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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Hi, Renee. I heard the video. last week on the empty spaces, after, I read all the comments, and as I was reading, I said to myself a lot of these are so me! then, I heard the video again because, you get mopre out of hearing things the secomd time. Now, I’m totally blind, and even though I didn’t see what you were doing. I heard you with the toys and what I loved when when you were filling the jug, and referring to Jesus filling us up and I just tried to picture myself in the story of the woman at the well and I was so peaceful! Renee! you are such an inspiration! I always thank God for you that he uses you so much to help people! as you were talking in that video, I realized so much, how I need to spend more time asking Jesus to fill me up. not looking so much to other people! also, when I’m upset, I look to junk food chips to fill me up! I also love chocolate Renee thank you! and it is so good that we all have the same struggles. I indentified with so many people.
As I read through my email this morning, I found this…and I thank you. So much of the time I feel empty, disconected, unloved…and UNWORTHY of His love for me. It is very hard for me to accept that there is a love for me that is unconditional. I am fortunate to have a husband that loves me for who I am, yet why am I so afraid of losing his love…that I will do something that will take it away? Growing up I never felt loved by my parents, molested by my father…so how would I really know what it would be to truly trust God? My first husband, my high-school sweetheart died from cancer 12 years ago…that love was taken away from me and our family. Please know that I am trying to figure out this emptiness, and I know that I have to never give up…but some days are harder than others. It is helpful to read the comments of others…we are not alone at all. Bless you for sharing this amazing video…my heart has been touched!
Such a beautiful illustration. Thanking God that my heart is becoming more and more confident as I find my complete security in him alone. I’m glad to be taking this journey with each of you.
Echoing so many of the comments here. I don’t think I’ve ever needed and enjoyed a bible study as much as this. It’s like water for my soul! God bless you, Renee! Thank you!!
Wonderful! Our hearts will never rest until we rest in Him.
What do I fill my empty places with…. what do I NOT try to fill them with? My biggest one is my husband, by far. (Well, that and carbohydrates). Years ago when we were dating, we had a period of time when he broke up with me, stopped talking to me, etc. I was completely blind-sided, and completely heart broken. But what I learned then, and what I know now, was that God was getting my attention, to tell me that He wanted to be what I had let my (then) boyfriend become- my confidant, my shoulder to lean on, my friend and even my lover. He (God) was the true lover of my soul. Yet, having learned that lesson so long ago and repeatedly since then, it still so easily fades from my memory. I find that my emotional state so often corresponds to my perception of the state of my marriage, or my worth to how I think he sees me. So thank you Renee yet again for the reminder to look to the Giver of all Good Things, and not to the gift of my husband- who will always disappoint in his humanness. I need to keep Christ on my heart’s throne.
Thank you so much Renee for that powerful example! This week I have realized that I too am looking for fulfillment in the wrong places. I think it would be neat if at the end of filling the jar with “living water,” you put a beautiful bouquet of flowers into it, because that is what filling our lives with Jesus does for us – it makes us beautiful, makes us more enjoyable to others, and adds a spot of brightness to the world around us!
I love that idea with the flowers- the ‘fruit’ of God’s indwelling Spirit.
A very powerful reminder for me today to Put those things that I have been substituting for Jesus in my life back to a place apart from Him and allow him to fill those empty places.
I am getting ready to retire from the military after 25 years of service and this is my last month of work at my job. I have been feeling sad and unappreciated and this message really helped me see how I have placed my security and significance in my work instead of my LORD and how I need to look to Him for these needs.
Brenda, thank you for your many years of devoted service in the military. It is appreciated. Thank you and please know that the Lord has a Plan for the rest of your life. Jeremiah 29:11-13
It’s so easy to start putting those things back into the jar without realizing that when we put those things back into the jar, we’re leaving less room for Jesus to fill our jars up. Thanks for the reminder.
Oh Aly, so happy you felt you could share your experience w/this bible study. I, too, am praying for you. Stay right where you are sweet sister!! I’ve been reading ahead and the next chapter in Renee’s book is one you won’t want to miss either. It’s awesome so far. I’m enjoying this study so much Renee that I can’t control myself, I have to keep reading. ha! Your study is like a bag of Lay’s potato chips-you can’t have just one!! 🙂 Thank you for sharing yourself, your time, and your life w/us. You are a TRUE blessing!!
