“In the security of our relationship with Christ, God wants us to ask questions and look for answers that usher us into the depths of His redeeming love. He wants to give us the courage to live in the promise that He offers hope for our future despite the pain of our past.”
from Chapter 4, A Confident Heart
___________________________
Our Word for the week: HOPE
(Download in a PDF or download in MSWord). Please print it and post it everywhere this week.
HIS Word for us this week:
“May the God of hope fill [me] with all joy and peace as [I] trust in him, so that [I] may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13, NIV
Our Assignment for Today:
- Read the prayer at the end of Chapter 4 to begin your day. Start or continue reading chapter 4.
Remember, take your time and highlight or underline sentences that resonate in your heart. - Let’s commit to memorize this week’s verse together :)!
My friend Heather is a Word girl!! When she was in college she performed in over 14 plays and memorized hundreds of lines, so I’ve asked her to share some tips to help us hide God’s Word in our hearts this week. Here are a few she shared. I’ll post more each week.
Ideas for Memorizing Scripture
- Write the scripture on several index cards or post-it notes and place them in areas where you will see them frequently throughout the day. Examples: on the bathroom mirror, refrigerator door, in the car, at work, etc…
- Get a stack of index cards and on each one write one or two words from the verse, including the reference. Shuffle them up and see if you can put them in the correct order again. Save the cards and reuse common words found in other verses.
- Send the verse to friends and family by typing, texting, or writing it out by hand. You can look at the verse, but do not copy and paste! Try writing it at least once a day.
- Study with a friend, your spouse, or teach it to your kids! Quiz each other and keep each other on track. What a great way for families to spend time in the Word together!
- Change the wall paper on your computer to an image that has your Bible verse.
Connecting in Community:
As we read chapter4 this week, let’s share our hearts below – answers to the questions, sentences we’re highlighting, thoughts we’re thinking, feelings and fears we’re experiencing. This can be a hard chapter for some because it addresses our past and our pain. Let’s pray for each other each day and commit to memorize this week’s verse together! If you are in, leave a comment by clicking on “share your thoughts” and tell us how you plan to memorize it. I’m writing it on a ceramic plate in my kitchen. I’ll be praying it for you every time I see it.
REMEMBER: If you are reading this via email, click here to return to my website to connect in community. That is the best part of an online study, so I hope to see you there!
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I really like this idea and think I will go with it■Get a stack of index cards and on each one write one or two words from the verse, including the reference. Shuffle them up and see if you can put them in the correct order again. Save the cards and reuse common words found in other verses.
I am truly enjoying this book study…praying for you all this week 🙂 God Bless
I will commit to memorizing Rom. 15:13 I will put it on post-it notes and place them around the house and I will put it on my computer desk top. In my life I have had some serious pain and hurt. I questioned why God allowed it he could have stopped it from happening. I had prayed and prayed that he would not let it happen. But it did and he walked me through it, carried me through a lot of it when I felt I couldn’t make it one more day. God taught me so much through all of the pain and I know now I can trust him with anything. It took a lot of praying, studying his word and trusting what God’s word said. Thank you for your time to do this Bible Study it is a blessing.
As I am writing down the chosen Bible verse I think about each word as I write. I think about the verse as I go about my day. Reading it from a post-it I carry with me in my pocket, when neccessary. I also pray and ask God to help me understand the words as I am memorizing.
I will truly write this down, and share it with my family & with my facebook family as well. Thanks for inspirational words by God that will be written in my heart externality.
I love the verse from 2 Cor 1:3-4 “the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.” It’s evident here with ladies lifting up others who are struggling, sharing their own experiences to give others hope that God does know what we’re feeling, He hasn’t abandoned us. I too struggle with how to give up control to Him. I’m working through that right now with my kids, taking all of their struggles and hurts on myself because somehow I think if I don’t do everything right, my kids are going to suffer & go through hurts & experiences my brother & I went through. I’m trying to find that balance of where my “control” ends, and where I rely on God so I can be a better mother & wife, not one whose total identity is wrapped up in her kids’ lives.
