Find God in Marriage: Quotes Plus Marriage Book Review

May 17, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Karen O’Connor:

Here are a few great marriage quotes Karen O’Connor heard from other women, plus our recommendation for a new great marriage book by Poppy Smith:

 

Recommended: Why Can't He Be More Like Me? by Poppy Smith

Several years ago I asked four women friends who had been married a long time—some over fifty years—their secret to a solid relationship. I’ll never forget what what I learned and how their answers helped me to find God in marriage–my own marriage.

“I remember how God has proven himself worthy and faithful in the past,” said Corinne, “and that keeps me going forward.”

Joan added her perspective. “I stay open-minded and keep a sense of humor.” She admitted to being a perfectionist so “it’s important to laugh at mistakes, smile at misunderstandings, and chuckle at misdeeds, especially when neither of us means to hurt one another.”

Barbara shared her secret: “I gave up my right to be right. I realized that my husband is just being himself. He’s not trying to fight me. When I began to see him in that light, I saw what a precious person he is.”

Mabel said simply, “I’m committed because I desire to be.” She said yes to her husband’s proposal many years ago and never looked back or second-guessed her decision. That, she added, has kept them going and continuing to love one another for over five decades.”

I went home filled with new inspiration as I committed to find God in my marriage and to see what a precious person my husband is just the way God made him.

For more encouragement, I turned to the following article by Mary Fairchild on how to keep your marriage strong and healthy: 5 Steps to Building Your Christian Marriage.

©Karen O’Connor. Karen is an author, writing mentor, and frequent contributor to Finding God Daily. Visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com

Also recommended (by Laurie, Finding God Daily editor): the terrific new marriage book by Poppy Smith: Why Can’t He Be More Like Me? 9 Secrets to Understanding Your Husband.

Chapter titles include: He’s Not My Clone!, His Brain Isn’t Wired Like Mine and When I Say This, He Hears That. Here’s a funny note from the back of the book:  Q: “What do you and your husband have in common?” A: “We got married on the same day.” Poppy offers great examples that show how conflict often occurs and reveal how to overcome problems to strengthen marriages.

Most marriages start with romance and a promise to cherish. Here’s one proposal that should make you smile, titled: Greatest Marriage Proposal EVER!!!, submitted to a contest by MattandGinny. If your marriage is struggling, can you think back to your proposal and the person you loved the day you married? How can you recapture your appreciation of him or her?

Click here to see other entries: Ultimate Proposal Contest.

Disclosure: Associate proceeds from Finding God Daily links in photos or book titles to Laurie’s Lists on Amazon.com will be donated to Right to the Heart, a 501 (c) 3 ministry. To learn more about this ministry, click here. 

 

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Find God after Abortion with the Film ‘The Choice’

May 9, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By Dianne E. Butts:

How can you find God after abortion?  The book Deliver Me and the short film ‘The Choice’ offer hope.

 

Bring up the subject of abortion and discussions get heated. Pro-lifers fight for the unborn. Pro-choicers fight for “a women’s right to choose.” (My short film, embedded below, reveals a different kind of choice.) In the melee, people who are forgotten are those who made the choice, experienced abortion, and now live with that choice. They often suffer multiple symptoms including believing God will never forgive them. But I discovered some find God after abortion.

In my book Deliver Me: Hope, Help, & Healing through True Stories of Unplanned Pregnancy, I talked with many women (and men) about their decision to have an abortion. Most of them told me that afterwards they struggled with nightmares, depression, fear, promiscuity, anger, anxiety, guilt, alcohol dependency, drug abuse, or suicidal thoughts or attempts. These symptoms can increase around the anniversary of the abortion, the date when the child would have been born, and holidays like Mother’s Day.

These and other symptoms collectively are called Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS).

In February, I participated in the 168 Film Project, which is a speed filmmaking contest to make a short film (11 minutes max) based on an assigned Bible verse in 168 hours (1 week). This year for the first time I headed up my own film team as Producer, Director, and Writer.

This year’s contest theme was “Promises” (from God) and my team was assigned Romans 10:11-13:

 “As the Scripture says, ‘Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.’ For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile —the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”

As I prayed about what story we would make into a film that week, I thought of a story in my book Deliver Me called “The Choice” by Chris Jackman, a singer/songwriter. Chris told me in the years following her abortion she deeply regretted her choice, thought God would never forgive her, and found herself numerous times with a razor to her wrist trying to work up the courage to end her torment. Eventually, at the suggestion of a Christian bookstore owner, Chris wrote and recorded an entire CD about her experience called “The Choice.”

