by Emma Gilmer | Feb 4, 2021 | Life Advice, Testimonies
Hey Friends!
I wish I could meet you in person and hear all about who you are, but let’s just pretend we are sitting together today!
I am SO happy you are in this place right now, I am a firm believer that wherever you are is where you are meant to be and God can do good in every circumstance, so just know you and I are here together for a perfect reason.
Well, a little bit about me:
I live in the currently frozen Minnesota, attending a 4-year University in the Midwest. I am a Senior with one semester left about to graduate and have n0 idea about what I am doing afterwards. The question I get most these days is just that, “What are you doing after you graduate?” …But I have so much confidence in who Jesus is, my provider and redeemer, that I have no fear around that question with no answer to follow. I am dating my 8th grade crush, Dylan, and it is such a beautiful experience.
Weddings are my FAVORITE.
1. Because I am a Wedding Photographer.
2. I get to be surrounded with the HAPPIEST people all the time.
3. The absolute miracle that happens on that day of two becoming one is something I have been able to see repeatedly for the past two years, and it has changed my mindset on weddings in the most beautiful way.
It is such a gift to be able to witness the miracle over and over again, but also being able to capture it. Wow. I am emotional thinking about it.
Annywayyyy if you are getting married, I would love to be there for you. Especially if you live in a warm state 😉
My story is one that I have a heart to share for years and years, and that is to free women from the cage of shameful sin and the hold it can have on your abundant life. While this blog is not specifically about that it can play a key role into those strongholds. I love sharing on the sins that women don’t share as much, bringing light to the dark corners is so important.
I am praying this blog impacts you and the Holy Spirit intercedes. You are so great and I am proud of you today.
Come say hey!
_______________________________
Do you carelessly speak aloud without thinking sometimes? Most times?
I understand that feeling, but It’s time to change that.
Proverbs 18:21 reads, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
One thing that has been on my heart in the past month is the power of our words.
You have the power to give life to the words in your mind and heart.
We are always being fed lies from the devil but also truth from Jesus.
We have the free will to decide what we want to give life and power to.
I think we forget how important that is. When we speak, we are proclaiming those words over us and others who are listening.
Even the mundane choices of describing yourself…
“My hair looks so bad today”
“I can’t do that”
“I’ll never make it”
We give the devil more power than he deserves when we speak out the lies he feeds us. WE also can pour them into someone else’s mind if we speak those things around others enough times. I remember I used to never be insecure about my nose, up until I was around a friend who HATED her nose and she made everyone around her know that. Then one day I was looking at myself thinking “wait is something wrong with my nose too?” Since that day I now have an insecurity about my nose. This isn’t saying anything wrong with her and I pray she has overcome that insecurity in Jesus’ name!
I am using this example to show how much power you have when you speak. My friend was just talking out loud what was in her mind, but she did it in a way where she wasn’t asking for help to combat those lies. She just spoke what she felt not knowing the devil used that as a leverage to make me insecure. I need to be clear here when I say, you confessing to a friend that you need help combatting a lie the devil has placed over you is DIFFERENT than speaking lies over yourself every day with no desire to have others help you.
Those lies above have 100% been what I have spoken over myself before but now I am trying combat those with these:
“My hair is crazy, but I am made in the image of God”
“I can do ALL things through and with Christ”
“I am going to try this and even if I fail, I am still worthy and accepted in Jesus’ name”
See the switch of power?
I am choosing to let Jesus take the throne in my mind and speak out on the truth He brings and not the lies the devil TRIES to make me believe.
The bible is here to help…
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouth, but only such as it is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29).
This verse tells us a couple things about the power of your words:
1. Your words give grace to others. As I spoke on before, when you speak lies, others can start to believe those about themselves, same with the truth. If you chose to speak on the grace given to you, the Holy Spirit brings that to those around you.
2. You can speak constructive words over yourself and others as long as it’s “GOOD for building up, as fits the occasion.”
“There is a time and a place for everything” (Ecclesiastes 3:1).
