Happy Monday! It’s day 2 in the first week of our Online Study and I”m so glad you are here!
Here’s today’s message: Please click the arrow below to watch it. I share how we can make sure our lives are BLESSED and not cursed as well as some share things God’s laid on my heart for us. I also announce our key word and verse for the week!
After viewing it, be sure to read below. I’ve got an assignment and answers to many of the questions you all have sent in about the study :-).
[If you’re reading this via email, CLICK HERE to find the video on my website.]
Todays’ Assignment:
Download our Word for the Week: BLESSED (double click the word) to download your FREE printable promise and word for the week, as many times as you want. Stick it everywhere and live like it’s true, girl, cause God wants this for you!
Please read Jeremiah 17:5-8. As you read it, ask God to show You His truth in this passage as it applies to your life – and how it relates to Chapter One where I listed the lies “doubt” whispers or shouts from the sidelines. They really are curses aren’t they?
Journal your thoughts in your notebook and ask God to help you notice this week when you’re tempted to put your hope and find your confidence in the wrong things and people. Then ask Him to help you turn to Him each time for confidence and security that comes from His approval, acceptance and unconditional love.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed if you haven’t read Chapter One yet. I want you to do that first, then watch the video. If you have time answer today’s question. The rest of the week we we’ll be getting to know one another, reviewing the chapter, answering questions at the end of the chapter and discussing them here.
Connect in Community: If you feel comfortable, I’d love for you to be part of the community we’re building here! I want to pray for you. I want to hear from you. Seriously, your thoughts matter to me!! When you have time, share them and read others’. Feel free to stop back by any time. Click “share your thoughts” below this post to be part of today’s conversation.
How Our Online Study Will Work (since I know it might be confusing)
My blog/website will be the “living room” of our online study. We’ll meet here to read my posts, watch videos, find out our assignments and download free resources for the week. The primary place to share our thoughts, prayers and questions will be in the comments section under each post.
As time allows for those who want to, we’ll linger “in the foyer” on Facebook and Twitter. Some will and some won’t. It’s totally up to you! I’ll be there at least a little bit almost every day. BUT the most important gathering place will be right here on my blog.
How will you know when it’s time to connect here? I’ll notify you four different ways.
I’ll Facebook and Tweet it. I’ll send you a note through the Online Study list and include a link back to the post. And, if you’re signed up for Email Website Updates, you’ll receive the whole post in an email that day too. But you’ll need to click on a link to come back to my website to watch videos, download extras or comment and connect.
Remember this is a journey and we’re just getting started. Give yourself time to read today’s assignment and yesterday’s, memorize this week’s verse, pray it out loud and let God love on you! Click “Share Your Thoughts” to do just that!
{Remember, if you’re reading this via email, CLICK HERE to find the video and leave your comments on my website.}
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Enjoyed Chapter 1 and looking forward to connecting with a wonderful group of women from all over! We are all so BLESSED, lets celebrate that GOD IS GOOD and we are in HIS LOVE with confident hearts! WOOT WOOT! ~ SRS
Praise God Renee that you are doing this on-line study! I started on the last one but didn’t get to finish it and really wanted to. The one thing that shouted out loudest to me was in chapter one, the statement “He lead me beyond believing IN Him to REALLY believing Him”. I know that is not all of the statement but that is what I so desperately need, I need to believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that what Gods word says is for me. I have lived my entire life with a “soul sadness”, that God really does not love me as the pastor says He does, that His love and promises are for everyone else. I can see all His blessings in my life, how He has transformed me from a terrified person to an out going, somewhat fearless women, but, there is still that place in my heart that screams “it is not for you!!!” Renee, I need a breakthrough, I need to believe, to feel His love and promises are for me also. I have been praying, begging, crying for this breakthrough. I have fasted from TV for a year and spent that time reading my bible, praying , serving in church, going to small groups at church, seeking His face, staying in praise and worship. I am now diving into your book and this study with my eyes, ears and heart wide open, praying He shows me how to accept His word as personal promises. I do love The Lord with every fiber of my being and I feel guilty sometimes for feeling the way I do. Please sisters keep me in your prayers as I will be praying for you all also. Blessing to all.