Whether because of shame, guilt, or fear of being found out, many women (and men) live with a hidden secret: they’ve lost a child to abortion. They live with the agony of what they’ve done and the fear that they have committed the one sin God will never forgive. That’s a lie. Don’t listen to the lies anymore. God will forgive you. He loves you.

This Mother’s Day, I want to recognize all those mothers and fathers who have lost a child to abortion. As my Mother’s Day gift to you, here is my film ‘The Choice’. My prayer is that it will find its way to the women and men who need its message of love and hope and forgiveness, and that you will find God after abortion.

The Choice – HD

(Film run time, 10 minutes. Includes the original song The Choice, by Chris Jackman, part of a biographical music story on CD about her abortion recovery journey.)

© Dianne E. Butts. Dianne is a freelance writer, author, and screenwriter. Her latest book, Deliver Me for those in an unplanned pregnancy or with one in their past, just won a “Book of the Year” award. Her next book, Grandparenting through Obstacles: Overcoming Family Challenges to Reach Your Grandchildren for Christ, is due out mid-August, 2012, from Pix-N-Pens Publishing. Her first book Dear America has just been republished for Kindle. Follow her writing at www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com

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Finding God in Humor

April 23, 2012 By 1 Comment

By Karen O’Connor:

 Have you considered finding God in humor? If not, give it a try. I believe God wants us to be full of joy and laughter and to give up fretting and worrying.

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands (Isaiah 55:12, NIV Bible).

By sharing a smile with others, you’ll honor God and bring encouragement and hope to yourself as well.

Five Ways to Nurture Your Sense of Humor

 

1. Share a funny or embarrassing moment with someone you know, and enjoy it together. My friend Melissa called to say she sprayed her hair with furniture polish. “It fell flat but had a nice shine!”

2. Laugh at yourself even when you feel like crying. I thought I’d misplaced my cell phone only to discover I was using it right then to speak with my neighbor. Oh my!

3. Cheer up sick friends with a book of humorous stories or jokes. Help them discover that as Will Rogers said, “Laughter is the best medicine.”

4. Find humor even in serious situations. A woman whose hair was growing in after chemo treatments said her husband Dan helped her laugh everyday. “We had a short-haired dog at the time so when my hair started coming in, he clapped me on the back and said, ‘Great. Now I have a short-haired wife too!’ I liked my new look so well, I never let my hair grow long again.”

5.  Make a list of scripture verses that encourage laughter and tack them up on your mirror or bulletin board to review each day. Here are a few.

“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy” (Psalm 126:2).

“A happy heart makes the face cheerful . . .” (Proverbs 15:13).

“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” (Luke 6:21).

         

Finding God in humor is easy once you look for Him there. Enjoy this YouTube video from Mars Hill Church, “Was Jesus Funny?”

 ©Karen O’Connor. Karen is an author, writing mentor, and frequent contributor to the Finding God Daily blog. Visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com

 

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Find God in the Structure of Great Stories

March 20, 2012 By 2 Comments

By Dianne E. Butts

Arvind Balaraman / FreeDigitalPhotos.netDid you know there is a certain “structure” to a story? Whether you know that intellectually or not, you sense it. We hear countless stories—from speakers, TV, movies and in books. But if a story doesn’t follow “the structure,” we know something is wrong. That’s because a story needs to resonate with our souls.  The greatest story in history is God’s story (“His story”!), but we can also find God in the structure of great stories elsewhere.

As an author and screenwriter, I’ve studied story structure so I can successfully write stories. One universal story structure,”the hero’s journey” (or monomyth) was first described by Joseph John Campbell (an American mythologist, writer and lecturer) in his nonfiction book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

One day more than ten years ago, I was sitting in a workshop at a writer’s conference learning about writing and about stories, and I was absolutely stunned to hear the workshop instructor, Kurt Bruner, use “the hero’s journey” to tell the story of God–that is, the story of the entire Bible–in about five phrases which he called “The Grand Drama of the Gospel.”