Praying for everyone here, that you all find the peace & comfort from God. Renee, I love this book and this study, thank you so much for all of the work and effort you put into this project!!
These are all such great ideas – and I have done a few in the past as well. What I did this time is to print out the great Hope download from Renee with the lovely pink heart and all. 🙂 I put it in my bathroom and while drying my hair (it takes a long time 😉 ) I think I had the whole thing memorized. It is a verse that makes sense to say too, as you are thinking about how it goes – and that helps tremendously. 🙂 We all need hope, and joy and peace, to sustain us daily and I will repeat this to myself every day! 🙂
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Romans 15:13 I ‘hope’ I got all the words right – and that is my prayer for each of you ‘sisters’!
With His love…
But any time we bury a hurt that’s still alive, it just rises from the dead to haunt us.
I know ALL to well the reality of this statement.
True freedom comes from giving it to Jesus and forgiveness. Forgiveness is a choice and a decision made on the truth of God’s word.
I will soon be 53 years old. My past still haunts me. I have so many scars that effect my life in such negative ways. Abused from the age of six sexually, physically, emotionally and mentally. I have been in such deep depression, that I have wanted to die. With the resent loss of my sweet brother( who was often my protecter) I have at times lost all hope, clinging to Jesus, trying to find some hope to live. Socially, I cannot cope. We were always moving and I went to 18 different schools. I never had the chance to learn social skills, I was always the new girl and I hated it!! Still have nightmares of walking into classrooms and everyone starting at me. But mostly my nightmares are of not being able to find my way around the schools,always lost. I am a very quiet person and always struggle with what to say when I am around people. The only time I am comfortable is when I am home by myself. I prefer my bedroom and sleep over anything. I’ve tried over and over to truly give it all to Jesus. I will do better for alittle while, then I’m back to the person I hate being. I will fight to stay until Jesus calls me home, oh but how I look forward to that day!!! I read all of chapter 4, but I don’t think that my heart will ever be confident. Maybe I don’t fully trust in Jesus like I should and I hate that because I know He died for me and expects more from me. I have forgiven my abuser( my stepdad) and then 5 of his 7 brothers, so at least that is not a problem for me. I do my best to…Trust in The Lord with all my heart, and lean not on my own understanding, acknowledge Him in all my ways and He will make my paths straight. Prov 3:5-6
Debbie- Praying for you that you experience God’s grace as you surrend your life to Him daily.
Praying for you, dear Debbie
Debbie, my prayers are with you. Without going into detail, I want you to know that I have experienced simular situations as you have. I truly understand how diffucult it is to heal. It’s not impossible. With God all things are possible. I learned to reach out to others. I learned how to be a victor and no longer the victim. I started reading my Bible and daily devotions every day. I learned to lean on God. Having a personal relationship with my Heavenly Father. Met many wonderful christian friends through Bible studies. I do everything I can to keep my focus on Jesus Christ. Including this online Bible study with Renee. Prayer is important, its talking to God on a very personal level. Build your relationship with your Heavenly Father and you will heal with time. Be patient, stay in faith, continue with this online Bible study and know we are all praying for you. God will help you grow and become more confident.
Thank you Jerrianna,Marina and Susan, I don’t usually say to much, but this chapter dug deep. I know all things are possible with Christ, but since I have prayed most of my life for release of my painful past with no change. I have been to two Christian canselors. The only good result from that was forgiving my abusers. I guess the thorn in my side will have to stay and his grace will be sufficient for me. In my weakness He is strong. I will praise Him come what may!! May God bless us all as we strive to be all He has planned for us to be.
Debbie- Praying that by the end of this study, as you press in closer to Jesus and trust Him to heal you that you can say boldly that you have a confident heart.
@ Debbie,
I suffer from depression, soical anxiety and low self esteem too, force myself to go out, I take meds for it, are you on meds? If not maybe you should consider that avenue, it isn’t a weakness if you have to take them, it’s like any other medical condition you might have. Have you taken off your masks and told ppl how you feel? I have started doing that & it is such a freeing feeling, no one has rejected me yet, & I feel closer to all the ppl I have told, no more ‘hiding & pretending’ with them.