For a long time I have been living the life of self-doubt and have wanted to change but I would let my doubt tell me it was to hard. I am so tired of living life this way. I really feel God calling me to walk thru this study with him and not stop when it gets to hard but to allow the Holy Spirit to breathe change across my heart and mind. I know this is not the life he desires for me and I am looking forward to the change he will bring about in my life thru this study. I truly want to live Jeremiah 17:7.
Amen Dolores. Is anything too hard for God? Change is possible, just BELIEVE!
Be Blessed!
Love,
Michelle
I am sitting here with tears streaming down my face because I know this is where God wants me but Satan has a tight hold. I love praying God’s Word. Chapter One has already given me so much hope but yet I am also ready to run and hide. I am truly scared of coming out of my cocoon. Flying free as a confident butterfly with God frightens me. I have been knocked down too many times. How do you recover from these things?
Charlotte,
I so relate to your words. I was terrified of people, places and things for many, many years, I would cry myself to sleep because I was so tired of being afraid, I had isolated myself emotionally from everyone out of fear of rejection, abandonment, you name it. I felt alone in crowded places, and I felt separated from God.
That was the worst of it. Then one evening I decided I was sick and tired of the fear and not knowing what to do I went to my back yard with a cup of coffee, built a fire, and told God we were going to sit there all night if need be until He told me what to do. After about a 1/2 hr of sitting silent He spoke to my heart, told me I had to grieve my past, all that had happened to me, all that I had done. I started sobbing uncontrollably, then started praising Him, I started to laugh. He told me to go forward, hold my head high, He did not put this fear in me, to claim back the things I allowed fear to steal from me. I can tell you the truth, 99% of that fear is gone!! Praise God!! I can’t say I know what you need, only that I know how you feel and you are not alone on this journey, I will be in prayer for you sister.
Shawn H. Would you please pray for me also? I feel exactly the way that Charlotte feels about herself. I have been insecure all my life. I never knew a time in my life when I felt confident about anything. I’ve been a christian for over 40 years, but yet still cannot pray out loud, with other people. My mind goes blank and I feel stupid, inadequate and a failure as a christian. I literally freeze and I hate that about myself. I want so desperately for this to change and to trust God and believe that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Dearest Jean,
God does not see you as a failure. He does not see us the way we have been lied to about ourselves. He knows the potential in you and He knows the plans that He has for you, plans for a future and a hope. I use to have issues praying myself and even now, sometimes I still stumble, but I’ve come to the conclusion that regardless of how you feel, do it anyway. God sees our heart and if you pray from your heart, despite the words that are coming out, be they few and far between, He hears you. So dont give up, keep praying because He hears.
Be Blessed.
Love,
Michelle
Thanks Michelle,
I have listened to satan’s lies for way too long! I will not give up hope, which is what I have done in the past. I used that verse you just spoke to me about God having plans for you, plans for a future and a hope with my son four years ago. He was diagnosed with Leukemia. I so easily can see God’s word for other people, but it is hard for me to see God’s promises for myself!
I feel so blessed having this group of women to talk with and go through this study with.
Love,
Jean
Charlotte Lennartz…..you recover by keeping your faith and remembering God’s promises. Stay positive and pray out loud in your closet and ask God to help you talk to Him out loud!
Know that God, nor I see you in the words you used describing yourself …..I see BOLDNESS!! You had the courage to tell all of us that you fear praying out loud.
Praying for you my Sister in Christ!!
Thank you Michelle.
I have always had a hard time writing my thoughts down on paper because I don’t want anyone to find it and read it. I will be doing my best to write something everyday and hopefully open up more each day with myself. I know I need to let not only God into those places but a trusted person who can love me with all my flaws and past mistakes. I know this is going to be part of my process in having a confident heart. I am so thankful for this study, I know God is working in me.
