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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When you said you were afraid to ride the carousel because you wear afraid your father wouldn’t wait for you, and how you wouldn’t ski because you thought they wouldn’t come back for you…those statements on your childhood fears struck so many chords for me. I felt the same what as a child. I used to be afraid to stay home alone, even when I was more than old enough to do so, because I was afraid my parents just wouldn’t come back. I was so afraid of so many things. And I still feel those things today. I didn’t like making people mad or upset with me because then I’d feel really bad and that they’d stop loving me. I’ve grown up and into adulthood trying to not go against the grain so as not to disappoint people to the point that my fear of doing such has almost left me paralyzed. I fear being the real me and I fear not being who others think I should be because what if the real me is not pleasing to people…forgetting that who I am must be who God means for me to be so that I can truly honor and please Him and bring Him glory as only I can. I’m praying this will enable me to fly and help me be who I really am meant to be. I’ve started late but caught up and looking forward to what’s coming.
Praying for you Kim. It is scary to come out of the prison of our fear and live from a place of freedom – b/c it might mean some rejection. BUT the freedom that comes is unlike anything you’ve ever known and IT”S so WORTH IT!! You are so worth it but more than anything _ JESUS is worth it. It is for freedom that He has set us free. I”m so glad you reading along with us!
Hi Kim…….i truly understand how you feel and the fear is over whelming! I felt the same way as a child, and now as an adult, my day is filled with making sure everyone is happy and taken care of….it leaves me at the end of my day exhausted and very lonely. I want to agree with you in prayer, that we matter to God, He loves us and created us with a far bigger purpose then we can ever imagine!!! I want to step into God’s love and experience it to its fullest………….with NO FEAR!!!! I want to have His Blessed Assurance, and to go to bed at night, feeling secure and loved by the one who created me!!!!!!!!!!!!
Focusing on the light and away from the shadows is such a tremendous challenge for me. I know through scripture that if I put my hope in the Lord and realize that all things are possible to those who believe, I will not be disappointed. However knowing and following/doing are two separate things. Life just has a way of strengthening my doubts and insecurities. Why is it that so many women, including me are lead to believe that we are not worthy of happiness? This is my first online study and I am looking forward to how God will use this in my life.
Ok I have to confess something to you that I just did….I almost closed out my session without commenting on the blog because of my lack of confidence – seriously! Yikes I need this Bible Study!
I have somehow ended up in this craziness of letting other’s thoughts (or more accurately my perception of others thoughts about me) impact my confidence. I’m not sure how I got here but I know with God’s help I can re-gain and strengthen my confidence. I know that I need to “turn back toward the Light” to remove the shadows. I need to listen for God’s voice in my life everyday. I am committing to God, to you, my blog sisters (and brothers if there are any), and myself to be in the Word daily listening for the Truth. Thank you all for taking this journey with me and to Renee – thank you for taking the giant leap of faith and guiding us on this journey!
I actually did close it out and then came back. I’m scared of people judging my comments and such I almost skipped the interacting part of this study. I’m glad I didn’t. I’m finding out I’m not alone in my fears and I’m hoping to find encouragement as well as encourage as we go on this journey. Thank you for sharing your thoughts 🙂
Is there a study today? I have checked every site I know that Renee has and cannot find the study for day 3…can anyone assist please. Thanks!
There is no assignment for Day 3 – just giving us a day to catch up. A new post is coming tomorrow.
The versus that were given in our study that touch me right now in my life are…Is 49:23 “Those who hope in Me will not be disappointed” and Is. 43:19 “Behold, I am doing a new thing.” I decided to do this Bible Study because we have just recently left our church after 20 years. It was very difficult and I won’t talk about the issues, but there were things that shook my confidence and magnified my fear of man. Besides that, my husband just got laid off from work 2 weeks ago, so here we are in quite a position in need of God to move. Several months before all this happened, we felt change and that God was going to do something “new.” I feel like God is doing a new thing and I am putting my hope in Him, but some days I get discouraged, worried and frustrated. We are praying about moving, but we are waiting on Him to give us direction. I have been disappointed many times in the past, so I am learning to trust. Thanks for the study!
Praying for you Becky! So glad you are here with us for such a time as this.
That’s me.. always a day late and a dollar short. Or at least it feels like it.
Some things that really stuck to me from Chapter One are:
The fact that everything here is temporary. “No person, possession, profession, or position can ever fill the cup of a wounded, insecure heart … It’s an emptiness only God can fill.” My heart is surely wounded and I think the trouble, for me, is going to be finding all of the wounds to turn over to God to actually let Him heal me.