When I get discouraged I keep telling myself the God that created everything plus myself loves me to pieces, and keep reminding myself to trust Him fully with my life, which is very hard for me, but getting easier as i see how He’s working in me.
You must be a very strong person to have come this far, God does have a purpose for your life, just trust, trust, trust Him. Hope this helps in some way, I fell led to write this, so God is working already, will be praying for you!
Wow, after reading the comments and writing down so many wonderful thoughts and quotes, I went back and reread the chapter. Doing this bible study(my first online and on my kindle) has taught me that I need to take notes while I read. HOPE is what I am holding on to, as I TRUST the Lord to restore my marriage. My pain is not in my past but right now in my marriage. I could relate to so many of you. Satan is attacking marriages. I am standing strong that the Lord is going to bless my marriage as I daily give it to him. Renee I liked when you said “Learning to live in the security of God’s promises is a daily journey of dependence.” So many times I want to be the one to fix my marriage but I need to depend on God daily. I also like how you reminded us that DOUBTS will creep up and when this happens we need to stop and seek God’s perspective. God’s perspective is the only perspective I want to see.
I am writing my verses on index cards and sharing with my MOPS moms. I am also part of the teaching team for our women’s Sunday school class and I am encouraging the team to do this study for the summer. Thanks Renee for sharing your heart with us.
I have been doing alot of thinking since I have read chapter 4 of the book. My therapist who is a christian always says we have to ask God what he thinks about something before we do it. Sometimes I get frustrated with her because i see how much she trusts her whole heart and sole in him. I wonder somedays to myself how can she be so calm about all that is going on. I grew up in a real abusive family and have alot of trust issues as well as emotional issues. She said that I need to put all my faith in God and trust that he will help me. I just want to the hurt from the past to go away but, for me it isn’t that easy, I have to work through all the pain and do it with trust in God and know that he truly is by myside. BUT HOW IS ALL I WANT TO SCREAM BACK AT HER! How can I do this without going insane? Because she says you are a child of God and he is your heavenly father and will not hurt you or let you down.God is here to help you to heal not to hurt you as those in your past have done so. There is such a person known as Gentle Shepperd and every part inside of you knows who Gentle Shepperd is. Gentle Shepperd is the one that my little ones refer to as their God. Anyway I don’t like going through the battles of healing,yet I guess know in order to heal I have to walk through the pains of the past. So, i guess this is where I end for now.
Robin,
Your message touched my heart and I feel that I need to share with you how I was able to overcome a lot of my past hurts. They didn’t happen overnight and so in order for me to forgive the person that hurt me I had to take baby steps and handle one at a time. It was only when I started doing that, then I could see just how God was helping me to handle the hurt. For 40 years I carried a hurt in my heart and in my mind. It was the death of my baby sister (she died on Christmas Eve back in 1969). I babysat her (I was 17 at the time)and I blamed myself for her death, which I know now I wasn’t to blame. It was during that time of the year I would be reminded that perhaps I could have done something, I shouldn’t have been jealous of her, I shouldn’t have wished that she would be dead, and on and on….This last year I believe in my heart that God talked to me during a time that He knew I would really listen to him. It turns out that not only did I find out that her death had nothing to do with my babysitting her, nor because I was jealous that she was getting all the attention, but I also learned that my choices that I made after her death was me searching for LOVE, I felt that my family blamed me, etc….but God showed me that I was not to blame myself anymore. So it is with baby steps that I continue to handle the different things that have happened to me over the years. And I know that it isn’t always easy, but it is possible. Have I had doubt or setbacks over the years the answer is YES. I will continue to pray for you and ask that God will guide you through this process also. You are not alone…..
This chapter has also brought up memories of past mistakes and things that have happened to me that still affect me today. I’ve been working through some of it in my journal and was brought to tears yesterday just thinking about the mistakes I’ve made and overwhelmed that God does still love me. The Holy Spirit really did show me how I have hurt others as well.