If you feel the Holy Spirit calling you to speak something that may be hard to hear but will help your friend in Christ, then it’s worth sharing in love and grace.
3. Our words have the power to build up and take down.
This could be building up the lies they have in their mind already and taking down their confidence in Christ.
OR.
This could be building up a friend in their confidence in Christ and taking down their lies from the devil.
Matt 17:34 reads, “For the abundance of heart the mouth speaks.” We want to be on earth to help others grow closer to Jesus, and we can start with our words.
It can be scary knowing we have so much control over our words, but this is why Jesus reaches his hand out and tells us to let him give us guidance and protect us. Let us encourage one another and keep Jesus on the throne of our hearts and minds.
Follow Emma Stender on Instagram @emma.stender
by Elisabeth Hasselbeck | Feb 2, 2021 | Healing, Life Advice, Testimonies
At 23 years old – Making it to the final four of CBS’ Survivor the Australian Outback was something I never expected. Thirty-nine days in the wilderness brought me to a place of weakness, and ultimately made me answer the question: “Do I trust God in the dark?”
In a place where crocodiles came out at night, nine out of the ten deadliest snakes in the world resided, and spiders were just about everywhere—Do I trust God in the dark?
In the uncertain terrain, amidst uncertain tasks, with uncertain tangible provisions, and surrounded by an uncertain and ever-changing environment—Do I really trust that God in the dark?
In the dark… is where God builds trust.
Sometimes the dark has been a long Australian night, with wet socks and a cold hard ground. Sometimes the dark has been the waiting through the first four years of our marriage for our first baby to be born. Other times, the dark has been a knock at the door, when the producer of The View and an ABC executive informed me that they were not renewing my contract. That my decade long job was no longer… mine.
A moment – being fired- that felt dark enough that even the bright lights of my office made it hard to see and find my inhaler. A moment that enveloped me with shock, asthma, and betrayal all stealing my wind, and my ability to see what could be next.
Yet even in the dark- God allowed some light.
“I’m really thankful for all the years here.”
Gratitude. Like a flashlight in the dark.
I remember feeling thankful. Then confusion. “Why? What could I have done? Was there something I could have done differently? Can I do something differently now? If you would just tell me, I would work on that—and make it better.”
I would have done just about anything to get my job back.
I sat alone in my office for about an hour and a half sobbing, just sobbing. Feeling a dose of betrayal and a whopper of confusion, I felt like the walls of the building were folding in on me. More dark. Why would God let me be here just to fail?? Or just to work so hard to have it taken away?
Perhaps what hit me hardest was this truth: It is almost always impossible to get back what is not yours to begin with.
The day I heard that The View would not renew my contract, my career world fell apart, and it fell apart because it was mine. That was the problem. It was not all mine, but it certainly was not all His yet. That would require surrender. And surrender was not something I knew how to do yet.
God used that time after The View released me to instruct me in not alliance (reliance on others) and in not me-liance (reliance on myself) but in total reliance on Him. Even in the dark.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
All circumstances? I asked myself. Yes, that is what God was instructing. So I gave it a try. I prayed—deeply. I prayed thanks, thanking God for the chance to work at The View, thanking Him for His provision, thanking Him in advance for the next job He would have for me, praying again that I could keep going into work as long as He wanted me in that building, and asking Him to help me stay joyful even in the midst of a storm.
He was my portion. The idea of daily bread became impressed upon my heart. God, give me just enough to get through this day. But not so much that I don’t need You.
He did just that. Because He is my enough.
When I walked through the halls of ABC with my head down, God lifted it up and held it high. Psalm 3:3 became so real to me: “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”
But at home, our kids saw a mommy who was sad, confused, disappointed, and rejected.
But they did not see me dejected.
What is clear to me now is that in those moments of weakness, my kids were able to see resilience in me and to realize that things don’t always go your way. In the weeks that followed, they witnessed me choose to trust that God was working for me, even when I had no work. Even when it felt dim. And when the answer to prayer seemed like a “no”. They saw Mommy choose to see things through a thankful lens when I could, and they saw how that got me through this time. And over time, they saw me move from being fired to being inspired. We learned together that leaving well requires an attitude of gratitude. That gratitude brought into sight the “good” in goodbye.
