Melissa Taylor – Tiffany Brown

See Ya Mediocrity!

This is my first blog post for the GREATER study through Melissa Taylor’s Online Bible Studies.

If you are visiting & not a part of the Blog Hop, you can visit Melissa Taylor’s website for more information

For this blog post I chose, “what would a “greater” life for God look like to you?”

Before I answer that question, I wanted to give you a little background and tell you why I was happy to learn about this book and the online bible study.

I’ve been a Christian since I was 15, but became a prodigal after my parents separated when I was 18. It would be another 12 years before I end up rededicating my life to Christ & going back to church. I was an active member in the church for 4 years (2004-2008). However, as my knowledge of God and the Bible increased & after a series of events that transpired, I became grieved because I found out the church I was a member of was full of doctrinal errors and false teaching. I officially left there in August of 2009 & spent the next 4 months figuring out where God would have me go next.

I visited several churches and even watched a few online. Then I finally found one I was interested in after watching their Christmas play online & thinking how awesome it would be to be a part of it. It would be another couple months before I actually set foot in the church, but when I finally did, I knew I was where God wanted me after the service was over. Especially when the speaker – who was also the worship leader at the time – answered the very question that I had been asking God about days prior. In July of 2010, I decided to take their membership classes and even joined the choir. I’ve been a happy member ever since, however, there is still a sense of wanting to do more with my life that just working a full-time job, M-F, with weekends off & attending church twice a week.

I’m also single and I’ve been struggling with this issue for quite awhile now. Especially since I feel like I waste too much of my free time – evenings & weekends – on trivial pursuits or nothing of real eternal value. It wasn’t until recently that the story in John 5 about the lame man near the pool of Bethesda really spoke to me.

See, I just turned 38 and even though I don’t have a physical infirmity that has kept me paralyzed, I do have fears, doubts and insecurities that have kept me paralyzed from fully pursuing everything that God has for me. I like how the man makes an excuse when Jesus asked him if he wanted to get well. I feel the same way in that I make excuses for why I feel stuck & can’t move forward in my Christian walk. And it’s at this time right now in my life that I sense Jesus is saying to me, “Get up & walk”. That is why I was so happy to hear about this book and study because I believe this is the perfect timing for me to start doing GREATER in my life.

Especially since I have been struggling with bouts of anxiety and depression for several months. I’ve literately felt like giving up and not trying anymore. I’ve looked back on my life and where I’ve come from, and even though spiritually I am grateful because I’m not who I used to be, in the physical I’m very unhappy.

Last year in February I quit smoking & because of stress, lack of physical exercise & poor diet, my health started decreasing & I started suffering from bad digestive problems.. In October of last year, I had a procedure done to test for celiac disease, however the results came back negative. But after a follow up, the doctor concluded that it must be IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). At first my symptoms weren’t that bad and manageable, but as the months progressed, it started getting worse and worse. Then in May of this year, the Lord led me to a conference where Sid Roth was speaking & I sensed the Lord telling me that He would heal me. So toward the end of the meeting I went up to have hands laid on for healing, However, I would later learn that this would be a gradual healing, not the instant that I was originally hoping for.

Then, about a month ago, I decided to take a break from the choir, mostly because my digestive issues seemed to be getting worse, not better. The frequent attacks caused me to become less sociable. So, even though I believed God was (IS) going to heal me, the enemy kept flooding my mind with doubt and unbelief, which I believe is what led to my anxiety and depression. The worst part is that stress makes my symptoms worse, so it just ends up being a vicious cycle. I also started seeing a prayer counselor around the same time I stopped attending choir for encouragement and I’m slowly starting to get my life back on track.

My main prayer for this study is that God will use it to further encourage me to not give up and start dreaming big again.

Now to answer the question, what would a “greater” life for God look like to you?

1. To take back everything that the enemy has stolen
2. To live life with confidence, boldness & strength in the Lord and not shrink back because of fear, insecurity or shyness.
3. To have better faith to trust God for the impossible.
4. To be able to be a better witness to my circle of influence & share my faith without fear.
5. To FINALLY be able to attend She Speaks after 3 years of trying in order to pursue my dream of being a writer.

If you are visiting from the Blog Hop, thank you for taking the time to read my post & I would appreciate your prayers as I continue on my way back to health and the GREATER life that God has for me. 🙂

A Confident Heart – Week 2

I just completed week 2 of the online Bible study of ‘A Confident Heart’ by Renee Swope, hosted by Melissa Taylor. It’s not too late to join if you’re interested. Just click on her website here & sign up.