I’ve been struggling with exactly where God wants me right now. Reached out to several opportunities but nothing seems to work out which makes me think I’m on the wrong path. Just two days ago, God brought the opportunity to share something painful with someone who was hurting so maybe that is what he wants me. I’ll keep trying to listen for His promptings
“Broken is Beautiful is Broken”–
I love broken because I know God is gonna work in me—change me—bring me to a new place, with Him!!! I, too, struggled with divorce, death of my 2nd husband and a soulmate with alcoholism. I am not in a relationship now and am still afraid of being in one. I have been alone for almost (5) years now. I still struggle with letting go and letting God take care of this part of my life. It is hard to admit that I am still scared of having a man in my life, so I say I don’t want one, but I also don’t want to grow old alone. I must believe that God has the plan for me and for my future, whether it be alone or with someone, I KNOW HE is with me always and his unconditional love is the bestest!!!!!
The first time I read through chapter 4 I was thinking all about me. It’s true…I have suffered many, many significant hurts in my life. I underlined lots and lots of things that I will want to remember for the future. It so impacted me that I decided to read through it again last night. When I did something wonderful happened! You see, I have been harboring quite a lot of unforgiveness toward my husband over all sorts of things from the way he hasn’t released hurts from his former marriage to his anger to the way he treats my children to the way he treats me and the list goes on and on. I have harbored such anger and hurt that I have recently come to the point of losing hope in our marriage. I have distanced myself from him and I even stopped wearing my wedding ring last week.
Last night while I was reading through again God whispered, ever so gently, into my heart that it’s not just me who hurts, it’s my husband too. He started to melt my heart of stone and fill my heart with a compassion for my husband that I haven’t felt in many years.
“Invite God to enter into those memories with you. Give yourself time to grieve your losses as you ask Jesus to heal them with the power of the Holy Spirit as you focus your thoughts on transforming truths in His word. As He shows you broken places, ask Him to bind up every wound with His healing touch and set you free from any captivity that has held you until now”…Wow! Praise God He has started to soften my heart toward my husband and now I can start the REAL process of forgiving and praying FOR my husband instead of just ABOUT him.
I sincerely ask for your prayers as I embark on this journey. The hurts go deep and my heart has been very hard. Please pray that I will be able to forgive and to encourage my husband with the compassion God has granted me. For the first time in a LONG time I feel hope!! Putting my wedding ring back on right now 🙂 because God’s love is sufficient for both me and my husband.
Praise God, I will be praying for you and your husband!! 🙂 God Bless you for listening to the voice of God!!
Stephanie…please have hope. You are right! God’s love is sufficient for both you and your husband. And you can chose love for your husband because God loved you first. God’s grace & mercy are new every day, and I will pray for you. So glad you put your ring back on.
Lord please help Stephanie be open to receiving Your grace and love. We are confident You are already there in Her hurt Lord, and we ask You to send healing thru the truths of Your promise for us as Your beloved children. We ask for her to have courage thru You to surrender her husband’s heart to You…help her have confidence You have a plan for him as well. You are our Jehovah Rapha, and we love You. In Jesus’ sweet name we pray. Amen!
Thank you ladies!! Your prayers really carried me through. The enemy tried to derail my thoughts last night but I was able to put him in his place through prayer! I’m choosing love today because I will have the opportunity to confess these things to my husband and ask his forgiveness. Keep the prayers coming 🙂
Hi Stephanie
I will be praying for you and your husband and the forgiveness you know God will grant.
In Christ Love
BELIEVE TRUST HOPE
Mark 11:24 (NLT)
verse 24 I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you BELIEVE that you’ve received it, it will be yours.
Proverbs 3:5 (NLT)
verse 5 TRUST in the Lord with all your heart;
do not depend on your own understanding.
Hebrews 11:1 (NLT)
Great Examples of Faith
verse 11 Faith is the confidence that what we HOPE for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.
I set as background the wallpaper in my laptop three verses as above.
God loves me as God Loves you all women! You are in my prayers. Say in Prayer: LORD, I will NOT give in to my weakness. I will be STRONG to the end! Philippians 4:13 ( I can do all things throught CHRIST who strengthens me).
Blessings!