The lesson of recovering well from losing my seat on The View was valuable not only for me, but also for our kids. They got a front row seat to see how we can respond when difficult times come. After all, if we as adults are trying to trust God in the dark, certainly the kids in this world are, too.
After some time, it became clear to me that our family needed a place to let out our worries hopes and fears—in an adventure of hope! A sweet young friend named Caroline, asked me one day if I wanted to see her wall. We climbed some steps up to her family prayer wall – and through her courage to show me her wall- I made one in our home! For our family we began using flashlights to go back to our thoughts and hopes and prayers and names on the wall and shine our “flashlight on” where we see God working, and click our “flashlight off” where we don’t see God working, but trust Him in the waiting. Saying this out loud reaffirms that we do not always get to see- but we always can trust because God is always there!
Whether you are a mom or dad or aunt or uncle or big sister or brother or cousin or friend to a little one, those kids are growing up, and their eyes are on us. They’re watching to see how we handle the dark. How real we can be with God.
Flashlight Night: An Adventure in Trusting God invites kids to join in the fun of sharing all that is on their hearts—on a wall or on the inside cover of this book—an adventure that lets us be honest with God and say-
“Sometimes we see God’s yes, and other times we don’t, but just because it has not happened doesn’t mean it won’t.”
What if the best way we can love the little ones in our lives who carry big worries is to give them a place to be real with God.
What if this adventure in trusting God opened the door for real conversations and allowed us to see what is on their little hearts? And what if they saw us waiting and trusting in the dark, too?
Our prayer is that Flashlight Night will be a story your special little ones absolutely love and that it will offer a way of giving their worries up to God even when it feels dark—trusting that He is there, even in the waiting.
We hope that Flashlight Night makes hope fun and teaches that trust and adventure are worth taking for the hearts of the little ones you love!
Elisabeth Hasselbeck is a Daytime Emmy Award winner and former cohost with The View and Fox & Friends. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller The G-Free Diet, the gluten-free cookbook Deliciously G-Free, and Point of View: A Fresh Look at Work, Faith, and Freedom, as well as the creator of NoGii all-natural, gluten-free protein bars. She and her husband, ESPN/NFL correspondent and former NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck, live in Nashville, Tennessee, with their three children, Grace, Taylor, and Isaiah.
Flashlight Night reminds children and parents that we don’t have to hope alone. Our kids don’t have to keep their worries inside and carry them around all day. It’s ok to be honest with God about where we don’t see Him working – but trust that He is.
Follow Elisabeth on Instagram @elisabethhasselbeck
by Tay Ruth Welgoss | Jan 28, 2021 | Healing, Life Advice, Testimonies
Hey, my name is Tay Ruth. I am from the metro Washington DC area. I’m married to my high school sweetheart who is about to be an ICU Nurse, beginning in March.
Let me paint you a picture since we can’t meet in person: I am a 5’2, curly-haired, messy, joy-filled, goofy girl with a whole lot of love for her cat (My pride and joy: Roy G. Biv). I’ve started to gain a reputation for my “15 second skits” on my Instagram stories. I dress up as characters like Gru from Despicable Me, Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, and Lucy from I Love Lucy. This is a PASSION of mine. I’m convinced I am Gru when I make these Instagram stories. Had I chosen another career, I would’ve been an Oscar-winning actress for silent films.
While there is so much about my life that is fun, beautiful, hilarious, and happy…I’m also someone who has been marked by suffering, grief, PTSD, anxiety and depression.
I was in a car accident several years ago, with my now husband, because of someone who we believe was texting and driving. I was physically injured that day and I’ve gone through several years of therapy, long doctor appointments, and battling my thoughts.
One of my favorite ways to process, and something that has been my avenue to healing, has been writing to the Lord. Writing has been a sacred place for me to hold both this joy and pain together.
