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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…
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Today’s Assignment:
- Download Free Printable PDF of this week’s word and verse — or find it here in a Word doc format. Please print it and post it everywhere so you can remember God KNOWs YOU and He loves you!!
- 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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I am confident that He who began a good work in me will see it through the return of Jesus!! (My paraphrasing ) this is hard to grab hold of because I have failed so many times! Today I choose to believe that Gods Word is truth and life to me, meaning that his word IS for me, not just for those around me that never fail, but for me, that God who knew me before I ever acknowledge him, and knew the paths I would take the decision I would make the pain I would cause the ugliness of my lifer, HE found me worthy enough to give his all for me, HE still chose to die for me, I am worthy of saving, of love, of a hope fulfilled life, because He declared me WORTHY, before I ever was……….
I can’t tell you all how heart-warming your thoughts towards this study are. Reading through some of your individual comments, I can see that each of us have our own individual insecurities that we are battling with. And I for one am beginning to feel completely ‘not alone’ in this area of my life. In reviewing Chapter 2, I was quick to remember my 1st impressions of God (a large, towering, fearful, powerful being) compared to my current view (a gentle, loving, graceful God who longs for this personal connection with us.) In answering the final chapter-end question, my response: Hiding ourselves and our true feelings from God = useless. He knows our innermost thoughts and feelings. Be honest with Him. He will always love us, no matter what.
Same story here, and there is a measure in comfort just in knowing that this response is one shared by others with similar stories and not just bad wiring, huh??
*of comfort… (had to correct, because God forbid I make a mistake! LOL)
Renee,
I can’t tell you how much this chapter touched my heart. My dad also left when I was young and I felt the same way that you did- that there had to be something wrong with me that he could leave me. Not only did his leaving effect my relationships with people, but also my relationship with God. Although I was saved at a young age, I began to think that if my earthy father could leave then so could my heavenly one. Thus began many years of trying to earn love from both people and God. I hid behind a facade of the good girl who secretly felt that she would never measure up, would never really be loved, and that everyone leaves eventually. It was a long journey through that place. It was only when I really began to learn more about God and deepen my relationship with Him, that all of that changed. Don’t get me wrong…I wasn’t cured of it LOL. Every once in awhile that little girl pops her head out, but it is easier to love on her today.
I don’t usually journal. I used to when I was in high school but my parents read it and since then I have not trusted that what I write would be for my eyes (and God’s) only. So I bought a journal and have been using it for this study. I have been writing verse, thoughts, and points that have stood out to me from each chapter in black and my own personal thoughts and feelings in pink. After Chapter one, I wrote (in pink) that I had messed up. I wrote that I am trying not to beat myself up for messing up but it’s so hard. Then I read chapter two and it hit home right away. Here are some of the many quotes I wrote down…
“‘You’re not worth staying for’ was a lie, but it became the truth through which I filtered my worth in all of my relationships.”
****This is a big one for me. People have left my life so many times without any explanation at all. Thankfully my parents were not the case. But when I was 15 a big sister figure left. When I was 21 my ex-boyfriend left out of the blue without explanation (until a year later when I found out her had gotten a girl pregnant, while we were dating, with twins). And then again when I was 22, my best friend who had been there through the whole ex-boyfriend situation, did the same thing and disappeared without any explanation. This quote pretty much it the nail on the head.****
“Maybe you know God loves you and forgives you, but you still beat yourself up for mistakes you’ve made and the ways you think you’ve let Him and others down.”
“We are worthy of His love because he CHOSE to give it to us.”
Knowing that He chose me makes all the difference. It’s hard for me to believe that someone would chose to spend time with me and know me but knowing that He does….it means so much.
I am so thankful for this group ~ the sharing, replies, uplifting responses and encouragement are awesome!
I am thankful to be here!
“Be still and know that I am God” Psalm 46:10 is helping me through my severe anxieties, fears, worries and doubts.
“Be still and know that I am God” ~ pretty much says it all right there!
Wow…that truly hit home. I needed the reassurance that God is with me and loves me because He knows me and He knows me therefore He loves me. I am somebody to HIM. Thanks God!
