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Renee Swope

Encouraging and equipping moms to parent with God's grace and confidence.

{Week 1} To Be Known Is to Be Loved – chapter 2

Jerem 3.5

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We’re going to read chapter 1 and 2 this week, so today I wanted to lead those of you who are ready to go with me to the next chapter.

From Chapter 2, A Confident Heart
 “Jesus knew Sam’s (the Samaritan woman’s) story and He knows yours. The Greek word for “know” is yada. It means a deep emotional experience; a bonding between two people when one truly feels the emotions of the other. Jesus knows your pain, fears, doubts, and disappointments. He understands your dreams and desires.

Although some of us feel uncomfortable that God knows so much about us, it is good to be known, to be listened to and not judged. Jesus is the only One who can meet our deepest needs to be accepted and delighted in simply because of who we are. We can offer nothing but our presence, and He will desire us just the same…”

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Our word this week is  “Known”

Our verse of the week is Jeremiah 1:5 – “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…” (NIV)

This week’s video message is below. Please click the arrow to watch it  – all the way through. You’ll be so glad you did.

(from video script)

I WANT TO BE KNOWN
I want someone to look at my face
And not just see two eyes, a nose,
a mouth and two ears
But to see all that I am, and could be
all my hopes, loves and fears…

And YOU know me
You actually know me
all of me and everything about me
Every thought inside and hair on top of my head
Every hurt stored up, every hope, every dread
My past and my future, all I am and could be
You tell me everything,
You tell me about ME
And that which is spoken by another would bring hate and condemnation
Coming from Youu brings love, grace, mercy, hope and salvation
I’ve heard of One to come
who could save a wretch like me
And here in my presence, You say
I AM HE…

(read full script here)

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Today’s Assignment:

  • Read this week’s memory verse (Jeremiah 1:5). Ask God to remind you all week that He knows the way you long to be known, pursued and loved!
  • Start or continue reading chapter 2. If you already did or you are just starting, read it slowly and highlight or underline sentences that resonate in your heart. Journal your thoughts if you want the lessons to stay with you.

Connect in Community:

What about today’s video or sentences in Chapter 2 resonate most with you?

  • Please click “Share Your Thoughts” below this post and do just that.  (REMEMER: If  you are reading this via email, you will need to click here to go to my blog to watch the video and share in the comments section.)
  • Optional: If you are on Facebook and/or Twitter, I’d love for you to share your favorite quotes on our Confident Heart Community Facebook Page and/or share them with me on Twitter (@reneesswope) I’d love to retweet them! Also let’s use #AConfidentHeart as our hashtag. 🙂

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Comments

  1. Wow!!! I was really blessed after I finished reading chapter 2. Thank you Jesus for loving and forgiving me and most of all, for accepting me!! I am filled with awe!!

  3. I am thinking about the word “known” and what it means to be truly known by God. He sees me-all of me, just as I am. And yet He loves me. Sometimes I have a hard time loving me, knowing some of the ugly things I have thought and done. It is an amazing, extravagant love. I think this is the concept that for me is key to accept. I don’t have to perform up to standards. I am forgiven and that is final.

  4. Renee, Was God there when I was being abused by my stepdad in all ways possible? Starting at the age of 7 and until I was sent away at the age of of 16. Pregnant, I gave my baby up for adoption after only holding him for seconds. Was God there? Was God there when my brother ( my protector ) steered my stepdads anger from me and took a beating many times? My brother passed suddenly 6 months ago and life as hardly been worth living!! I have much to hide and cannot be myself around people because I don’t know who I am. Praying this study will help me and others like me. I do go to God because I know He is the only one I don’t have to pretend with, he knows me!! I still praise Him!!!

    • Debbie,

      Keep praising Him! And yes, he was there your entire life…..He was there when I was abused …. he was there when my Dad left …. He is there as I survive cancer …. He is there with us every step of the way.

      Also keep holding onto these promises …. ” I (God) will never leave nor forsake you.” (Deut 31:6).

      What is impossible with man is possible with God. (Luke 18:27).

      I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him. (Psalm 91:15)

      And my favorite …. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11). He is our future and hope.

      Praying for you.
      Donna B

    • This was in my You Version Bible devotional for today by Darlene Zschech,
      God is not cruel and does not bring temptation and trials into our lives. That is the result of our Enemy and the fallen nature of the world in which we live, a world which God so loved that He sent His best for.

