“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9
“God, my hope and my strength. My ability to move and breathe. My peace. My way. My life. You are my wisdom and my direction. You are my joy and the source of all my strength. You satisfy my soul. I love you Jesus. Thank you for how you love me.”
I wrote these words in my journal, when I quite honestly didn’t feel any of these things. I felt like I had lost hope and had no strength. And from that place, I didn’t want to move and I even felt like I could breathe. Peace felt a million miles away, and finding it felt impossible. My joy wasn’t there because I wasn’t setting my heart on WHO joy is, and therefore, my soul continued to be in want and unsatisfied. I had forgotten that the whole reason I’m able to love HIM, is because He FIRST loved me.
But one day, instead of opening my journal and writing out all my feelings and emotions and blah, blah, blah… I decided I would change it up a bit, and began to write the opposite of what I was feeling. I chose to believe that even though I didn’t see or feel it yet, HE was my hope and my strength. He is my ability to move and breathe. He is my peace, and he never leaves…so peace hadn’t left me. The joy of Him is my strength, so If I set my heart on who He was, I would be filled with the strength that I needed. I reminded myself that more than anything, I’M LOVED BY HIM. Wherever I was believing lies or had a negative thought or emotion, I covered it with His truth and with His love.
THIS is TRUTH.
1 John 3:1 Says,
“Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God.”
I want you take note of the word “bestowed” here… Bestow means to present as a gift, to give, or to put on. That means that whether I realize it or not, as a child of God my Father has given me His love as a gift. He has placed His love upon me. I can never change this truth, its truth whether I believe and receive it for myself or not.
If you’re anything like me, you can have a tendency to overthink things, and replay situations in your head over and over again. This can be a very bad thing, or it can be a very good thing. It all depends on what I’m focusing on, thinking about and replaying. Are the thoughts in my head truth? Are they bringing me life and peace? Or, are they lies—bringing me discouragement and confusion?
TRUTH says, “Where the spirit of The Lord is, there is FREEDOM” (2 Corinthians 3:17)
If you’ve felt discouraged lately, or even have a sense of disappointment, I want to encourage you to take some time and ask yourself what it is lately that you’ve been focusing on and replaying in your head. My mom always says, “What is it you’re listening to?” Meaning, are you listening to His voice of truth, peace and life, or are you listening to thoughts of disappointment, fear, and ultimately, death. We live in a world where we’re CONSTANTLY being faced with things that could seem true, but are not true. So, we have to CONSTANTLY cover ourselves with what we KNOW is true, and that is only found in His word.
I want to encourage you to make covering yourself with truth a part of your daily routine. Sometimes, it’s something as simple as getting ready in the morning and as you’re getting dressed or putting on your makeup, just thanking him for how He loves you. When you set your mind on His truth, it will not only begin to change your feelings and emotions, but it will change your relationships and your whole perspective on life. You will begin to see Him in everything and every moment.
❤??♾⛾⚛⚲⚿⛣⛨⛩⛫⛬⛭⛮☸⛯⚙⛰⛻☍⚒⚔⚖♰♱?✴✳?⛎♈♉♊♋♌♍♎♏♐♑♒♓⚳⚴⚵⚶⚷⚸⚹⚺⚻⚼⛋⛢☊☋☌☿⚜⚝☽☾♃♄♅♆♇⚕⚚??〽??☬☭☮☯☼⚞⚟☫☤☥☦☧☨☩??????????????????????????????????㊗㊙???♀⚢♂⚣⚦♁⚤⚥⚧⚨⚩⚭⚮⚯☙⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄⚅?⛾♾
You are such a light in this world, and a God-fearing woman I look up to. Continue loving and living in Him, and I promise it never goes unnoticed. God bless you!!
Laney! Thank you, this is something I really needed to be reminded of today! I am one to worry and replay things in my mind too! I’m so thankful that God speaks His words through you! I pray that He continues to shine His light through you and continues to set you apart! You’re such a beautiful person inside and out, Laney! Much love- Jenna
Thank you very much Laney! I really needed this today and these words were so encouraging. It is so important to cover ourselves in his truth, and believe nothing but his truth. Thank you for sharing this encouragement! ❤️
This is so true and I absolutely love it! Speak life over everything because He has given us His!!!! ???
Thank you for the incredible uplifting words! You are radiant in everything you do!
I needed this so so bad, thank you! The Lord is definitely speaking and working through you!
Laney thank you so much for your truth! Whenever I feel struggles within myself I OFFER IT UP to the Almighty One! That is my tag line for Almighty One Athletics – a Christian Athletic clothing line God called me to create! I love seeing how He works in you as well. Thank you for your inspiration 🙂
Thank you so much Laney! Difficult times happen and I’ll keep this in mind.
Thank you so much Laney! I really needed to read this. I have been going through a rough time lately and i felt God lead me this. I thank God for speaking through you. I tend to worry and have anxiety really bad but you have encouraged me to challenge myself to focus more on Gods words rather than my own thoughts. Thank you so much for sharing this.
I think that in the last paragraph you should have, consistent with the amazing fact that you earlier presented that He loved us before we loved Him and in order to re-emphasize that humbling fact, written "…, just thanking him for how he loved you before you were aware of that fact and continues to love you."
