"As a man thinks in his heart, so is he," Proverbs 23: 7 What are the messages you listen to in your heart and mind? Your life will reflect what voices you are listening to and what voices you are believing.
If you feel condemned, or inadequate, or judged, perhaps you are hearing that God is disappointed with you, or that He is a God ready to condemn, a rule keeper--expecting more of you than you can give.
Or if you live in bitterness or anger, you are listening to voices that tell you, life is unfair to you and God has not heard your prayers and no one really loves you, and He is not really good or He would not have allowed this to happen to you.
Or if you are living with a real sense of His love and goodness, perhaps you are listening to messages of "There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." or "Even as a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him."
Or if you are living in Hope, and peace of mind, the message in your heart you are believing is that "All things work together for good for those who are called to Christ Jesus." and "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I committed to Him."
You are what you believe. Your actions tell the world what you believe.
I realized that I was in my heart believing that God was mainly interested in my obedience and works, and so I did a study on Biblical joy because I wanted to live life full of His spirit and life, I wanted to live as a person redeemed, not as a person enslaved. And so Biblical joy and walking with Him in love and as a child dependent on Him to care for me, became a message of my own life and so I wrote Dancing with my Father.
Messages of this world
The messages of this world bring hopelessness, despair, or fool us into false philosophy. Messages about women say, "Your job and salary defines you. It is what gives you real worth." or "If you are beautiful like a model or a movie star, then you are really pretty and have more value to others."
Scripture tells us, "A godly woman, she will be praised." One who values God, her husband, her children, her home.
These are the messages that I feel God has put on my heart to leave as a legacy in this world--to speak against the messages of culture.
It is why Clay and I want to train and inspire other moms to cultivate these messages and to write them, speak them, share them in our world with others, so that we can see thousands upon thousands hearing this truth of the word. And we are hoping that God will bring those who want to help write Bible studies, speak at mom's seminars, to help us get these messages to the world. So pray and ask God if you are one of those who will join us in starting a mom heart group or in coming to our leader intensive. And please pray for us in this venture of faith.
Giveaway
We have 3 tickets to the Old Schoolhouse Expo that we would like to giveaway to you. We also want to give away one set of our conference messages from a Whole Hearted Mom conference.
To enter this contest, please write on your blog or in an email newsletter with a positive comment and give this link. You can receive an extra entry after you have given our link, by commenting here or on my facebook. Send your entry to Jennice, my secretary.
Another Great Opportunity
The website and blogs give us unprecedented opportunities to reach people all over the world with God's messages. I am so excited that I have been invited to speak at the Relevant Conference (link on my sidebar). A sweet friend, Sarah Mae, here, had a great idea to host a conference to encourage and instruct and inspire women to use their blogs effectively to cultivate their messages and to reach people all over the world. I hope many of you will join us there.
Cultivate your own
Each of us has messages that we live out. A godly, effective woman is not accidental, but intentional. Write down what you want to have as the messages of your heart. Then live them, practice them and show them to all in your arena, that they might see and hear the truth and love of the Lord in every area of your life.
Off to a very windy, blustery day!