I wish we could sit in a coffee shop and chat today.
I’d love to talk with you about things that may be weighing you down. They always seem to lighten when shared with a friend.
I’d tell you about the year I let my problems pile up… and how all that pressure almost took me down. It’s all in chapter 9 of my book, A Confident Heart, including the story about the time I accidentally took my dogs medicine. Yes ma’am. I sure did.
At the end of every chapter, I also share a prayer – weaving my tangled thoughts and sometimes-consuming concerns with His Words and wisdom. Praying in this way helps me to take my cares to Him with confidence, knowing when I pray His Word I am praying His will for me {and others}. Here’s the prayer that was birthed out of my piling up and tumbling down year:
Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way. When concerns consume me, remind me that You are with me, holding me by my right hand and guiding me with Your counsel. Though my flesh and my heart may fail, You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Help me turn my burdens over to You, knowing that You will take care of me.
Because You are my shepherd, I shall not be in want. You promise that when I dwell in the shelter of the Most High, I can rest in the shadow of the Almighty. You are my refuge and fortress, my God in whom I trust. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You preserve my life; You stretch out Your hand against the anger of my foes, and with Your right hand You save me. Thank You for making known to me the path of life and filling me with joy and peace in Your presence. In Jesus’ name, Amen. {See Psalms 139:23–24; 73:23–26; 55:22; 23:1; 91:1–2; 138:7; 16:11.}
From A Confident Heart by Renee Swope, Chapter 9
© 2013 by Baker Revell Publishing. All rights reserved.
Over the past few years God has been changing me and rearranging me. He’s taught me how to use prayer to turn my worry into worship. He’s also given me a practical way to physically hand Him my concerns! Since we can’t chat in a coffee shop today, I’d love to share them with you through this short video message:
Message Notes: You can download my “Video Message Notes” in a PDF here or in a Word doc here. They include the points of my message, verses and blanks to fill in. {If you’d like to watch more FREE Confident Heart videos based on my book, click here.}
FREE DOWNLOADS:
Download my “Printable Prayers Collection: How to Pray for Those You Love from Head to Toe.” Today, I’m offering “Praying for Your Husband from Head to Toe” {click here to download}YOU CAN also RECEIVE “Praying for Yourself from Head to Toe” and “Praying for Your Children from Head to Toe” when you sign up here to enter your name and email. Then come back so you can enter to win today’s giveaway below!
TODAY’s GIVEAWAY:
Share one thought or something you want to apply after reading today’s devotion, blog post or hearing my video message. Click “share your thoughts” right below this post and do just that. 🙂
Enter to Win one of 4 copies of A Confident Heart, OR the grand prize which includes A Confident Heart book PLUS a coffee shop gift card and a Godiva chocolate bar.
$40 in Confident Heart Resources {FREE}!! When You Purchase A Confident Heart this month, you can receive over $40 in FREE RESOURCES and EXCLUSIVE downloads.
Update on My Mom:
Thank you for your prayers for my mom. She’s had ups and downs but her kidney pain is less and less each day. Ive been concerned she had gotten pneumonia because she started running a fever, coughing, has had pain in her lower lung and some breathing issues {plus she has a history or pulmonary embolisms and has been off of her blood thinners for surgery.} We’ll be seeing her doctor on Monday to check on her kidney and lungs. I think she’s okay but it will be good to hear the doctor confirm that. 🙂
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I loved today’s devotional. It was perfect for me, reminding me that God does know the plans He has for me and my loved ones, and He does want me to have a hope in my future, and the future of those I love. Trusting that God’s will is really what is best can still be a struggle, when I want things to turn out a certain way, but knowing I can pray confidently, asking while believing that God’s will is going to be done just lifts the burden of worry right off my shoulders. Thank you for that reminder. Bless you!
I feel like the book would help me so much. I know that I can cast my prayers on The Lord. But in the past few months I have just gotten lazy about it. And would rather somebody else pray for my worries instead of go to him.
My prayer is that He will recall to my mind His word that applies to each situation. That His word becomes more alive and active in my prayer life as well as everyday living. Thank you for sharing that this is what He does for you. Blessings
I too have struggled with prayer in the past, thinking I am not conveying what I want, it isn’t in eloquent enough language, my tongue becomes tied, my mind goes blank, but lately with my husbands cancer diagnosis I have realized that God is my best friend, my comfort, my peace and I talk to him in prayer like I would a dear friend. I still have trouble praying in front of others or at Bible study.
