Today is another day where I can’t just write what I want to say – I need to “show and tell” you. In today’s short video message below I share how God walked me through a process of looking back with courage – so I could move forward with hope. He helped me identify things I didn’t even know were affecting me and gently led my heart on a journey towards freedom – showing me how to of let go of the pain from my yesterdays so I could live with confident hope in my todays… and tomorrows.
{Are you a note-taker? If so, I created “Video Message Notes” in a PDF format here or in a MSWord doc here, just for you. Even included key verses and blanks to fill in.} 🙂
Today’s Giveaway:
I’m giving away 3 Confident Heart gift packs for 3 of you. Each one includes a copy of my book, A Confident Heart {for you or a friend?}, my “Rest Assured” message on CD and a Starbucks gift card!
Let’s Connect {and how to enter today’s drawing}:
I’d love to hear how God speaks to you through today’s video message… and this is an easy way to enter today’s giveaway too. Just click “share your thoughts” right below this post and do just that. I’ll be here reading and praying over each of you and your stories. {Also, I know the timelines I encourage you to create might sound overwhelming or scary, so I recorded a little video message to talk/walk you through that process – If you’d like to hear more click here to watch it after you share your thoughts below.}
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Anna, I want to give testimony of how CHIFE OGWA brought back my divorce husband back to me,were married for 9 years then we break up, due to the fact that he never love me again.i have many felling for this my ex because we have gotten 2 kids together and i will want us to come back again. but all way i tried for us to come back all went in vain. i was confused and sad because i needed him back into my life, so i divided to contact CHIFE OGWA, i never believe in spell casting i just decide to make an effort and see if something can come out of it. i contacted them and they told me that they needed to cast return back of love to him, they did the spell and after 2 week my ex called that he still love me and wanted us to be together again,what surprise me most was that he was married to another woman, and after the spell casting he divorce the woman for me that same week. it was the spell i cast on him that brought him back again. we later got married again and now the kids are happy that their father is back to their mother again, i telly thank this CHIFE OGWA for bringing back my ex husband to me. i want you my fellow women who want back their divorce husband to contact CHIFE OGWA for his return, do not lose hope you can make this great step as i did then your ex husband will come back to you. and also your ex wife too okay, his email address id is [email protected], i want you to contact him and he will solve your problem for you and also he can do any kind of spell you want to cast
Hello Renee
this is the only way that was possible for me to contact you. your website is great, I will spend the whole day reading, in particular that it fit with the topic I am presenting on the 16th of June 2012 at 12pm EST. it is an educational, interactive and engaging teleseminar online, and I wanted to invite you to it. Unfortunately, this was the only way for me to reach you. My face book name is maggie.pimm, my fanpage is ‘unlock your potential’ and my webinar name is “confident you”
I’d really would love to have you with us at this webinar, it is free. If anybody else from your contacts would like to attend, feel free to register, it is FREE.
I look forward to hearing from you
maggie
Hi Renee,
Thanks for speaking to the hearts of so many women. I appreciate you sharing a piece of your past. It shows that we can pick up the pieces of our broken past and hurts. I too have had adultry and pornography in my marriage. It almost ruined my marriage. My husband came home but still struggles with his sinful choices and desires. He is a backslidden Christian who stopped going to church a decade ago.. I do want to feel loved again by my husband and have a confident heart and good self esteem. I am hurt from the past. Struggling with the present and fearful for the future. Jeremiah 29:11 reminds me that God has a plan and I should not worry and be afraid. God will work on my husbands heart and in his timing our future will be full of hope. Keep up the good work. You touch many womens hearts. Kelly
Very lovely. Thank you for sharing your story with us.
This was a difficult chapter for me as well. Not because I wanted to throw the book away but because I had a hard time reading through my tears. I had an abortion a few months ago from an extramarital affair and have yet to really deal with it. Thank you for your words of encouragement!
Hi, Renee Thank you for the encourageing video! Thank you for making me realize I need to let go of my past hurts if I’m ever going to enjoy the blessings God has for me! and the awsom plans he has for me! Thank you Renee you are so encourageng!
Again a powerful message! I can’t seem to let go of those past hurts, my desire for approval from others, my need for reassurance. I am going through this study for the 2nd time, this time on-line., I am praying that I can’ give God all of my hurts and pain and move past them, that my heart can heal. My husband is awsome, but doesn’t understand my past, he sure trys though! Thank you for a safe place to open up and be myself. I pray that all you you would pray for me as I pray for you for this healing to appear in my heart AND my head!
Thank you again for this study!
