Welcome to my NEW website!! I’m so glad you stopped by today! If you found your way here from the Proverbs 31 Ministries invitation to join us on The 7-day Doubt Diet, click here for more details or simply sign up in my sidebar.
If you’re visiting after reading my P31 devotion, “When Worry Makes Me Wonder”, thanks for hopping over. In my devotion, I shared how a few years ago I felt like I was suffocating under everything that was going on in my life. Have you ever been there?
Slowly, I let worry weave it’s way into my thoughts and wear me down. Eventually, I came to a point where I was exhausted and ready to resign from just about everything…life, ministry, etc.
I ran out of fuel and felt like I didn’t have enough energy to handle all of my roles, relationships and responsibilities.
I also ran out of faith. I started doubting my ability to to hear God clearly and to do all I assumed He wanted me to do.
All my worries started making me weary. And they made me wonder… I wondered if I could manage my life. I wondered if God noticed and cared about all I was doing for Him, and others. And I wondered why God wasn’t doing something to make my life easier.
One day I was reading in Luke 10 and noticed Martha felt the same way. She couldn’t get everything done and it was making her come undone. That day I noticed something. She went to Jesus. Yes she was freaking out, but she went to Him about it.
And she asked Him the same question I’d been asking in my heart:‘Lord, don’t you care?
“She came to Him and asked, ‘Lord, don’t you care?that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’” Luke 10:40b (NIV)
And how did Jesus respond to Martha’s doubts and demands? “’Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’” (NIV)
I knew God wanted the same for me. He did care. He did notice. He’d left a note for me right there in scripture to show me what was going on in my own heart. And He’s done the same for you.
I sensed He wanted me to come to Him and talk to Him, instead of talking to myself (in my head) which only made me worry more. And when I did come to Him with my concerns, He replaced my thoughts with His thoughts. He replaced my worries with His peace.
Some days I needed to do more than pray. I needed to give my worries to Him. So I wrote them down on index cards and put them under a cross I have next to my bedside. Physically placing them there, and giving them to Jesus was so powerful.
I also looked up promises in scripture to replace my worries and doubts. I found verses like Psalm 55:22 that says: “Give your burdens to the LORD, and he will take care of you…” (NLT) I also found 1 Peter 5:7 that reminded me: “Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.” (NLT)
We need God’s presence and the promise of His care as a dwelling place for our hearts. And on those days when we we just can’t do it all and we wonder if God notices how hard we’re trying, He wants us to know He notices and He does care. He cares about us and He loves taking care of us and all that concerns us, too.
I’ve got a list of “Peace-giving Promises I’d love to share with you on my FREE resources page. And I’d love to pray for you today, too. Be sure to leave “share your thoughts” below and let me know one worry you want to leave with Jesus and I’ll pray for that concern. And also be sure to enter my drawing for my “Contagious Confidence” Give-aways.
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Peace-Giving Promises GIVE-AWAY!
In my book, A Confident Heart, I share in chapter 9 how we can turn our fear-filled thinking into faith-filled believing and stop Satan from stealing the confident peace that’s meant to be ours in Christ. Today, I’m giving away 5 copies of A Confident Heart to ONE of you – along with a Free “Confident Heart” Q&A Conference Call. That way you can gather some friends to go through the book together and we can talk about it if you want to! And, because I want more than one winner, I’m giving away 2 more Advanced copies to another one of you, too.
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I would love for you to join me in sharing God ‘s peace-giving promises today! Here are a few things you can do to enter today’s give-aways:
1. Share this post or a link to the “Peace-giving Promises via email, Twitter, your blog or Facebook. Let’s encourage as many women as we can and disarm the enemy from his weapon of worry. My “Tell a Friend” buttons below makes it really easy.
2. Sign up for the 7-day Doubt Diet (if you haven’t already) and invite friends too! It includes a week’s worth of devotions with more powerful promises, personal encouragement and scripture-based prayers to help you lose the weight of worry and doubt so you can gain a confident heart!
3. Sign up for my email updates in the little box at the top of my website to receive news on give-aways, free resources, blog posts and more! I’ve got all kinds of announcements coming up!
Leave a comment by clicking “Share Your Thoughts” below and tell me how I can pray for you. Also, let me know which or all of these you are doing to share God’s peace-giving promises today. Your comment will enter you into the drawings. I’ll announce the winner on Monday, July 18th!