PLEASE pray for me & my debilitating social anxiety & anxiety in general, it limits me so & i HOPE i would be abe to do more for the Lord if i could get this under control, how can you help any one if you’re afraid to be around people! i take meds, but you can only take so much, thanks in advance for all your prayers, am praying for all the ladies on here, that their lives too would change for the better for them. i miss out on so much of life because of this.
up until a couple of years ago, I couldn’t even leave my house some days. When my husband joined the military and I had to move across country, you can imagine the terror that I felt. The moving wasn’t the hardest part though; it was that I was going to have to socialize with people that I had never met before. I was scared to socialize with people that I had known my whole life at this point, so new people was not an option!!!!! I got on medication and it actually made it worse because I had an adverse reaction to it and at one point I was standing in Target and forgot who I was or where I was…shudder. I began taking Klonopin alone after that point and got off of everything else until I could touch base with reality and figure out a new plan. During that year, I THREW myself into prayer and was able to join a small group. The Klonopin did help me do this. I had never been a part of a small group before, and it completely changed my life being a part of a group of women seeking the Lord. When it was time to get off of the medication (I wanted to begin trying to get pregnant), I asked the group of women to pray with me throughout that scary process, and I had such peace during that time…I can honestly look back at that scary time and remember such sweetness from my heavenly Father carrying me with the aid of those ladies. Anyway, it has been a few years and the other day we had SEVERAL people over to our house for a get together and after they left, it just hit me….I told my husband that it has been such a slow process, that I hadn’t even realized that at some point I had stopped being afraid of people! I had just had about 30 people at my house and I actually enjoyed myself! It is an absolute miracle. You need to hear me and believe me when I tell you that God can and WILL do the same thing for you! Even if it takes a season and it feels like it’s never going to happen, TRUST HIM!!!!
that is so good to hear, but at this point, it looks like just a dream for me, you keep going girl! i want to thank whoever prayed for me this morning for my anxieties, i really could feel the prayer, thanks! and didn’t even have to take as much meds as i normally do. why is it so easy to pour out our hearts on here & to God, but to others it’s so difficult, sometimes i wonder if i want to get better, or is this more comfortable, but miserable at the same time.
That is how I feel about so many different things still, but I am telling you that I was afraid of my own shadow; literally, just a few short years ago. I still struggle with fears of all kinds, but I am realizing that God is not into instantaneous fixes for the most part. I am not saying that He doesn’t sometimes heal or fix things instantly, but typically there is a waiting and trusting period that takes place before the deliverance. It’s like childbirth. The pain gets worse and worse the closer you are to delivering. I promise you that you are not alone with this. I prayed for you this morning and will continue to pray for you. It sounds like you already had some victories today! Praise God! He did not give us that spirit of fear! It is not meant for us!
I have the same problem. I don’t know if its as bad as yours. I don’t take any medicine for my social anxiety. I usually just force myself into those situations until I am comfortable with the people. Like when I started the job I am currently at I didn’t even speak to anyone. I was to afraid to do that. I ate by myself. When I was in college I went to weeks without eating because I was afraid to go into the cafeteria to eat. Eventually hunger won out and I had to force myself into the cafeteria. Its very paralyzing to feel that way. Its something I have to work on every day and I will have to do it again hopefully soon. I just lost my job so I will have to look for a new job but I am already fearing the interview process and even having to get to know a whole new group of people. I will continue to pray for you and I know you will eventually overcome this anxiety.
I have struggled with who I am for years. I love God. I yearn to be deeper in my relationship with him, but I don’t even know who I am !! If you asked me to describe who I thought I am…I couldn’t. I know God loves me BUT I don’t know what that really even means. I don’t know how to release the hurt and pain from the past. The things I’ve been told that have been done to me……I’m an adult and yet I feel like a child.
i know how you feel too, i know God loves me, but I can’t understand why, I want Him to reveal that to me, what He loves about me, so I can love myself too, all I see is so many hurts & flaws.
Barbara I too understand how you feel. I question who I am also? In my situation, I have been talked down to and told so many times that I haven’t done this right or that right. There seems to always be a better way to do things than the way I do them. I guess that is why I wonder why God would love me. I know God loves everyone but its so hard to comprehend.
I do believe that God is going to use Renee and this study to help us!! We must hang on and continue to run toward God but never forget………when we can’t run or even crawl to God, He will meet us where we are!
Hi ladies! I just started this study and I am so glad I did. 🙂 I am self centered. There, I said it. I don’t know if it is a defence mechanism due to childhood issues with my father or what, but it is now affecting my marriage. I pray God will use this study to reach me and give me the confidence to change into a much better wife. I believe anything is possible with the great I Am.