The one thing a cancer diagnosis has pointed out to us is that God is in control, fear, worry, anxiety, grief all come to the forefront, you have to lay your cares at God’s feet and give him the burden or you will not make it through this life. Praise God, He loves us, He cares, He listens and He lifts us up at the most amazing times, I have learned to Be Still and Let God. To thank Him, worship Him, praise His name even while I have no understanding of why this is happening or where this road is taking us.
I still have purposefully STOP, and give my fears, worries and concerns over to Him, every day, sometimes 100 times a day, I know he his saying Martha, Martha, have I not told you I have this under control and you are to go on in living your life, loving, following My Word and I will take care of you, I will always be right there by your side, even when you turn from mine. This devotional just really hit home with my past year and some of the struggles, worries and concerns in my life. I hope it touches others to lay it at The Cross and feel God’s amazing love, mercy and grace.
God is gracious and He wants to carry your burden. Even now, He is protecting and healing your husband in His way. May you continue to trust Him and draw close to Him. You’re in my prayers.
I am so excited to have the prayer download for your husband , children & myself. Thank you! One thing I need to work on ,regarding prayer, is simply to pray consistently & more -much more- than I do. Thank you for the devotion,blog & printable. Prayer does change things- i know because I have seen it happen but life sometimes crowds out that which which is very important-like prayer. I am encouraged to try again with GOD’s help to pray consistently, specifically & regularly. ~Blessings~
Thanks for inspiring me to pray with confidence and to pray with scripture. Great way to start my day reading your blog. Thanks!
This such a wonderful chapter and helped me realize that I do fall into some healthy patterns of worrying. Renee nailed it, I’m afraid if I stop worrying about something, God won’t care about it either. Unless I do something about it, nobody else will. But it’s comforting to remember that He is in control. He knows and sees everything and nothing is outside of His grasp. I enjoy the power verse this week from Deuteronomy 33:12. It’s important for me to remember that I am God’s beloved and he wants to protect me and give me rest. How difficult it is to be Mary in a Martha world! One the woman leaders at my church admitted that she is definitely a “Martha” with “Mary” moments.
I’m finally understanding that the things God gives to us, we’re only meant to deal with them once. But if we choose to worry, then we are essentially dealing with them multiple times before they’ve even happened! Surrender is my key word this year. God wants me to surrender my worries and fears. His promises are enough for me.
“I’m finally understanding that the things God gives to us, we’re only meant to deal with them once. But if we choose to worry, then we are essentially dealing with them multiple times before they’ve even happened!”
That is so good Julie I never thought of it that way but you are sooooooo right!! Thanks for sharing that!!
I have felt the same about thinking God will not care….
You have no idea how many times what you said has been reiterated by several different people to me in the last 2 days!! Thank you for speaking God’s inspiration and praying for the joy that comes with surrender!
Feeling in a slump and my heart is anxious. I want to do God’s will and I am not sure what it is right now. Sometimes I think it is me lacking confidence and not trusting.
Dear Jennie, my heart goes out to you. I know how you feel, and I want to encourage you that God doesn’t expect us to be perfect, He never did. That’s why He came down for us. Don’t be so hard on yourself, it is a vicious cycle and that’s what the enemy wants. If you are not sure what God wants, maybe God actually doesn’t want you to know right now….that the answer is still not ready to be given…be patient, and wait on Him.
Easier said than done, so do something else while you wait – REST, REFLECT on His faithfulness, and READ….His answers may touch your heart through His Word. All He wants is your surrender, as a child in His arms – in your weakness HE is strong!! Your trust will grow more through time – remember, He’s not finished with you yet!! Give yourself some grace!!
“With God’s strength behind you and His arms beneath you, you can face whatever lies ahead of you.”
I love the writing our worries and cares on cards and then brining them to the cross and laying them at Jesus’ feet. I have a metal cross that hangs on my wall I am going to start writing them down and put them around that cross and I want to encourage my children to do the same.
Thank you so much for this book and online study. It has already made such a difference in my life. I am a little behind on the reading assignments but I don’t want to rush it. I want it to penetrate my heart and change my mind.
I read a devotion yesterday it was titled something like when you don’t feel like your enough…
There was a statement in it that spoke to me it said
“Those who keep tally want to know that they count”. I though how true. I have kept tally by comparing myself to others because I was trying up find value. I struggle in relationships with other women because it always seems like we are all in competition. This statement helps remind me we all want to know we matter and have value and until we find that value from God we will keep trying to keep score.
I wish I could just wave a magic wand on all the hearts of woman, we all have struggled and felt like less than what God created us to be. But we don’t need a magic wand because we have a loving Heavenly Father who is God who wants to fill us we just have to let Him fill all those empty hurt places and believe Him for it.
