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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Thank you for the great message. God always seems to know what we need when we need it. Thank you for being such a willing vessel.
God Bless
Thank you for the encouragment you have shared with us today. Pray for us as we look to the giver instead of the gifts each moment of each day.
God Bless you for your ministry.
Good Morning Renee,
I just want to say that I enjoyed your video. The way you used the props to help describe filling that void we sometimes have in our lives was great. “Letting God Fill That Empty Place” is what I have been slowly, but surely doing – working each day to empty all of those wants and turning it all over to HIM. I know that all that is needed will be provided by Him if we just let go and let God. Thank you Renee, you are a blessing. : )
Love the illustration!
Pray I will continue to abide in HIS word!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am always in awe of how God works. I have been floundering around for awhile and one of the reasons I decided to take this online study is for guidance. I am a single mother and I feel as if I can’t ever get it all together. I have so many commitments, so many things I want to do for my son and for myself. I believe in Jesus and I know He is my Savior, but here the last couple of months I have been questioning my faith. I know I should go to church, I was raised in church and LOVED it, I want my son to experience that….it’s like I know what I need to do, but doing it is totally different. I am so grateful and thankful that I was able to get your ebook for free when it was offered. I must admit I prefer hard copies but I have come to realize that I NEED this study and God is speaking to me through you. So again, thank you for doing this.
Renee,
Thank you sooo much for sharing from your heart today. It was such an encouragement to me and I plan to share it with the women at our church here in Brazil. Your visual, object lesson was fantastic. May the Lord bless you in a special way today as He has blessed me through you.
This message truly spoke to me this morning. I have been feeling empty lately, and didn’t really understand why. I have a wonderful husband, a beautiful daughter, a good job, and will moving to a new house soon. But still, I was feeling empty and felt so ungrateful. Now I see why; I was letting the gifts fill my heart and not the Giver. Thank you so much for your Word from God.
I’m lacking in confidence — and I’m lacking in A Confident Heart (the book) — so winning one of these prizes would be a blessing!
Thank you so much for this. God always directs me to the places He is trying to get me to go. I am in the middle of a divorce from and abusive man, and it has taken me 2 years to get away. Only because I kept looking to my ex husband to fill those empty places in my heart. I was afraid to be alone, I have MS and my son has a rare terminal genetic disorder. I am afraid to lose my son and my own health all alone. I kept thinking the abuse was better than hurting alone. After completing this study, I now am at peace with the fact that even though I will hurt and even feel physically and humanly alone sometimes, the only way I will feel completely at peace is to seek Jesus to fill my heart. Afterall, He is the only one who will always be there for me and for my son!!!!! Thank you Jesus
Amen, dear Tara! Jesus fills the void no man can fill. Blessings to you.
Your video has dealt directly with where I am. My husband and I have struggled with each other for a long while but neither of us could put a finger on the problem. We know that we love one another but we felt this dissatisfaction. The blog today was another answer for me. It is obvious to me that this is the problem. I am trying to fill God’s place in my heart with my husband- he cannot fill it! And most importantly he is not to blame. He was not created to fill that place! I was not created to fill it for him either. Thanks for being so real.
This realization in a marriage can be LIFE CHANGING! It has allowed me to extend so much more grace towards my husband, and protects me from being bitter towards his ‘shortcomings.’ Let this truth sink deeply into both of your hearts; “…then, stand still and see this great thing the LORD is about to do before your eyes!” (1Samuel 12:16)
Fill me up Jesus – Fill me UP! This world has a way of making us feel inadequate, insufficient, unworthy, insignificant – so I always tend to try harder, look longer and deeper, become frustrated and stagnant and almost depressed….. so very thirsty! Thank you for this beautiful analogy – I am a very visual person and this was just what I needed to hear! Thank you and God bless!
Simple but very powerful illustration of what we fill our jars with! I long for God to be filling me more and more. Thanks for what you shared here.
Dear Renee –
Thank you for your message today! I’ve been blessed to have heard much of God’s Word over the years, and intellectually KNOW many of these truths, yet sometimes the heart has a difficult time truly accepting them. Or maybe, it’s vice-versa! Our heart knows them when we hear them but our minds tell us that we’re still lacking, even in His sight. Ah, another truth just came to mind – the enemy is at work primarily in our minds.
Your video was an effective demonstration of this message – thanks for encouraging your audience to listen!
This is the first time I have visited your site, Renee. Years ago I was doing what God wanted and my life was good. Still, I felt I did not have the approval, the love of people I tought I needed to be “good enough.” It took three decades of wandering – earning awards, recognition, and other “things” that seemed important for being loved – before I realized the answer was always within me. Two years ago I found a church family that embraced me with the Love of Christ. Your message today illustrated what I went through for half my life. There are days when I still look for love, for acceptance in and from the wrong places. Everything you put in your jar can float. As God’s Living Water fills us, those “things” can float to the top and disappear as more Living Water is allowed in. Thank you for this image. Thank you for your message. To God be the glory.
Thank you for this wonderful visual. I’ve been struggling a lot lately as both my kids have moved out and I am now an emptynester. I have been divorced for 13 yr. and am really starting to feel the loneliness and the desire to re-marry. I have grown a LOT closer to Jesus over the last 3 years, but something still felt off. I am hoping this week, with your suggestion to just ask Him, I will be able to start to fill this emptiness.
Rachelle
Renee:
I just recently got back into receiving the devotions from Proverbs 31 Ministries. I have been so inspired by them and sharing them with others. I pray to God everyday to open doors for my business, but I know I have been selfish. I prayed to HIM today to open the doors of his choosing and to Fill my heart with HIS guidance and love. I have been unemployed for 6 months, but I told my husband that I believe that we remained faithful in our tithes and God has provided all our needs. He is gracious and I love him. I need prayer to seek him more in EVERYTHING I do.
Thank you for your minsitry. Kimberly
That is beautiful!!! Thank you so much for sharing your love for Christ with us! I really needed to hear that!!! I have always looked to my husband to fill my heart and of course he always falls short. I have put so much unnecessary pressure on him that should go to God. The visual will be a constant reminder for me. My husband and I thank you and God!!!
What a precious confession! God loves your honesty and I’m sure your husband does too! 🙂
God has done an amazing work in me, I was severely abused and neglected as a child and have come thru so much by the Grace of God….I praise God for that. I still have a few areas that I am not totally dependant on God…I need prayer for that…thank you for the visual, it really helped me…
I recently left a very good job for a Congressman to refocus my priorities. Working between DC and Co and leaving my family in search of who knows what, I finally realized that I was chasing ALL of the things you described and more. The emptiness far outweighed the fullness the world offered. The past 4 weeks have been a time to de-stress and refocus and yet I still feel I am fumbling. In an effort to glean some wisdom and encouragement I have gone in search of daily devotions to help me start the day in proper focus…today I came across this one and it has spoken to me greatly. Thank you.
Thank you Renee. The illustration was very helpful. I know God is the only thing that can fill us and satisfy us, I just wish it was as easy as emptying a jar. He’s working in me to teach me to be content with what I have. I am so blessed, but it is very difficult to not look to friends, family, and church to fill us. They all mean well, but, like me, they are not perfect and will and have left me broken, unfilled.
Thank you for your book and this study. I am trying to keep up and involved. I really need God’s confidence in my life.
So great that you have a strong desire to be learning! Blessings to you.