Oh how I am LOVING reading so much about each of you. Gosh I wish we could all meet!! What an amazing group of women of all ages and from all places God has gathered here in HIS name! Makes me just about burst with joy! And now, I’m so glad today is here. Some days my written words come easily. Other days I just have to show and tell you what’s on my heart. Today is one of those days.
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Thanks Rene – reading Chapter 3 really resonated in heart, but watching the video really helped. I need to ask GOD to show me what is taking up space in my heart instead of me just telling GOD, because I can truly miss items. Thank you
Thanks Renee! This is a great visual reminder of this concept. It’s a great reminder that we should be filled by God alone.
Great reminder for me.
PS—–I wished you lived next door !! or at least within driving distance. I sometimes hear a pity party calling—–& it’s hard to resist the devil. I retaliate by turning my praise music up on the radio.
I’ a LITTLE behind with the lessons, So I’m just now on this lesson & it’s probably to late to enter on this give-a-way, BUT I still want to thank you Renee. You have brought so much insight into my life. My life is so empty now & lonely, I’m trying to on purpose not fill it with other things. Gradually the Lord is filling it with Himself, if I just be patient & stay faithful. I know from experience that other fillers are fake.
I loved the visual of the jar and thank you for the video this week. The older I become the more I realize that God fills my empty spaces much more completely than people, places and possessions ever could. I wish I could have know this earlier in life yet I am a work in progress.
Very beautiful depiction of the difference between how the world fills us and how Jesus fills us:). I think I might do this for my middle school Sunday school class! 🙂
First of all thank you so much for allowing God to work through you to write such a wonderful book. I loved your illustration on how we use eartly things to fill us and what a conviction that was for me as I have been going through a really hard time recently, I have been sick for about 8 yrs with auto immune issues and that has been hard but I always knew that God had a plan for my life and that He would use it somehow in my life, but recently my kids (16 & 13) have been turning on me and turning to their dad whom i’m married to. Problem is that we don’t stand united with them. He has not always been there for them, I am the one who has done everything for them and my youngest is just rude to me and says that i’m just sensitive but she loves her dad. But even through all that I have realized that I have relyed on my family to fill my jar for the love that I was looking for. Even though I read my bible and pray I don’t know how to depend on God i guess the way I a suppose to. I never really had an earthly father, my real dad left when I was little, when i was first born he was mad that I was a girl and whe he came to visit he would ask for just my sister so he didn’t come around much. Then I was molested by my grandfather and my stepfather. I have gone through forgiveness however going through this study I have realized that I have been holding onto self doubt for a long time. Its funny I did this study for my 16 yr old daughter who has been bullied and realized that it is helping me. I’m sorry that I am probably rambling but I feel like I can share without being critisized. Anyway, thank you again for this study and sharing gods word you have been a true blessing and it is great reading what others have written to know that we are not alone.
God bless
Nikki,
I too have had difficulty at times with my husband and children being “nice” to me. I know that sometimes I am overly sensitive also. Put those two things together and it can crush the happiness of being a wife and mother.
Unfortunately, moms tend to be the dumping ground for frustrations. You mentioned that you don’t know how to depend on God’s love. Something I do when a family member is being rude…I either leave the room or stand up for myself and say “I don’t like to be yelled at” and then leave the room. Then I spend a few minutes by myself, to pray and read a few verses or sing a hymn to reconnect to God’s love for me personally. When this happens, the sadness and hurt feelings go away. Then he puts joy and forgiveness in my heart. That’s how I have learned to depend upon God when I hurt…run to Him and tell Him how you feel and ask Him to change the way you feel, then start reading His words.
I admire and applaud you for choosing to forgive. In order to be able to forgive you must know more than you think you do about depending upon God.
Maybe your children are needing their father’s love and at the same time may be taking yours for granted.
Remember they love you and will someday honor you for all the things you have done for them.
Charlene,
Thank you so much for your encourgement. I appreciate it. Thank you for the example on how to depend on Gods love, I will try and use that.
You are probably right about my girls needing their dads love, they have probably been missing that and desiring that for quite some time so the fact that he is paying attention to them, they are eating that up, and I love that he is doing that I just don’t understand why we can’t just be a family and do that why it has to be him and them or me and them.
I know that they love me and just hope that someday they will remember the things that I have done for them when they are older.
Thank you again you have encouraged me more then you know.
God bless.