“Turn back toward the light…dwell in the assurance of Whose I am and who I am in Him.”
I can have a confident heart!!!
Thank you Renee!
Sandie
Good morning! I have too often looked for affirmation from my family, my friends and when it didn’t always come I felt alone and depressed. Jeremiah has reminded me that it the Lord that gives me encouragement and confidence. People will fail us. God never fails us. I have let worrying about my children and grandchildren control my life to the point that I was depressed and constantly filled with anxiety. I am now trusting in the promises of God’s Word and placing my anxiety in His capable hands. Please pray for me fellow sisters in Christ.
Linda, You will be in my prayers. That is one of my problems, too. Worry about my children and my grandchildren, thinking I should do something, not being in control….these things are not fixable by me! I turn them over to God but then I walk right back into them. Today I prayed to be relieved of these worries and for God to take over and I really meant it. So we can pray on this together. God help Linda and I to let go and let you work. Amen.
I heard a pastor say this one time, and I LOVED it…. “When you lay your burdens at the Foot of the Cross, cut the strings and walk away!” So many times we forget those pesky strings and when we get up to walk away, those burdens just follow us back to where we are! I am too guilty of this, but HE is teaching me to see the strings so I can CUT them!
🙂 God Bless
Renee, I am also one who needs accountability so that I follow through. I procrastinate because I don’t feel that I can be helped. I am not sure when my insecurities started but it was a long time ago. I believe in God but I desparately want to believe God. I can’t even evaluate my thoughts and beliefs because I might be wrong. Answering questions about myself usually makes me quit because it is so hard. I’m praying that through your study I can turn this around and gain all the confidence and strength that God wants to give.
Thank you, Susan
Susan~
I totally understand where you are coming from. When I was doing my reading last night and came upon the questions my first thought was just to “answer them in my head”. I felt that I had nothing to contribute. Then I made myself write down the answers anyway. Now I am so glad that I did.
Hugs,
Mollie
Susan and Mollie,
I praise GOD for your honesty! What mighty and brave women you already are for being so open and honest. GOD is not the author of confusion, so my prayer is that as we travel this journey together, GOD strengthens us where we are weak, reveal things from our past so that we may move forward, and renew a steadfast mind and spirit within us! GOD BLESS YOU BOTH!!!
I am so thankful that we can be so real. We are all in this together, and we have so much to learn from each other.
Susan,
You could not have said it any better. I, too, am a procrastinator and introvert. So, I’m usually the last to answer or respond to anything for fear of being wrong or simply put, not perfect. In my head I know nobody is perfect except for one person, but my heart tells me differently. Selfishly, I have so much worry about how others think about me and making people happy.
Thank you Renee for this study! I am so excited for what change is about to come. I have always believed IN God, but have had an extreme amount of doubt actually Believing Him, no matter what my feelings tell me. This message in Chapter 1 really hit home for me! And love the print out of the word for the day….Fabulous. To get the whole family involved, I’ve put the print-out on the fridge to share, and plan to have some ‘Bible time’ at dinner.
Blessings!
Shannon
Hi all~
First off I must say, wow isn’t technology amazing! It has opened up so many forums for God’s Word to be shared and connection to be made.
I am thankful to be a part of this study along with each of you. It is very reassuring to know that we are not in this journey of life alone. What a reminder that the “shadow of our doubts” disappear as we turn toward the light. Thanks Renee for reminding us of this truth.
Looking foward to continuing this part of the journey with you.
Blessings to all,
Dawn
What a way to start the new year. Renee, I appreciate you being obedient to the Holy Spirit. I see this study time as a blessing to me and many others. The Lord has blessed me to move into a new position and I know that I cannot do it in my own strength. This bible study reminds me that I need the faith and confidence that only the word of God can give me. God bless you!