Great message and illustration- I notice you didn’t fill the jar to the top- leaving room for Him to continue to pour in to me. It is good to be reminded the Living Water (Holy Spirit ) is ever pouring, flowing into the empty places.
Great message and very fitting. Thank you!!
Chips and corn are exactly what I turn to. But now I am turning to God, and slowly the dry places are being touched by the Living Water. Thanks, Renee!
Chips and cookies are my weakness. Crunchy is my comfort. Im praying for us both – and our precious sisters in Christ – to let Jesus pour and pour His living Water and the heart-quenchiing truth of HIS love into our dry and empty places.
This week’s video message was so powerful. I have had a stressful week dealing with teenagers! I was actually looking online at cars yesterday as a way of relieving this stress. Your message was exactly what I needed to hear. Believe it or not, there was a time when I was a single school teacher when I would trade my car in and get a new one when I became extremely stressed. Needless to say, the excitement only lasted a day and then I was stuck with a new car payment and an empty “Jar”. Thanks for your timely message.
thank you so much for those encouraging words.
Just finished reading Chapter 2. As I was reading, I began to cry. It seemed like your words can straight from my life and my heart. Could there be others like me out there? I thought that I was all alone in this world. Thank you Renee.
You are not alone sweet friend. You are not alone. Oh how precious He is to give me words to write that would so resonate with your heart. HE is speaking to you – tenderly, gently but oh so truthfully. You are pursued and loved by an intimate Savior who wants you to know you are not alone. He is there and so are we. We’re in this together and we’re moving closer and closer to the healing place of His love!!
I am amiddle aged married woman with a 23 & 19 year old daughters. Te eldest has graduated from college but is back living at home. The younger one is in college. I have been pondering what God has planned for me in this new season. I don’t want to intentionally fill it up with things that have no significance. He has had me in a season of extreme loneliness. I know that He is the only one that can fill ALL the spaces but to be honest I don’t always act that way. I would love to read your book and get another woman’s perspective in this area. Bless you for serving women so faithfully!
Thank you so much Renee! For some reason in all the years that I have read and listened to the story of the Samaritan woman, I have never notice the metaphor of the water. There really are no empty spaces when we are filled with the living water! Like you, I have tried to fill up my emptiness with people and things, just hoping that their approval or that I have that possession, will fill me and make me feel worth something. I was doing pretty well with the concept of letting God fill those places. Then I moved to Korea. While they are warm people, they can be brutally honest. I am a little overweight (HUGE compared to these little, thin people) and they do not hold back in telling me how fat I am…they do this more to my husband than to me for some reason. While, in the States, I had lost over 40 pounds but have now gained some of it back. I’m not obese, just a little on the chunky side. But because I hear, or see, on a daily basis the laughter or the hurtful words (especially from kids) I feel like I am a blimp. But seeing this video today made me see that I just need to take the yearning for their acceptance and replace it with God’s acceptance. Thank you again for this message!
Oh Lynda, my heart breaks for you!! I too have struggled with my weight for 40 years. But Gods divine timing has allowed me to rejoin Weight Watchers, read Made to Crave, and give me insight into how He sees me. It has been a 2+ year journey with many ups and downs but I can say that He is teaching me to see myself as He sees me!! I pray that these words will encourage you in some way. He truly is Mighty to Save 🙂
I know I am guilty of trying to fill my life with things or people when only Christ can fill that need. Things leave me feeling lost and alone. Christ alone can give me that peace in the midst of difficult and trying times.Christ alone satisfies.
Messages from Christ always seem to come when in need. What a powerful but unique way to see how worldly items and family/friends/bosses/teachers etc, can not full our hearts with the missing unconditional love that we each desire. I too have looked in the wrong places for acceptance and love. After seeing your video, I am going to find a way to put my items into a box to let them go, for it is not what makes me happy. I think that once a month I will return to read/look at what I have placed in the box, then send them on there way as like releasing a butterfly to flutter away. I will pray daily that Christ will show me and others (that I know and love) the way to fully experience His unfailing love for I know deep in my heart, Christ is the only one who can bring TRUE happiness, peace and love. God Bless