steadfast and secure

as i come to the end of " so long, insecurity" by beth moore, i look back and see the true journey i traveled as i read this book. when i started, i was a woman full of self-doubt...unsure of myself...putting my trust in people and things that couldn't possibly give me security. even as a follower of Christ, it is easy to get caught in this trap and lose focus. what a blessing to be reminded that the things in which i was placing my trust, were giving me a false sense of security. we can try to obtain wealth, looks, popularity, good standing in our communities, and we will still fall short...we will still be insecure because those things will never fill that void in our lives. only Christ can. here are some of the poignant remarks from the last several chapters of this book.

- Every no God has issued to me was to keep me from missing a glorious and far greater yes.

- To find yourself, your true, secure self, you must lose yourself in something larger.

- Believe that He (Christ) loves you and has you covered and takes every one of your hits as if they were aimed at His own skin. Get down to the bottom of what frightens you, and then pitch it to Him like a hot potato.

- Trusting God...Trusting God with yourself. With your husband. With your job. With your health. With your family. With your friends. With your threat. I'm talking about entering into a transforming, two-sentance dialogue with a very real, very active God who sees all things and is intimately acquainted with everything concerning you:
You: Lord, I don't know if I can trust______________________ or not.
God: But can you trust Me?
Any time insecurity hits, you can be sure that you are afraid of something.

- If we can't count on God, for crying out loud, who can we count on?

- God will take care of us no matter what. No matter what. If we want to be secure people, this mind-set is a necessity.

- We must not let the enemy of our souls get away with convincing us that anything can utterly destroy.

- God will work all things-no matter how difficult or devestating-out to our advantage. Our enemy will not triumph over us. It may hurt in the beginning, but it's going to be beautiful "in the end".

- Fear of the future makes people settle for things in the present that completely defy abundant life.

- Based on the authority of God Himself and centuries of witnesses to His faithfulness, if you will place your trust in Him, He will always make sure that in the end you will look upon your foes in triumph. No illness, loss, rejection, or betrayal will ever get the last word. You will stand to your feet stronger than ever.

- Every time we glance in a mirror, we come face-to-face with a supernatural work of God.

- He is calling you, beloved. He is summoning you to freedom. He is wooing you to joy. He's inviting you to live on purpose and spin around with childlike faith in the acute awareness of His love for you. His hand is outstretched. Take your dignity back no matter where you've been or what has happened to you. Hold on to your security for all you're worth. It is yours. Nothing and no one can take it from you.

The Lord is your security. He will keep your foot from being caught in a trap. Proverbs 3:26

what an amazing process and i'm so thankful i was drawn to get this book. i hope what i've shared from my own reading has been an encouragement to someone. i would encourage every woman to read this book...it is a good reminder for those who know who they are in Christ and a god kick in the pants for those who are searching for security in all the wrong places.

(She) will have no fear of bad news, (her) heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. (Her) heart is secure, (she) will have no fear; in the end (she) will look in triumph on (her) foes. Psalm 112:7-8

selah

my security is mine to keep

one of the powerful things i've learned about my security is that it is mine alone to keep and no one can take it from me because my security is in Christ. one of the ways men and women get caught up in insecurity is by comparing themselves to others. how many times a day do i do that? way too many. by comparing, i'm showing my doubt in the One who created me. God created me in His image. wow. that knocks my socks off!

- An insecure person's greatest need for control is directed toward those who have the most potential to either threaten her security or strengthen it.

- Some (people) won't do what it takes to liberate themselves because their particular form of bondage provides a momentary respite from real life...at the end of the day, people do what they want to do. You can't make them do something else. You can't force them. You can't change them. You can't deliver them. Only God can. And that's why He's omnipotent and we're not.

- We are not in charge. Somewhere along the way, we each have to acknowledge that our loved one is a separate person from us-someone God loves, pursues, and when necessary chastises. When we try to do God's job, we get in God's way. We are called to cherish, support and pray for others, but tying our security to them is a lost cause. Hand that rope over to God. Let Him undo that tangled-up mess and retie your security to Himself. He's the One with all the power.

- What God initiates, He equips us to handle.

- God is the only one who can know a person's every thought, every motive, every temptation, and every flaw yet still feel good about Himself. If we want to become secure women of God, we must cease asking questions we can't handle the answers to.