Thank you God for loving even me. I pray You help every woman in this study to be filled with Your love and confidence.
Love today’s devotional – thank you for your God-inspired wisdom! Not only have these tips inspired my own prayer life, I’m hoping that they will bless my daughters too as I encourage them with the same. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your devotional today and your video. What touched my heart the most was the visual of writing my concerns on an index card and laying them under the cross which represented casting my cares to Jesus. I have been working so hard these last nine days trying to detox my mind of negative thoughts and replacing them with God’s word, but yet I still seem to be hanging on to those cares and concerns. Thank you for sharing your heart and showing me that I am not alone. May GOD bless you abundantly for ministering to other women of GOD who feel inadequate.
This is just what I needed to hear today…. my husband and I just moved away from my family, our beautiful home and him being on staff at a large church to come take over a smaller church on the other side of the country. Thank you!
I try every morning to lay quietly and pray for strength and peace as I step out in the world. LORD be with me. Through out the busy and hectic day I try and stop and prayerfully look up and pray to God for help. I know that our strong and wonderful God is mightier than any problem. Needless to say I fail but I know I’m not a failure in my GOD’s eyes. Thank goodness my heart is only known to GOD. I know that my convictions are heart felt but yet I over look those feelings during my busy day at work. Thank you GOD for you only know my heart. Matthew 15:18 says “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart and these make a man unclean”. Keep my heart clean LORD.
I really appreciate hearing from you that at one time you had struggled with prayer. I realize that those I can learn from in ministry are not better than me spiritually, but they are someone that has been where I have been and didn’t give up when praying was hard. Thank you.
Thank you Renee for reminding me that His words are so powerful. Often times when I am struggling in my prayers I have not remembered that I can pray His words to Him. God is SO good, isn’t He? I am really going to put into practice your suggestion of writing down my worries and physically putting them away like that. So often I give them to God and then take them right back to worry about again! This will be a wonderful visual reminder that I have given them to God and need to keep them there. Thank you so much for your ministry!
I am going to take the time today to unload whether in my journal or verbally through prayer… I need it at this point in time. Life is getting real and I cannot just keep continuing on without unloading or soon I will crack under the pressure. Prayer for me please…
I always think my prayers are too simple so I don’t like to pray in front of others. I need to be reassured that God hears all our prayers. I don’t like to pray at a bible study I go to because I worry about what the other ladies will think of my prayers because I pray like I am talking to God like I talk to a friend not elaborate prayers like the other ladies do. I have had a lot to worry about the past few months because my husband has leukemia, his second bout with cancer in a year and a half and had double blood clots in his lungs that the doctor said should have killed him. A week after he got out of the hospital for 31 days our children & grandchildren were in a wreck. Thank God none of them were killed but did have injuries which God is healing them from.
God sees and He protects and provides. Trust that He can heal your family, physically, mentally, and spiritually. There is nothing wrong with praying simple prayers. God hears it all in our hearts.
Hey friend,
I cannot believe we are both doing this study and didn’t even know it! I admire you so much! God hears the heart of our prayers, not our words. You have such an amazing heart! I know God hears you and loves who you are! I love you too
Praying for a daughter who keeps me way at a distance…I feel she focuses her anger towards me for her bio mom dying of cancer when she was 3. She refuses to let me get close. (she is now almost 20) This encourages me to pray verses over her. Thanks.
you’re in my prayers today –
God promises to take care of us…
“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:19
Hello Renee,
I’m sitting hear drinking coffee out of my mug that says, “Amazing Grace”, as I read your devotion and listen to you share your heart for us…God’s heart for us. His timing is always so perfect. This is the scripture I read this morning before receiving your words of encouragement…
1 Timothy 1:5 Now the purpose of the commandment is love from a pure heart, from a good conscience, and from sincere faith.
Daily, I am learning to lean upon Father God and trust in Him for ALL my needs and my family’s needs.. We have walked 15 years with our son who has the diagnosis of autism. We are weary and much healing is taking place within my family. Daily, learning to not to worry and choose peace. Do I always succeed? no, but God’s Amazing Grace covers and am reminded to let go and let God.
Thank You so much for sharing your heart and prayers in God’s Word. My prayer is to have a “Confident Heart” in the Lord, so I can share and encourage others in their journey. I will be forwarding your devotion to a friend, who was sharing with me the other day, “What does God want me to do?”
Renee, you are a Blessing!!
Thank you so much for sharing about prayer. I just love that we can pray Scriptures and don’t always have to know what to say. I’m so thankful God gives us His Holy Spirit to guide us, not only in prayer, but in life. I appreciate your reminding me of these important Truths!