I couldn’t believe it! And yet the story Kurt Bruner told rang so true with my soul that I got his permission to re-tell it in my first book Dear America. Here is that story in five phrases, along with a few more sentences of explanation from me. See if you don’t recognize the framework of every story you love in this outline:

 v  Once Upon A Time

In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth.

v  The Villain’s Plot

Because Satan hates God, Satan enters the Garden of Eden to kill Eve and her husband Adam by deceiving them into eating from the tree God forbade them to eat from.

v  The Divine Dilemma

What is God to do? Adam and Eve have sinned. God has already announced that the consequence of sin is death.

v  The Hero’s Quest

So what does God do? God goes on a quest to save mankind. He comes to earth in disguise to 1.) win back the heart of His beloved (people), and 2.) fulfill His own demand for their death by taking their death-penalty upon Himself.

v  The Final Conflict

Satan discovers God-the-Hero has come in disguise and sets out to kill Him before He can save mankind! As Jesus hangs dying on the cross, Satan thinks he has succeeded. However Jesus’ death in fact rescues mankind when three days later Jesus rises from the dead, never to die again, and provides eternal life to everyone who trusts in Him.

Later, Kurt Bruner wrote a book, The Divine Drama and said, “…all great stories follow the same basic pattern and point us to the part we play in the larger drama of life and eternity.”

Now you, too, can be find God in the structure of great stories!

 ©Dianne E. Butts. Dianne is a freelance writer, author, and screenwriter. Her first book Dear America http://amzn.to/DearAmerica, which contains “The Grand Drama of the Gospel”, has just been republished for Kindle. Follow more of her writing at www.DeliverMeBook.blogspot.com

Speaking of creative storytelling, see his video from Igniter Media, see The Bible in 50 Words:

Igniter Media creates videos for use by churches and other groups.  To obtain use of their short films for public use (without the website address embedded) and see more of their films, visit ignitermedia.com.

 

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Finding God in Praise

March 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By ©Dianne Neal Matthews

Sometimes when I’m struggling with negative feelings, I need a reminder that I would be better off finding God in praise rather than focusing solely on my circumstances.

One sure-fire way to change my mood is to turn to the book of Psalms. King David faced many troubles and hardships, yet even when crying out to God about his problems, he often turned his prayer into praise. In Psalm 71, David exclaimed in wonder and amazement as he looked back at how God had worked in his life:

“Your righteousness reaches to the heavens, O God. You have done great things. O God, who is like you?”

Whenever David meditated on God’s unique qualities, he found words inadequate to describe Him. Thankfully he never stopped trying, and as a result we are blessed by many psalms that remind us of God’s goodness, power, and mercy.

The late Dr. S. M. Lockridge, a pastor and popular speaker, is best known for a portion of a rousing sermon often referred to as “That’s My King” quote, in which he spends several minutes describing Jesus Christ:

“He’s enduringly strong. He’s entirely sincere. He’s eternally steadfast. He’s immortally graceful. He’s imperially powerful. He’s impartially merciful…He’s the sinner’s savior. He’s the centerpiece of civilization…His promise is sure. His light is matchless. His goodness is limitless. His mercy is everlasting. His love never changes…”

Suddenly he stops and exclaims,

“I wish I could describe Him to you!”

Meditating on God’s character traits builds up our faith and deepens our personal relationship with him. It encourages us to acknowledge him in good times and helps us trust him in hard times.

No matter what we’re going through, thinking about God’s attributes reminds us that we always have reason to praise God. And we just might be tempted to burst out in adoration and worship along with King David and Dr. Lockridge. Then we’ll discover that even a bad day can’t keep us from finding God in praise.

© Dianne Neal Matthews. Dianne is a freelance writer and the author of four daily devotional books (www.DianneNealMatthews.com). This material is adapted from Drawing Closer to God: 365 Daily Meditations on Questions from Scripture (Baker Books).

Enjoy this video featuring Dr. Lockridge’s famous sermon, “That’s My King”:

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Find God During Illness

February 8, 2012 By 2 Comments

By Karen O’Connor:

I opened the latest issue of Embody Health, a wellness letter I subscribe to, and was inspired to read what Dr. Edward Creagan of the Mayo Clinic stated about the cancer patients he’s treated over the years. He most admires those who have been able to focus on what is really important, despite their illness. “Resiliency,” he said, “also known as the bounce-back factor, is the ability to take a big hit psychologically, spiritually, physically or financially and somehow move forward.” It seems these men and women have been able to find God during illness.