Ellen
Thank you Renee, for this video and for being so transparent – so that you can help other women who are going through trials and challenges of this life. We know that God promises to be with us, to never leave us, and that He does have a great plan for each of us, to give us “hope and a future”. Today you reminded me once again, to never doubt God…He always has our best interests at heart, and loves us more than we will ever know…
May He continue to bless you abundantly!
Thank you!
Susan G
This is the second time I’ve done this study so it’s the second time I’ve read chapter 4 and see this video. For me it hasn’t really gotten easier to ask God to show me my wounds so that He may heal them. I know it is what I need to do though. I will remember to stop in each situation and seek God’s perspective.
I just went to a seminar today about Inner Healing. God revealed to me some things, and I found some peace, but at the same time, unearthed some other things that have left me exhausted and trembling. I know I need to journal some of this, but I just can’t get myself to do it right now.
In the midst of the wake of this seminar, I get your email, urging me to watch your video post. I can only sigh at the thought of more processing and remembering, but I know it will have to happen in order to get more victory.
Thank you for your heart for helping women.
-R
I have always believed in God. I am just now beginning to delve into my faith in Him. I know I need Him to help me through each day. Your thoughts today hit home for me. My past is full of heartbreak. I do not want that to keep me from enjoying my future. I have many decisions to make and know He will help me make the correct ones. Thank you!
Thank you Renee for doing another study. This time deeper roots have been discovered that the Lord is helping me work through. I guess i will always be ‘a work in progress’ (even in my 70’s) going through the caverns of my heart to find those dark areas that the Lord wants to heal in me. I like reading the comments too as there are always different ways hurting women use to push forward, to never give up, to encourage, and scriptures the Lord uses that are unique to each one of His children.
Does anyone see a ministry here to reach the young girls around us to teach them how to avoid some of the pain we have suffered; to let them know they are loved, unconditionally loved, by our Lord, to show them there is a path that leads to victory, that life is about choices.
I too like Jeremiah 29:11-14 that i am planting deep into my soul.
Thanks again, Renee, for being faithful to your Lord and to yourself. Us women need your guidance.
I busted started this yesterday and have only read chapter 1, my book should be here on thursday and I am very excited to read all the chapters. Somehow God directed my to this website because I did not even know it existed. I do know that he wants to heal me and get me going in a forward direction again after all I’ve been thru.
Thanks for being here
I know the scriptures you refer to but after a long period of losses and sadness I wonder how God can restore hope ad happiness. I have two sons, the youngest lost his battle to brain cancer two years ago leavng behind a 4 year old son and a 6 year old daughter. My husbad, who always struggled with his relationshp with God, could not overcome this loss and turned to drinking. He was emotionally and verbally abusive when he drank and after many months I left and moved in with my,now only son, in another state. A few months ago he passed away from hypothermia, leaving me with guilt for leaving him.
My son, wih whom I live, and my daughter-in-law, are wonderful to me and I have the privledge of caring for my 3 year old Grandson. But there are days that I am consumed with grief, guilt and tears. I am close to my other Grandson and Grandaughter whom I love so very much.
I know the Lord’s ways are not our ways but some days hope is diminished, I try not to question why, but my losses it someitmes seems overhelming.
After listening to you today, I am trying to examine my past hurts ad losses and pray I can gain some peace and understanding.
I am thankful for Christian parents, my sons who love and loved the Lord, and my Grandchildren who do bring me great joy!
Renee,
I am truly loving your book, posts and study. So many things are surfacing for me while going through the study with you. Your video today was great and reminded me when I have asked God to reveal where I need healing in my life, he has revealed those things – gracefully and lovingly. Watching your story about your adopted daughter brought tears to my eyes because I was adopted (praise God) and I realized that I have never asked God to reveal my hurts around abandonment. I know these hurts effect my relationship with my husband. Thank you and I am on my knees now. I know God is good and will walk with me/carry me through this process.
Thank you!!
This is my thank you note to you Renee for writing this relevant and God inspired book. It crossed my computer just when I needed it (just turned 50, empty nester, no idea what my purpose was). I couldnt wait to take the study at the prescribed pace, had to keep reading and soaking it all up. I’ve learned some beautiful answers to the questions in my heart. I’m learning to combat Satan’s incessant lying with God’s constant and faithful promises to me. I’m learning to turn my prayers from lists to listening times. I am learning to turn my worries into worship by shifting my focus from “what if” to “what is” – looking for how God is working in my present situation and trusting He is involved in my future situations. I’ve learned that as members of the Body of Christ we are to complete each other, not compete with each other. I think the most powerful thing I took from your book is that my confidence needs to be in God alone, working out His purposes for my life. It cannot be confidence in myself or others – Him alone. In Him I find my value and my courage and my peace. I appreciated your personal email and advice on anxiety and depression issues. God has used you in mighty ways and I have already been used by Him in sharing things you have taught me with others who needed to hear it. Write some more!!!! Thank you.