I am truley looking forward to doing this bible study. I am excited to learn how to truely trust in the LORD, and have a CONFIDENT heart in Him. In these verses in Jeremiah 17, the first thing that popped in my head was ” Who am I looking to to find my confidence? Am I looking to man for a “temporary” hope and confidence, or am I looking to God for a “permenant” hope, and confidence?”
I pray that for myself, and for the women who are doing this bible study, who are having a struggle in truely putting trust in God, that he is the one who has the plans, and your will in His hands. That your hearts willl open and learn how to surrender to Him. To have peace and rest in your life. To have a CONFIDENT heart in Christ! May you be BLESSED this week!
Just started “The Daniel Fast” with our church family, last Wednesday & this is right on time for me. I’ve already read the book once, but I am really diving into the meat of it this time. I also, do not want this to be, just another book I read. This comes at a very, very difficult time in my marriage & my life as well, if I am truly honest with myself, which I am trying very hard to be. I am looking forward to that “New Thing” God is doing! I know God is right where He has always been, it is I that has moved away, slow fade, but still I moved away! I have been living in the shadow for far, far too long! Thank you, Renee for being obedient & thanks to all of you other ladies that have shared your hearts on here, today! I know how hard it is, as I am trying to do it myself, & I cannot thank you enough! You all have encouraged me so much this morning! Blessings to you & hope to hear more from all of you!
Renee I am so glad that you wrote this book I can relate to alot. I started to did this bible studie with Melissa And I late Satan get in my mind and shut down I never finish so I am so gald that you are doing this studie Plus I know how satan attracks me I am not going to let him win I plan on finishing this bible studie with you to the end. I am praying for you and all the other ladies that are doing this studie also. I am so excited to see what god plans on doing.
Hi Sharon,
I too was in Melissa’s BS and also did not finish the study. I finished the book, but got stuck at Chapter 6 with the questions. I’m glad that you decided to finish as I too am here for that very same reason. As we press on this year, I know that we are in for something great.
Be Blessed.
Love,
Michelle W.
Hi Sharon and Michelle W.,
I also started this study with Melissa’s online group and got through chapter 8. I said that I would at least finish reading the book even though I fell behind in the study, but I failed too. I know it was only satan at work. I pray that I will get through it this time and persevere. Praying that you guys will too. Thanks Renee for offering this study again because we as women of God need our confidence in Him and Him alone.
Blessings,
Liz 🙂
Hi Renee and all ~
I am so excited about this study. I however have a slight problem, after this week I will not have access of the book as I need to return it to the library. I cannot renew it and I am on a waiting list for another copy 🙁 I hope that I can still be a part of this study, as I cannot afford a hard copy right now. I posted on Freecycle to see if anyone had a copy they were letting go of, but no such luck. Any suggestions out there, I want to continue on with this study as I so need the refreshment it offers.
Thanks for any insight!
Amy
Amy,
Send me your address and I will get a copy of the book to you. This study is so important. I know that I need this study right now.
Martha
Thanks so much Martha! What is your e-mail addy so I can send you my address? Thanks – Amy
[email protected]
Great! Sent you a message just now…Thanks again!!!!
Good Morning to everyone! I am just now getting on board. I have completed the first chapter, and I am overjoyed that I don’t have to read and go through this process alone. It is comforting to know that there are several women out there, just like me, who have issues with self-doubt. There were countless sentences that stood out for me while reading and studying this first chapter. In fact, I found some of my own personal thoughts written down by Renee. I often find myself not feeling adequate enough to do certain tasks, especially when it comes to leading something or speaking in public. I become a ball of nerves just thinking about having to be responsible for leading or delivering a speech in front of large crowds. I guess what stood out the most for me though, was when Renee said…”and sensed God whispering to my heart…” If I can be honest, this statement made me a little envious. So often when I going through different situations in my life, I long to hear from GOD. I long to hear what it is that He’s saying or thinking. I often hear people say, God spoke to me about this and God spoke to me about that, and it puzzles me a bit, because I am often unsure of when GOD may be speaking to me or if He speaks to me at all. Then the question that Renee asks herself in the second paragraph of Chapter one creeps into my mind….”What’s wrong with me?”