      When God allows trials and tribulations—even persecution—in your life, know that His love and faithfulness is just as real and present. Focus on Jesus and the finished work of the cross, for His grace is sufficient for your every need. In fact, through every trial, I encourage you to lean into His grace. It reaches deep into your soul with the joy of knowing He is everything you need.

      I choose to walk in the happiness you bring to me through the Spirit, O God. My eyes are fixed on you.
      ~Darlene Zschech

    • Oh Debbie,

      How I felt your pain as I read your post. I carry the guilt from my first pregnancy when I was just 15 years old. I was forced by my parents to put my child up for adoption…I held her only a few seconds before I was forced to hand her over to a stranger. Broken hearted I went home and sobbed in my room for HOURS…in the middle of the night I hear my mother asking me if I wanted my child back…the guilt I carry because I then took my child from a loving family that wanted to adopt her. There are times when I wonder what her life would have been like…would she be happier???? God bless you Debbie.

    • Debbie,

      Thank you for your post. I don’t know the ways of God, especially when bad things happen. But I believe he walks every path with us; offering us strength and courage in the midst of chaos and despair. Just as I believe that when the yawning abyss of darkness threatens, he is there, holding us, with us, no matter the demons we face. I am so glad that you were not afraid, and shared your story with us. There are so many healing things in Renee’s book, but one in particular spoke to my soul as I hope it will to yours… “God doesn’t promise us understanding, he promises peace in not understanding.” (I’m sorry if I paraphrased that horribly, Renee!) Blessings, Debbie, you are not alone. P.

    • Debbie so sad you’ve experienced such pain emotional and physical. My experience hasn’t been as difficult as yours, but what I’ve found is God never promised our lives would be easy. In fact, just the opposite, He does promise we will never go thru it alone. Hebrews 13:5 is comforting. Lean into that truth. Blessings to you. And prayers also.

    • Debbie I know your story because mine is similar. I was abused by my father from 5years old until I left home at 18. I know that God really loves me and I have dealt with some of my feelings and insecurities but I still struggle with loving myself. This is big in my life and I cannot look at photos of myself. I also can’t accept people liking me for myself. So this study is for me. Iam 69 years old

  5. I have not yet read Chapter 2 (I am waiting for my book to be shipped) but the topic of this video and discussion resonates very strongly with me. I have known “in my head” that God loves me and knows me for a very long time but it hasn’t really ever felt personal to me. As someone who is well past what would be considered the “typical” age for being married and having never had a serious boyfriend it is so easy to feel like I have been forgotten or that I am not destined to be loved and yet “in my head I know God knows me and loves me. I truly desire to rely on God’s love and trust that His love will always be enough and yet it feels like in doing so I have to be willing to set aside the desire I have to be married, which up to this point I haven’t been able to do. I pray that as was discussed yesterday that I will be able to move from believing in God to believing God, and in turn learn to be content with His plan for me no matter what that is.

  6. Wow! I am so happy that I am in this study. I feel blessed to be a part of all these christian sisters.I to was a Catholic and now I am a Christian woman on a journey to know God and His Word. A Confident Heart is truly speaking to me. I have gone through a 1/2 box of kleenex…The video was so powerful.

  7. Prior to my personal relationship with the Lord I thought of Him as a judge over my life, and someone who dealt me a “raw deal.” I come from a violent broken home and began to numb myself with drugs and alcohol at a very young age to get away from all the ugliness I was exposed to and experienced. I remained in that place for 22 years, until at the age of 34, I went into treatment and began a journey of clean living and sobriety. This too was when I became saved. Although at first I didn’t feel worthy and could not even imagine that God would or could love me I have continued my walk, spent time in scripture, and now, 8 years later, believe that I am loved by God the Father, warts and all.

    My challenge now is learning to love myself as God loves me and learn who I am in Jesus Christ; believing I deserve all the wonderful things in life He has planned for me. My hope and prayer is that through this study all the shame and poor choices I have made over my time here on earth will melt away once and for all and I will begin to truly walk as a daughter of God. I am ready to overcome Me and ready for God to show me what I need to see. There is pain left, but I am certain He will provide both the comfort and strength I will need for my journey.

    • He will and so much more!

      I love this verse in Isaiah – “You are precious and honored in my sight, and …. I love you! (Isaiah 43:4)

      Hold onto it tight!