Nikki
Loved this message and analogy of God’s love – great reminder to hold on to….
thank you for the beautiful visual of such a simple truth. Yet I forget to do just that over and over again.
Wow! Thank you for the wonderful demonstration. Seeing this reminds me that it doesn’t matter how much we fill our jars up, if we spend time filling it with the wrong things then it’s never really full. It also reminded me how often I’ve done this as well.
I need to focus on the Giver and not the gift! I also need for God to show me what is I continually look for. I know all I need is in Him (my head); now my heart needs to know the same.
Wow! I just watched this video. It is so true! I need Him to show me what his plan is for me. I have tried so hard to achieve my dream of being an RN but hit roadblock and failure over and over. In June, I am trying one last time and if I don’t pass this time; I know that I need to find another calling. I need to quit looking for others to fulfil me and know that HIS LOVE does. Thank you so much for this study. It is incredible!!
Renee, thank you for this reminder. Several years ago, God showed me that I was seeking the gifts far more than I was seeking the Giver. I made it my prayer that I would want God more than what He could give me. That worked for awhile. I had some difficult, yet precious years, where he brought me through some hard times with joy and passion for Him. Not sure how that changed. But, I realize how empty my life it now. I was caught up in seeking fulfillment through my marriage and family and even health. My marriage ended, my kids grew up and left home, I lost my health…and I’m empty. I’ve only just begun seeking Him with more passion and giving Him the priority He deserves. I’m so far from arriving in this area. But, it is good to see progress. I NEED Him. I NEED to experience His grace, love and healing. So thankful for this study!
I could not play the video at all since it would not load. bumbed. But I look foward gleaning some of the lesson from the other comments.
If I’m honest with myself, I’m filling in those places and I need to pull back and just come into quiet time with God and just ask him to fill me up because He already wants what’s best for me and has an amazing plan that’s for me and my family! So I’m not losing ANYTHING, just gaining my heavenly Father’s security and love and joy and then so much more than the other ‘stuff’ would ever.
So true! 🙂 Well said! If we let Him fill us, it is more fulfilling then any amount of stuff we could ever have.
Thank you for the video message. It made me think about my life and what I am filling my heart with…..I have been working at a job that I hate for 6 years. I truly don’t understand why the Lord has put me here in this place. I struggle with it daily….My prayer is that I will let the Lord fill the void of my job and that I would be a light to those around me.
Thanks for sharing what a awesome reminder. Only God can fill the void in our lives.
Thank-you for a great reminder!
I really love this video, the illustration, the message which GOD want to shows us personally…It really remind me again of his unfailing love. I have been experienced this 10years ago (when i still in high school) when he spoke personally to me said that even i never feel my earthly father’s love(because im from a broken family, my father and mother was divorced since i was 5yrs old) but JESUS really love me and his love is enough for me. I really touched again by this message today…GOD LOVE is just enough for everyone of us..thank you for sharing this video 🙂 GOD BLESS
I loved the visual demonstration of the empty places in our lives. This chapter on significance in Christ alone has been very powerful for me. I am newly retired from teaching, and while I am enjoying my free time so much with my family, I have come to realize how much significance I drew from my job and in being a financial contributor to our household. This study has really helped me see the power of praying scripture. I love the “When…..then” examples in the chapter.
I also love reading all the responses of the women. It’s wonderful to see healing take place as women share their suffering and how they are OVERCOMING! Yes Lord!
You are so right I struggle with trying to fill my life with everything but God himself and I like how you open my eyes to see what I need to see. Thankyou again!!
Love that illustrated message. This is so true. It took me a while to realize this truth and sometimes I forget and have to be humbled. I remember pursuing education and a position to define me. When I came to the end of myself, I cried out to the Lord. He as lone filled me and knew what I was created for.This h as s taken me ona long journey of discovering who I am in Him, His Word and His vision for my life. As, I have drawn closer to Him, he has shown me His vision for me that is much bigger than me. It stirs my heart. As Mother Teresa said she could do nothing without God and is an instrument in His hands, so I must become. God defines me he created me sand knows more about me than I know about myself. Thank you, so much Renee, for allowing God to use you. When God fills us, WOW!!!! That is about all I can say is, WOW!!!!
Debi. I live in Georgia. Love Hiking. I am being blessed by the encouragement a Confident Heart is providing to help me live victoriously in Christ and be filled.
