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She Speaks Scholarship Contest entry

Lysa TerKeurst of Proverbs 31 Ministries is offering an opportunity to win 1 of 2 scholarships to the She Speaks conference this year. She Speaks is a conference for writers, speakers & ministry leaders. It gives women the tools & the confidence that they need to answer God’s call on their lives in those areas.

In order to enter the contest, you must have a blog & link back to the post on Lysa’s website. You also need to share some information about the conference & why you want to win the scholarship.

Now that I’ve shared some information about the conference & contest, here are some of my reasons for wanting to win the scholarship:


* I started writing poems while I was in Junior High.
* I also got interested in reading books on developing my writing & poetry skills during the same time.
* I believe that God put the desire in my heart to write & use it to encourage others.
* My 1st poem that I believe was God given/inspired was ‘Lonely Souls’ which was written after I had a falling out with my dad & stepmom after he went into the hospital for surgery.
* After sharing the poem with others, I got the encouragement I needed to continue writing.
* I believe that every child of God has a story to tell & that the outlet that He has given me to share it is writing.

This is actually my 3rd attempt at trying to go. I learned about the conference over 3 years ago & the 1st time I tried was when I entered a similar blog entry contest & didn’t win. The 2nd time I was actually going to pay my own way, but because of my own fears & some financial problems that arose, I had to cancel about a month before the conference. Now, I’m entering the scholarship contest yet again in hope & prayer that this time will be different.

I’ve already read a couple of the other entries and, to be honest with you, I feel like I should have waited until after I posted my own before reading them. There are some really good entries listed and for me to attempt this a 3rd time is a big step in following & being obedient to God’s leading. I really have to humble myself because I know there are some people who have entered that either have way more experience, speak more eloquently or even write better than I do. However, that is not a good excuse for me to not even try.

It would be real easy for me give up this year & think to myself, “why even bother?”, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that this is exactly what the enemy would want me to do. He wants me to throw in the towel & will start planting seeds of doubt like, “what makes you think you can win, or even have what it takes.” He will also throw in some thoughts like, “did you really hear from God? And even if you did, what makes you think that people will want to hear what you have to say?”
Now normally in the past I would’ve have listened to those doubts. But not this year. No, I’ve decided to take my stand & not let my own fears or prideful thinking get in the way of what I believe God is calling me to do. Since God doesn’t give up on us, then why should we. Just because I didn’t get the opportunity to go in the past, doesn’t mean that I should give up completely. This desire that He has placed in my heart is still there & even stronger today as it was back then. But, I’ve also purposed in my heart that if I don’t make it this year, guess what? I’m OK with it, because it just means that it’s not my time yet & that I still have some more refining to go through.

That was something else that I’ve had to realize through this whole process. I’ve learned that sometimes our dreams may be put on hold  for a time or season because God needs to take us through a refining period. Since God already knows our end from our beginning & knows what we can handle or can’t, I believe that He does this in order to help us get rid of any selfishness, pride or arrogance that we may be holding onto that may hurt or hinder our walk & dream that he has placed in our heart.

I also find it very humbling to realize that a holy God that created the universe wants to use someone like me to share my story in order to encourage others. He doesn’t have to or even need to use me, but He chooses to anyway because He loves us. We just have to be willing & obedient to His calling on our lives.

1 Peter 2:9-10 (NKJV) states:

But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy. (emphasis mine)
Whether I win or not, I’m just grateful for the opportunity to enter this contest.  

Made to Crave

Well, here’s my first post of the New Year. I’m really hoping to get better at posting regularly, which is why I’m creating this post.

A couple weeks ago, actually the 1st Sunday of the year, my pastor gave an awesome sermon on 2011 being a “prime year” & making this the time to not miss our “Kairos” – or “God-appointed” – moments. “Kairos” is one of 2 Greek words used in the Bible for “time” & it “is a pivotal point in a person’s life where profound and significant things are divinely destined to occur.”

One of my “Kairos” moments happened a little over a year ago when I felt I was lead to my new church. I had recently left the church that I was a member of for almost 4 years & was desperately seeking to grow closer in my relationship with God. Before I was so focused on the religious aspects of Christianity & doing the right things, that I forgot to “crave” that relationship with Jesus. My “cup” was becoming clean on the outside, but the inside was still a dirty mess.

After I started attending my new church for awhile, I KNEW deep down that this was where God wanted me to be, at this particular time & I thank HIM everyday that He has me right where He wants me. 🙂

Well, I’m hoping, believing & praying, that I am in the process of my next “Kairos” moment.

I recently signed up for the Made to Crave Online Study hosted by Melissa Taylor.

The book is by Lysa Terkheurst & she is currently hosting live webcasts on Monday nights. The first one was last week, but you can check out the website – Made to Crave – for more information. I’m really excited about reading this book & following the online study.