  8. Renee I liked what you said about the word “fine”…
    F…frazzled
    I…irritated
    N…neurotic
    E…exhausted

    That describes how I feel “inside” quite a bit of the time. All this “pretending” does lead to “isolation”. I have a fear of rejection, and I have absolutely no clue why!? I can’t seem to pin point it, but I do. In your book you mentioned that your daddy left, so you thought that you weren’t good enough and that’s why he didn’t stick around. I can’t remember anything that dramatic happening in my childhood, although I could never handle “rejection” well. It took A LOT out of me, creating my families new website. I’ve had negative and positive responses. The negatives are difficult for me, but the Lord has been with me every step of the way, and given me the strength to push past my fears of rejection and share with others those experiences, both good and bad, that have so certainly changed my life, and that I pray will help encourage someone else who is hurting.

    • Donetta,

      When the fear of rejection floods me and my stinking thinking, I pull out this verse and say it out loud over and over and use it as a filter for those thoughts of rejection. Throw those thoughts of rejection out the window and remember this promise.

      “The Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Duet. 31:6)

      Praying for you.

      • That verse really “spoke” to me. As I was writing it down at the very bottom of my journal (the one I bought for my OBS that has Bible verses on each page), the Bible verse at the bottom of the page jumped out at me. “The Lord Himself goes before you and will be with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.” Deut. 31:8. God knows me and knows what I need.

  9. Hi Renee, will you be able to send the link for the chapters? I am not able to buy it.

  10. To be known is to love. To love is to be known. Hits right at the root of most confidence issues- love.

  11. So many times I read through a story like that of Sam, and it’s just words. But taking the time to feel where she was, to think about why she would accept those words from this unknown man… Oh,how the love must have shown in His face… No condemnation. The worst and most misleading is the self-condemnation… Now, that, I’m familiar with… Mistakes and bad attitudes, usually brought about by the ever-present fear that I’m not really good enough. My head knows the key is in His Word, that He is the Word… Now to get my heart to accept it long enough to see that face for myself…

    • I never though of it the way you put it that He was an unknown man and how would she accept His words, yes you are so right He must have shown such love on His face and in His voice!!

      • I agree! That is a very profound detail that I don’t know if I’ve ever caught when reading that scripture, because not only did she not know Him, but she had all of those preconceived judgments of how He must have felt about her rearing up. In His presence though, they didn’t rule her heart. He was bigger than her crazy train brain!!! lol (okay so maybe I projected there a little bit)

        • Wow! Thank you for sharing Neil Anderson’s thoughts, Diana. . Praise God. It brings tears to my eyes.
          God bless you!

        • Laura, your insights are very thought-provoking – “not only did she not know Him, but she had all those preconceived judgments of how He must have felt about her….IN HIS PRESENCE, THOUGH, THEY DIDN’T RULE HER HEART. HE WAS GIBBER THAN HER CRAZY TRAIN BRAIN!!! ”

          He’s bigger than our brains, too, and what great and deep love He has for us. We must rest in the strong, everlasting arms of our Savior. Praise God! May our thoughts not rule our hearts – not the least little bit. Glory!

  12. I loved the sentence on page 31 that says “Although we tell people we’re fine, what we really mean is that we are Frazzled, Irritated, Neurotic, and Exhausted!”. So many days this sentence applies to me. But the reminder later in the chapter that tells us He is always there with us, even on those really bad days is reassuring.

  13. This is the first online study I have done it is a great book and I so need this study just not sure how to do the online part do we just post comments and ask for prayer

    • Glenda,

      You are doing great. Follow Renee’s posts here and Just post any questions, comments or prayer requests under the appropriate study day.

      Blessings,
      Donna

  14. When I was first saved, I was overcome by His deep and unconditional love for me; fully submerged in it. I remember Him calling my name and telling me that I was His. I hold onto that like a lifeline now, because for the past few years I have been in this battle and although I know in my head that His love is forever and unconditional, I have such condemning thoughts and emotions that just overwhelm me at times. I know that salvation is forever, but sometimes I don’t really know that…if that makes any sense. I miss that deep peace and security. I miss it so very much. I feel very bipolar in my relationship with Him. When I am good, I am very very good…but when I am bad…I am horrid. lol. You get the picture. Gonna post this before I change my mind 😉

    • Okay..one more small purge and then I’m done for the day. lol. I had a really good perception of who God was as a small child. My dad was an addict, however, and when his addiction took control and he ultimately wound up in prison for the majority of my growing up…I began this cycle of trying to be good enough to make him stay..to make him fight for us. I do this with God as well 🙁 I always think He’s abandoned me and that if I could just “get it right” then He wouldn’t “be so angry” with me and I would feel His presence again. Ew. I don’t want to admit any of this.

