Some days my written words come easily. Other days I need to show and tell you what’s on my heart. Today is one of those days.
Please {like pretty please even if you don’t normally watch video posts} click the arrow below to “hear” today’s message from my heart to yours. I don’t want another day to go by without you knowing this…
{Are you a note-taker? If so, I created “Video Message Notes” in a PDF and in MSWord just for you. Even included blanks to fill in. 🙂
Today’s Giveaway:
Two friends of mine who serve behind the scenes and are part of our online study, [thank you Donna & Veronica] have donated copies of my book to giveaway today. Together we created 5 gift packs for 5 of you. Each one includes a copy of my book, A Confident Heart {for you or a friend?} and my testimony/teaching message on CD, Letting God Fill My Empty Places.
Let’s Connect {and how to enter today’s drawing}:
I’d love to hear your thoughts about today’s 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 – share your thoughts. {I love to read them! And pray over you when I do.} I’ll be there reading and sharing my heart with you too.
For More Daily Encouragement join my Confident Heart Facebook page.
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Wow, this was so on point for me today. Just this morning during my devotion time, I began to cry to the point of no return. I could not understand why I could not stop crying. Finally it hit me that I was not allowing God to be my everything and my “everything” was falling apart right before my eyes. The more I cried, the more I realized how much I need my Father and the more empty I felt. I wanted to run away, but where? I can’t get away from the empty feeling. For a minute, I thought I was loosing my mind, but what I was really loosing was the illusion that I was in control of my life.
Thank you for this message. I have been leading a young women’s bible study and this really fits in with our lesson! I know that if I keep hearing the same message from multiple places, God is speaking to me. I know I need to apply this to my life.
Thank you for this wonderful reminder! I have always struggled with confidence….I have never had a lot of confidence, and I long to understand in my heart what it feels like when you define yourself through God and not through others. I have always understood in my mind that was what I should be working towards, but it is difficult to understand how that actually works! That is a great example of just how true it is that I am looking for something, but I don’t know exactly what it is. I long to be more confident and teach my future children the same. Many times, I feel it is insulting to God that I don’t have more confidence in myself, His creation. I am sure that is hurtful to Him! I don’t want that at all. Thank you for sharing this message…it is a wonderful starting point for me.
Great message. God has been showing me this very thing. He is all we need; not all the “stuff”, etc. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for graphically showing how I place importance on the gifts rather than the giver of gifts!
Karen and Dallena,
Thank you for your kind words. It’s good to hear from people who share the same experience! I feel less alone in this growth process. I am so glad we are all in this together, and can listen to each other, and learn so much. I know I have learned a wealth of information from so many wonderful people here, and felt their support too! Thanks Karen and Dallena, and thanks for your prayers Dallena! I will be praying for you, and all of the ladies here as well 🙂
Thank you so much for sharing your wisdom. I enjoyed the jar full of water and the realization that “there are no empty places” when we put God first. Thankfully, He’s all we need.
This is such a hard one for me. I try and try and try to let God be enough and I really struggle with it, especially on days when I am feeling alone and lonely. Thank you for sharing this, I really appreciate the words, they are an encouragement to me.
I have used this demonstration with my children and with some friends who were searching, since I saw it the first time we went through the book. It is wonderful and the visual of the emptiness that still remains after we fill and fill and fill with all of life’s “stuff” is great! Thank you, again, for sharing!
I love your messages Renee!
I have been struggling with this very thing! Looking to be filled in all the wrong faces and places. Such a timely message from God that He wants me to realize that He is enough, and ALL I need. Thank you for sharing this with us and thanks for the chance to win your book, I would love to have the chance to read and share it with my girlfriends!
This makes so much sense Renee; thanks for reminding us all since it’s so easy to get caught up in trying to fill our emptiness with material possessions or people in our lives.