Due to the events in our life, we entered into a legal case. It’s been over for a full year but the case took several years to be settled. This process only added to my already injured heart, mind and body. However, it also taught me greater lessons than I ever thought I’d gain at the young age of twenty-four. I want to share one of those lessons with you.
During the legal case, the attorney asked for any of my journal entries from around the date of the accident and I accidentally airdropped my entire journal that I kept on my phone. My sacred writing, meant for only the Lord and myself. At this point it was in the hands of the attorneys and used as evidence for my case. As you could probably imagine if your private journals were printed for people to read…I was mortified, embarrassed and felt stripped bare in front of not only my own attorney, but my family and the other side’s three attorneys. My words were not only used as a witness, but they were also used against me. The words I wrote in the privacy of my own prayers were flipped through, highlighted and marked up to be questioned for this case.
My one love, and favorite avenue to healing my wounds from this accident, was now taken from me.
I had not asked God for anything during this season, except for my healing. I didn’t pray in detail. I didn’t even know how to read the word of God without somehow reading it out of context and through the prism of what I was going through. My prayers were full of my desires of personal healing and less about understanding who God is: the Healer and the Father. I sought after prayers that would bring more understanding of my own heart, than the heart of God.
It wasn’t until “my book” (the name the attorneys gave my airdropped journals) was printed out in the hands of these three Goliaths that I realized the power of the word of God. Recognizing what it felt like to be stripped bare, accused, questioned on what is true, and more. I am thankful that in that moment God gave me the tiniest view of what it was like for Jesus in the court before he carried the cross. That’s a lesson to share and dive into at another time.
After that I went through a season where I needed to rebuild my prayers. My prayers weren’t bad. They weren’t falling on closed ears to be ignored by God, and they also weren’t necessarily wrong. But I remember going to speak to a Pastor at my church. I cried and told him my journals were read by the attorneys and how desperate I wanted this case to end. He listened to me and then responded, “Sounds like David is your guy. Maybe you should read Psalms again to see how David orders his prayers since so many of us have read his journals.” It clicked for me. David, the author of Psalms, felt like a close friend who I could relate to a little bit.
It was at this time that I went and read the entirety of Psalms to understand this man, whose journal has been read by far more people than I could fathom. David’s words to the Lord were now the very guide I needed.
David wrote:
“Give ears to my words, O Lord; consider my groaning.” (Psalm 5)
“How long, O Lord?,” (Psalm 13)
“I love you, O Lord, my strength,” (Psalm 18)
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22)
“Have mercy upon me.” (Psalm 86)
“Hear my prayer, O LORD, let my cry come to you!” (Psalm 102)
“Praise the Lord! Praise the name of the Lord,” (Psalm 135)
I started to write letters to God and burn them so that it would be sacred between us. I was left with silent prayers that only could be heard in my mind, but not recorded for my memory. I wrote prayers of righteous anger, “God, are you as angry as I am that our privacy is infringed upon? Heal and restore my passion and love for writing to you.” And I lit it on fire. I wanted it to be held between the two of us.
David wrote in great detail, his heart to the Lord. He didn’t write and burn it in fear we would read it. He didn’t withhold his prayers. He would address God and praise God, he would ask God and thank God.
After reading through how David ordered his prayers I knew it was time to rebuild mine.
I started off with going to the Lord on my knees and humbling myself before Him and saying, “Lord have mercy and grace upon my heart.” I went through a time of worship saying there’s nothing else I want, but to be in His presence and to know who He is.
Today when I pray, I rebuild my prayer’s like David’s. I want to come to Jesus with a humbled heart. I want to ask God for His will to be done, but I also want to partner with Him in faith and action. I am in deep gratitude to the Lord for giving me tiny glimpses of who He is and who He has always been. Allowing myself to present my weakness, sin, pain, gratitude, joy, and healing all to the One who created me and to whom I say, “I love you, O Lord, my strength.”