Doubt keeps me from believing so many things. Will this person really make the change for me to put my confidence and trust in them? Can I really let go of my responsibility here and trust that so and so will not let me down? What if I do and then I can’t do what I need to do? At what point do we cross the line and say “Okay, God, I know that I can trust you for this” and REALLY trust him? I felt as though I did this a few months back and now, sitting in the decision I’d made, I’m questioning whether or not this is really the situation that I had prayed for. I asked for peace, comfort, strength and feel that I have none of it – so did I make the wrong choice? Or am I just not really letting God have control? And what if my NOT thinking (which turns to doubt) causes me to just sit back and become too relaxed and then I really am not doing what I need to be doing? I guess… what is the difference between doubt and knowing that something just isn’t right for us? How do we know which is which?
I want to choose to “dwell in the assurance of Whose I am and who I am in Him” rather than everything else that surrounds me. This is going to be hard for me – but that’s my goal for this study.
You aren’t a day late or a dollar short. You are just in time and we’re glad you are here. Great questions you are asking. Hard one but good ones. I wish there was a formula or answer I could give you so you could know. Tomorrow I’m going to talk about listening for God’s voice and discerning if it’s HIM or us. I hope you’ll come back to join us in seeking to KNOW Him more because that is where we begin to find His will for us. Praying for you Leah!
Hi all,
This is my second go around with this study and I intend to finish it this time. I’m usually very good at starting a thing, but finishing is one of my handicaps. But No More! I intend to finish this study and come out of it with a Confident Heart in God.
Thanks for this study Renee. I really need it.
Be blessed everyone and I look forward to sharing with you.
Love,
Michelle.
You can do it Michelle – the time you invest in YOU in this study will have eternal benefits. Keep going no matter how hard it gets. We’re here with you and we are for you!!
What a blessing to have these words… I have been feeling these things for a long time but wasn’t sure what it was. It was doubt… Doubt that I could ever measure up. I was putting my confidence and hope in the wrong things. I should have known better, but it is easy to slip into this with too much focus on the day to day. I am grateful for God’s gentle reminder to get back in touch with HIm by setting aside time for HIs Word and prayer and to concentrate on the word, “blessed.” Thank you
I know exactly what you mean – it was a huge turning point when I realized it was doubt that had been paralyzing me all my life. Naming it is the beginning to knowing how to overcome it. Glad you are here!
Renee, thanks to reading and studying “A Confident Heart” last fall with Melissa, and at the same time participating in a study of Beth Moore’s “Believing God,” I was able to tell a very influential yet verbally abusive person in my life that, “You are wrong. I am not those things. I am not who YOU say I am. I am who HE says I am!” The person was stunned and had no response and actually has not abused me since! A true miracle from God! Thanks for helping me start to re-claim my identity in the Lord!
WhoooooHooooo!!!!!!!!! Praise JESUS – girl I am so proud of you!! So thankful God is setting you free from the lies and giving you the courage to stand firm and find your confidence in the solid Rock of His truth!!
Blessings Sisters in Christ,
I came here to catch up on the comments in the community and look for Day 3 earnestly… yet somewhere
(must have been day 1) I read that we should read the FORWARD… so after getting hooked and going directly to Chapter 1, I went back and read everything from the Forward, to the acknowledgement to Chapter One again… adding my highlights and notes (in Kindle for PC)… and though the quote that Kathy and others shared drew me to get into this study… the first highlight of mine was in the FORWARD (not realizing that it was written by dear Lysa, until I got it)… this is what tugged on my heart and spoke volumes to me:
“…This rejection became an adult emptiness and brokenness that made me doubt I was lovable. Insecurities cut deep. Shame ran rampant. Desperation for acceptance drove me to seek out all kinds of misguided remedies. My primary remedy was to find someone or something that would make me feel secure and significant.”
Swope, Renee (2011-08-01). Confident Heart, A (Kindle Locations 95-99). Revell. Kindle Edition.
Followed by “Will you fill me?”… to husband, child, job, ministry, etc. WOW! That hit the nail on the head.
Drove this straight to my heart! I really thought all these many years that God alone was filling my heart.
But I was expecting or holding out ‘my cup’ to anyone who would acknowledge me, fill my cup… give me attention, how can I please you? so you will accept me … “Will you right all my wrongs?” this one blew me out of the water… I just broke with this. I’ve been waiting all my life to remedy my “wrongs”…fix my messes… and as Lysa wrote somewhere else, only the Messiah can …
“Why do we look to things of this world to give us security, self confidence, and fulfillment?”