Alma I am so sorry my keyboard froze on me. You are truly blessed with your children. I have no children of my own. Sometimes having a man in our lives brings more trouble. I believe God will provide for you as you try to keep your focus off wanting that relationship. Easy for me to say and so hard to do and apply to our lives but God keeps giving us all we need to press on. I need to trust the Lord more and I have serious trust issues with everyone. God bless. Renee thank you for this class I hope and pray I can apply all the help you are providing for me in my life through this book and your guidance.
Thank you for your kind words Angie!
Alma I know its hard to be alone and we all need someone to share our love with and need someone to love us. And to do the things for us that sometimes require husbands to do but in your prayers ask God to help you to see His Great love for you and you have chi
I so relate to being saved but not feeling satisfied. I wondered if something was truly wrong with me and if God hears my prayers. I don’t feel like I can do anything right and I’m often having a pity party because of what I don’t have and can’t do. I’m in school now and I sometimes feel inadequate compared to other. I think that’s my problem, I’m always comparing myself to others and then I feel worthless. I don’t feel like I can talk to anyone about it but I can encourage other to victory. I am thankful for this study session and for Renee for inviting us to share.
I am struggling with the thought the God’s love is enough. Even though I know in my head he loves me unconditionally, it doesn’t seem to be a comfort to me when I feel rejected or not thought of by friends. God made us to need to be in community with people. I guess it’s the priority that we place on the people that’s the issue. That’s what I’m trying to take to heart…that friends and even all the other things Renee put in that jar are important, but we shouldn’t look to those things to fill us. All those things will disappoint, but God is faithful.
I am very thankful for this book. I just want to cry and thank him for using this book to open my eyes.
I have been living in self-pity for a while now. I was married for 14 to an abusive and controlling man. We have 3 boys together. I am 37 years old. I have now been divorced for 3 years. I did not date anyone for 2 years. I finally met this man who I thought was a God sent and wonderful. He was very good to me and treated me good. He made me feel loved when he was with me. Then after one year of dating he told me that he wanted to end the realtionship because it had already been a year and he had not fallen in love with me. I have been seeking God like never before. I cried out to him and told him I was tired of getting hurt and people using me. I felt used and betrayed by this man. I did not understand how after a year of spending every weekend together he could just end it. There are still a lot of things that I do not understand and I question God. Reading this book has opened my eyes. Jesus is the only one who could bring joy to my soul and he is the only one who could satisfy my soul.
I was longing to have someone in my life that would care for me and take care of me. I still have that feeling but it is not as it used to be thanks to this book. I just long to have a man in my llife that will take care of me, be there for me, and protect me. I just want to feel loved. Todays message has shown me that Jesus is the only one who can satisy the loneliness in my heart.
Thank you for praying for me.
Alma,
I have felt that same way almost all my life. I am 55 and never knew my father and didn’t live with my mother until I was 13. I have felt like I was never wanted as well as unloved and unlovable. I too have been praying for a man just to fill me and fulfill me. With this study session, I am learning that I need to draw closer to God more than I need anything else. So don’t feel like you’re alone. You’re not.
Thanks Victoria! This book is teaching me so much about depending on God and knowing that he is the only one that will ever be able to satisy me wholly.
Hello thank you so much for the video. I long and keep asking Jesus to give me a heart to love Him like Mary Magdalene did. I need that confidence to believe that Jesus hears me and love me even when I disappoint Him. And that He will answer my prayers especially in regards to my fears. I do look to get the a pproval of people only to realize not everyone will like me and I can’t please everyone. I am so blessed for everyone hereand all the pprayers lifted up on everyone’s behalf. I don’t feel so bad cuz I know I am not alone. I live in Pennsylvania just moved here and it has it challenges since I m not good with directions and finding new places fearful of getting lost taking the wrong exit going down a one way street ect. I pray for all the ladies here for Gods love mercy and favor and for Him to keep showing and teaching us His ways and to believe Him. Lots of love.
I have been playing catch up…I am so excited and ready to break the chains that keep binding me. I have a hard time leaving the past in the past and I worry about everything. I want more confidence with it comes the ability to spread his word to more people..if each of us that has joined this group would talk to one or two people what an amazing testimonial you would have. Praise God for you and your ability to spread the word. I look forward to the next several weeks. Thank you for spending your time to help others.