    • Laura,

      Love your realness. And you are not alone! I think we all go there every know and then. The key is not to linger there very long.

      Love this promise from Him when I find myself there ….

      So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1, NLT)

      Donna B

  15. How powerful! I printed off tiny little hearts with Jeremiah 1:5 and have posted them everywhere. This is what I love about God – He knows the troubles of our heart – He knows the burden of being worn down by this self esteem thing – Ladies – lets give God our heart fully – Let’s let Him heal us. He already knows the hurt – give it to Him. Let me tell you this book has already touched me in ways that I so desperately needed. – Thank you Lord for using Renee as a vehicle to help those of us see You!!

  16. What I loved about this story was how Jesus HAD to go to Samaria. Not chose to go. The urgency speaks volumes. And to realize He has this same urgency for me too. Amazing. Extending to all areas of my life.

    • Thank you so much for emphasizing that!! It is sooo beautiful! Your thoughts reminded me of a verse that paints that picture too: “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides across the heavens to help you and on the clouds in His majesty. The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.” Deuteronomy 33:26-27a

      God bless you and make His presence always known to you!

  17. What a beautiful poem, “To Be Known and Loved,” I watched it twice and cried both times. I can certainly relate to “Sam” but, something happened today… I feel a bit further away from believing that God could know and love me… I have had three husbands all 3 ended in nasty divorces. My two children aren’t speaking to me today and accuse me of “shortchanging them” when they were growing up. I was a single parent and both accuse and condemn for the things I couldn’t/didn’t do for them and to this day, complain about my lack as a parent. I finally distanced from both of them because their constant accusations and condemnations hurt so badly. I found myself thinking, “At least Sam had people she could go home to tell about Jesus.” In my life, no one would listen… not feeling very hopeful today that Jesus would still love me if he knew me… but, I’m determined to hang in there.

    • Yes. Keep believing. Draw your strength from the Savior. He is faithful.

    • Andrea you are loved, by all of us and by God. The enemy tries to get us distracted and take our minds to where he wants them to go. He wants you to doubt God’s love. You don’t need to doubt it. He went to the cross for you, He loved you that much!! The enemy likes to cause strife and division among families, I know, I am divorced and I have a son divorced and now my other son’s wife is leaving him. The enemy knows we are stronger together so tries to separate us. Remember Eph 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. I will be praying for you and your children for their hearts to soften. GOD DOES LOVE YOU!!!♥

    • Andrea,

      This is my life verse …..

      For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11.

      I have held onto this verse for 20 plus years and pull it out often realizing that He is my hope and my future … even tho for all practical purposes my Dad left me, my sisters and my Mom at the age of 6 and then I was molested by a so-called family friend and even through a battle with cancer.

      I have to keep my eyes on this promise and it makes all of the difference in my heart.

      Praying for you.
      Donna B

    • Andrea, I can totally relate to your story, my own is very much the same. When I think of the Samaritan woman, I don’t think she really had many friends or family to talk to. I believe that is why her story is so significant. After she had spent time with Jesus, she was changed. Her outlook for her own life changed, her attitude changed, she went from walking with her head down, looking depressed and sad, to running, laughing, smiling, and yelling to everyone about what Jesus had done for her. She was awash in His love, filled up so much, that it was spilling out on other people. That is what happens when we really know Him, when we really have a relationship with him. When we really grasp, how much He truly loves us. His love is not one we can contain, it bubbles out of us. I will keep you in prayer, please pray for me as well. If we truly get this…know how He knows us and loves us just the same, our perceptions of ourselves will change, just as “Sam’s” did. God Bless you!

    • oh He loves you, you just have to beieve that & oh when it finally clicks, you will soar!

  18. I printed out the PDF of the memory verse Jer. 1:5. My husband read it and said that was a good verse against abortion. It is a beautiful verse!

  19. Renee,
    I was so blessed by the dramatic interpretation of Sam in the video. I love the arts and it was so cool, so encouraging and powerful to see the Word come alive in this script/drama. Yay!!

  20. I have loved the story of the Samaratin women for so many different reasons and in different seasons of my life. It seems God shows me over and over again each time I read that story how He loves me. I am truely blessed for these teachings. I love the opportunity to come together and meet such loving women and share in God’s glory. I look forward to learning more and sharing more with such a great group of women. Thanks Renee for al you do and I am so glad God brought you into my life! The video was awesome!!