Tag Archives: be encouraged

A New Thing {Free Scripture Printable}

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:18-19

Last year I really struggled when Christmas was over; New Year’s was approaching, all the “word of the year” posts starting popping up… I felt, well, discouraged and hopeless. That verse at the top of this post? “See I am doing a new thing!” I didn’t believe it. Not one word of it.

You might say I was the “ye of little faith.”

I didn’t really believe that God could do a “new thing” in my life. Motherhood has been pretty hard, all nearly 12 years of it. Homeschooling has been even harder. The struggle with depression seemed never-ending. The weaknesses and character flaws I saw in myself seemed to grow instead of diminish. I did not have one ounce of faith that God could or would do a new thing in my life.

And you might say I was stuck there for quite awhile…maybe for years, even.

You know what is coming, right? But, God…

Friends, there is always, always, a “but” in our hopeless situations. And it always begins and ends with God. No matter how I feel, no matter how hopeless my situation seems, God is always at work and He is always the God of all hope.

That’s not always easy to remember or easy to believe, though. You might have thought I was taking a different direction with this post…you might have thought I was going to say, “Last year I had no faith that God could change my circumstances, but LOOK, HE DID! My life is awesome now! Everything has fallen into place just as I had hoped.”

God didn’t change my circumstances…He changed me.

Instead of a new set of circumstances, He did a new work in my heart. And how many times do we desperately need that from Him? How many times do I just need a shift in perspective, a reminder to be grateful, a glimpse of His face in my sorrow?

Busy moms, whether you are in a good place or a hard place right now, the God of hope has not changed. His feelings and His love for you are not hopeless or based on your behavior or circumstances. His love never fails. When all else around you falls apart, you can cling to that truth.

This New Year’s Day I’m not looking for a brand new set of circumstances to make my life complete. I’m looking to the God of hope, that has given me a new heart in Him, has made me a new creation through Christ, and I am continuing to cling to that verse that I don’t always believe. God is growing my faith…God is stretching me…God is continuing to do a NEW WORK in my heart and I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful for the ways I can see that new thing even though it isn’t the new thing I had hoped for. It’s even better because it is making me more like Him.

With His help I am forgetting the former things that I had hoped would change, I am making a daily {moment by moment} choice to not dwell on the past, I am looking for His newness in me and around me and praising Him for it…no matter how small it may seem.

Take a look around you today! I guarantee He is at work, which means He is doing a new thing for you, too!

Busy moms, if you need visual reminders like I do, I hope you will enjoy this printable Scripture passage I created for you! You can download the PDF printable HERE.

The Crown of the Aged

79 Replies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.9MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More Subscribe Options

If you are reading this right now, chances are you are a mom. If you’re like me, you’re trying to find five minutes to yourself. Motherhood is a demanding profession. It’s 24/7, doesn’t pay well and gets almost no respect. I think that’s part of the reason moms feel so overwhelmed. Frankly, I think it’s why our culture is struggling the way it is.

Our culture has largely rejected the idea that children are a blessing. I’ll never forget the looks I received when we were expecting our fifth child. Cold stares, people counting by nodding their heads. At one point I remember being embarrassed to go Costco with the children while I looked pregnant. I just couldn’t stand feeling like people were staring and pointing and talking behind my back.

It’s been years since then. I got over my embarrassment, obviously, because we went on to have two more children. Why? Because my husband and I realized something as we grew in our relationship. We realized that our investment in our children was the best thing about our life. Easy? NO. Worth it? YES! Psalm 127:3 says, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is a reward.”

Wow! Isn’t that counter to the culture that we live in? The fruit of the womb, the Bible says, is a reward! If you look at Proverb 17:6, it says, “Grandchildren are the crown of the aged and the glory of children is their father’s.”

I am learning this first hand. We just experienced the joy of welcoming our first grandchild into the family, and there is nothing like it in the whole world. Someone should have told me about it, because I would have had grandchildren first! It’s all newborn, nothing of the nightshift! Looking in the eyes of this beautiful little boy who is being raised by MY daughter and her husband is glorious!