Live Original asked me a week ago to write on the subject “rebuild.” I had no idea that this week of January 11th as I’m writing this…somehow my entire blog, full of my writings that I’ve worked on for the last three years, would be terminated / deleted. I spoke with several professionals with my hosting site, and they assured me it was gone forever. And here I am again with deep pain associated with my writings to the Lord. But when I went back to see the subject for this blog, I saw “rebuild” and I already know that this was an answer to a past prayer I wrote to the Lord that I ended up burning in my hands to keep sacred. He heard my words. I am rebuilding and healing my pain from writing.
And after 3 days, on January 14th my entire blog and website was restored with all of my writing that was “terminated.” God knew that the prayer I wrote and burned three years ago would be answered by stripping my writing for 3 days, and instead of that breaking me or taking offense, I was thankful. How will you rebuild your prayers?
Tay Ruth’s family moved to the DC area one week before 9/11. Her family planted a church in Arlington, VA through the mission to serve Jesus and serve our Nations leaders. Tay Ruth married her high school sweetheart, Luke, in April of 2019. He will be starting a job as an ICU nurse soon. Luke & Tay have a passion and desire to serve and love those who are grieving and suffering. Tay’s dream is to finish writing her book that she can gift to friends filled full of letters of encouragement to those who are grieving. Oh and one more thing- Luke and Tay have a Scottish Fold cat named Roy G Biv. 
Follow Tay Ruth on Instagram @tayruths
by BrookeFigueroa | Dec 3, 2020 | Life Advice, Testimonies
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:2
How do you look at the world and not see what is there – but what could be?
The way a writer looks at a blank page and sees a story, a musician sits down at their instrument and hears an unwritten song, a painter picks up a brush to transform a white canvas into a work of art.
This year has brought a surplus of time to self-reflect. For many of us, 2020 became a crossroads. When faced with seemingly insurmountable challenges, fears, or failures, we were left with a decision: are we going to stay the same person we were before the world flipped upside down, or are we going to grow and change with it?
A new world requires a new you.
And let’s be honest – the new doesn’t always come easy.
I’m sure you’ve felt the growing pains this year – maybe your prayers don’t flow the way they used to because they’re suddenly too small or self-focused. Your worship might not feel as impactful because now you need to bring a deeper level of vulnerability with your surrender. Maybe your faith feels stunted because you can’t bring yourself to hand your fears to God and trust them in His hands.
I love Romans 12:2 because it says, ‘Do not conform to the pattern of this world.’ The words ‘Do not’ are a big help here, because sometimes we feel that it’s not up to us. If the world tells us to be afraid, we have to be afraid! But the scripture is clear – if the writer Paul is telling us not to do something, it means that it is within our power not to do it. We do not have to conform.
When you decide what will shape the person you want to be, you have two options: your character or your circumstance. 99% of what happens in the world is beyond your control. But you know what? Your character is 100% your own responsibility. When your character is rooted in Christ, no circumstance can change you.
The verse continues to this: ’…but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.’
How do we not conform? We transform! We become new. We take the growing pains of developing our character and we let God lead us into a better future.
In this verse, it says the way to transform is by renewing your mind. Learn to think differently, and you’ll learn to live differently. Don’t just see the world around you – see what it could be.
My favorite subject in high school was psychology and one of the most interesting subjects we studied was the idea of ‘functional fixedness.’ Basically, functional fixedness is a limited way of thinking that means a person only sees or uses an object in the way it is traditionally used.
Here’s an example of how functional fixedness ruins lives (this is a slight exaggeration):
A table is lopsided because a screw is loose. I look at the loose screw and think it can only be tightened with a screwdriver – because that tool was created to tighten screws. But let’s say I don’t have a screwdriver…then what? If I have functional fixedness, I conclude the table must be lopsided forever, because the screw cannot be tightened.
Someone without functional fixedness could look at that table and think – ‘Oh, I could use a coin to tighten the screw.’ Pull a coin out of their pocket, tighten the screw, and it would be fixed.
The point is this: if I look at an object and only see it for what it is or what it’s supposed to be, I never see it for what it could be.
This principle extends to our entire lives!
