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Renee Swope

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

Read An Excerpt: Chapter 1 & 2

About Our Doubts

Click here to complete my mini-survey and for a chance to win a book!You are blessings me to pieces with all your comments and surveys. I’m going to leave this up through the weekend and make some big announcements on Monday. Have a great weekend my faithful and wonderful friends!!

Welcome to those linking over from my P31 devotion. As I shared, my heart needs lots of repairs and Jesus is always there offering to do them. But sometimes it’s to doubt it’s possible. Or we doubt ourselves and our futures when our lives feel broken; our dreams shattered. For years I allowed the pain of my past to keep me from believing God had hope for my future. I let insecurities and doubts keep me from living in the assurance of God’s promises and the confidence of God’s love.

Give-away and Mini-Survey
Now I sense God calling me to help other women walk out of the shadows of their doubts and live in the confidence of who God has created and called them to be. I’m writing a book on the topic of a woman’s doubts. I know that publishers want to hear what a woman is thinking and feeling, and needing for encouragement. So, I created a mini-survey (6 questions) that will help determine the focus of each chapter.

Pretty please, would you take two minutes to complete the short survey and then come back to let me know you did. As my thanks to you, I’ll be giving away 4 autographed copies of Who Holds the Key to Your Heart? So, please take the survey and leave a comment below this post telling me you did it. I’m praying for 500+ responses!!! You can help by telling friends and sending a link. If you get others to complete it, tell me and you’ll have two chances to win. I’ll do the drawing Monday! THANK YOU so much!!!

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More encouragement for today…

When God Takes Broken and Makes it Beautiful

My dearest friend’s husband, one of my favorite pastors, had been told his position was being eliminated. She would be moving – hours away. This was the woman who had believed in me. Invested in me. Encouraged me. Prayed for me, and stood beside me as I walked through my fears and doubts to follow God’s calling to write and speak.

This was my women’s ministry leader. The one I was going to serve alongside until we both shriveled up and went to be with Jesus. This was the woman had built one of the most amazing women’s ministries in the country. And now it was broken!

My heart was broken, too. I didn’t know how to process my pain.

I thought yard work might be a good distraction for my despair. As I walked into our backyard, I noticed a rose bush the previous homeowner had planted in the center of our split rail fence. It was in full bloom, expressing her glory through the display of gorgeous pink blossoms across the center of the fence.

How did that happen? I wondered.

Although I’d never used it, I knew we had rose food in our shed so I decided to fertilize the bush to help her sustain her blossoms.

As I pulled the weeds back, clearing the way for plant food to sink into the soil, I noticed the root ball divided into four sections. Then a thought ran through my mind. Should I leave them all together, or pull them apart and place them at different posts on the fence? If I separated them and planted the sections in fertile soil at separate posts, their vines would eventually connect and create a blanket of pink draped across the whole fence.

I knelt before the blossoming beauty and pressed my hands into the dirt, trying to find the right places to separate the root ball. That’s when I felt God whisper to my heart.

Renee, do you see this plant? It’s what I see when I look at you and the women’s ministry you love. Each of you serving on the ministry team has been carefully planted in your giftedness, nurtured and encouraged through prayer, equipped through training, fertilized by opportunities to serve and you have produced fruit…fruit that will last!

But, like this plant, you have reached the fullness of My glory in your current soil. You and the rest of the team are ready to divided into separate plants so that my glory in each of you will be more fully displayed as you are uniquely and individually planted in new places of ministry.

What? Surely MaryAnn leaving wasn’t the only uprooting I was about to experience? I couldn’t bear the thought. More pruning? More breaking up of what has taken years to establish?

I had just gotten to where I was comfortable and felt courage to step and do more in ministry. I was surrounded by women who loved me. We were a team and I just couldn’t do it without them. Yet, as I imagined God’s glory like that of the rose bush being more fully displayed, my heart settled into a place that felt very right. It wasn’t my plan, but if it was for His glory, wasn’t that what I wanted? Would I trust Him to heal the brokenness and pain and bring something good from it?

That day I knelt on Holy ground in front of my rose bush and surrendered the broken dreams in my heart. Even if it meant letting go of what I loved so deeply, it would be worth it if others would see HIM more clearly. Somehow I knew that with God’s care, our vines would cross again in the Kingdom, and His beauty would be more gloriously seen in these new places where He was about to plant each of us.

That was five years ago. I honestly don’t think I’d be who I am today if God had not uprooted my plans and redefined my dreams.

It’s hard when God allows our hopes to be shattered, our hearts to be broken, our relationships to be fractured, our fears to be realized. I really doubted any good could come from such loss. I doubted that I could make it through the pain.

Like the uprooting of that rose bush some of my leaves wilted, some stems were cut back, petals fell to the ground and some branches had more thorns than blossoms for a while. It took time for me to get re-established in new soil. But God plan for His glory became evident each day that I surrendered to His power and trusted His plans more than mine.

