and how she had spent so much time preparing their meal that her family would get leftovers. She soon realized she needed to make two meals, one for the family in need and one for her own. This caused me to really think. So many times I give my best to others that there is nothing left for my mom, my precious loved one and that wasn't right. I should be willing to go the extra mile for her as much, if not more than I would for everyone else. God gave me someone to love and I wouldn't be doing a very good job is she simply got leftovers( and that was not in reference to just food!). 4. Deal with today. This was a great thought! Did you know that a good day turns into a good week which then turns into a good year and ultimately a good life? Yes, I know that not every day is great, believe me I have had my share of missing items and locking myself out of the house(worst feeling ever!). What I am saying is that we should focus on today. We can get so caught up in planning the future, which we should, but we can lose sight of today. Our tomorrows are made up of todays and our todays came from our choices yesterday. So maybe instead of fretting about tomorrow we should focus on our relationships today, our relationship with Christ, our family and friends. I think it will make our life a little less stressful. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself"....Matthew 6:34. 5. Train yourself to think sweet and kind words to others. For most people being kind doesn't come naturally, I know it doesn't for me! It takes real effort and work to exercise kindness on a regular basis. Just like a toned body doesn't come without some hard training and denial, kind words toward others takes training and denial of self. James reminds us that our tongue has to be bridled and I know I need work in this area. It is so easy to be critical and talk ill of others but a woman after God's own heart seeks to be a blessing with her words and build others up instead of tearing them down. I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman who has the law of kindness in her mouth. I hope these have been a blessing to you. I know that they may not have been easy to read but being a follower of Christ is not easy. It takes work to be different, to be a light in this dark world and spread a little salt around. I really do want to be a woman that is know for following after the heart of God. Several years ago a friend mentioned that she was reading a book entitled, "Crazy Love" written by Francis Chan. To be honest it sounded a bit odd but the title stuck with me. On one of my many Goodwill runs I came across the book and decided to buy it, so so glad I did! Since last month was February I thought it would be a good time to read it. It was truly a blessing and left me pondering so many thoughts. I realized how little I show God and others my love for Him. Here are some of my favorite truths I discovered. 1. God takes the time to know me. He is the God of the universe yet He chooses to know every little detail about me. He does not have to yet He does. Do I take the time to know Him more? This was so convicting to me and challenges me to dig deeper in my relationship with God. If you love someone you will make time to know them better. God is the most important person and relationship in my life and I want to make it the goal of each day to know Him better and more intimately. 2."So many off us think and live like the movie of life is all about us". This quote stunned me a little. How often do I get so consumed with my life and my dreams instead of focusing on what God wants me to do with my life or even consulting Him about the next step in life? God created me with a purpose, one that would bring honor and glory to His name not mine. I want my focus to be always on Him and that my life points others to God. 3. Loving God or His stuff? This was an interesting concept to me. The author was asking if our love for God was for who He was or what He has given us? I never want to love God because of what He has given me but rather love Him because of who He is and what He has done for me. His great love for me is what should motivate and draw me ever closer to His side. 4. The size of my talents are not what matter but rather what I do with them. God has given me special abilities to use for His glory. Whether they are used to do something on a larger scale or simply in my local church doesn't matter. What matters is that I use it, that I spend myself in the service of my God. I want to be doing the will of God with the tools He has given me. 5. Never get comfortable. I want to always strive to do more, to be more and to love more. I never want my walk with God to grow stale or stagnant. But in order to do that I must always be diligent in my study of God's word and faithful in my walk with Him. I hope that these few thoughts have encouraged you. I want my life to make a difference whether it be in my community, my church, or my co-workers. Let your light so shine! Below is a clip from the author taking about the first chapter of his book. A couple of weeks ago I wrapped up my first month of following my new Bible reading plan as well as my first devotional book. What a wonderful experience. It was such a refreshing of my spirit as I delved deeper in to God's Word. The book I read was also an immense blessing to my soul. I wanted to share a few things that I learned from reading the book "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge. If you want to read my book review click here. But these are just a few thoughts that stuck out to me as I made my way through it's pages and I thought it might be a blessing to you.