My friend Marilee is such a person. She went through treatment for breast cancer last year but has come through it strengthened by her commitment to God, knowing he was at her side the entire time. She also remained connected to people who love her, each person providing strength, encouragement, and plenty of hugs, and she concentrated on taking the necessary steps to get well again.

It is never easy to face a serious illness or to endure tests and treatment that are often painful and unpleasant for days at a time, but to find God during illness is to find peace, courage, and a willingness to take each new day as it comes, being assured that God will be there with you.

I will never leave you nor forsake you.

Hebrew 13:5 (the Bible)

Be encouraged by this YouTube video with inspiring verses from the Bible.

©Karen O’Connor. Karen is an author, writing mentor, and frequent contributor to the Finding God Daily. Visit Karen on the web at www.karenoconnor.com

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Finding God in Beauty

January 7, 2012 By 6 Comments

Finding God in Beauty

By Dianne E. Butts

Humorous author and speaker, Vonda Skelton

What do you think is “beautiful”?  It may be different than what I think is beautiful, but sometimes we can be  finding God in beauty.

The familiar phrase “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” first appeared in Greek three centuries before Jesus Christ. However in its current form, the phrase is credited to author Margaret Wolfe Hungerford, who wrote under the pen name “The Duchess” and used the phrase in her 1878 book Molly Bawn.

God sees beauty differently from the way we do.  His creation, which includes every single woman ever created, is beautiful. This century, author Sharon Jaynes in her article “Woman: God’s Beautiful Creation” wrote:

“A woman was and is one of God’s most magnificent creations. As a matter of fact, she was His grand finale. After He fashioned Eve, creation was complete and He took a rest! God has placed in our hearts a love for beauty and a desire to be beautiful – as He defines it.”

King Solomon of the Bible described(king of Israel from 970 – 930 BC) described a woman’s beauty much differently than most people would today.

For a humorous take on this, see Vonda Skelton (www.vondaskelton.com) in her video “Solomon’s Beloved”:

 

© Dianne E. Butts (www.DianneEButts.com) has over 275 articles and short fiction in more than fifty publications including Enrichment Journal, and Encounter, and Clubhouse and eighteen books, and is a frequent contributor to Finding God Daily.

 

 

 

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12 Great Resolutions for the New Year to Find God, Love Others

January 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

By Deborah Lovett:

I know many people make resolutions for the New Year, but I have always made a New Year goal to apply one Scripture to my life for the year. I always seek the Lord for which verse in the Bible He wants me to apply to my life.  This year I am finding God in another New Year’s Scripture but He has given me many verses on one subject matter. So by the end of the year, 2012, I should be a SME (Subject Matter Expert!) on what it means to love one ‘another’. Perhaps you would like to join me:

 

1) Do not deceive one another. (LEVITICUS 19:11)

2) Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. (ZECHARIAH 7:9)

3) Now that I, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash one another’s feet. (JOHN 13:14)

4) A new command I give you: love one another. (JOHN 13:34)

5) Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (ROMANS 12:10)

6) Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (ROMANS 12:16)

7) Therefore let us stop passing judgement on one another. Instead, make up your mind not to put any stumbling block or obstacle in your brother’s way. (ROMANS 14:13)

8)  Accept one another, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. (ROMANS 15:7)

9) Instruct one another. (ROMANS 15:14)

10)  Greet one another with a holy kiss. (ROMANS 16: 16)

11) I appeal to you brothers, in the name of our lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. (CORINTHIANS 1:10)

12) Serve one another in love. (GALATIANS 5:13)

I’ll post a dozen more for you tomorrow! May I suggest you personalize these scriptures as your own resolutions for the New Year, inserting your own name, plus whoever the Holy Spirit brings to your mind-as the ‘one another’ ?  Then make notes as to how you will apply these verses to your relationships.

Happy  New Year! May you find God by loving one another this year.

© Deborah Lovett. (www.DeborahLovett.com) Deborah is an International Speaker for Women’s Events, Retreats, and Conferences and the author of Gushing Springs, a Bible Study on the “Woman at the Well.”