If you haven’t heard about the book yet, it’s about “the missing link between a woman’s desire to be healthy and the spiritual empowerment necessary to make that happen.” (http://madetocrave.org/about/) Most importantly, it’s about “craving God” more than we “crave food”.

I’m still growing in my relationship with God & I have been “craving” more of Him lately. I heard Lysa say that people have used her book for the other things we “crave” more than God, not just food. So, that is why I’m looking forward to this journey.

For me, this journey will not only be about learning healthy eating habits, but I’m also hoping to use it as a guide to help me ONCE & FOR ALL quit smoking. I’ve tried quitting twice before to only start back up again. So, I’m hoping to use this book & it’s principals to not only learn better eating habits, but I’m also BELIEVING & TRUSTING in this journey to help me KICK THE HABIT for good. Plus, I believe both of these areas go hand in hand. A lot of people turn to food or gain weight while they are quitting/or after they have quit. So, I don’t want to be the next person who ends one bad habit, only to start another one.

Each Sunday the assignment is posted for the week. So, I’m hoping – as I follow along this study – to update my blog at least once a week to keep myself ACCOUNTABLE. There are discussion questions at the end of each chapter & I’m planning on keeping an offline journal to take notes. I want to use this blog, as well as the Made to Crave community on Facebook, to share what I’m learning each week.

On a closing note, I really enjoyed my Pastor’s sermon this morning. He talked about the man who was healed by the pool at Bethesda in John 5. In verse 8, Jesus commanded him to rise, take up his bed & walk. And because of his obedience, the man was made well & got up.

I like what my Pastor said, “If we can do the possible, God can do the impossible.” The key is that we have to be obedient. We can’t expect to change & not put in any effort. So, I’m believing that during those times when I feel like I’m struggling or unable to continue in my own strength, God will intervine & give me the strength to do what is beyond my ability. 🙂

Thanks for taking the time to read this post. And, please feel free to leave me a comment or even a word of encouragement. 🙂

Give Thanks…

The above picture is courtesy of the Heartlight Heart Gallery & can be found at this link – http://www.heartlight.org/gallery/146.html

I pray everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know I did. It’s been several months since I’ve posted anything on this blog, so I thought I’d post something to let you know that I’m still around. 🙂

Since yesterday was Thanksgiving, I thought I’d make a quick list to share what I am most thankful for this year.

~ First & foremost, I am thankful that God sent His son to die on the cross so that I can have everlasting life.

~ I’m thankful that I am saved & a child of the Most High God.

~ I am thankful that after I had left my old church, God has been faithful to lead me to another one that I am proud to call my church home. The people there have been gracious in welcoming there & making me feel at home. I thank God everyday that He has lead me to a Bible-believing church where Jesus is being preached, the pastor is annointed & people are being saved.

~ I’m thankful for the family – mom, brother, grandmother – that God has blessed me with.

~ I’m thankful for the wonderful friends that He has brought into my life. Both those I have in person & those whom I’ve had the pleasure to get to know though the internet.

~ I am thankful for the job that I have had for the past 3 years.

~ I am thankful for my health – even though I know I should be eating better & exercising more.

~ I am also very thankful to have a roof over my head, food in the fridge & a car to get me to where I need to go.

I’m sure there is more that I could add to this list, but it is already after Midnight, so I thought I would go ahead & end it there. I hope everyone has a blessed weekend & I will, hopefully, write more later. 🙂

Tiffany

JOY

I just posted my first entry on my other blog. I recently joined a bible study a couple weeks ago and the book we are doing is Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore. I’m actually on week 5 of the study, but I just got a chance to get my notes together on the last lesson, which was JOY.

You can read the post by clicking this link – Living Beyond Yourself: Week 4 JOY

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Living Beyond Yourself: Week 4 – JOY

A couple weeks ago I joined a bible study group with some people I went with to the WOF conference. They are currently studying, Living Beyond Yourself by Beth Moore. When I joined the group they were already on week 3, but I was able to borrow the first 2 DVD sessions to get myself caught up. So that is where I’m going to start with on my review notes of the bible study.

We have our studies on Tuesday nights & I wanted to post this earlier in the week before I started this week lesson, which is on peace, Unfortunately, I didn’t get around to making my notes until earlier today, so this is actually from last weeks study.

The Joy of the Lord is Our Strength – That was the name of the introduction to the study on JOY.

Before I go on with the actual notes from my lessons, I just wanted to mention how AWESOME I think our God is and how I love the different ways He uses to get our attention.