I once again thank you for the inspiring words that so hit home. I am so in a broken place and to here your message of courage and hope today really helps. I have claimed Jeremiah 29:11 for a long time but never read past that. God used you today to reach me and I praise him so much for that.
Thanks for the encouraging words today. I struggle with God’s call on my life. He has given me a vision of being a speaker and author someday down the road, bur I constantly obsess over how I can get there. Right now he has called me to be a wife, mom, and homeschool my children, while I just write in my journals and blog almost as a hobby. This was encouraging to me as it gave me my daily reminder I need to not worry and to trust Him.
I have to admit that it was only 2 years ago that I truly discovered that I struggled with RAD based on all the research I did for a few months. Thanks to a dear friend & mentor I’ve begun that healing process, but it takes time to let go of all the hurt one experiences in their life. Through the grace of God I’ve been learning to surrender them over to Him & to receive the peace that He has to offer.
I think the Devil knows when we want to go deeper in our relationship for there’s always been obstacles in the past months every time I desired to take this study. Last time it was no book. This time it’s moving, school, work, & job hunting. I’ve found myself struggling to keep up with it, but I am not giving up this time.
God bless your ministry!
You are all so brave to share your stories, there are so many hurts that need to be healed. So often we look fine on the outside but underneath are buried all the hurts and emotional turmoil of our past. As I was cleaning my stove yesterday I noticed a parallel to my emotions. After polishing the top it looked shiny and perfect but as I bend down to view it from a horizontal view I could see a white film and I know that when this film is left the minute the burner is turned on that film turns to a yucky brown film.
That film parallels to our emotions. When the heat is turned up in our lives our outside facade quickly deteriorates leaving us with feelings of insecurity, self doubt and even anger at our circumstances. How do we get rid of that “film” (replaying of negative thoughts) forever?
By daily bringing it to the foot of the cross and “humbling ourselves and casting our cares upon him who loves us.” He is the only one who can put on the final “polish” and take us from whining (despairing about our circumstances) to “shining” through the light of his Glory.
Praying for you all in light of your circumstances.
Thank you for your words Lynn
I love how you were able to see the paralel of stove top to our emotions!!
A dear friend reminded me this week of doing every thing onto the Lord, even cleaning! See how he can use us and enlighten us while doing housework!!!! Awesome
And thank you for the reminder of bringing ourselves to the foot of the cross daily!
What an awesome study community this is – PRAISE GOD!
Thanks also to Renee for letting HIM use her to minister to us
Blessings
Karen
Just like you said, the Holy Spirit did bring to mind something from my past that is affecting my todays. Now, I know what I am struggling with. Thank you.
The Lord is is using you to help heal and restore his children. Thank you. Reading and listening to this
today was God. I know and love God with all my heart but have been going through a hard time lately. I’ve beeen dealing with loss of family members, health issues, and severe PTSD .I’m hoping to be abe able to get your book and join study thank you again.
Thank you for sharing with us. The pain of disapppointments from the past have led me to do things my way instead of letting go and let God. thank you that i recognised that God a has plan to prosper me and not to harm me. the plans to give me hope. Lord i am searching you with all my heart, i surrender all my disappointments to you.
Thank you for this message. I get stuck in my past so often, not really being encouraged as I grew up, not believing I could do anything great. Pray for me that I can break free from past failures to have the future God wants me to have. Thanks
One of my favorite verse is Jeremiah 29:11. Powerful video message. I’ve got to learn how to let go of the pain of my past. I’m glad that he has plans for my future. I am going through a healing process of being let down by a pastor and having to get used to a new pastor. So needed this study.
Thanks for a great reminder! Just went through a painful divorce last year, in the healing stage. A great reminder.
Thank you for sharing this encouraging words through your video. It really blesses me and my heart.
The hope I have is only found in Jesus. The healing and redemption from my past is only thrught the Truth of God’s word when I let Him speak to me.
Today I pray that God will continue speaking to me and that His power enable me to seek Him rvery moment.
Thank you amd God bless you!
WOW! I was looking on Renee’s own website and found an awesome free download Praying for My Husband from Head to Toe…IT was just what the “Doctor” (Jesus) ordered as to how to pray, because there have been some hurts in my heart and this is just what I needed to read. Goes along with a lot of others comments too.