 

Enjoy this beautiful music  with escalating harmony,  in this YouTube video: Love One Another (The Greatest Commands) with singing by the Acapella FC Alumni Chorus:

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Church Bells: Bells of Hope

December 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

By Dawn Wilson

I don’t hear Christmas bells where I live now in California; but I’m from the Midwest where church steeples jut up in the landscape like lupine plants. I have sweet memories of church bells peeling out each Sunday and on Easter and Christmas.

The church bells called us to worship, and they filled my heart with joy and hope. They helped me focus on eternal values when I felt so overwhelmed by earthly struggles. One year in particular, when I felt betrayed and alone, the bells called me to remember God’s great faithfulness.

An old Christmas carol by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow still has meaning for our day.  “I heard the bells on Christmas day,” Longfellow wrote, “their old familiar carols play.”

We’ve sung carols since childhood; perhaps it’s too easy to recite them mindlessly and lose their truth.

Longfellow wrote the song at Christmas in 1863 as he nursed his son—wounded in the Civil War during the Battle of Chancellorsville—back to health. Its original title was “Christmas Bells.” Longfellow wrote it as a song of praise, thanking God for his son’s survival in the midst of so much chaos.

This year, as I look around at the economic upheaval, broken relationships, crime, corruption, and wars everywhere, I have to admit that my heart is a bit agitated. There’s often anxiety in my heart instead of God’s sweet peace. And it’s not just me. Friends who have lost jobs fight despair, and a spirit of hopelessness colors their days. Another family is facing a difficult and devastating trial with their adult son. Others count the days until their loved ones in the military return from the Middle East.

As Longfellow wrote, “And in despair I bowed my head: ‘There is no peace on earth,’ I said. ‘For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good-will to men.”

Where is the answer for times like these? Our hope is in God (Psalm 71:5; 1 Peter 1:21) and His Word (Romans 15:4), not people or circumstances. Verse four of Longfellow’s song offers the reason for our hope:

“Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ‘God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good-will to men.”

In other words, God reigns. He is still in control (1 Chronicles 29:11-13; Psalm 47:7-8; 115:3; Isaiah 46:9-11) no matter how desperate we feel. Hope and wisdom come when we look at life from that perspective—His perspective. I recently told a group of women, HOPE stands for “His Overcoming Perspective Everyday.”

God will not disappoint us (Romans 5:5). Though we may not understand His purpose in our immediate circumstances, God has plans to give us hope (Jeremiah 29:11).

During this Christmas season, we need to pull away from the busyness of holiday preparations to find a quiet place and meditate on God’s faithfulness in His presence. As a pastor friend, Bill Elliff, says, “Everything flows from the presence of God.” Everything. Everything we need—including hope and peace.

Though we cannot help but see our circumstances, we must believe and focus on what God’s Word says.

The scriptures promise that there is coming a day of true, lasting peace, because the Prince of Peace will return (Isaiah 9:6; John 14:1-4; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). His righteous rule will change everything.

In the meantime, we have the presence, power, and perspective of God to guide us. We have hope in this world and hope for all eternity (Titus 2:13). Whether or not you hear church bells  this holiday season, I pray you experience the hope of Jesus in your life.

Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent Reigns! (Revelation 19:6b).

Enjoy this Christmas music provided by the  Hand Bell choir directed by Joe Moore, Minister of Music at First Baptist Church, East Point, Georgia:

Also enjoy this beautiful hand bell solo: How Great Thou Art ( Arr. E. A. Edgren) by Song JaeWeoul of the Daejeon Handbell Choir, in South Korea. I was unable to embed it, but do click the link as it’s lovely to listen to!

 

 

Article by Dawn Wilson.  Dawn  is the director of Heart Choices Ministries, and writes Heart Choices Today. She co-authored with Pam Farrel LOL with God: Devotional Messages of Hope & Humor for Women (Focus on the Family) and posts regularly at LOL with God. Dawn also works with NEWIM—Network of Evangelical Women in Ministry, and writes for the Christian Examiner.

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Finding God in an Ebenezer

December 11, 2011 By Leave a Comment

By Dianne E. Butts

 

Stone with the word Ebenezer inscribed on it.

Photo by Dean, The Wonder of Creation blog.

Did you think I meant Ebenezer Scrooge from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol? Uh, not exactly. I’m talking about people finding God in an Ebenezer—a real Ebenezer!