Right now, I’m not a member of any church. Some of you may/or may not know that I used to be a member of the SDA church. Well, as of last year, I had my membership removed. For the sake of time & space, it’s too long of a story for me to go into the full details right now, but I’m currently working on my testimony of why I left the church. I’m hoping to have that up on my website before Sunday night. But if I don’t, I will have it ready by next week sometime. With that being said, for the past several months I’ve mostly been joining some different bible studies during the week – such as this one. And since I’ve gotten used to sleeping in on the weekends now, I usually watch some services on TV or online.

Well the day after my Tuesday night meeting, on my way home from work, something told me that I should visit a local churches website where I can watch live services online. Since it had been raining earlier that day, I already knew I wouldn’t be going anywhere that night. So at 7pm that evening, I got online to watch the service.

I’ve visited this church on Wednesday a few times, so I was already familiar with they’re format. They sang a few songs, the pastor said a prayer & they started the study. Well, guess what the first words he just happened to say was? If you said, “the joy of the Lord is our strength”, ding, ding, you would be correct! His study that night was on ‘joy’ and the different things in our everyday life that can steal our joy. I just got a HUGE kick out of this & was pleasantly surprised when I opened up my study for that week and the title of the introduction was “the joy of the Lord is our strength”. Had I not been obedient that night, I believe that I would have missed out on a huge blessing.

So back to my lesson… The Greek word for Joy is chara, which means ‘joy, rejoicing, gladness.” In many ways it means, “to celebrate”

The 5 areas of Joy (chara) that Beth mentions in the study are:

1. Salvation
2. Discovery
3. Restoration
4. Abiding (or remaining) in Christ
5. The body of Christ – or fellowship

Here are just a few notes that I’ve taken that describe each area. The words in red are quoted from Beth in the study.

Salvation

“Salvation is a gift of grace that we have a privilege to accept.” The Greek word for grace is charis, which means “unmerited favor.”

Read Luke 10:17-20. Jesus says in verse 20, “Rejoice that your name is written in Heaven.” This is definitely a reason to be joyful. Knowing that the God of the universe sent his son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins, so that we can spend eternity in Heaven with Him.

Discovery

“The discovery of one perfect treasure – Christ, Jesus.” (Matt. 13:44, Matt 28:8, Luke 1:44, Luke 2:10, Luke 10:21, Luke 24:52)

“Chara is the supernatural result of which flows from the glorious discovery of our Lord & Savior in every circumstance where we wish to find him.”

“Joy also comes as a surprise through our trials in which the “presence, purpose & power” of God is best discovered through our difficulty.” I know this is true because I’ve been through several trials and, even though I didn’t understand it at the time, I was joyful at the end result & seeing how God had worked through that difficult situation.

Restoration

She gives several examples of finding joy in restoration

1. Difficulties & trials – “One reason God allows us to experience troubles is because He desires to reveal his joy to us through restoration” (Psalm 7:1-24)

“I am convinced we cannot begin to really know Christ until we learn to fellowship with Him in His sufferings.” (Phil 3:10) We know that just as Christ suffered, that we will have to suffer as well. I know from experience that the Christian walk is not an easy one, but I believe that it will be well worth it in the end.

“If God has ordained difficulty for you, he has also ordained restoration for you” (1 Peter 5:10)

2. Our own sins (Psalm 85:6)

3. Our separation from God (Jeremiah 31:1-20) “Discipline basically means ‘teaching’.” (Hebrews 12:6-7,10)

Abiding in Christ

Remain in Christ – the Greek word for remain is meno, “to abide, dwell, live”

“to remain in Christ means to cling to him, to refuse to be budged under pressure, to never allow loss to cause us to leave.”

“the key to “abiding” or “remaining in Christ is in John 15:3, 7, 10”

“Chara can be lost as well as gained”

Reasons we may lose our joy:
1. When our out pour exceeds our intake
2. When our talk exceeds our walk
3. When we become ‘wonders junkies’
4. When we are exhausted
5. When we feel all alone

Body of Christ

(Romans 15:30-32, Romans 16:19, 2 Corinthians 2:3, 2 Corinthians 7:4, 2 Corinthians 7:7, Phillipians 1:25-26, Phillipians 4:1)

“We are a catalyst of joy for one another” (Hebrews 10:24-25)

“Joy not only comes from the body of Christ, but also adds joy to the body of Christ. Our joy makes us soul winners” (Psalm 51:12-13, 1 Peter 3:15)

I throughly enjoyed this study on Joy. I’ve started the first few lessons this week on Peace & it’s interesting how much peace & joy are greatly linked. Which is very easy to see because it’s hard to have peace if you’re unhappy or have no joy.
I’m already planning on posting my notes on that study sometime next week, probably Tuesday night or Wednesday, before I start the new lesson. I think it’s easier to take notes as I go along with each days lesson & then, at the end of the week, write one complete post to summarize what I’ve learned.