If you’re in the throes of raising children (no matter the size of your family) keep in mind that you are doing the best work there is. The culture tells us that children are a burden but God says they are a blessing! The culture says only try to have one or two children, but God says blessed is the man whose quiver is full of children.

I wish that as a culture, we looked at children the way that God does. I’m not talking about disputable matters when I talk about children, either. I don’t care to get into a discussion about birth control. I do want to point you towards God’s Word so that y0u can see how God views children. Over and over again we read that God loves children. His heart is for children.

In Matthew 19, we read about how the children were brought to Jesus so that He could lay His hands on them and pray for them, but the disciples rebuked the people saying, “Hey, Jesus is too busy for the kids.” But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them. For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” He then laid his hands upon them and went away.

Children are a gift.

Busy mom, if you have just found out that you’re pregnant with another child and you’re feeling burdened and overwhelmed or someone is mocking your pregnancy announcement, don’t let them bother you. Whenever we were pregnant, people would come up to us and say, “Hey, do you know how that works?” Eventually, after so many incidents, my husband finally said, “Yeah, we do, and we like it!” We can think of lots of things to say to people when they make fun of the number of children we have, but I always tell parents it’s the hardest, best thing we have ever done is having a big family. We are so thankful that we didn’t let negative comments cheat us out of enjoying the wonder of raising children.

Am I saying that it’s easy? Absolutely not! There have been days where I’ve wanted to throw myself off a cliff! Sometimes I look at my husband and say, “Why did we have all these children?” There have been days when I wondered if I could do it for one more moment… but I’ll tell you what, the Bible is true. God’s mercy is new every morning.

His mercy will be new for you every day, busy mom. One day, by God’s grace, we will be looking back on our lives and we’ll really understand what it means to have a “crown of the aged.” Until then, I choose to believe God’s Word.

Children a blessing.

Confessions of a Recovering Legalist {part two}

3 Replies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (4.8MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More Subscribe Options

Luke 10:27 says, “And he answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

On the previous podcast, we had a conversation about legalism. The subject can be tricky and even divisive, so today, I want to focus on God’s heart for us. His heart is that we love one another. He desires us to be dependent on Him, not on another person or ideology. This is why Jesus reminds us to love Him with our whole being. When we love Him this way, we have the freedom and discernment we need to follow Him where He wants to lead us.

When Jesus leads us, there is no room for pride, either, because we know we’re dependent on God’s leading.

One of the most troubling things about legalism is that it keeps us from growing to be totally dependent on God. If we raise our children this way, eventually they too become bound by rules. It’s true: legalistic parents tend to raise legalistic children.

Jesus saw legalism in the Pharisees. The Pharisees were known for their rules, but never for their discernment. Here’s the thing: When we depend on a checklist of rules to determine our decision making process, there is no room for discernment. The Pharisees’ mindset would be “Give me the law. I want the rules so that I don’t step out of bounds.”

Christian parents have a critical role to play in teaching their children how to be biblically discerning. This means we must train ourselves to work through issues using Scripture for ourselves. Scripture should drive our decision making process. This is why it is so important to teach our children to make decisions for themselves within the security of our home. It is in our homes that we teach our kids how to truly know God for themselves.

Following rules reveals something else: it reveals a lack of faith in God’s leading in the lives of others. It says, “My confidence is in this parenting program or that man’s teachings” rather than in Christ alone. Busy moms, where is your confidence? If it’s doing things a certain way so your kids will grow up to serve God, you have to surrender.

It is so easy to give our daylight hours to a strict schedule and live our life by a list of rules–after all, that’s safe, right? But God has a much better way. His way requires a daily surrendering (there’s that word again) of our will to His. His way bears fruit. It’s not burdensome and it’s not bound by legalism.

I’m going to close with this today: consider what Paul said to the people of Philippi as he affirmed that if God began something, He would finish it. The word “confident” is a strong word. It means “fully persuaded,” or “completely convinced” about something. Are you completely convinced that God will finish what He began in your life? Where is your confidence?

Philippians 1:6
“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you
will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

Paul chose the right thing to be confident in. To completion! Don’t you just love that? It just makes me want to sing for joy because some days, I feel like I’m not going to make it to grade 3, let alone grade 12 with my kids! This verse reminds me that I don’t need to depend on the formulas or rules of men, because I can be confident in God’s desire to see the work He has started in me and my husband through to completion.