- Insecurities do not attract. They repel. Insecurities do not invite intimacy. They invite uncertainty. They do not work for us on any level at all, except to open our hearts and minds to the healing, securing strength of Christ.

- One of the most common human claims is that we can't change the way we feel. That may be true, but we can change the way we think, which will change the way we act. And as we change the way we act, the way we feel also begins to change.

- God gave you your security, and nobody gets to force it from you. You must make up your mind that the only way someone can take it from you is for you to hand it over. You have the right to hold on to security for dear life in every situation and every relationship. It's the power of choice.

Galatians 5:26 MSG
We will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.

selah

clothed in strength and dignity

as i look through the next 5 chapters from beth moore's book, "so long, insecurity", i find many highlighted passages. beth moore did an excellent job describing how women and men battle insecurity and she offered Biblical solutions to those issues. what a blessing to be reminded i'm not the only one who struggles! here are some of the passages that were significant to me.

- The One who created us in His own image and then bragged about His own handiwork extends such an ethic to us, but we have to be willing to redirect our preoccupations.

- We need to recognize when we're overloading ourselves on media hype and back off when we sense it tripping our insecurity switch. Let's learn how to put something down or turn something off when it's just too much or makes a lie too believable. We need to make sure we're deliberately exposing ourselves to materials that edify the human soul rather than erode it.

- We live our lives screaming, "somebody notice me!" And do you want to hear something interesting? That's exactly how God made us. That very need is built into our human hard drive to send us on a search for our Creator, who can assign us more significance than we can handle. He not only notices us, He never takes His eyes off us.

- In the radiance of His greatness, we are made great.

- Humility is a crucial component in true security.

- God thinks we are beautiful no matter what. He is enthralled with our beauty.

- Insecurity makes us settle. Insecurity makes us distracted. Insecurity robs our confidence in our rich inheritance from God. Insecurity makes us put our gifts on a shelf to gather demonic dust. Insecurity disturbs our sleep. Insecurity derails our life.

- We are not nearly as likely to react with the same level of insecurity when we remember how well covered we are by God.

- No matter how foolish insecurity has tried to make us feel, we have the right to dignity because God Himself gave it to us. If we really believed this truth, we wouldn't have to mask our insecurity with pride. If we knew who we were and what God has conferred upon us, what everybody else thought of us would grow less and less significant.

i hope those that read this find encouragement in knowing you're not alone in feelings of insecurity and that there is a way to be free from those feelings. in Christ alone do i find my significance and i hope you do too.

we are clothed in strength and dignity!

selah

one step at a time

i shared earlier that i finished reading beth moore's new book, "so long, insecurity". i think i have half of the book underlined because there is so much truth that hits home. i would be the first to admit my insecurities and trust me, there are many. thankfully by reading this book, i've been able to get a grasp on the things that have robbed me of my security and realize i am clothed in strength and dignity through Christ.

i would like to share some of the underlined passages from the first five chapters.

- Insecurity's best cover is perfectionism.

- The insecure person also harbors unrealistic expectations about love and relationships. These expectations, for themselves and for others, are often unconscious. The insecure person creates a situation in which being disappointed and hurt in relationships in almost inevitable. Ironically, although insecure people are easily and frequently hurt, they are usually unaware of how they are unwitting accomplices in creating their own misery.

- When we allow God's truth to eclipse every false positive and let out eyes spring open to the treasure we have, there in His glorious reflection we'll also see the treasure we are.

- We're not jealous of people in whom we see nothing admirable. In fact, it is the fear that they have something we don't that makes us most insecure.

- Let Him (God) tell you you're worth wanting, loving, even liking, pursuing, fighting for, and yes, beloved, keeping. Whatever you do, don't reject the only One wholly incapable of rejecting you.

- God can bring freedom and vision to your life because of those limitations that you would never have discovered without them. You can let your limitations make you either insecure or unstoppable.

- He (God) knows it's scary to be us.

WOW! that is one of the only expressions i could use when i read this book. next to some of the underlined passages i have notes. a lot of wow's, amen's and true's. we all can relate to this topic but through Christ we can have our security restored and the awesome thing is no one and nothing can take that from us!

selah

18 years. is that possible?

for a lot of people, today is just another day. another saturday to spend time with family, run errands, do laundry, lay around the house, or do yardwork. today, for me, is a day where i stop and remember a dear friend.

sheryl, unique, funny, witty, creative, loving, kind, beautiful, respectful, gracious...sheryl, a friend of the dearest kind, a faithful friend. she genuinely cared about others and her heart showed it.

when someone dies, people have a tendancy to say that they "lost" a loved one. sheryl is not lost. i know exactly where she is. she may be gone from this earth but she is now in heaven with her Creator. because of that hope, i look forward to the day where i will be reunited with sheryl once again.

until that day, i will continue to miss sheryl, think of her, love her, wonder what life would be like with her here, and i will continue to stop and remember every may 8th.

