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 am a pastor’s wife, mom and work full-time outside the home, and can really relate to the overwhelmed, weary feeling you shared about. on top of everything else, my husband has serious health problems. one of the struggles I personally have with prayer is going to the Lord when I feel like i’m not “measuring up”. thank you for the reminder that he always hears us and has good plans for us. 🙂 praying Jer. 29:11 over my family today….blessings.
I struggle so with prayer and feeling confident in what I am doing, what I am saying and that God care’s about my thoughts and concerns. Thanks for the encouragement to stop thinking that I have to say the right things to be heard but to pray with confidence knowing His Word is “alive and active.”
What can I say? Like the Martha from the Bible I get involved in too many chores and I almost have to put my phone alarm to remind me that I have to spend time in the Word of God and then I have trouble concentrating because I’m thinking of all the things that I have to do. When I go to the Lord in prayer I have learned that I have to pray out loud because my mind will go to other way I don’t want and I always try to use Scripture as part of my prayers, especially promises…There are so many that we want to quote during prayer!
Thanks for reminding me to cast my worries to Him and to pray using Scripture.
Today’s post makes me feel even more like I need a lesson in praying the scriptures. I believe I’ve seen a book about the subject. It’s time to find that book and put together a study-group and really get a handle on this whole concept.
Thank you so much for the words of encouragement from today’s devotion. I know god does have a plan and he will protect my daughter and grandaughter.
I love that Psalm. Its been a prayer of my heart for a little while now.
The first thing that hit me after reading this was just how MUCH I let my problems pile and pile until I just can’t take it anymore (and then it’s as if I BURST w/ anger towards everyone!) It seems as if I go to prayer as a last resort instead of praying from the start (and not trying to take matters into my own hands!)
Thanks for the reminder!
I like how you started with praying about what you were anxious about, but then turned to show me if there be an hurtful ways in me. It turns out focus from the pain to showing us where God want to work in our lives. Knowing that He is going to be there to strengthen us as we become more like Him.
My devotion this morning was Psalm 55:22 (NASB) “Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” It’s easy to read it and tell other people to cast your cares on the Lord but when it comes to me having to do it, it doesn’t come as easy. Pray for me that I will learn how to leave my cares at His feet and stop picking them up. God bless you and thank you!!
I am one of those people you spoke about who has trouble when I have to pray. Sometimes I feel as if I am just rambling, not making much sense. I know it sounds lame, but I never thought to use scripture to pray. I read it, meditate on it, write in my journal, but I have never really prayed it. As I write this I feel like saying: Duhhhh Paula, what were you thinking? Thanks for the reminder.
Hi Rene, I want to thank you for writing this Holy Spirit inspired book. Back last year there was a free day to download your book which I did. Well in my business like ‘Martha’ I didn’t check to see if it downloaded properly. Then a few months later a friend of mine contacted me and asked if I had ever read your book as it so reminded her of my life and my walk. She said I should read it as all of her siblings and mother had a copy and were reading it. That is when I discovered it had not downloaded properly. So I went to the bookstore and just asked if they had a copy of it. Well the woman immediately looked it up and said that they had just ordered a copy in the day before. It wasn’t ordered for anyone in particular so I knew this was definitely Spirit led. Since I picked up this book and read it 3 times now it has encouraged me in so many ways and I have been able to share with other women the truth and power of praying His Word.
You have been an incredible inspiration to me to follow the things that God has placed in my heart to encourage other women to be all that God has created them to be.
Once again a reminder that we have a ‘choice’ in what we are to do each day. He gives us a free will to do things His way or be lead astray by many things. Of which these many things may seem good but not all these good things are beneficial. The most important thing is to seek Him first and ask Him to lead and guide us in every detail of our lives. He cares about everything in our lives and will lead the way if we let Him.
Thank you again for this constant reminder of His goodness, grace and mercy in our lives!
You truly are an inspiration and a blessing!
This devo is perfect for me! Thanks! I need prayers for health issues and a relative’s many issues. I have your book on Kindle, read it, and loved it. I want a print copy though so I can mark in it, rifle through the pages over and over! Thanks for the giveaway.
Blessings on your ministry~~~~
Sometimes when I voice or write down my concerns it makes them more real. Then I worry that thi gs won’t work out my way. Thank you for the reminder that Gods ways aren’t always my ways, but he does have me in the palm of his hand, protecting and loving me through the hard times,
For some reason I have struggled with prayer. Why do we need it if God is all knowing. I realize now, it was that I did not know how to pray to Him. I always talked with God throughout the day, but after getting married and having children, my time with Him became almost nonexistent. I have recently purchased other books on praying and am excited to start back in. I realilze as others have mentioned, it is the relationship that God wants. Thanks for the post. I will be back for more!
Worry is a huge struggle for me. Thank you, Renee, for the video today. I am going to start writing my worries on cards and giving them to Jesus. I can see how the act of doing this will be a visual reminder of who wants to take my worries away. I pray that I would consistently give my worries to God and leave them there, so I can live my life confidently and for His glory.
A group of friends of mine will begin this as a book study here in the next month. This group originated from a preschool mom’s group organized at church. Our children are now in high school/college and some are no longer at the same church, but the fellowship and friendships built, continue because of the reinforced strength of studies like this and shared love of Christ. We all wished each other a Happy Mother’s Day just this past week, acknowledging that none of us could have done or continue the job without each other. We each have different stories from our pasts and in our presents that are loaded with doubt and unsure situations, so this is our next adventure & we look forward to becoming more confident with our relationship with Christ.
I have been working in an emergency shelter for girls here in our town and your book A Confident Heart is not only helping me with my confidence – but it is also giving me some good things to help boost the girls confidence.
You see they are beaten down – feeling unloved and up rooted from everything that they know – most of the time the shelter is better than where they come from. Hopefully at best they will get placed in a foster home or at worst another emergency shelter. You see these girls are between 10-18 and most foster families don’t want the older girls because they come with so much emotional baggage and issues. My heart just breaks for them. I wish that I could afford to buy your book for all of them – unfortunately I can’t afford them. I would need to purchase at least 20 books maybe more – this home only allows 10 girls at a time and they are only allowed to stay for 90 days. Just about the time they start to trust us and believe what we are telling them about our Lord they get moved out of the shelter. We provide them with a Bible and hope that they will continue to believe the things that we are trying to teach them.
If you could add these girls to your prayer list I would be very grateful. And if you could pray that the Lord provides us with the tools and the words to help them to grow their faith.
Thank you for allowing me to tell you about this.
Sue
Yes. I need to be reminded every moment of every day that God already knows my heart. It benefits me to formulate my thoughts so I can understand what is really motivating my worries and fears. I often feel like I am praying at God giving Him a laundry list of my worries instead of really speaking to Him and listening to what He has to tell me. Thank you for reminding me that it is not just the casting of all my cares on Him but also the He truly cares for me.
I have been struggling with weather god is hearing my prayer and prayers of friends praying for my daughter and grandaughter that are in a very dangerous and scary divorce situation. I had even sent a prayer request to proverbs 31. Yesterday we received word that could only have been god answering prayers. My daughters ex pulled a gun on a man and it was not in self defense. We think it was during the time my grandaughter was with him. The man is filing charges against my daughters ex. So I plan to use today’s devotion to pick out scipture and turn it to prayers.
Thank you for using your wonderful abilities to bless so many.
Over the past year there have been many struggles,and if we did not know to pray and seek God the stress would have been unbearable!
I thank God for so many wonderful teachers and teachings He has placed in my life.
I am learning fresh new ways to walk in His loving presence daily!
God bless you