Hi Ashlee,
Your concerns about actually hearing from God have been mine in the past as well. However, something changed this last year and I began to really believe that God was speaking a word into my life. I had spent many years of flipping through the pages of the Bible like it was a fortune cookie and then falling upon random verses and being left empty. When I started crying out to God like David did in many Psalms, and just pouring my whole self out to Him ( the good, the bad, and the ugly) I then began to sense what He was saying to me. God tells us to search Him with our whole hearts and then we will find Him. I am praying that he will reveal Himself to you in a way that is REAL and with a word that you need.
Amen! Thank you Casey. I think the key word is BELIEVE. I have to believe that GOD wants to speak to me ,and then I have to be patient and listen.
It’s not a big “moment” it could just be something as simple as the “prompting” of your emotions or a thought… like today…I was eating my cream of wheat and drinking coffee and my mind started racing about a potential church change for my family…and now, as the day has gone I have realized that it was God speaking to me…about being ready for my husband to approach me about this. Kinda feels neat that I’m in on the secret…but I questioned if it was my thoughts or God at first cause it was a very casual moment, eating breakfast and enjoying the quietness of my usually chaotic home…so, think simple…God is speaking to you, and you might not even realize it! 🙂
Ashlee: Bless you for being so open and honest. Please know that there is nothing wrong with you! Part of “hearing” God speak to you is recognizing. (And questioning whether it is a message from God is important.)
I like to think that God uses lots of different ways to “speak” to me. Sometimes it is a particular Bible verse that I keep running across, or a thought or a word, that keeps cropping up. Sometimes it is through what someone else says or does. Sometimes it can be through the words of a song or the way music makes me feel. Sometimes it is in nature such as a pretty sunset.
I hope this helps.
I just started a new Sunday School class and my teacher said that you just need to begin where you are. She said if you don’t want to do your devotions, pray for the desire. If you want to have devotions and hear from God, then pray that God would meet you there. Tell him that you need to hear from him. Read the passage. Write down in a journal any verse that stands out to you in a new way. Read over that verse several times and wait. God will give you some words just for you. You might think it is your own thought so that is why you wait for God to put a new thought in your mind. Write down the thought. Then pray and thank him for sharing with you. I have been doing my devotions this particular way for a week now and love it! I think I rush too fast for him to actually speak to me most days. Zoom through the passage, pray, done. Praying for you Casey 🙂
Good Morning Ashlee,
I’ve had that same issue in the past with wondering why it was that I could not hear God and wondering what was wrong with me. There’s nothing wrong with you as you will see further in the book because Renee has a chapter that addresses this very issue of us wondering what’s wrong with us. God is always speaking to us. We may not “hear” Him, but He’s always speaking. I’m still deciphering His Voice to me. It may be through someone giving me a Word, it may be that I have a “feeling” to do something and then if I dont do it, after some time, knowing it was Him prompting me to do something and then getting down on myself for not “deciphering His Voice” until after the fact, or it could be through confirmation of His Word, when you read something in the Bible and it sticks out to you and then it’s confirmed throughout the day or week or month. He speaks in many ways, but we just need to decipher how He speaks to us. I also believe that in order to hear Him, you have to BELIEVE that He’s speaking to you. That was also a problem I had. I did not believe that He spoke to me, I always thought that my “works” disqualified me from hearing Him. The lies that we believe can be so distructive to us, but God is faithful to us and He always gets us through. Hebrews 11:6: But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Be Blessed.
Love,
Michelle W.
” He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It have no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8NIV…I long to be capable of sending out my roots to the stream of my God. I am a people pleaser, who gains my fulfillment and confidence in the act of pleasing others, especially my husband and children. And when I don’t please, I feel inadequate and a failure. In these times of drought, allow me to continue bearing fruit , Dear Lord. Encourage me to send my roots to your heavenly waters for the quenching of my soul.
