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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

  3. I did the survey. I’m sure it’ll be a very powerful book. Write on!

  4. In the rush of things last week, I filed this devotional to come back to it later. As God would have it, I came on a morning around 5:04 my times feeling broken, worthless, and asking the Lord to end my life now! I have been unemployed now for the first time in my life for 6 months! with no evidence of obtaining employment. I know that the Lord has a purpose in my life, but the enemy always bring my past failures, hurts to discourage me. After reading and taking the survey, I knew why I was suppose to read this at a later date. The Lord knew I would be in this”valley” place. Thank you and much blessing on your book.

  5. Done with the survey! I’ve read “Who Holds the Key” before and it’s one of my favorite books. If I win, I will give it to a friend who in desperate need to discover that. Even if I don’t win. haha. Thanks for the idea! 🙂

  8. I did the survey. 🙂 I have that Lysa T book already, haven’t read it yet, but have been thinking of doing it for the fall study in August on my blog. 🙂
    Loved the story of the rose bush you shared here Renee.
    Thanks for blessing me this Monday morning.

  12. Survery is completed…Also I Just wanted to say thank you for all your encouraging words of faith & hope. Proverbs 31 Ministry is such a blessing. I wish you much success with your book. May God Bless You & May You Continue to Grow in His Word. Thanks so much for all you do!! I enjoyed the survey just seeing myself what my replies were.

  13. Renee–
    Oh! I miss you…it’s been awhile since my last visit!! Took the survey. Love what I’m seeing.

    I’ve been praying for your writing.
    Hope to be back soon to get completely caught up.

    Hugs and Prayers,
    lisa

  14. Did the survey! You are now one person closer to your goal! Can’t wait to read the book!

    Jennifer Harvey

  15. Girl, I took that survey and would read anything you have to say about doubt. I still remember your talk from last years She Speaks and loved everything about it. Preach it up! Can't wait to hear more.

    and so fun to see your comment on my blog today 🙂

  21. Thanks for the survey and for the info that I received about myself! I appreciate your taking the time to share your gifts with others in an effort to help us become more encourage everyday!

  24. I have completed the survey. It was good to take a moment and think about how doubts affect my life. Thanks for your blog!

    Kate

  25. I completed your survey. Your post for May 28th reminded me that God is available ALL the time for ME. I need to remember to come to him when hurts and doubts plague me, remember he is always there, and trust that he has healed those situations causing the hurts and doubts. Thank you for following God and helping us.

  26. just finished the survey, looking forward to reading the book!

    Thank you for letting God use you with words and in so many ways. You have touched my heart many mornings!!

  27. You have accomplished so much and you are blessed you speak the truth and you speak into so many lives, so many blessings to you and your purpose. I
    believe in you and especially in the closeness that you are able to provide everyone with Gods words.
    God bless.

  29. Renee,

    Thanks for your survey. I was happy to take it and pray you get your 500+ and the research you need!
    God bless!

    Paula

  30. completed the survey…thanks so much for sharing your heart! <3 looking forward to reading your book...just remember, without doubt do we really have faith?? ^_^ may God continue to bless you and your ministry.

  34. Dear Renee,

    I completed the survey, and it revealed how much my doubts affect my life and my relationships. Thank you for the well-timed reminder to look to God to see who He created me to be rather than the image I see before me.

    Sincerely,
    Crystal

  35. Hi Renee!

    I completed the survey. I didn’t think twice about some of the answers and then afterwards was surprised by how I answered some of them!

    Michelle

  37. I completed your survey. I am a new P31 subscriber and I’ve been through a very difficult 18 months. God has sustained me and my faith in Him is strong but after finding my spouse cheating at age 61 I feel rather useless these days. Thank you so much for your encouraging words.