And be sure to download your copy of more “Peace-giving Promises. “
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Hey Renee,
I put this on my fb .Your Doubt diet is great and I pray that Lots more ladys will sign up for it. Please Pray for my 18 year old son he is going through a rebellous Time he has A girl friend who is not helping.I don’t know what to say to him. I am just praying.Thanks
Miranda
Perfect timing! I can really use a doubt diet right now. It’s so easy to let doubt seep in to drown out the Lord’s direction and encouragement.
Great devos! Something I truly need. Tried to share via facebook, but my security service is keeping me from sharing it, grr!! good to have internet security, but not now!
Thank you so much for these words of encouragement! I look forward to reading the book. If I don’t win it, then I will be buying it for myself and several friends that I know it would encourage, also. I have shared your devotional on Facebook ~ It was so good! I knew that it would be a blessing to others. I also shared your link via email with several friends. I signed up for the “7-day doubt diet”. I did the “Doubt Index Analysis”, and printed the great resources you had ~ the “Peace Giving Promises”, the Promises to Personalize” and the “Food for Thought”. I also read the 1st chapter of your book, and I am ready to read more. Please pray for me! I know what I need to do. I have been seeing a Christian counselor for several years. I know the Bible well. But I still struggle with self doubt, anxiety, fear, depression. Right now I am really struggling because I feel overwhelmed. My husband travels with his job so I am responsible for so many things, and it just becomes overwhelming at times. That is when I really start to have the feelings of self doubt, etc, and what I need to do to combat the enemy’s attacks just flies right out of my mind, and I am sucked into the feelings of anxiety and dpression. I would appreciate your prayers! Thank you! And thank you for the resources! I look forward to reading the rest of the book!
After being ridiculed as a child, then experiencing multiple life-altering events as an adult, I have been plagued by doubt and fear for most of my life. I now know that God loves me, but I still struggle with feelings of inadequacy and often am emotionally paralyzed by the fear of ‘not being good enough’ or ‘not doing well enough’. I lost my precious Daddy this past April, the day after my birthday. I am happy for him that he is with Jesus, but my heart hurts. Please pray for me that I will be set free from the bondage of doubt and fear. I already know that God will comfort me in my sorrow. He always does.
Thanks for your prayers, Renee. I have ordered your book and I am looking forward to reading it.
Just tweeted and I am already subscribed to both! So, all of the above. Please pray for me while my 15 yr old is away on a month long student exchange program—on another continent because I struggle with fear/worry. I give God all of the glory for giving me the courage to allow my daughter to go on this trip and for giving my daughter the courage to go! And she struggles with fear and worry, too!
I have done all three!! Thank you so much for the encouragement. I have always been a person with a lot of self doubt and I am so looking forward to your 7 day diet! Lately worry has been overwhelming at times as my 7 year old son came down with MRSA while my husband and I were 3000 miles away on our very first week long vacation without kids. It was overwhelming to be so far away and not be able to take care of my very sick boy. I had to work so hard to give him to god and at times all i could do was cry and know God knew my heart. He had surgery to drain the infection and now has a pick line for the next 4-6 weeks so he is able to recieve IV antibiotics I was so overcome with worry in the beginning that the infection would never go away but i knew God was telling me in my heart that He had this under control. Each day is filled with more things to worry about so I love your idea of writing them down and giving them to God that way. Please pray my son continues to get better and for patience for myself and husband as this places a lot of stress financially and emotionally on already tired parents of 3 little ones.
Thank you so much for your message today about WORRY and giving up. I too feel my mind with worry and dobut about how I am going to make it as a single mom. I stress myself to where it really affects the interaction I have with my daughter, my family, friends and even co-workers. I have this emptiness that I know is full of worry and if I would just let go and let God, I would feel so much better. I can’t wait to start your 7 Day Diet! It couldn’t come at a more perfect time in my life. I”ve shared your blog with a friend in need, signed up and so would love to win the books and call!
Please pray for me as a single mom to make the right choices and budget my money to cover all our expenses.
Thank you for your works, I am so glad you didn’t give up!
Renee, I signed up yesterday for the 7-Day Doubt Diet. I read Chapter 1 last night and have done the first lesson today. It is absolutely AWESOME! Thank you for sharing your book and all your insights. It is exactly what I need in my life. My desire is to become MORE confident in my walk with the Lord and do ALL that He has called me to do. I am throwing ALL my insecurities in the trash NOT my confidence! May God richly bless you!
My grown son was killed in a fire on April 23rd along with his girlfriend and I have been filled with grief and despair. Your devotionals have been a blessing to me. I signed up for the 7 Day Doubt Diet and would love to read your new book. I appreciate your prayers.