AMEN Lysa… and this only gets better and more personal to me from this point on…God’s doing a new work…a healing… a more powerful transformation in my thoughts and understandings… I have spoken words and prayers with confidence, I gave them lip service and head knowledge and thought it came from my heart… but this is seeping deep down within me and combining all of this from my thoughts, to my heart, to my deepest soul… a transforming, new beginning… I’m committed to no more “what if’s”
“If only I had __________, I’d be so secure and fulfilled.” and seeking my security in my LORD, and Savior Jesus Christ ALONE! No more temporary, I’m going for the ETERNAL! Because I love His Love Letter… every message in His Word, is now refreshing and becoming a sweet anointing and Promise to me.
Thanks Lysa and Renee! I’m ready to receive and GROW and live with a confident heart (no matter what’s going on around me, it’s temporal)… Blessings and love to you all in Christ Jesus, Peggy
I think that Jeremiah 17:7 is just what I needed to be reminded of. However, the previous verses let me know why I am in such the state I am in now. I have WASTED my trust and my Confidence in Man, particularly my husband. But even though I know the problem, I am not sure that I am comfortable with “maintaining the solution long term” and being completely conformed by the renewing of my mind. I have been this way (trusting in man) too long.
Doubts, insecurities, and feelings of inadequacy as a mother and wife EAT AWAY AT ME every single day. It is horrific to describe the defeat I feel on an almost daily basis when I disappoint (disrespect and not appreciate) my husband, when I disappoint my children. Fear of my husband having Enough and losing his love for me………which has already seemed to begin its course.
Terrified, absolutely terrified. Am I being punished for putting my confidence in Man?
Melanie, I don’t think you’re being punished but I do think you are probably experiencing what the Lord warns us of — what will happen when we put our trust and hope in man. You are in such fear and there is no freedom there. No way to flourish. Just take this one day at a time, one chapter at a time. So much more to come in the next chapter and the next. This isn’t just something we can decide to do. We need God’s power, God’s love to lure us into His heart and replace our need for man’s approval with HIS approval and acceptance that is truly what we were created for!!
It has amazed me how the shadow has lowered and darkened since I began to address this issue in my life. Lack of confidence is such a deeply ingrained habit. It is causing me problems in my relationship and it is time to replace the shadow with the Light.
This speaks so much to not only my life, but also where I work. In life we often rely on each other for approval instead of looking to God for approval. When we start giving man the power, we are only causing harm for us. Just as the shadow was large representing the doubt, we also make man larger than it is. We often give man more power and control than they deserve.
Good morning study partners
I have awakened this morning to find a shift in me. Halelujah!
Page 23 Line 20 says; “We NEED (my emphasis) to hope that life can be different.
Page 24 Line 8 (end); “Are you ready to let His Word change the way you think which
will determine the way you feel and eventually transform the way you live (Rom. 12:2)?
I understand that in order to persevere HOPE is required. Myself, I quickly spend my hope up front (pockets turned inside out) cause I am jumping around in the starting box looking this way and that
so excited to push through the starting gate. Then, like a SHOT I am out………… soon I find that I am crawling whimpering doubting whining far far before the finish line. You may even find me curled up in a
ball as you sprint past me crossing that finish line.
Well, today I found a compost bin to step up on and I’ve taken a good look around. My HOPE (Grace and Mercy offered by God) is God through You!!! Sheesh, look at all of you hungry to be transformed looking for other women to align with in order to make it over that finish line to the Victory Circle!!!
Believing in God………………………….BELIEVE GOD!!!
Amen,
Blessed
Melanie C
AMEN!!! Believing God and in Him, too!!! Being blessed and transformed…Hallelujah! Great encouragement Melanie! Thanks!
Thanks so much, Renee, for doing this online study. It’s exactly what I need right now in my life. I know it’s only the beginning of the study, but it’s been such a blessing so far. Can’t wait to get your next email.
My favorite: “Then you will KNOW (emphasis mine) I am the Lord. Those who trust in me will NOT be disappointed.”Isaiah 49:23
There are so many hurting women in this chat. I am praying so much over you. I struggle, too, with confidence and know it has held me back in so many things out of stupid fear.
The devil is good at what he does, isn’t he? As I was reading the comments, I noticed many times I read that the person doesn’t believe that God’s promise of a plan for their life are for them, but only for “other people”. I’m there, too. Yet, it occurs to me, that if so many of us feel that way…who are the “other people” that the promise is for? That is such a lie from the devil and he individualizes the lie to attack our most vulnerable spot. For me, the lie that is told, is that God does not have a plan for my life because I’m just not smart enough. This is a very vulnerable point because I did not go to college and the devil knows how much that bothers me, and therefore know how to zing me. Sure, I can pray about it, but the lie, coupled with my circumstances of doing “nothing” makes it very difficult to believe day in and day out, that something big is coming from God for my life.