After all, it’s His work, His power, and His presence in our everyday lives that becomes our true source of confidence and strength as we follow Him together. He can be trusted.

Thank God for grace,

Heidi

are we seeking Him as much as before?

1 Reply

I accepted Christ into my heart when I was twenty six years old. The feeling was overwhelming. Jesus loves me. He stands at the door and knocks. (Rev 3:20). I just had to let Him into my heart.

So I did. Belly down on the carpet of our living room I breathed in deeply. I pointed to the garage door. It was the door we used as “the front door”. Our friends used this door too. We hardly ever used the real front door. If Jesus knew me and loved me like the scriptures stated – He was knocking at that door.

In the quiet dark hours of the night while my newborn snoozed I pointed at that door. “Jesus, I love you and want you to come in through that door and live in my heart. I want to have a relationship with you”.

I read the word daily. I couldn’t read it enough. I had never read a verse in my life before. I prayed hard, earnestly trusting the Creator of the Universe was listening. I loved so easily and I knew He loved me.

The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren had just released the year before. (that book sparked my heart to seek answers). If you can believe this – Facebook hadn’t even started yet. Twitter was still 3 years in the making. I knew of no super spiritual bloggers nor did I even know what a blog was about. If you wanted to see pictures of people – they actually had to send them in the mail to our house!

In the last ten years our world has become instant. Spiritual uplifting has become easily available for anyone with an electronic device. This is the means by which we are easily encouraged, connected, “caught up” with one another, and yet too easily discouraged as well.

John 10:10, “”The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” I believe, our attachment to this instant world can be the enemy’s easiest tool to swing to infect our days with discouragement.

We are more aware of what everyone else is doing at every moment of the day. If we want to know or not. There are more faux relationships out there eagerly awaiting for your time and agreeable comments. And how easily they crumble over a status update too!

So fast so fast no time to run words through filters and hope for the best in new relationships. We see the sharing of status updates before that one not-so-little-but-highly-private thing spreads around.

Sharing an update or retweeting a verse is great! I know God can and will use that to bless another. But in a world when we can instantly move on to the next thing a little too quickly … are we seeking Him as much as before? Are we still hungry to find Him?

You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13

There is One relationship that is jealous of your time. It’s not your high school reunion friends or your cousin in-law with the great hair and perfect smiling kiddos. It’s not your relationship with that famous Christian celebrity you’re stalking {did they notice that funny comment yet?} It’s definitely not the disapproving homeschool co-op ladies.

As the holidays approach I am trying to focus on the One relationship that has greater rewards. I’m praying for a hunger to know Him. Not the drive by verse someone snapped a photo of and posted. But Him – the One who was standing outside my garage door waiting for me.

May I leave you with the chorus of a song I’m singing lately? Amazingly, this was written in 1922. Long before Facebook!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace

God Works Through Suffering

Hope in our Heartache

7 Replies

We ask our children when we pick them up, “Did you have fun?”

We ask our spouses when they return from work, “Did you have a good day?”

There’s nothing inherently wrong with those questions, but they each have as their main concern the person’s enjoyment of that which occurred. If those are the only questions we’re asking, then we’re missing the best ones we could ask. What about “Were you a blessing today?” “Did you point people to Jesus?” “Did you offer hope today?”

God’s main concern isn’t our happiness, yet we often (inadvertently) train our children to think it is. Happiness is temporary, fleeting, dependent on the circumstances or the moment. No, He’s concerned with our holiness. Because when we are holy, we ascribe glory to Him which is the entire reason we were created.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said,

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup…”

Jesus – son of the Most High God – asked God to provide another way! He knew the next chapter in His story was going to be a painful one, and in His humanness didn’t enjoy pain and suffering any more than the next guy. Yet in His holiness, He said,

“…yet not my will, but Yours, be done.” both Luke 22:42

Jesus underwent terrible pain – worse than we can ever imagine as he took on the sin of the world – and chose to give glory to His Father.