I printed that prayer and gave to my husband for Valentines Day. He said it meant more than all the cards I could have purchased. When we are praying positive statements, we don’t have time to dwell on the negative. Marriage isn’t the easiest relationship. We been married 27 yrs. I was twice widowed with 5 children from the 1st marriage. I wondered why God sent such a good christian man to me. I (we) are so blessed to have Christ in our marriage.
Thanks for the encouragement, I love the Jer. 29:11 promise, and I loved focusing on the promise that comes after….that He will listen to us, that He will be found by us, and that He will set us free! So amazing. This weeks study is really opening my eyes to seek Him moment by moment, turning everything over to Him. One of the things in my past, that I have put on my timeline is losing my hearing at 6 years old, from meningitis. Growing up, I was very bitter, jealous, and asked “why?”. I struggled feeling that I belonged…..I have a cochlear implant that allows me to hear, but it is not perfect, and I didn’t fit in with the deaf world either, because of my implant. I was depressed most of thru college. Thankfully, that all changed when I found God after college.
Your Prov 31 message today was just what I needed – going thru a challenging time with my soon to be 5 year old daughter,….and I know I need to be “full of grace” all the time, so often I am not. It is so helpful to know I’m not the only one out there!!!!!!! And helps me to be focused, and prayerful to change, realizing I am still going to mess up from time to time, and thankful for His grace the !!!
Jackie,
I so identify with you. I started losing my hearing probally when i was around 5. My hearing loss is now severe to profound.
I had a difficult childhood with the hearing loss and other issues-i always felt different than the other kids. I wear hearing aids.
God has shown me few things about my past. I’ve always had a bit of hope and faith. Just wanted to let you know-i relate to having a hearing loss starting so young
Great message!!! I really needed it. Thank you for all you do for us through your ministry.
Boy God must really want me to look at my past… I am taking a leadership class at church and one of the things the teacher wanted us to do is to make a time line of our past to present. There has been alot of hurt. When i was very young my parents divorced too but I was determine not to let my kids go through what I did. I love my husband. We have been married for 27 yrs. Not only the hurt from the divorce but also from family members passing away. With every child I had a death in our family. Yes it is a process to look back and see all that God has brought me through it is a joy to know that God has always been in control of my life even through the hurts. Thanks for your words of encouragement.
Thank you, Renee, for reminding me that it’s a process as we heal from our hurts. Every once in a while something I thought I had dealt with creeps its ugly head, and the hurts feel like they just happened, but each time Jesus is there as my Comforter as I look to Him.
As a side note, so many of our verses add that line “as I trust in Him.” It’s an important reminder that we have to place our trust in Him and that it is a choice.
wow this messege really spoke to me i have a hard time dealing with my pain from my past i dont want to go through counsling i went through counsling since childhood i would have to say i have tried to pray away the pain as you mentioned in the video . ive taken many support classes but quit them cause the pain was to hard to deal with
Renee,
My mom forwarded an email to me with a link to your page. Thank you for doing what you do. Your video message was exactly what I needed to hear today. I too have a past filled with failed relationships, drug addiction, health issues, anger and resentment. I turned away from God for many years because I was so hurt and angry & felt like He wasn’t answering – much less listening to my prayers. Now I know that wasn’t the case- God was actually softening my heart and leading me back to Him. This year I was led to a church where I fit & have joined a weekly Bible study group. At 33, I’ve gone back to school and am preparing myself to hopefully become a nurse, wife & mother. I’m single, and health issues will prevent me from physically having a child, but I have hope that God will lead me to the right man and we can adopt children. Thank you for your words of hope and inspiration- I’m looking forward to reading your book!
God spoke to me through your message and through chapter four Renee by revealing to me that I was still hurting and wanting that fairytale marriage, just as happened in your marriage ten years ago. My parents divorced when I was five. One day we were at my mom’s parents house, my grandparents, where as a kid I had sleepovers quite a bit. On this day though things would change in my life forever. My mom called me privately into the guest bedroom at my grandparent’s home, and told me that she and daddy were getting a divorce, and that although they loved my baby sister and me, they didn’t love each other anymore. She then told me that we wouldn’t ever be going back to the house I grew up in, or my school. I didn’t get to say good-bye to anyone, or my old house. Everything had been moved up to my grandparents house, where we would all now be living. I remember feeling as if the room was spinning, and then I ran from the room and threw up in the restroom. Not too long after that we moved again, this time out of state, and I didn’t want to move then either. However once we got there and settled in with my aunt, I didn’t want to leave, but just short of a year later we moved back to my grandparent’s home. And a few years after that to another new town when my mom remarried, and then three months later divorced (the man had mental issues and had decided he didn’t like having children in his life). So we were back again at my grandparents until I was twelve, and then she married my step-dad, who was very good to us, and I loved. It seemed life had settled down, I was starting to relax into a regular, settled life. Then, sadly, my grandparents lost their home, and they moved in with us. The three bedroom, two bath house was crowded, and the adults all argued constantly for space, and about who exactly was raising my sister and me. So once again life became unstable.