Thank you for admitting that! SO AM I! lol. It’s not funny, but maybe nervous laughter? nlol (nervous laughter out loud :P)
so am i self centered, have such low self esteem it’s hard some days to do what i know i really should, look to helping others instead of thinking of ourselves & our problems, so easy to say, but do is another thing! when i want to, that’s when the doubts all come raging forward.
Father God,
I praise you and I thank you for each person that has signed up for this study. I thank you for filling them with the courage and the boldness to enter this journey towards your heart. I thank you for this online community – this safe place where each of us can share the concerns of our hearts.
Meet each person at their point of need and cause us to be sensitive to those in the group. Cause us to minister to each other in a way that would bring you honor and glory. I pray that You would give each person a confident heart in You – in Your person. Move the gospel of Your grace from our heads to our hearts. Cause us to truly believe that without a doubt You love us like crazy – that you know us inside and out. Meet us where we are and transform us from the inside out. Fill us with Your confidence and cause us not to throw our confidence out.
Deepen our relationship with you as we turn each page of the book and our Bibles. Cause us to lean into you when we read the difficult messages. Use those messages to transform our hearts into a heart like yours. When we doubt, when we feel insecure, when we feel like giving up, when we feel unloved, when we feel unworthy, when we feel uncard for, when we take our eyes off of you, RE-FOCUS on hearts and eyes on you. Remove the doubts. Remove the insecurities. Remove the fear. Remove the stumbling blocks that we put in the way of our belief. Help us with unbelief. Strengthen our trust in you and cause to be the extenders of your grace to ourselves and to others. Help us to forgive those who have hurt us and help us to forgive ourselves. Flood us with your grace, your love, your mercy, your kindness, your compassion, your wisdom, your discernment.
Change our lives. Change our hearts. Cause us to lift our eyes upward towards you where our help comes from. Fill us with your confidence. Protect the hearts of those in the study. Protect their time in your Word and as they read A Confident Heart. Cause us to become the confident women that you desire. Be their source of encouragement – their source of energy – their source of courage – their source of boldness – their source of grace.
I pray for Renee. Encourage Renee as you use the story that you have given her to minster to each of us. Direct her steps. Give her clarity of mind and speech. Protect her time in Your word. Protect her time with her family. Guard her heart and mind. Energize Renee. Cause her to lean into you for guidance and direction. Be with her family as she pours into each person during the study. Protect her family. Put a guard around her, JJ, the boys and Aster and Renee as she travels. As she finishes up her devotion, help her manage her time as you see fit and as you desire. Use her next week as she brings your truth to Kansas and Missouri. Use her message to change lifes at the retreat. Flood her with you so that she can pour herself out into those in attendance. Let your words and message flow through Renee flawlessly and transform hearts through them.
14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)
AMEN!!!!!!! I believe I may copy and past this somewhere so that I can pray it throughout the study
Donna, what a wonderful prayer. Thank you so much for sharing it here for all of us.
Yes and Amen!!!!
Dear Renee,
I already love you so very much. Thank you for opening up your life and your heart to reach out to other women. I need work in so many areas of my life that it is not even funny but atleast I care about getting there. Our son died two and a half years ago and I stopped caring about alot of things when he died.
It is time I get back on track with living for the Lord & being what I am supposed to be to myself & to my family. I am blessed. I have a great husband and a beautiful daughter.
I’m thrilled to be doing this bible study with you.
I just had to say thank you so much for all you do!
We love you~from all the lives that will be changed thanks to your love for women. God bless you sweet friend. You have a precious family. Hugs!
Some of my self-doubt comes by way of not believing that what the bible says really has anything to do with me. For example, the verse of the week, Jeremish 1:5. I have trouble believing that applies to me. The Lord is speaking to Jeremiah and it says that He knew Jeremiah before he was born and set him apart as his prophet for the nations. How do I know that applies to me, too? I guess because that is the nature of the Lord and if He did that for Jeremiah, then He must do it with all of us? Does that make any sense? Does anyone else have this issue?
I do that with scripture as well…tear it apart and question whether or not it is for me. The first covenant had conditions on it and was subject to specific people at specific times, but when Jesus died on that cross, it was for ALL of us, and when He rose again, it was for ALL of us. We are hidden away with Him and His new and everlasting blood covenant made all of those promises personal for us as well. I am by no means a Bible expert, but that is a simplified version of how I understand it. Anyone feel free to add on to or correct what I have said.
I haven’t read chapter 2 yet. But after reading this weeks verse I wonder what was I like before? Before this world tainted and scarred me? It is the who he created me to be but so weighed down by the hurts and regrets I am not living the way God intended me to.
