In the Quiet Place, by April McCullohs

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve sensed God calling me to Himself. It’s not that I’m in a place of rebellion, or even apathy.

There’s just more to be had.

More of God.

More of myself to give to God.

What does this look like for me? It’s more regular time, away, by myself, with the intent to focus on God.

It’s reading a psalm

and then praying it aloud to God.

It’s putting on a quiet worship song and getting on my face.

It’s taking in the lyrics.

It’s sometimes singing them.

It’s talking to God about all the stuff weighing down my heart.

And, then the best part…

I get quiet.

By this time, I’ve emptied myself of petitions and requests and please-do-this’s.

Most of the time, when we’re “done praying,” we’re done. We get up, move on, and check God-time off our list.

I’ve been stopping, though. And waiting. And staying beyond that point.

It has become the sweetest part.

The most saturated with the Spirit.

It’s in the quietness that I sense Him most.

That I remember who he is.

That he silently assures me of who I am before him.

It’s in the quietness that I regain my strength, my vision, my focus.

My heart is renewed and energized and

At peace.

Once again.

God told his people through the prophet Isaiah,

In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength

And I’m discovering its truth all over again.

Walking Worthy & With Your Head Held High, by Chrissy Mayer

Are you tired of playing games, wearing masks or trying to be someone other than yourself? Wouldn't you like the freedom to just be accepted for who you are, without the pressure to be someone you really don't know how to be? Would you like to learn how to embrace your uniqueness and resist the pull to be like everyone else?

God knew what He was doing when He made you. You are a unique individual—God created you the way you are! It's time that we dare to accept ourselves as different and stop being insecure about who we are.

 Insecurity is the unbelief that God IS who HE said HE is and that YOU are who HE made YOU to be!

The Core Issue - Knowing vs Truly Believing...Head Knowledge vs a Heart Knowledge


Be Courageous
If you’re going to overcome insecurities and be the person God’s called you to be, you must have the courage to be different. Unhappiness and frustration happen when we reject our uniqueness and try to be like each other. If you’re going to be successful at being completely you, then you’re going to have to take a chance on not being like everyone else. You must ask yourself, Am I a people pleaser or a God pleaser?

Who Decides Your Worth?
Becoming a people pleaser is one of the easiest things we can do...but it can ultimately make us very unhappy. When we begin pleasing others, we begin to hear comments that make us feel good about ourselves. That’s okay as long as we don't derive our sense of worth from it. People are too fickle for us to place our sense of worth in their opinions. We’re worth something because God says we're worth something—not because of what people think or say about us.

People pleasers allow others to control their lives in order to gain acceptance and approval. But God doesn't want us to be easily manipulated or controlled by others. We shouldn't let other people's opinions of us control our actions.

Break Out of the Mold
The world (those we know and deal with on a daily basis who may be family, friends, people in the neighborhood or even in the church) is continually trying to conform us to its image. The word conform means "to be similar in form or character; to behave in accordance with prevailing modes or customs.” Romans 12:2 says, Do not be conformed to this world (this age),…but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind…It’s then that we find the good and acceptable will of God for our lives.

People will always try to fit us into their mold, partly due to their own insecurity. It makes them feel better about what they are doing if they can get someone else to do it too. Very few people have the ability to be who they are and let everybody else be who they are. Can you imagine how nice the world would be if we would all do that? Each person would be secure in who he is and let others be who they are. We would not have to try to be imitations of each other.

Unique for a Purpose
God wants to take us, with all our weaknesses and inabilities, and transform us, by working from the inside out, to do something powerful in this earth. If we’re going to overcome insecurities and succeed at being ourselves, we can't continue to be afraid of what everybody else may think. We can't continue to allow others to fit us into their mold. We are different! We are unique! God created us this way to accomplish His purposes here on earth.

If you know Jesus Christ personally...HE CHOSE YOU...HE HAS APPOINTED YOU...to accomplish something good...something that matters...something prepared FOR YOU long before time began...something meant to have SERIOUS IMPACT within YOUR SPHERE OF INFLUENCE!

The Question: Are your insecurities hurting, limiting, or even distracting us from profound effectiveness or fulfillment of purpose. Are they cheating you out of the powerful and abundant life Jesus flagrantly promised?

The Answer: Ask for God's forgiveness for putting others opinions before His and for trusting the world's measure of worth over our costly worth found in Him. (He has already deemed us 'good enough') Pray that as you seek Him that He would continue to show you your specific purpose and value..right now...right here...today!!! Choose to cling to Truth each time the lies try to convince you of anyhthing less!

Guest Devotional - Alexis Albright

“The Me I Want To Be” Hmmm…. What does that look like? In my head, it’s many things that are probably similar to what you have in your head when you ask yourself that question. First of all, I want to be a God-fearing and God-loving woman. I want to be a wife that respects her husband above all else. A mother who has patience and genuine interest in her children’s every-minute activities. But I also have this trivial side. Like, I want my hair to be this shade of blonde because I feel it accents by skin tone best. And I want my toes to be perfectly pedicured at all moments, especially in the warmer months as they are constantly on display. I want my house to be ordered and my car to be clean and my dinners to be “Yummo,” “BAM” and “Delicioso.” (that’s for you Food Network junkies).

Is that the ME I really want to be? Do I want to be like that because my friends are like that or society tells me this is what makes me a super-woman? I have been reading (very slowly as I am usually caught reading with one eye open trying to get through at least one page before falling asleep because my three boys have done me in) through a book with this very title, “The Me I Want To Be,” by John Ortberg. The book is discussing how we get to that ME.

There is a part in this book where the author discusses finding who you are in Christ, and learning to grow into that person. Yes, there will be change, but not change in who God originally designed you to be but rather change towards it. So in other words, as you move closer to the person God thought about when he made you, “you don’t just become holier. You become you-ier.” I love that!!! I want to be me-ier.

I am on a journey to discovering who it is that God had in mind when he thought of me. Who did he want Alexis to be when he knit me in my mother’s whom? What did he want me to accomplish? I’m guessing it was a lot larger than the color of my hair or the cleanliness of my home. I imagine it had some to do with being a mother who shows her children love (in a way that only I can) and teaches them about who God is. I bet it has some to do with the way I love my husband and support him (in a way that only I can), so that he is free to go to work during the day and does not have to worry about our children or the daily tasks that (while not super important) do have to get done by someone. I do know it has to do with being ME, just the way He made me. The Bible tells me, “I am His masterpiece” and since I was hand-crafted by Him, there is no one else quite like me.

Psalm 139:13-16 “You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother’s womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.”