Hold on to HIS PROMISES Melissa and any time you hear that lie or sense it in your spirit, speak forth verses like the one you have from Isaiah 49:23 or Jeremiah 29:11… let those blot out and block those lies,
you are smart enough, you are able, you can believe in yourself and your place in Christ Jesus! I pray that this study brings you (and all of us) a more CONFIDENT HEART… I can already see seeds being planted.
You are not vulnerable and will not receive those lies or false beliefs because you are accepted and significant in God’s eyes and in His family with us… the enemy and his tactics are cunning but you are greater and more than a conqueror!
Thank you so much Peggy! 🙂
I have never done an online Bible Study before. I am overwhelmed with the amount of women whose hearts are reaching for a closer walk with Christ. I have been reading a book called Becoming a Woman of Simplicity. Together with this study, God is really calling me to give up things in my life that are taking me away from Him and to join Him where He is working. This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it! Praise God for showing us how blessed we are! Praise Him for so many women with a heart for God!
It’s been amazing reading through a few of the comments here. It’s clear that God is already working, and the lives of entire families and communities will be changed because God is going to give someone a breakthrough. When I read the Bible verse for today (Jeremiah), I think I was stunned because I didn’t know the Bible was so clear about not putting your trust in people – I was raised to do just that! Literally in the past maybe 3 years has my view started to change a bit, and it is a scary place to be, because Ive just done what my parents taught me to, but when I sat and considered all that this bible verse was saying to me, I could do nothing but agree wholeheartedly that it is indeed a curse to look to someone else to understand about how you feel about yourself. That is a prison with self made walls, and I have been trapped inside my self-made prison for so long – too long. Everyday will be a struggle, everyday will be a fight to stop seeking the approval of others, and start putting my full trust in the Lord, and my need to please only for Him, but I know that I won’t be alone, because He will help me through if I ask.
Ive felt so poorly thinking about how much time Ive lost on trusting what someone else thinks and killing myself to please others, but I understand that I could not have understood it any better than I can right now. God is an on time God and I couldnt have understood it any better than I can right now.
. I always thought I was completely alone in my feelings – to see so many other women have similar feelings, is so amazing to me. I just do not want to run away from all that I am feeling and seeing and learning. I ask the Lord to keep all ov us faithful to learning what He has for us.
Amen!! Im praying the same and what God is showing you individually is exactly what He showed me years ago. It’s a day by day, doubt by doubt process to transfer our dependence on others to a new deep and abiding dependence on Jesus. We just have to ask for HIS help each step of the way. Glad you are here with us Max!
WOW! Amazing–thank you Renee for this–almost so overwhelming to see so many women in one place to connect with and this reminds me too that accepting God’s love can be so overwhelming for a broken heart. The last sentence of the 1st paragraph on page 24 of Chapter 1, “…when I choose to dwell in the assurance of Whose I am and who I am in Him, I have a confident heart, jumped out at me when I read it last week–I’ve underlined and written in the margin so many things–and then this morning God brought me to Psalm 91:1…and I remembered your BIG shadow which I can so relate to…So looking forward to focusing on Him and His love for me these next few weeks and learn more of how to dwell with Him and rest in His shadow…not my shadow of doubt. Blessed are we!!!!
Hello Everyone,
After reading some of the posts, I am shocked that so many women here feel the same way I do. There were so many things said in the first chapter that stuck with me. If I mentioned them all, I would take up so much space. But the main thing was that someone else had the same feelings – I’m not alone. I too have felt as if I weren’t good enough to receive God’s blessings. I struggle with depending on other people to make me feel worthy. If I were just -er! Prettier, smarter, funnier, stronger, nicer etc. If I were all those things, I would be whole. This mornng, while I prayed the prayer again at the end of chapter 1, I realized that God says He loves me even when I’m not -er. He loves me before I was anything on this Earth. But, I started hearing those nagging thoughts creep in – you are not worth what He gave and those promises are not for you.
That feeling is so depressing. I want to believe in God’s promises and make my life better through Him. He is the only one I can depend on. Everyone on earth will let you down at some point, but not God. It’s just getting to the point that I believe what He says, and believe that I am worthy of those promises.
Thank you all for sharing! And, thank you, Renee, for starting this Bible study.