Did you even know there was such a thing as an Ebenezer?

If you’ve ever sung the Christian hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing, you may have come across the word, depending on your hymnal. I have two hymnals. The beginning of the second verse in one reads:

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I’m come…”

But in my newer hymnal, the second verse opens with:

“Hither to Thy love has blest me; Thou hast bro’t me to this place…”

Wikipedia has additional verses. Several contain the word Ebenezer.

Nevertheless, what’s an Ebenezer? If we “raise” our Ebenezer, as the verse suggests, are we lifting Scrooge above our heads?

Actually, Ebenezer is a standing stone, if literally translated, a “Stone of Help.” In the Old Testament, leaders sometimes stood a large stone up to commemorate something extraordinary God did for them at that site. Then when children or others asked why that stone was standing there, those who knew the story could pass along the information to a new group or generation.

Dictionary.com defines Ebenezer as a noun and says this:

male proper name, sometimes also the name of a Protestant chapel or meeting house, from name of a stone raised by Samuel to commemorate a victory over the Philistines at Mizpeh (I Sam. vii.12), from Heb. ebhen ezar “stone of help,” from ebhen “stone” + ezer “help.”

On his web site, Dr. Gregory S. Neal explains about the Ebenezer:

“In 1 Samuel 4:1-11 and 5:1, the Ebenezer is strangely identified with a particular site, about four miles south of Gilgal, where the Israelites were twice defeated by the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant was stolen. These battles took place, however, before the site was actually named Ebenezer. It was like someone saying that Dinosaurs once lived in Dallas county — they did, but not when this area was called ‘Dallas.’ Likewise, the two battles mentioned in 1 Samuel 4 and 5 took place at Ebenezer, but some time before it was so-named.

“The site wasn’t named Ebenezer until after the Israelites finally defeated the Philistines, and took back the Ark of the Covenant. To commemorate the victorious battle, Samuel set up a marker-stone, named it “Stone of Help,” and thereby the site became identified with the stone and with the place where God’s miraculous help aided them in their victory over the Philistines. The stone, standing up-right, was called ‘Ebenezer,’ and the site naturally took on that name as well.”

The next time you see Ebenezer Scrooge, I hope he makes you think of extraordinary events God has orchestrated in your life. Take the time to tell someone that story. When you do, because of your rock-solid faith standing there for them to plainly see, people will be finding God in an Ebenezer.

Enjoy this rendition of the hymn Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing sung by Lauren O’Farrell, to hear how Ebenezer fits into the song.

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Finding God In Christ

November 30, 2011 By 1 Comment

By: Deborah Lovett

Leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, “Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Christ?” John 4:28-29

This is one of those HUGE aha moments! Now, tell the truth, have you ever noticed that before? That the woman at the well forgot her reason for coming to the well in the first place, leaving her water jar behind? Also the woman who came at the hottest hour of the day, when no others came to draw water, in order to escape ridicule, embarrassment, and the haughty stares of others, was now speaking to an entire town. Astonishing! She was finding God in Christ the Messiah!

How did she get from point A to point Z; from needing and hiding; to overflowing and sharing? Simple enough; one little trip to the well; one run in with a Man who wouldn’t turn her away or use and abuse her; one large gulp of the “Living Water.”

Hers was a supernatural, divine meeting for sure. Most assuredly, had a human being confronted her about her past, the outcome would have been fear, disappointment, shame and condemnation. Not so with Jesus. He was accepting of her and still had compassion. He did not look to punish her but rather to set her free from her past. And so He does, through His unspeakable gift of grace and mercy that brings eternal life and transforms even the hardest of hearts.

Can you imagine the freedom she felt? Knowing she had been cleansed from her past, and that her daily mundane trip to the well, usually alone and uneventful had turned into an experience, an adventure that would change her life forever? Oh, how I wish I could have been there that day!

Oh, but we can! We can meet Jesus at the Well of Living Water everyday. No exceptions to the rule. We can take our water bottles, cups or buckets full of guilt, confusion, humiliation, worry, fear or inadequacies and leave them there with Him-just like the Samaritan woman. We can walk away in faith knowing He already knows the whole story – plus more. We can be filled with His Spirit, so we too can pour forth to others. Just, GO in faith, ASK through prayer, and RECEIVE His best!