There are a lot of false gospels today that teach that we are all God’s children, but nothing could be further from the truth. I think that in light of so many people being indoctrinated into embracing the unbiblical doctrine of Moral Relativism which paves the road to a Syncretistic worldview constructed upon the foundational shifting sands of the perversion of the concept of Tolerance that is advanced as if it is a good thing under the banner of the religio-political doctrines of ‘Political Correctness,’ ‘Multi-culturalism,’ and ‘Pluralism’ you would have done better in this message to have emphasized the exclusivity of the description ‘a child of God’ in the phrase you wrote, "…as a child of God my Father has given me His love as a gift."
My point is that many people today are being sold an overly-Inclusive lie that we are all God’s children.
That, of course, is not true. It is a lie.
If you were to ask a classroom full of 8 year-olds or 18 year-olds whether or not they believed that all people are God’s children you would receive an overwhelming majority of responses maintaining that they believed that we are all God’s children not realizing, as the lie is sugar-coated with all kinds of niceties about all of us being ‘Members of the same Community.’ But Followers of the risen Lord Jesus of the Bible who came in the flesh and was raised from the dead victorious over sin and death are members of the Body of Christ Jesus, His Church militant and universal. We cannot be yoked unequally with others. It is written, ‘Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?’ (2 Corinthians 6:14).
As I’m sure you are well aware, we are all part of God’s creation, but in order to become a child of God, as the Lord Jesus in the Book of John, Chapter 3 is recorded in the Word of God as having said, ‘…,ye must be born again,’ or spiritually regenerated in the experience wherein one, repenting of their sin and turning to God for forgiveness realizing that they are in need of a Saviour invites that same Creator of the universe and everything in it, Jesus the Christ and pre-incarnate Creator, to come into their heart and assume His rightful position as Lord and Master over every aspect of their life.
Nice message. I just think you missed an opportunity to communicate as well the message that a great many who are today deceived into believing it is well with their souls if they just treat everybody else nice and join hands and sing ‘Kumbaya my Lord’; who are deceived into embracing a watered down Christianity in which there is no need for an sinner like me to recognize the imperative nature of their need for God’s Provision in Himself in order for them to be forgiven of their sin and to receive the Gift of eternal life in God Himself in the person of His Son, the risen Christ.
We have people today believing they are ‘Christian’ though they belong to the Roman Catholic cult or the Mormon cult, or the Jehovah’s Witness cult.
Read ‘The Eucharistic Christ and the New Evangelization’ by Roger Oakland with Jim Tetlow in order to be prepared to help a practicing Romanist to come out of that abhorrent cult and come to know the risen Lord Jesus of the Bible who came in the flesh and died on a Cross in order to be the sufficiently atoning Sacrifice required by God the Father for the forgiveness of my sin.
Many people, especially here in Louisiana, will become very defensive when you point out that Roman Catholicism is NOT Christianity for they worship another Jesus.
The book ‘Kingdom of the Cults’ by the late Dr. Walter Martin can be very helpful in sharing the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with those deceived by the false doctrines of the Mormons and Jehovah’s Witness cult.
Again, I don’t have any criticism of what you wrote: Nicely done…; but I think that you missed a great opportunity to address a most relevant subject of eternal significance which rather naturally fits within the context of the message that you are communicating here. You feel me?
I completely disagree. Each and every one of us is God’s children. That is what Christ died for. To use this kind of religious statement just makes people that aren’t following Christ not even want to give their life to him. It says the greatest commandment is to love each other as Christ has loved you, and THAT will be proof to the world that you are his disciple. Not going around teaching people what you believe is right or wrong. Every part of this post is beautiful. The fact that an unbeliever who wants to surrender to Jesus might read your post just makes me sad. The Pharisees always had someone or something to correct, but Jesus was always loving someone who wasn’t perfect or born again… yet.
Thank you ,for taking the time out to write about your struggles and how God has taught you to overcome it with his truth! I recently have been struggling with how to love others and feel connected with God’s word, but it’s like you said I have to cover myself in his truth even if I don’t feel it. I can only love others because he loves me. Because he is the vibe and we are the branches so that means we can’t do anything without him being the source we draw from. I loved this message so much! Thanks for sharing 🙂 ??✨
This is encouraging and a much needed reminder! ?
I struggle DAILY with anxiety and this brought me so much peace. Like you, I also journal – and I will try the method you have. Writing the opposite of my fears and putting my truth in God. Thank you for your words – you are a true inspiration!
I absolutely love this and needed it! I struggle with anxiety and depression and feeling unloved and unwanted all the time. I am such a tangible person that I constantly have to work on making god my one and only and be okay with having no one else on earth. I constantly have lies fears and negative things flow through my mind about a recent break up and broken heart and my life stage. I stumbled upon yours and Sadie’s instagram and now your blog and just am so grateful I can read and follow you guys. I live in Orange County, CA and it is SO HARD to be surrounded by non Christians so connecting to you and other christians across the country is so amazing and so excited! Praise Jesus!
Wow this spoke life to me and it’s good to speak positive about yourself through his word and what he says about me and learn to love myself to love others.