I didn’t think I could make it but God took my doubts and created absolute dependence on Him. I pray that somehow today you see His glory more fully in me and in yourself as we depend more fully on Him, to take our broken and make something beautiful.

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If you haven’t yet, please complete my short survey and then leave a comment below so I can enter you for a chance in the give-away! My hope and prayer is to have 500 surveys for my book research. THANK YOU!!!

Comments

  2. I completed the survey. This is my first time here through a link at Crosswalk and I have found it a blessing. Thank you so much!

  6. I’ve completed the survey, but I also wanted to share that doubts have plagued me ever since I became a mom. In fact, I wouldn’t call them doubts but beliefs in my utter failure to bring up these gorgeous, precious kids the Lord has blessed us with. I’ve asked the Lord a million times to help me be more patient, kind, loving to my children. I love them, but somehow manage to forget that when the irritating things happen and I’m too drained to be patient. Second belief would be that I’m also a failure to my great husband. I’m the wife with such high expectations that he can never meet. Basically, my doubts come in the form of “my family deserves better and I’m sorry they ended up with me”. Anyways, I hope that helps with your book writing and that this can help you speak to women experiencing similar doubts.

  8. I bless & thank God for creating people like you i.e love for God love man, Faith/Trust in God & sharing it with your testimony to others. Reading it, I felt lifted up from cloudy mood. I am filled with spiritual (positive)new energy going back to my daily responsibilities. I liked very much the scenary, I felt I was resting under one of the trees there in that peaceful place. Yes, I am in a similar situation as you were, but not any more. God bless you. Jesus loves you and I love you too for what you are!

  9. Just finished the survey. Thanks for opening my eyes to how doubt impacts my daily life. Looking forward to reading your book.

  11. I am gettin really fond of your quizzes they truly are helpful in looking at areas in my life I try to bury or hide. Continued success with the book, and I took the quiz I’m here whenever you need another quiz taken, at least I can pass these unlike my high school algebra quizzes. Love and Coninued support

    Your sister in Christ
    Jessica B

  14. I completed your survey Friend. I wish that I had something intelligent to say, but I DOUBT that my words would be the right ones. 🙂 ha

    I love you.

  16. I completed the survey. Please enter me in the drawing. God bless you for what you do!

  22. I really took my time thinking through my answers on the survey. I think doubt enters my life more than I knew, yet in some ways I am unwilling to part with it as it challenges me to look more deeply into myself and my life.

    I look forward to your new book, and I pray for your guidance as you write it for us all!

    Blessings,
    Colleen

  23. I took your survey – great questions!! I would really like to read the book when it is complete!! Thanks for all you do! I was fortunate to be able to hear Lysa Terkeurst speak in person a few weeks ago and picked up two of her books – the two “What happens” books. Started reading one already! Love the P31 devotions I get each day, also!!
    God Bless You!
    Dori Cox
    Robinson, IL
    [email protected]

  24. Hi, friend!
    Just posted about your survey. Not that it will send droves of women your way by any means ;), but hopefully it will help if even a tiny bit.

    Lots of love,
    K

  25. Did the survey and now I am full of doubts! Just kidding! ;o)

    Thanks for following God’s lead in this, and for continuing to stand in the shadow of His cross.

  27. Did your survey! Thank you for your words. I lost my 3rd child, Lindsi, in January of 2007. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has incredible purpose in all that happened. I still have my times of working through deep pain, frustration, and anger. But it is getting easier. God has been so patient with me and so faithful. It is so true – the painful things are necessary – they refine us in ways we could never imagine. I know He is sufficient and will heal my brokenness.

    Jennifer

  28. Hi, Renee. I completed the survey. God’s blessings as you write – it’s a great topic!

  29. I completed the survey and it was truly a blessing to read it, can’t wait to read your book. Thank you for your devotionals each day as well, such an encouragement.

  31. Survey really made me think and realize how much doubt affects me and those around me. Thanks for sharing so much of you with us! I am looking forward to your book.

    Dominique ([email protected])

  33. I took your survey. Great questions! Phil 4:6-9 has taught me much about doubt and worry.

  34. Hi Rene, …. I just completed the survey! The book ideas look great!!! Trust your day is doubt-free!!! (And, just for the record, my twin sister is “Joyful”!) God Bless, Japhia

  37. Just taking the survey was an eye-opener! Thanks Renee for asking and getting us to think. May you find His encouragement and power through this time of knitting all the pieces together.

    Betsy

  39. the survey is done and really shows how much the past still has a hold- the doubts and fears even as a child of Christ. Look forward to your book!

  41. Hi Renee, I completed the survey. I think it is wonderful that you are writing a book about doubts. If we never stopped to ponder our short commings so much just imagine what we could actually be doing!! I’m sure it will be awesome.

    Jennifer

  45. Survey done. Thanks for your message. Proverbs31 devotions always speak to my heart.

  49. You’re halfway to 500! Never doubt that you can make it all the way! I took the survey and am commenting as asked, and I have no doubts that someone will win the book… and that might just be me! 😉