This new world we’re in calls for new minds and new eyes. Why are we looking at everything in it like it’s supposed to be, and not what it could be?
Yes, schools were supposed to be open.
Graduation was supposed to be happen as planned.
Dating and hanging out with friends was supposed to be fun, not a health risk.
But God’s intention for you is not to live your life in a ‘should have been.’ That’s living for the past, not for the future.
The future God has for you is ALWAYS greater than what came before. You know why? Because God loves to do new things in us, through us, and for us, and he doesn’t copy and paste. He creates with new beauty, new splendor, new wonder. Just for YOU.
So yes, life doesn’t look like you thought it would. But now – neither do you.
You are getting stronger.
You are growing tougher.
You fight with resilience.
You lead with integrity.
You let Christ shape your character, and your character shape your future – not your circumstance.
Pray and ask God today:
What do you need me to see differently?
What am I not using that’s right in front of me?
What expectation do I need to let go of to not live in the past?
What are you renewing in me to create a better future?
God wants to change how we perceive the world – He asks us to lay down what we believe our lives SHOULD look like, what the world SHOULD look like, for us to be able to live, live well… and to live original.
Brooke Figueroa is a pastor at Mosaic, a church in Los Angeles, CA. She loves drinking espresso with her husband, leading worship with Mosaic MSC, and reading an absurd amount of books. She’d love to meet you on Instagram at @brookeofigueroa
by Sarah Tucker | Nov 10, 2020 | Life Advice, Testimonies
To be known by the Father, what a beautiful thing.
It’s no secret that “not much” has been going on these past few months, wouldn’t you agree? Definitely more so now than before, but thinking back to just a few months ago, there were no trips, no hangs, no church, no classes, no work, no school, no vacations, no concerts, no girls nights in anything other than sweats, and no normal. Thankfully things are slowly getting back (thank you Jesus and praying for a continuation of it!!) but life itself is far from it. We’ll never know that “normal” again but y’all, I’m not so sure that we should want to. Anyways, during that specific time, if you were to ask anyone what they’ve been up to or what’s new?! You could pretty much bet that their answer would sound something along the lines of ‘oh you know… not much!!’ and we all know that’s the truest thing that any of us could have said! I know for me, I loved to answer with everything I had done in a day but after listing off what I made for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, who won our family game of scrabble that day, and how many walks I took with my sister, I would finish with ‘so yeah, really nothing’ and laugh. Hello, 2020. But what quickly became my favorite question to ask and be asked was this…
What’s God doing in my heart? What’s God doing in yours?
I feel my focus shift anytime this is asked. My thoughts, all my attention, my adoration. Dang, I don’t want to miss it. I don’t want to miss Him moving, breathing life, restoring, redeeming, simply and extravagantly being who He is because I don’t take the time to pause and think, God what is it that you’re doing? Because I want to partner with You, lean in, and find myself there. Wherever you are is where I want to be and found nowhere apart from that place.
This weekend Gracie and I were road tripping back from Louisiana and I got to thinking man, what is God doing inside of me right now? I was reminded of a specific morning spent with Jesus on my porch. It was early, foggy, and crisp. The leaves were starting to change and slowly fall to the ground. To be so honest, I’d been struggling with feeling hard hearted for a few weeks leading up to this day. Like I couldn’t think or see straight, I’d felt distracted and distant from the voice and heart of God. I had been remembering things I thought I’d forgotten, things that had hurt me in the past, and feeling things I thought I would never feel again because God had healed me of those wounds that once cut so deep. I was thinking things I haven’t thought in years and making silent agreements with the enemy about things that I knew were not true about who God says I am. I was frustrated to say the least, because hello God, don’t you know I’ve been there and done that? As if God can’t come back and touch what’s His? Ooof. I wanted to be tough and okay and tried and tried to be just that, but as a result felt like I had developed calluses on my heart from striving so hard.