I’m so thankful for this Bible Study right now. God always leads me to the right thing at the right time. Thanks for your words and illustrations of encouragement. God bless. Here’s me cup, Lord. Fill it up, Lord…with unconditional love. 🙂
I love it, Renee! This is my second time through your book (and your study) and I can’t get enough of this message. Reading your story about everything you looked to for fulfillment is like reading my own story. I thank God that He lead me to your book, and thank Him that He has set me free! I am a new creation now that I have learned to stand on his promises and believe what He says.
wow…that is so me. I’ve tried to fill my jar with everything you just mentioned…and yet I continue to feel like “I’m missing something”!! For years I have said “if I get one more degree” or “if I get this promotion” or “if my husband would just…”, THEN I’d have IT (whatever IT was)! I see now that IT is NOT those things!! I am currently reading this chapter in the book…I stopped part way through last night & closed my eyes & prayed that God would help me see what I have been trying to fill my life with and that I would place those things/people back in their rightful position & seek after God wholeheartedly to fill me. As I was praying I must have fallen asleep. I had the most beautiful dream last night of someone (who must have been Christ) saying to me “I’ve been waiting for you” and I felt so relieved – like the weight of the world was off my shoulders and I KNEW who I was and that everything was just as it should be!! Thank you Lord, for Renee and this Bible study! Thank you, Father, for giving her your words to say. And please help us to have open hearts & ears ready to hear! Prepare us for what you are about to do & continue to do your good work in each of us! Amen.
I love your visual on filling your heart with Gods love. I lost my biological mother when I was 7 and now in my 40’s have in the past 6 years have lost my step mother who raised me and my father and it is very lonely without them. There isn’t a day that goes by that they aren’t on my mind. I think because of this I do try to fill that God sized hole in my heart with things and food, sometimes alcohol to numb the pain and loneliness. I want to fill my heart with Gods love and know that his love is the only thing that will truly fulfill me. What an awesome article and visual. I believe God was talking to me through you. What a wonderful service and gift you are providing to all of your many followers. Thank you! Angie
Greetings from NC Renee!
Back in the 90s me, my husband, & son had everything, a nice house; money; travel; cars; etc. We thought we had everything. Then a promotion for my husband led us to NC. From that point on everything went to nothing. We were borrowing from Paul to pay Peter. What we didn’t know was that the Lord was stripping us of everything but the essentials. He is the only essential we need. I so appreciate your video message. Because I don’t ask the Lord to fill me with his living water. I will incorporate this into my daily prayer life. There was another point you made that made sense to me: “Shift our dependence from the gifts to the Giver.” I can see how the Lord is changing my life inch by inch. Now if I could just find a church home! Thanks again Renee for all you do! Blessings to you & your family.
Kind regards,
Kathie
This has been such a good object lesson for me. I am learning to take the longings to him and I am even beginning to understand the longings so I can take them to Him sooner. Thanks!!!
I have been guilty of just this, seeking love and fulfillment in areas that will never be able to totally satisfy the need I have for unfailing love. I know in my mind that only God can fulfill this need, but it is my heart that keeps trying to find love elsewhere as it longs to be filled. I want to find myself enraptured by God’s love, acceptance and desire of me so that I no longer feel the need to search for it elsewhere. I know that until I am happy with just Jesus and me…anything else that comes my way will suffer until that relationship gets right. Like His word says, He is the giver of every good and perfect gift and He adds no sorrow with them. I definitely want to pursue God for His gifts, rather than trying to purchase them on my own. Thank you for this message and I will definitely be seeking God first to fill my empty places, and prayerfully, I can pass this along to my children so that they doe not follow in my footsteps. Thank you once again. God bless.
Dear Renee, Thank you for your devotional today. You speak straight to my heart. I appreciate the Message notes and am grateful for all your effort and teaching and your generous heart to share with us. This reminder to “shift my dependence from the gifts to the Giver” and to “bring the empty well of my heart to Jesus and ask Him to fill and fulfill me with the promise of His unfailing love”, has ministered deeply to me. I am grateful for your ministry.
On a side note, If there is some way for you to share with me where your “grace” wood cut out came from, I would be ever so happy. I have a need for some tangible Grace. The time I say you holding it while speaking moved me deeply.
With High Regard and Deep Appreciation.
Sue