The outcome of receiving His best is the secret to becoming a true Woman of the Well yourself. This means you become who God says you are, not who the other ridiculing women, or men that you bump into each day say you are. Here is what the Word of God says you are, straight from the Well, for whenever you choose to leave your water pots behind in faith and believe:


Ephesians 1:7 I am forgiven all my sins and washed in the blood.
2 Corinthians 5:17 I am a new creature.
1 Corinthians 6:19 I am the temple of the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 1:13 I am delivered from the power of darkness.
Ephesians 6:10 I am strong in the Lord.
Ephesians 1:4 I am holy and without blame before Him.
Ephesians 1:6 I am accepted in Christ.
Colossians 1:12 I am qualified to share in His inheritance.
Revelation 21:7 I am victorious.
Romans 6:2,11 I am dead to sin.
Jeremiah 31:3 I am loved with an everlasting love.
John 8:31-33 I am set free!
Colossians 2:12 I am raised up with Christ and seated in the heavenly places.
Romans 8:37 I am more than a conqueror!
1 Thessalonians 1:4 I am beloved of God.
1 John 5:18 I am born of God and the evil one does not touch me.
Romans 8:17 I am a joint heir with Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:18 I am reconciled to God.
Deuteronomy 28:2 I am overtaken with blessings!
Ephesians 1:13 I am sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit.
Colossians 2:10 I am complete in Christ.
Romans 8:1 I am free from condemnation.
Colossians 2:7 I am firmly rooted, built up, strengthened in the faith, and overflowing with thankfulness.
Philippians 1:6 I am being changed into His image.
Philippians 4:19 I have all my needs met by God according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus.
1 Corinthians 2:16 I have the mind of Christ.
John 6:47 I have everlasting life.
John 10:10 I have abundant life.
Philippians 4:7 I have the peace of God which passes understanding.
Ephesians 2:18 I have access to the Father by one Spirit.
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Jesus Christ.
John 14:12 I shall do even greater works than Christ Jesus.
1 John 4:4 I possess the Greater One in me because greater is He in me than he who is in the world.
John 10:14 I know God’s voice.
Colossians 1:27 Christ is in me the hope of glory!

Jesus, meet me today. Take the water bottle of things I “think” I need or want and in exchange give me that same Living Water you offered the Samaritan woman many years ago. I have faith that you will not turn me away, judge me, or punish me, but that you will be compassionate and loving in an unconditional way. Help me to receive all that you have for me today by faith and to take it to others in a loving way that glorifies You. Amen.

SPLASHING FOR Him as I am finding God in Christ today!

Watch this modern monologue depicting the woman at the well:

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Filed Under: God's Love, In Difficulties, In Life, Jesus, Prayer, Quotes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Finding God on the Occupy Wall Street Web Site

November 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

by Karen O’Connor

Used by Permission of Wikipedia

Finding God on the Occupy Wall Street web site was not something I expected. But it happened—through the words of one of the arrestees who posted his message on this link:

Although he remained anonymous, his point of view is powerful and one that I took to heart. Here is a portion of what he had to say:

“Nature itself is the beautiful expression of order and balance arising out of chaos. Time and time again, nature has demonstrated its ability to naturally grow this order and peace out of the random noise that makes its very basis. The myth of true order comes from human attempts to impose it where it does not naturally occur.”

These words brought to mind what Paul said in his first letter to the Corinthians 14:33 (NIV Bible), “For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.” It is a good reminder to me that when I take matters into my own hands, forcing the kind of order I think is needed in any given situation, I risk losing everything I was fighting for and alienating myself from the comfort and wisdom that only God can provide.

I’m thankful that finding God on the Occupy Wall Street web site brought me back to where I need to be—focused on God and his plans for our world.

Watch this short video on YouTube for an interview with Ben Bernanke on what is happening with Occupy Wall Street.

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Filed Under: In Difficulties, In the News, Quotes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , , ,

Finding God with Carrie Underwood

September 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo of Carrie Underwood, used by permission from Wikipedia

By Linda Evans Shepherd

I once heard that Carrie Underwood was not a believer and I was saddened that someone who sang Jesus Take the Wheel would not be a person of faith. But the rumor proved false. How glad I am to find out Carrie is indeed a person with a vibrant faith, and yes, her fans are finding God with Carrie Underwood.  As Carrie told Fox411′s Pop Tarts,

    “I grew up in church and have a wonderful family that always supported that. I grew up going to church camp and reading my bible and having different faith books and movies in my life.”