Your comments are beautiful. I’m encouraged to see how The Lord is healing so many of you through this study. He knows our situations and will use them to help others. Keep on sharing. You never know how He will use your story to help someone else and at the same time bring healing to your situation. This is a powerful tool. God is here in a powerful way, healing hurts, growing us, mending marriages and broken hearts. Don’t be discouraged. Press in to Him. Jesus loves us more than we know and wants to be our Joy and Peace. I need to surrender more and more to Him. It’s hard but knowing He is for me brings comfort. I’m praying for us all to rest in Him. Psalm 46:10 Be still and know that I am God.
Chapter 4 is place where I am. Last few months God has been showing me I need to forgive. And I want to, but it’s not happening. I was very hurt by my family as a child and young adult. Well, they still do some things that hurt me.
I feel like I could forgive them what they did if they showed me they were sorry. But they think they are good parents, grandmother, aunts… I am damaged by them, and they don’t care.
I want to forgive them as Jesus forgave me. I do not want to be hypocrite and I do not want to be in captivity of my own unforgiveness.
I just read chapter 4 this morning. How encouraging that God will build up our broken places! On my way home from work last night I heard the last few minutes of a sermon that kind of ties in here. The pastor was talking about how if there had been no tree in the garden and man had not fallen how it would be different. He then said, but how much more do we understand God’s love because we have failed? Isn’t that true? Our failures of the past are used by God to help us better see who He is and how much He loves us. What a compassionate and merciful God we serve!
I have printed the message and will carry it with me throughout the week.
Reading through the posts, makes me deeply appreciate my family and God more than ever. My family is very good to me, and God blesses me in more ways than I could ever mention. My prayers are going out for all of you who are experiencing painful relationships and battling satan in your daily lives. I pray that soon you are able to experience the joy and freedom God wants for each and every one of us. Listen for God’s message in your hearts and trust His message. God is never wrong. I’m human and struggle with a few things. God continuously shows me how wonderful He is, so I listen for the messages.
During my second pregnancy, I thought I had miscarried. In a sense, I did. I was carrying twins, but one baby did not develop so my body reacted in the normal fashion. My husband and I were sad to lose the one baby but were happy that God let us keep the other one. As the pregnancy progressed, things began to look bad. The baby God let us keep wasn’t growing fast enough and blood tests and ultrasounds suggested a large array of health problems so my doctor suggested terminating the pregnancy. Because even if my baby survived the pregnancy, he likely wouldn’t live more than two years that would be spent in countless doctor’s offices. Needless to say, I cried. Because of the overwhelming amount of tears she sent me for another ultrasound at the hospital. The results from that ultrasound made the situation look a little better so she sent me for a second opinion with doctors who specialize in problem pregnancies. They’re diagnosis looked even better. My prayers to God were to help me make the right decision. My prayers were answered. The little voice in my heart told me that God didn’t take the wrong baby. God doesn’t make mistakes. So I listened to that message and didn’t terminate the pregnancy. That baby will be 16 years old this month. And he’s as healthy as ever. I receive messages every day from God and this one important message has led me to pay attention to every message God puts in my heart. My hope lies in these daily messages. Praise God!
It seems like as I read this book, I see areas that still need attention and I know that God is helping me to realize that His love for me is never going to change. I have never had the love of a father till I became a Christian and I’m still learning how to trust Him to always be there no matter what. This chapter is a catapult in my life. I feel like I am beginning to understand more about who I am in Him and be able to turn away from who I thought I was. My future and my hope are good because it is God’s plan for me. I never realized until recently that all the things that happened to me were so I could comfort others. Thank you for bringing that up to me. I do usually talk to people about it when it comes up but never knew how to turn the hurt over to Him completely.
This week, I keep being reminded of Jesus’ words on the cross, “It is finished.” I take that to mean my shame, my pain, my regrets, how others have treated me, how I’ve treated others …all nailed on the cross, all are finished. When thoughts pop up to weigh me down, I say, “It is finished.” So far, so good! profound peace! circumstances haven’t changed but, at least right now, my emotions are balanced.Thank you, Jesus, for the marvelous work you do in my life and for restoring me and my heavenly Father! I believe you, Jesus!
AMEN Powerful words!! Thanks Cammie