Thank you so much for the encouraging video and more so, for doing this study online. I heard you on the Encouragement Cafe last week and ordered your book right away.. I was delighted to find out you were offering a study on this very book, right now! I LOVE God’s timing!!!! I look forward to the encouragement in this book and through this study!!
I have no idea what I’m doing here. I’m way over my head. I have no idea how to do any of this…
Melinda,
I felt the same way too but I am slowly learning that it’s okay to feel that way. Just ask God to lead you and you will start to see/feel a change and also some peace in your life. Just let go and let God take over.
I am going to do it!!! Thank you so much! Breathing…letting to…
letting go… lol
Thank you for making the video. It is wonderful that the God of the universe is willing and able to fully fill us. It must break his heart when I fill up with other things
A powerful message in the video. I have a hard time expressing my feelings and I hope that you will be able to understand what I am saying. I have questioned many why was I even born and then have tried to fill my life with things that I thought would bring happiness. And then I would try to fill the emptiness with work and other than getting totally exhausted I found that it too failed to meet my needs. My family I grew up with live on the east coast and I live in the mid west and so I don’t get a chance to visit them like I would like. This week the Lord has been reminding me of a time of learning and how I was starting to grow. I just want to continue to grow in the Lord and have Him fill the empty places in my life and to guide me in all that I should be doing. I know that He loves me and yet I feel so unworthy of that love sometimes. Didn’t have a very good childhood as I always felt like I wasn’t good enough. Thank you Renee for taking the time to teach us and to help us with what God has shown you.
Hi Renee,
I love the jar and water illustration. Jesus is our living water. Like the Samaritan woman, I need to be honest with several things going on in my life and my heart that only God can heal.
Thank You
I am in a season of loss. Both of my daughters/grand kids have moved away with husbands for new jobs in ministry. My Dad passed away and just a couple of weeks ago my best friend died of a short battle with cancer. Sorrow upon sorrow as I adjust to a new normal ………..but learning truly He is the One who fills my life….”.Satisfy me in the morning with your unfailing love ! ” I have been mediating on this verse this week….and it is now on bathroom mirror and chalkboard in great room. Constant reminder to look to Him for the holes in my heart where people once occupied. Thanks for the video !
I love this example. Far to often than I’d like to admit, I have filled my jar with “stuff” to fill the void in my life. I’ve noticed that it’s not just stuff like people or positions etc. A lot of times it’s feelings that fill my jar. Fear, anxiety, worry, frustration, anger, etc. I’m so glad that God is loving and understanding and PATIENT. It’s not easy to let go of all of the “stuff”. We cling to it because it gives us a sense of security and control….but it’s a false sense of security and it’s a lack of control…self-control. We gobble up anything and everything that gives us that sense of “security” & “control” and when it doesn’t fulfill our needs we look for something else. I was thinking of the jar filled with stuff. I was imagining that God was pouring Himself into that full jar and all the “stuff” floated to the top and spilled out. He took the place of all the stuff and completely filled the jar with His unconditional love. We can see the stuff but we are so filled with His love that we don’t have to let it back in. He has quenched our thirst.
I really enjoyed the video message. Actually seeing the things going into the jar provided such a wonderful visual for how we look for fulfillment in everything else first when Christ is the foundation and everything builds from there. It is my desire to become confident in Christ and to find my value in Him.
Thank you for today’s video. It is just what I needed to hear today, as I am feeling a bit rejected by important people in my life. First and foremost, I need to look to God to fill me completely. He must be my all in all. He must be more than enough. I prayed and asked Him to fill me with all that I need, and I know He will help me be confident in Him alone, not relying on others to affirm me. Thank you, Jesus.
Reading through these comments I am just overwhelmed. I pray for each of the ladies participating in this study that God would move in your lives in a mighty way. May He be the only thing we choose to fill our lives with because that is the only way we will be fulfilled. Thank you for this wonderful video, Renee. You are touching and changing countless lives as God is working through you. Continuing to keep you in my prayers as well.
Great video! Great message! Great encourager! Keep up the great work for the Lord! 🙂
Unfailing love… Only available to us from God…. But truly available to us from God. It takes us so long to figure out that only He can fill those places. I am still salvoring the connection of the verses in John about eternal life and what that means. I want to “get it” to my last cell.
Great video. I yearn to be to the place where I am completely fill with Jesus. I am still at the stage where I am trying to fill my jar. Thank you for the reminder.