Oh man, I can’t even begin to tell you the things that swarm in my head every day and as much as I try to give them to God they always come back at me. I am a mother of 4, I am trying to run a home business I started myself and I am a Pastor’s wife in a position I was drafted into I didn’t sign up for it. My husband was granted the position at our church after my father (who was pastor) passed away and well I just don’t know what I am doing here. I am getting flyig by the seat of my pants on the job training as I go and it’s not easy to say the least. The ministry thing is my biggest stressor and I feel all those things and more that you stated above. I don’t know what I’m doing, how I’m doing it and our church is so small and not very well off financially so we do all the work we do in the ministry for free and I have to do most if not all of everything that happens at the church from cleaning to Sunday mornings everything except preach. Yeah that’s where I need prayer.
I am sharing the giveaway on FB and also signed up for the 7day doubt diet and well this is my comment 🙂 Thanks!
Hi Renee, I have been praying that God would give me a book/devotional that would meet this stirring in my heart. When I received the Proverbs31 Ministry email and read your devotional and read about your new book A Confident Heart I knew that God was speaking to me….so….I’ve done all the above! I have 3 daughter-in-laws and I have emailed it all to them as well. I’ve been praying God would use me in their live’s and open doors to share with them by using your book. Thank you for your hard work and obedience to the Lord…we are so blessed!
Love, Karon
Hi Renee,
Wow, God is so amazing! He knew just what I needed as found your devotion and just signed up to your 7-day Doubt Diet! I have been struggling with self doubt regarding if I matter! I began doubting my worth on Tuesday when my boyfriend did not call me when he was in an accident with his motorcycle. I thought do I not matter enough for him to call and let me know! We have talked of marriage and here he doesnot even call to tell me, it began a spiral down of my past failures! Am I not important, does he love me etc and the list goes on and on! You know what I mean!
Anyway thank you Renee… I also ordered your book! I want to be a God confident woman! Thank you and I am so excitied…
Blessings,
Karen
It is such a blessing to have clicked on your website today. I signed up for your 7 day diet and also forwarding to friends and sister for they will also be incouraged by your story. My prayer is for my husband. He is an atheist. I had know idea that he was not a christian men when marrying him 5 years ago. He would read the bible with me and had gone to church with me before we got married. It was 6 months in the marriage that he told me. I pray daily for God to reveal to him the truth and touch his heart. I get so discouraged but I know that God is an awesome God and he hears my prayers. Thank you so much for letting me share my prayer. My God bless you and your giving to so many with your devotions. I have not read your books but I would love to have my heart touched by them. Thank you and many blesses to you.
I am so grateful that a friebnd emailed me this website today. God knows what i need and when i need it. Over the past few days I have been in such a tizzy wondering how I would come up with the balance of money for my son’s final semester in college. I even started doubting and second guessinbg God. I am glad to know that he sees and knows my needs and that he will supply them in due time. Continue to lift up my son and I as we continue to wait on God for a breakthrough to meet the july 20th deadline.
I’m signed up for your Doubt Diet.
I FB’d about it!
Self doubt is a big issue in my life. Please pray I will find my worth and confidence in Him.
Dear Renee, Praise Jesus,
Thanks for the wonderful work you are doing in the spiritual world. I’m blessed to have read about your work. Am also blessed to have joined P31 for thed daily devational verses. Am from Uganda, Africa, East Africa. Am a born again christian, a pastor, a women leader and a founder of Goshen Children Centre at Holyghost Power Centre Church in Uganda. But currently in America, Texas State, Houston City for a vocation and later a conference Global Church Fellowship at Florida Fort Meyres. Just chapter 1 of your book A Confident Heart has really touched me. It is exactly what i have experienced all my life right from childhood to date. I thank God for all the scriptures i have picked Isaiah 49:23 to be my guiding factor. I believ by the time am done with the 7-day doubt diet i will be a very powerful person in the name of Jesus. i have already posted the information to my daughters, women community of our church and friends. Am planning to organise a conference at my church in November this year so that you may come and speak to the ladies of Uganda, twe need transformation from the life filled with fear and self doubt to faith- filled life with God- confidence.
May God Reward You Abundantly.
Thank you so much for your encouraging words and leading us to God’s word and prayer to work through these ‘issues’ in our lives! Thank you also for listening to God’s leading in your life and sharing what He has done for you! 🙂 You are a blessing to many!