I looked to my right and saw a giant heart shaped leaf beside me and seconds later, another one fell from the big tree behind the porch a few feet from where I was sitting and felt God whisper to my weary heart, you give me yours, I’ll give you mine. I had to get up and go get it though. I had to trade mine for His. Ones brown and crunchy and the others colors are vibrant and full of life. Ones tired from trying and ones so effortlessly offering the life He desires for me to have, the one His son died for me to live. One’s been broken and stepped on and maybe even kicked around in the hustle and bustle of life and the other is just offering me His own… Friends, God gives us a new heart, He gives us His. I took Him up on the invitation to give Him mine in exchange for His and sat there and poured out my heart to Jesus. My best friend. More real to me than the bedrock beneath my feet. This Jesus, how wonderful. It was hard and ugly and I didn’t feel so ‘tough’ or together, but as I fell apart and allowed Jesus to place His finger on what I couldn’t, the fog lifted. And as the fog quite literally lifted around me that morning, as I let Jesus into where I was, the honest hard spot of where I was, the fog lifted in my heart and mind and I could finally see again. His love changes me. I could see truth for truth and lies for lies. I could see His kindness, the love story He’s been writing all along, I could see how He was restoring me to Himself and making me His own. I could finally see again. I’ve felt His hand so tangibly on my heart these past few weeks but up to this point, I couldn’t even tell you what it was or for what, but then I remembered what God’s told me and that He’s always faithful to His word… He said I’m giving you a new heart in exchange for the one you have, and He’s done just that. He’s given me a new heart, His own.
I don’t know about you, but I know I forget that while God knows us, everything about us, every hair on our head and every thought before we think them, He wants us to be known by Him. He wants what’s going on in our hearts and minds, He wants us to come to Him with our everything. He wants the honest condition of our hearts and what’s going on inside of them. Our hearts affect everything, what we allow in, how and what we see, and what comes out. My trying so hard to ‘be’ something myself only hurt me, but the second I let Him know me, really know me, where I was and what I was ‘hiding’ (if you will) was the second everything changed. He can’t heal what we don’t give Him and we can’t possess what we don’t come and get from Him.
I’ve lived with this lovesick stirring in my heart ever since for more. More of God. More of the life and love and freedom and joy and peace that come along with knowing Him. Honestly I don’t think we can ever get enough, we’ve only tasted and barely seen, you know? Thank you God for that! I don’t know what it is, I really can’t explain it but it’s that feeling that nothing else will do taken to a whole new level. Friends, that’s not my heart, that’s His. That’s a new spirit, that’s His spirit, crying out Abba Father. He gives us His own.
He wants to give you a new heart.
“I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26-27
“You’re as real to me as bedrock beneath my feet, like a castle on a cliff, my forever firm fortress, my mountain of hiding, my pathway of escape, my tower of rescue where none can reach me. My secret strength and shield around me, you are salvation’s ray of brightness shining on the hillside, always the champion of my cause.” Psalm 18:2 (TPT)
Sarah Tucker is the owner of Imago Dei in Franklin and Nashville, TN, where the heart behind the shop is to point people back to Jesus and serve as a reminder to everyone who visits that they are made in the image of God. She loves drinking coffee, long country drives, and spending time with her friends and family! Follow Sarah on Instagram @sarahatucker
**We at Live Original absolutely LOVE Imago Dei. Everything from the clothes to the heart behind the store is dear to our hearts. Check out their website HERE!
by Courtney Fidell | Nov 5, 2020 | Life Advice, Testimonies
“Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given.” John 1:16 (NIV)
I grew up believing in Jesus and going to church occasionally, but I didn’t know Him personally. The most I talked to God would be when I was going to bed. I struggled with having terrible nightmares so I would pray for peace and protection every night as I drifted off to sleep. But that was the extent of our relationship.
As I grew, I still believed in Him, but I believed in what the world was telling me more. I believed I had to look a certain way to receive love. I believed I had to achieve certain things to receive validation. I was chasing down anything and everything to fill me up, but I felt like I was running in circles and no matter what I did, I still never felt good enough.