I’m w/ ya sister! I truly believe God is asking me to focus on living a life “PLEASING TO HIM” as my focus…through my words, moods, attitudes and actions…and to not worry about what others think, becasue the more authentic I am for HIM…the more they will truly see and understand who I am!
I wonder if it is common for us people-pleasers to also have feelings of doubting and inadequacy when we aren’t pleasing someone. I am thinking that maybe we need to focus more on pleasing God through our service to others (what we previously called “people-pleasing”) and that may help re-frame things? Do it for the glory of God, not for ourselves? Hmm, maybe I’m on to something here, I will have to try this!
Also, beginning this study, I couldn’t help but think, I’m so glad I’m not an atheist! Because as a Christian, we are learning that our value and confidence comes from Christ, not from the world! If I were an atheist, I would have to depend on getting warm fuzzies from the world, and you know how seldom that happens! So thank you Lord for letting me be part of this family!
I have also struggles with working to please others. I am learning that it is OK to work to help others, but the reason to help others comes from the heart and not to make others like us. God knows from our heart why we do certain things. Does that make sense?
Good Morning everyone. Where do you begin when you start something and then can’t finish because you don’t have the confidence in yourself. Due to failing so many times. I have been praying for God to give me the confidence and knowledge to be able to do His will and not mine.
My daughter and I started this study a few months back, but did not get it finished due to our schedules. We have decided that we wanted to be a part of this online study and to stay with it and to build up our confidence and to remember that we are God’s child. I love the Lord very much and He has really helped me get through some tough times and I still do have those tough times. Looking forward to this study and I know that we are all BLESSED with the LORD on our side. Thank you Renee and others for this study. Looking forward to going forward and having a confident heart.
Brenda, I also just survived a couple of years of extremely hard times, with the Lord’s help. I kept thinking, OK, so God is making me stronger, but then I got to the point where, I didn’t even WANT to be stronger anymore, I just wanted the troubles to stop coming at me! And then a light bulb came on over my head and God said, “Yes I want you to be stronger–THROUGH ME–and trust and rely on Me!” And I answered, “OOOOOOH, I get it now!” And you know what, the dark cloud went away then and life is good now! When I look back I also realize it was the Lord squeezing me through various circumstances to get me to focus on Him again. I can totally see that now. A message that I heard (so I bought the book) that helped me TREMENDOUSLY was “Plan B” by Pete Wilson, he explains about what it means for us to go through trials. It’s easy to read, very positive, loving, and down to earth (no fire and brimstone). I want to add, God is calling you through THIS study and I hope you are able to hang in there with the rest of us, nothing but blessing will come of it! To tie the above in with our current topic of trust and confidence, I can totally see how my confidence in the future is now through God and what a relief it is to not depend on MYSELF so much anymore! Too much pressure! :^)
Reading the acknowledgments made me realize that I have very few people that I turn to for spiritual guidance. I am very grateful to God for my husband who actually sent me the link to Proverbs 31 Ministries and to this book and study. I am really looking forward to this study and seeing what God has in store for me!
I think it’s gonna be an incredible journey. 🙂
I too am looking forward to doing this study. I have always had very low self confidence and am now heavier than i’ve ever been and my self worth has dropped even farther. I look in the mirror and I hate what’s looking back at me. I know that God loves me as His child but it’s hard for me to imagine that i’m lovable at times. I have two kids that I love more than life and to think of God loving me even more than that, it’s hard to take it all in. Other things have happened in my life recently that have stressed me to the max. I decided I needed to take the time for this study and time to fully comprehend God’s love for me and my worth as His child. Thank you, Renee.
Good Morning, There was so much to think about – what stands out right now for me is what am I going to cut off of my plate to make time for the study and more time for God. Thinking about it this way helps instead of wondering how to “fit it in”! I know there is so much that needs to be cut!!
Thank you for the study, the accountability and the encouragement!