My hope and prayer is that we all can stop living under the weights and in the prisons we get trapped in and under and start living in the freedom of Christ. For Him. With Him.
My husband, kids, and parents do love me very much so I know by reading through your posts that I am very fortunate for that. And I try not to take that for granted. I feel God’s love for me every day so I can relate closely to “A personal relationship with God sets us free to be all we were created to be” on p. 43. With so much happening in life is where my doubts come in. There is so much to do every day that I often fall short of completing everything that needs to be done for God and my family. Then I will likely lie awake at night worrying about what I failed to accomplish each day. Then I’m so tired the next day that it’s difficult to catch up on what I am behind on. It’s when I ask God to release me from my worries that a warm bear hug wraps around me. It is such a calming feeling. If it’s His will, I have another day to work on life’s to-do list. I am naturally a DIY person but when I finally realize I can’t control everything, God gladly steps in to help. All we have to do is ask and He’s there for us.
I am committed to continue reading despite my “thoughts” that it will do no good. As i receive notifications of responses I am a bit overwhelmed as i wish I could respond to every lady, I wish I could touch them, look into their eyes and let them know how special they are and that they are not alone. Isn’t funny how I don’t feel or believe it for myself though. I don’t understand why and my hearts desire is to be able to do so, to be able to truly believe that what I read, what I hear is for me too but I am numb. I ask myself when will it go from my head to my heart. I agree that I have to change my thoughts first and i try, I try so hard. When those thoughts come of “not for me” I acknowledge them and refute them as in going through the motions. I can not wait until they are gone and the truth replaces them not so much in my head but in my heart. I guess I will continue trying.
For now I continue going through the motions. Hoping that love and joy begins to infiltrate the minutes of my day and that doubt is vanished. I too, as I have read from many women, suffer from sever depression and it is a daily struggle but I guess God doesn’t let me give up because I keep moving and hoping. I just want the pain, the hurt, the tears to go away. I believe I am saved because God knows my heart but that is not enough to change the way I feel I guess. Thank you for taking the time to read, to contribute and to be an example of how powerful God is through the work he does.
Heb 10:25
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Chapter two was powerful, and so was the video. The section on Pretending was huge for me. “I put expectations of perfection on myself because I thought if I let others see my weaknesses and insecurities they would think less of me.” (pg 32) When I read that, I thought that was so spot on as to my prior way of thinking. I have been guilty of pretending that things are OK because I don’t want people to see the “real” me or my weaknesses As I continue walk with the Lord, He is teaching me that only He can fulfill me and my weaknesses. He knows EVERYTHING about me, which is awesome and freeing. “Jesus is the only One who can meet our deepest needs to be accepted and delighted in simply because of who we are.” (pg 41) To understand this Truth and to own it, is big! I find great comfort in knowing that it is OK for others to see all of me, including my faults and weaknesses. I do not have to be “prefect”!! I am human and am a sinner, not perfect, but try my hardest to glorify Him in all I do. He knows that! He loves me so much that He fills my every need and knows everything about me. Our God is awesome!
Never knew an earthly father’s love, my mom tried but because of the way she was raised, being seen and not heard, I was brought up in the same way. never felt loved or wanted. to this day I’m still longing for love and acceptance. I know Jesus Loves me. it’s firmly fixed in my head. Pray with me that like the woman at the well . God will fill me to over flowing with that living water; his word ,all doubt will be erased. God bless
Wow, what a chapter. The part that stuck with me, among many others, was “We’re convinced if anyone found out who we really are they wouldn’t let us into church.” So true for me – in fact, I’ve nearly stopped going because of all my insecurities as a “Christian woman.” (Only one child, I don’t homeschool, I *love* my work-outside-the-home, etc.) But so much of this chapter rang true! I was brought up that women need to ‘earn it’, that men are the only ones who will, and should, receive unconditional approval, no matter what. It’s something I’ve struggled with a lot – my schedule, and the pressure I put on myself, cause my husband worry and pain – and I hope this study will allow me to let Jesus help me with this.
Evelyn…try being a Christian woman with no children. Talk about feeling like I don’t belong in church! I never had the desire in my heart for children, so I didn’t have them. It was my choice, but not because I wanted a career or a big house or a nice car or anything like that. I truly did not have the desire in my heart for a child and I didn’t think it was right to have one if I didn’t want one just because I’m a Christian and it’s “expected”. I have struggled with my “worth” in God’s eyes because of this decision for a very long time. I hope He will speak to me throught this study.