It was only after my parents’ divorce in high school and a summer of rebellion that followed that I finally found myself in church again. Nothing was able to fill the void and I was turning to God as a last resort. It was in this moment that I was able to drop everything I was holding so tightly. All the anxious thoughts I was carrying and all the shame and regret that had built up over time finally fell away. I felt free. Free from the lies of the enemy and free from myself. I was safe in the Father’s arms.
I was desperate for this new relationship with Jesus and couldn’t wait to dive in. But I still had so much to learn. As powerful as that moment at church was, I still found myself going back to my old struggles. For too long I had let the world around me and my own thoughts within me consume me. I was finally in a relationship with the Father, but I wasn’t sure if I would ever escape the shame that had been weighing me down for so long.
It’s funny how my prayers before knowing Jesus and after knowing Jesus looked very much the same. It wasn’t nightmares keeping me up anymore, but I still had that longing to feel protected and to experience peace. And in the Father’s kindness, I finally started to experience that love as I learned about His unending and unfailing grace.
My name is Courtney Fidell. I am a Jesus follower, a mother of two toddlers, and a pastor’s wife. I am also broken and I’ve made a lot of mistakes. I have struggled with anxious thoughts and have wasted too many days letting my insecurities define me. But that is not who I am.
There is grace.
I have experienced the Lord’s mercy time and time again in my life and I no longer have to crumble under the weight of my own guilt. I continue to fall short. I continue to let myself down. But this does not define me. I have a new identity. My sin was paid for on the cross. I am a daughter of the King. I no longer have to live in shame. I get to live in freedom.
There is grace.
And it is available for you too.
You don’t have to try harder. You don’t have to be good enough. You don’t have to keep searching the world and coming up empty. The Father loves you just as you are and wants to shower you with His grace so you can live in freedom as well.
In the Gospel of John, we read we have “received grace in place of grace already given” (John 1:16) and we see the emphasis John is putting on the word “grace”. John goes on to explain that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (verse 17) to further confirm that through the coming of Jesus and His death on the cross, we have received grace for our sins in full. When we believe and receive that truth and grace over our lives, we are a new creation.
“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” -John 1:12-13 NIV
If you too believe in His name, you are a child of God. Your old life is gone. That baggage that has been weighing you down has been put on the cross and is no longer yours. If you’re willing to step into it, there is freedom available. If you’re willing, you can experience peace. If you’re willing, there is grace upon grace through the power of Jesus Christ.
It is my prayer that even through the uncertainty of this world, you would look to Jesus to be your hope and that is the heartbeat behind my new book, Grace Is Enough. I put my heart into these pages with the hope that you would find healing. Throughout this book I share the many times the Lord has come and pulled me out of the pit and into His saving grace. I describe the many times I struggled to find joy and hope in certain seasons, but turned to the Word for my strength. Through prayer and the redemptive stories of Scripture, I have found that I am not alone and have found my identity in Him. I want to share that good news with you. My heart behind Grace Is Enough is that you too would find the freedom that I have found in Jesus.
If you choose to dive into Grace Is Enough, my hope is that this devotional meets you right where you are. I want you to know that you are not alone. I want you to know your struggles are real. But I also want you to know there is hope. We have a Father that is available and He wants you to experience His love and cover you with His perfect grace. However, the only way to encounter this grace is through God’s Word.
You can’t receive the grace unless you know the truth.
Before you open up any other book or devotional, you must open up the Word of God. It is through Scripture you can come to know the God that loves you and you can grow in relationship with Him. He has so many great gifts waiting for you, but you must know Him to truly live the beautiful life He created for you.
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 1 John 1:14 NIV
It’s time to step into the life Jesus died and rose for you to live and it’s time to live out of the grace He has already given you. Don’t miss out on the freedom. Don’t miss out on the peace.
His grace is always sufficient and His grace is enough.
Courtney lives in Auburn, AL with her husband and two little girls! She and her husband planted and lead Auburn Community Church and she recently came out with her first devotional, Grace Is Enough! Courtney has a passion for sharing the way Jesus has transformed her life through His grace, but in her free time you can find her spending time with her family, going for a run, or grabbing another cup of coffee!