What a great video! When I moved from the UK to the US 10 years ago, I gave up the familiarity of everything I knew, my home, my work, my friends, my church, and most of all my family. I married my true love but he became so much more than that as I felt alienated from all of the other things and had to “start again” on a new continent creating the same things here. I think I put my husband before ANYTHING in my life because I needed him so much and he was willing to be what I needed so that made it easier. I always knew the Lord and that He would never leave me, but personal issues between me and God made me alienate him also. I have since realized that HE is the one true love that will NEVER let me down and be EVERYTHING that I need, I am learning to put my husband back in the “safe box” and allow the Lord to be the one who fills my jar. Of course now I have the other things too that I had once left behind, but what a great reminder in this video that Jesus STILL must be the one to fill my jar and not make the mistake of putting him in the box and other things in the jar.
Renee, that was a powerful illustration. At first I thought “Oh, I’ve seen this before ” but then I guess the Holy Spirit began to break through my jadedness. I was thinking about all the remaining empty space and thought you would fill it with water to fill in the gaps. Then you emptied the jar! It struck me that God doesn’t want to just fill in the gaps, He wants to fill the total emptiness and have all the “stuff” be blessings and things that we hang on to loosely – they aren’t our identity. Now if I can relinquish control and trust and allow God to make this a reality in my life. : )
Great message. So true, we look way to much on buying material things that only bring us temporary comfort. I’m learning everyday, it’s just stuff and I don’t need it and it will not make me happy or whole. Thanking God everyday for what I have and not what I have, cuz what I have is him in my life.
Love it! God is sharing with me that if my heart is full with anxiety, fear, sadness that there is no room for Him to fill it with joy, love, happiness. I am now searching my heart because I know I am full of worry, fear and anxiety since I lost my job of 15 years. My job meant so much to me. I become more than I ever thought and made more money than I could ever believe. now it is gone. I have often asked why He took it away from me. After all, He gave it to me. I believe He took it away so that I can be where I am today. Married, with children, supporting my husband and kids and yet, He is still giving me a voice, still allowing me to build a business. It is a slow process. I am scared, worried, full of doubt; however, I realize that I must let all of that go so that He can continue in me the work He started. Wow. I am amazed by His love, His timing, His everything. Patricia
I really enjoyed this chapter very much. “A confident heart is found in a woman who knows beyond the shadow of a doubt that she is loved no matter what. Lasting security comes when we bring the empty well of our hearts to Jesus and ask Him to fill and fulfill us with the security of His unfailing love.” This is an awesome statement and one that can be very difficult for those that have been touched by some sort of abuse in their lives. Always seeking that unfailing love in so many different places. So very sad but they have to know that God’s unconditional love is all that we need. It does not come easily but God waits patiently for us to say enough is enough and seek Him in every aspect of our lives. Through His unconditional love we to can love unconditionally and find peace and comfort in that. Thank you Renee for laying your life out so that others may see and know His unfailing love. God has asked me to write a book called “Unconditional Love Hurts” I am anxious to see where it leads.
I am enjoying the book very much & it has a great message. This may be a little off topic but today I am really struggling with my husband/best friend & soulmate working 7000 miles away in Afghanistan. He has been away almost 5 YEARS & the last 3 weeks I have been so down & in tears because of our separation. I have read, prayed, cried & talked to God over & over about how we are to work on our marriage this far apart. To come home requires a local job & there isn’t much good news on that. And of course he needs to find something in his job skill. I don’t work, have no small kids & the days, weeks & months drag by while I wait to see him again. We see each other every 6 months. SO we are together 60 days a year & apart 305 & it’s killing me. I feel like I have no one to talk to who can begin to understand the pain. I know God has the solution & it will happen in his time, but being a normal female with emotions I find it hard to cope lately. I hear women complain if their spouse is away for a weekend. I think Oh you have no idea. I find myself staying home, & avoiding people who can only say Oh that must be hard, or I bet he will be home soon. Two years ago wasn’t soon enough. When asked at church how am I – I am faking a smile to say Oh I’m fine while fighting back the tears. I pray yet feel like God has my calls on hold. It’s like I am a broken record with my prayers. I pray my hearts desire & ask for comfort & strength & I STILL feel empty inside. Maybe someone has some advice.
I can’t begin to imagine what you are going though, so I don’t really have advice, but please know that I am praying for you and wishing you the best.