Don't be mad if I cry
It just hurts so bad, sometimes
'Cause everyday it's sinking in
And I have to say goodbye all over again

You know I bet it feels good
To have the weight of this world off your shoulders now
I'm dreaming of the day when I'm finally there with you

Save a place for me, save a place for me
I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon
Save a place for me, save some grace for me
I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon

I have asked the questions why
But I guess the answer is for another time
So instead I pray, with every tear
And be thankful for the time I had you here

I wanna live my life just like you did
Make the most of my time just like you did
And I want to make my home up in the sky just like you did
Oh, but until I get there...
Until I get there...

Save a place for me, save a place for me
I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon
Save a place for me, save some grace for me
I'll be there soon, I'll be there soon

-Matthew West, singer/songwriter, "Save A Place For Me"

how did my mom do it?

well it finally happened. my first experience being a mom and being sick. earlier in the week i encountered my little man being sick for the first time and that was rough but at least i was healthy! today i sit in my pajamas as my baby boy sleeps, wishing i could actually fall asleep and rest but for some reason i can't. go figure...so i sit here wondering how did my mom do it?

my mom had four children and i never can really recall her being sick and not being able to function. she always found a way to do what she needed to do for us and was able to exhibit grace even when under the weather.

the other memory that came to my mind was what it was like to be a sick little girl and having my mom care for me. i must say my mom was the best at care-taking. being sick at home usually meant some time spent on the couch in the family room. mom would make me a menu for my meals and i would check mark the items that sounded good to eat. of course since i was sick, usually the menu consisted of a scrambled egg and toast. if i didn't feel too sick, sometimes i even got butter on the toast! but this was such a special way for my mom to care for me when i was feeling poorly. not like i ever tried to fake being sick *wink wink* but those times spent at home have been treasured in my heart. i hope i can be the same kind of caring, devoted, gracious, loving, self-sacrificing mom as my wonderful mother was to me.

uh oh, little man is awake. time for this mother to muster all the strength she can get despite the illness plaguing her body.

happy mother's day! thank you, mom!

wave bye-bye to insecurity, my friends!

i just wrapped up reading beth moore's newest book, "so long, insecurity you've been a bad friend to us". what a great book!

i had never read anything by beth moore before but i read an excerpt in a magazine several months ago that her book was about to be released. since the topic hit a chord with me, i just knew i needed to get this book.

i've always struggled with insecurity...do i look ok? what about my weight? will i ever get married? does he really love me? does this new outfit make me look thinner? will i ever be secure? each of us struggles with finding our true security. and i learned that our insecurities stem from our fears.

beth moore took an honest look at her own life and delves into a touchy subject for some. for me, it's a subject i have always needed to conquer and after reading this book, i'm at least on the right track.

the truth is we will never find security in things we own, or have...we will never find security in our friends, family or our mate...we will never find security in our jobs or the amount of money we have or don't have. the only way for us to be secure is through Jesus Christ!

Jesus has promised to never leave us or forsake us...people on this earth come and go, marriages fail, friends de-friend but Jesus will never fail us. Jesus has promised to provide our every need...we may lose our job, fall on tough economic times and wonder how the bills will be paid, but Jesus provides.

we may think, "oh if i just had more money things would be better" or "if i was married i would be happier" or "if i lost 10 pounds i would feel more confident". all of those things are based on feelings and our feelings change through the circumstances we are in; however, we can have a constant...we can have security regardless or the circumstance through Christ. of course it might make things better if you had more money, but that doesn't bring security. it might make you feel better for a time if you lost 10 pounds, but the insecurity would rear it's ugly head in another area. we need to stop placing our trust/security in the things of this earth and the things that we "think" will bring security/happiness.

this book had so much to say that i'm going to take a couple of days to share some of the gems i found inside it. this post is just my heartfelt reaction after finishing the book. i hope you come back to read some of beth's thoughts from her personal journey.

selah