You see, God sees the big picture in our lives, and He can use anything to make us more like Him. Failure, hunger, depression, heartache, wayward children, past abortions, divorce, abuse, abandonment, unfaithfulness, betrayal or littler every day things like unkindness from a friend or a terrible day of homeschooling… Don’t get me wrong – He doesn’t cause any of the sin of this world, but He will redeem it in our lives if we let Him. All of these struggles that come as a result of this fallen world cause us to run to Him, desperately cling to Him, and sometimes even to need Him for our very next breath. And that makes us holy.

My husband and I lived in a season of infertility. (The Lord has yet to give me more “fruit of my womb.”) I wanted more babies, but I learned I wanted His best for me more than I wanted to grow that little one. That unsatisfied desire for more babies made me more holy. Needing God, submitting to God, allowing Him to mold us into the beautiful creation He intends for us to be… all of those make us holy.

And when we’re holy, we can give Him glory even when we are drowning in the sadness of infertility.

When we’re holy, we can give Him glory by being patient and kind – even when our growing-up-family baggage is rearing its ugly head and wreaking havoc in our marriage.

When we’re holy, we can give Him glory by waiting on Him as our Provider – even when we aren’t sure how we will pay that next electric bill.

When we’re holy, we can give Him glory by offering forgiveness – even when someone we trusted betrays us.

When we’re holy, we can give Him glory by recklessly trusting Him – even when we’re fearful of what tomorrow might bring.

When we’re holy, we can give Him glory by offering the gift of hope – even when we feel hopeless.

Unless you’re somehow exempt, life is going to be hard at one point or another.

There is still hope in this.

And hope breathes life and purpose into the heartache of the present struggle.

I can choose to use this struggle well, or I can choose to waste it.

I want to use it.

I want to be more like Him.

I want to be holy.

I want to give Him glory.

What is your heartache? Will you join me?

Loose Lips Sink Ships

2 Replies

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (3.1MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More Subscribe Options

Did you know that your words can wound? In fact, words can destroy.

On December 7^th, 1941, the Japanese made a sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. They disabled most of the U.S. pacific naval fleet. The United States government feared that enemy spies would find out other key locations of navy vessels, so they felt it necessary to warn the soldiers against unguarded talk that might give useful information to the enemy. In addition, many civilians volunteered for the government, and it was thought that they would not know how to conduct themselves when they wrote letters home, or in general conversations, or even if they were captured. The government feared that they would indirectly disclose information. So, to help remind the soldiers and the civilians, they came up with a phrase that was printed on posters: Loose lips sink ships.

Words and how we use them are very important, because they have the potential to bring life or death.

Pause with me for just a second and grab your Bible and read James 3, and make a note about how this chapter is mainly about controlling the tongue. If you were to read every chapter in the book of James, you would find that every chapter in there is admonishment about our speech. And in Psalm 119, in verses 172 and 173, we read what our tongue should be used for. It says, “May my tongue sing of Your Word for all Your commands are righteous. May my hand be ready to help me for I have chosen Your precepts.” I’m finding myself, as I get older, wanting less and less to be known as someone who even knows about gossip, let alone spreads it. Nothing good comes from it, and it destroys relationships, hearts and people. If my mouth is bury singing His praises, it’s going to be a lot less likely to be hurting others.

We encounter people every day and have opportunities to heal or hurt with our words, but that is especially true with these little people God has given us. It’s easy to speak unkindly to them in our frustration, yet those hurtful words we speak can take root and grow into lifelong lies that replay over and over in their little heads. What we say to them each day matters! If you’re guilty, you’re not alone. Thankfully, they remember when we apologize and ask forgiveness too!

Take out your Bible today and read James 3 with me. Let me know what you’re learning. I’d love to hear about what God is teaching you about the power of words, and let’s be moms that speak life over those we meet today!

Heidi St. John

Speaking the Truth in Love

Tag Archives: be encouraged

A New Thing {Free Scripture Printable}

The Crown of the Aged

Confessions of a Recovering Legalist {part two}

are we seeking Him as much as before?

God Works Through Suffering

Hope in our Heartache

There is still hope in this.

And hope breathes life and purpose into the heartache of the present struggle.

Loose Lips Sink Ships