Though Carrie is a singer-songwriter and actress who rose to fame as the winner of the fourth season of American Idol, in 2005, she is also down to earth and explains,

    “I live a boring life away from what you see me on camera doing, I’m just the most normal person on the universe. I’m a wife, a mother to my doggies, I’m a maid, I clean the house, I’m pretty boring. We don’t ever go out to eat, we don’t do anything,” she added. “As Carrie the person, I wander around in sweatpants, and when I have to be ‘Carrie Underwood’ I have to look (dressed up.) It’s like a big personality, if I look like this, and always wear makeup; my friends would be like, ‘What are you doing? We’re going to TGI Friday’s, what’s up with this?’”

When I recently sat behind Carrie on a Sourhwest flight to Saint Louis, I couldn’t believe a country and western princess would be sitting in coach, and I didn’t believe it was really her, that is, until I realized she was coming into town to sing at the baseball stadium that night.

I’m delighted that Soul Surfer movie goers and country and western fans are finding God with Carrie Underwood. If you would like to hear Carrie sing How Great Thou Art with Vince Gill, watch below.  The performance is most inspiring.

To see the original source article and related videos from Fox News, click HERE.

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Filed Under: In the News, Quotes Tagged With: , , , ,

Finding God in the Courage to Follow Him

September 26, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Photo of Francis Chan used by permission from Wikipedia

What would be be like to to do exactly what God is calling you to do? That’s apparently the question megachurch pastor Francis Chan has been contemplating for a while; the question of finding God in the courage to follow him.

Still, when Chan, the best-selling author of Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, announced his decision to leave Corner Stone Community Church in Simi Valley, California, he shocked his congregation. According to Relevant Magazine (RM), Chan said,

    “Lisa [my wife] and I believe God is calling us out now, that He is sending us out to do something new, something that scares us, something that’s a step of faith,” Chan told his church when he resigned.

What is he going to go? Chan isn’t certain, which is why he’s taken to exploring the innercity of San Franciso, New York, and Los Angelos, trying to discern where God is calling him to minister to the poor. Though he isn’t certain of the details, Chan wants to be faithful to the call. RM reports that Chan said this isn’t a new feeling—it’s a conviction he’s been wrestling with for years, but he’s just recently had the courage to speak up about it.

“There’s always been this core conviction that something’s not right,” Chan says. “Now I want to express it and live it and go, ‘Now I feel like I’m living in congruence with the whole New Testament, like I just feel at peace.’ And maybe I’m dreaming, but I gotta go for it.”

Chan is couragious, and he’s one to not just teach the walk, he’s walking it in faith. He is finding God in the courage to follow him, no matter where that journey should take him.

To see video clip of Francis Chan talk about courage, watch below.

To see original article about Francis Chan in Relevant Magazine, click HERE.

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Filed Under: Books, God's Will, In Difficulties, In the News, Quotes Tagged With: , ,

Finding God’s Love for Others

September 21, 2011 By 1 Comment

Sometimes it’s easy to believe God loves you, but what about your difficult neighbor? How does one go about finding God’s love for others, when the ‘others’ involved are giving you grief?

I like how Billy Graham answers this question when a young man wrote in to ask if he should try to get out of sharing a college dorm room with an atheist. Billy wrote:

      I know this isn’t an easy or comfortable situation — but has it occurred to you that God may have put you there so you could be a witness to your roommate of Christ’s truth and peace? Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. … let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

After all, what will it take to change your roommate’s views? Will it be intellectual arguments that state the case for believing in God, or seek to demolish his convictions? They may have their place — but in reality, the one argument he can never answer is the fact of a life that has been changed by Jesus Christ. God loves him just as much as he loves you — and God wants you to be an example of Christ’s love to him.

For more on how Billy answers the delimma of finding God’s love for others, even when they are giving you grief, go to:

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Filed Under: God's Love, Quotes, Uncategorized Tagged With: , ,

Finding God Quote

September 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Great finding God quote with a profound reason why some people are having trouble finding God.

“Maybe the atheist cannot find God for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman.” ~Author Unknown

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