1. I am created in the image of God, to be a reflection of Him as a woman. This was a powerful thought to me. I have heard many sermons on the subject of man, in general, being made in the image of God but never one addressing the topic that both male and female bear the image of God in a specific way. God created man and woman but they each have traits that are unique to them, each represent different characteristics of God and together they give the world a glimpse of the whole image of God. 2. Women are seeking an answer to an important question, "Am I lovely?". This is a bulk of the book and they deal with it in many facets that I don't have time to relate but I just wanted to share something that struck me as true in my own life and maybe it will help someone else. Women who are wounded, given the wrong answer to their question (usually early on in their life) such as "No, you are not lovely", "No, you are not worth something", they react differently to these wounds but some build a wall as a defense. I have struggled with this because of my past. When my father left my mom and I it left me with a wound. Because of this I, without realizing it, built a wall in order to protect myself pulling back and hiding my true self. The Eldredge's put it this way, "Far too many women forfeit their femininity in order to feel safe and in control" (Eldredge 52). The point is, many women become controlling of their situation, of their life, they are not soft and kind but firm and strong... reflecting more of a man's quality instead of woman. I want to be a woman who is not a control freak, that doesn't have to do everything herself in order to feel that all will be okay. So many times this is what I did and it left me frustrated and tired. I want to be a woman at rest who is trusting in God and leaning upon His strength. A woman who remembers that He will always be there for me, be the shield in my life, my defender from the darts of the enemy. I can let go of my life and stop trying to do it all because He promises to take care of me if I simply trust Him completely. 3. God has answered my question. When He looks at me He says, "Yes, you are lovely". I don't have to spend my life trying to be good enough, He has already told me that I am enough because of Him. He is ready and able to take me where I am and form me into what He created me to be. He wants to heal my wounds, "this is the offer of our Saviour - to heal our broken hearts" (Eldredge 104). "A woman becomes beautiful when she knows she's loved" (Eldredge 112) and God tells me He loves me with an everlasting love (Jer. 31:3). I am loved by God and nothing can take that away! 4. "Women are uniquely gifted to help others in their lives become more of who they truly are - to encourage, nurture and mother them toward their true selves. In doing this, women partner with Christ in the vital mission of bringing forth life" (Eldredge 177). I am called to help others, to be a friend to someone who is hurting by sitting and crying with them, to show compassion to someone who is struggling by putting my arm around them to let them know that I care, to meet someone's need through a gift. When I do this I am fulfilling my calling to bear the image of God to the world, a reflection of what He desires to offer them. 5.God calls me to do now not when I feel I am ready. "We don't get to wait to offer our lives until we have our act together...God asks us to be vulnerable" (Eldredge 213). God does not call me to be perfect and then do His will, He calls me in an imperfect state and trust Him to shave off what is not necessary as I obey His call. God uses the broken, people like Rahab, Moses and even Paul. I don't have to be perfect to do what God has called me to do, just surrendered and open(vulnerable) to follow Him completely. These are some things that God laid on my heart as I read this book over the month of January. I am called to bear God's image to a dark, lonely and harsh world. He does not need me to be perfect, He does not need me to have all of my "ducks in a row", He simply asks me to let go and let Him. That was one of the hardest things to grasp for me, that I don't need to always have everything in control, in fact it only makes me frazzled and worn down. He wants me to simply trust Him, remember that He loves me with an everlasting love and that in Him I am complete. No matter what the world's standard of beauty is, when God looks at me He says, "You are beautiful because you were made in my image now go and reflect it to the world". |
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Sarah GraceI am just an ordinary girl who is loved by an extraordinary God and I seek to love others the same way. I love to bake, read, do puzzles, watch Hallmark movies, and go shopping with my mom! This blog was created as a place where I could share some thoughts that the Lord has shown me and to be an encouragement to others who desire to know Him in a deeper way. My prayer is to learn to sit still and trust God with my future. Archives
December 2023
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