My desire for stability led me to move out of state with my now husband after only knowing him a short time. I had desire for him, and he made me feel safe when I stayed at his home, so moving away with him seemed like I would finally have stability. Well, it was a horrible solution. We fought all the time, I threatened to leave multiple times, and although we really cared about each other it was very hard, and I hated the feeling of living together. I felt dirty and sinful. I wasn’t raised to think that way, in fact quite the opposite. However after attending church as a teen I learned a different way of living, and had just come back to the Lord after experimenting with new ageism, when I met and moved away from home with my now husband. After a few years we got married, and I had come to love my husband. After taking a deep look at our marriage last year in therapy it came to me that I had lust for my husband, wanted him to be my everything, but before we married, I didn’t love him yet. I had used him to escape, and to fill myself up with all of the affection, and love he gave me. I felt horrible. I never consciously thought if it that way, but looking back, it was true 🙁 Our marriage was great for years, but after having a child I focused on our child, and made raising our child my everything. My child was now my fill up. I saw that just recently while reading Renee’s book. Now after looking back on everything, I am seeing all of the places I looked for filling up, and in my time line of life, where my need for those fill ups happened.
Just before reading this book my husband and I saw Fireproof, and we made a commitment through the Lord to stay in our marriage, no matter what. I am fighting for my marriage, looking to let God fill me up, and not expecting my husband to do it all, or my daughter. God is the only one who can do it, and it isn’t fair to expect anyone else to do that. I also learned that I was looking for friends who would be my fill up, and it was just too much pressure on them. I think that most people could feel that needy quality in me, and it scared them away, or I got the people who exploited my needy, fill up needs, and used me to fill themselves up. Either way it wasn’t healthy, and I am seeing that now. From now on I will pray daily for God to be my fill up, no one else, and I have learned I have to be very aware of it daily. I can easily revert to looking to others to fill me up, and I don’t want to go there again! I think all of the relationships in my life will improve now, slowly, but they will. I am learning more than I ever thought I could through a Bible study. I know God brought me here, and to this knowledge, and I will be praying He will continue the work He has started in me, and that I can help others with the knowledge I am gaining too. Although all of this is very hard work, and I stumble, I look forward to learning more with each chapter. Thank you for this book and God’s work in you as you minister to us all. And thank you to all of the ladies on here you share their stories, and encourage, and pray for me. God bless you all!
Thank you for this book , right now I ask for prayer’s, chapter 4 is a struggle for me, because they tell me I have .P.T.S. so remembering is a real struggle for me. I know I am going through this study for a reason. I’m sure thing will become clear with Gods help.
Thanks for your prayers.
Susie I will be praying for you. I don’t have P.T.S, but I have anxiety/panic disorder, in addition to my depression, so I know some of the feelings you go through 🙁 I know how much it hurts, and how much of a struggle it is, how it affects everything in your life. I know I don’t have the same triggers, as your disorder was caused by a traumatic event, and mine, well, I think it was as a result of stress, and of a childhood that wasn’t stable. However, we both suffer :(. I have for had my anxiety for more years than I care to say, and depression for almost ten years, but with the help of therapy, medication (again please ladies, no comments on the issue of medication or therapy and please. It is hurtful to me some of the things I have heard from others in the Christian arena on the issue. Thanks for understanding everyone!), and now Renee’s book and God’s help, I am slowly starting to understand more. I have even seen an improvement in my depression! So I have faith you will see some results too. (((HUGS)))
Hi Renee, I pickedup my book again and am happy I didn’t quit like I wanted to two days ago. Your video and encouragment were spot on. Pages 74-79 were just what I was ready to understand with God’s help. Growing up without a father led me to self sufficiency and I was always very proud that I could do things on my own. I can’t identify when it started but I will. I’m 62. By the grace of God I became a christian Oct 13,2003…my husband walked the aisle two months later. I started going to Celebrate Recovery a few months later and began to see that my self sufficiently was stopping me from relying on God. I can see how doing a timeline will help. Like you said, I can do it a little at a time. I’m working on not being perfect and doing everything right. I know there is still a lot of processing to do but that’s ok now. I’ll let God take the lead and do it in His time. I think God led me to this study to help me on my journey to become closer to Him…….He is the Father to the fatherless.