The assignments for week 2 are posted here – http://melissataylor.org/2011/09/24/a-confident-heartweek-2-2/

The WORD OF THE WEEK is LOVE

VERSE OF THE WEEK: 1 JOHN 4:16

God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him (her). 1 John 4:16

I really enjoyed chapter 2 & there was a lot of good information in it, so I just wanted to post a few highlights that I learned this week. Just a fair warning, it is a little long. 🙂

The title of Chapter 2 is called, “Because God’s Love is Perfect, I Don’t Have to Be”.

In this chapter she talks about pretending. We “tell people we’re fine even when we’re not, because we want to be fine“, . I love what she says here on page 31, “Although we tell people we’re fine, what we really mean is that we are Frazzled, Irritated, Neurotic & Exhausted”. Amen!!

Here’s something else she says about pretending on page 32, “Pretending leads to hiding and isolation. What we need is someone who will pursue us and accept us even when we’re flawed. Yet most of us doubt anyone would ever stick with us if we let them get too close. So we put up walls and hide our struggles, even from God, hoping we’ll convince Him and everyone else that we’re fine“.

I know I can relate to the above statement. There are many times in my life where I’ve felt I was better off just hiding my struggles from people because I wasn’t sure how they were going to react. Maybe it’s because I’ve listened to the lies of the enemy for too long. Especially when I was younger & wanted to be accepted by others. So I put myself out there & then I get rejected. So, as a defense mechanism, as I grew older it was easy to put up walls to keep myself hidden from others.

She then goes on to talk about Sam aka the Samaritan woman & how it is one of her favorite pictures of God’s pursuit of us. It really is a good example of how God pursues us, if you think about it. John 4:4 tells us that Jesus “had to go through Samaria”. Renee writes, “Jews considered Samaria to be the scum of the earth. Usually if they were near Samaria they would travel around it – but not Jesus. He had to go through Samaria, because He knew Sam would be there.” (page 36) I also loved this statement further down , “Jesus met Sam in one of the loneliest parts of her day. In the same way, He is there waiting for us in the midst of our imperfect lives, when our pain & failures confirm our self doubts.”

Now, on the previous page (35) she states that “many theologians believe that instead of avoiding the scorching heat of the sun, she went to the well at noon to avoid the scorching pain of others’ rejection and judgement.”

I know I can relate to that last statement. There have been many times in my life when I have gone out of my way to avoid others because I may have to deal with either their rejection or judgement.

I love this statement on page 37, “If you’ve ever doubted God’s personal pursuit of you, let this truth sink in, my friend: wherever you are, He wants to meet you there. He is waiting for you to stop, come up close, and turn your heart to listen to His. You don’t have to pretend things are fine when they aren’t. He knows what is going on in your thoughts. Nothing could keep Him from wanting to be with you.”

That statement is so true. It’s one thing I love about Jesus. I don’t have to pretend with Him. He already knows my pains & struggles. He knows when I’m hurt, upset, worried or fearful. He’s not like others who may reject or judge me. The only thing I have to do is accept His invitation to stop & be willing to meet with Him.

Here are a couple of statements from pages 40 & 41 that stuck out to me.

On page 40, Renee gives the definition of the word “KNOW”. The greek word is yada, which means a deep emotional experience; a bonding between two people when one truly feels the emotions of the other. Jesus knows your pain, fears, doubts, and disappointments. He understands your dreams and desires. (p. 41)

“Although some of us feel uncomfortable that God knows so much about us, it is good to be known, to be listened to and not judged. Jesus is the only One who can meet our deepest needs to be accepted and delighted in simply who we are.” (p. 41)

“By offering Sam eterenal life, (see John 4:13-15) Jesus was offering her the gift of His Holy Spirit, who would cleanse her sins. But even more than that, it would lead her into a relationship where she could know the one true God and be known by Him.”

“Christianity is the only faith that offers a relationship with the living God. We don’t just know about our God; our God wants us to know Him. ”

On page 42, Renee talks about our image of God. She states, “Oftentimes our image of God is shaped by early childhood memories and perceptions, good and bad.” She goes on to talk about how her perception of God was based on her image of her own father. She states that she “perceived God as distant, unavailable and unapproachable.” Which I something I could totally relate to.

I was closer to my dad than my mom growing up, maybe because he seemed like the ‘fun’ parent & my mom was more “stern.” Usually if mom said no, I would go to dad & try to pursuade him into saying yes. So, when my parents seperated when I was 18 – 3 years after getting saved – it was heart-breaking & devastating. I went through my “prodigal daughter” phase & tried distancing myself from God. When I did finally come back to God, I felt like I had to “prove” myself worthy of His love and acceptance. Even though I was the one who distanced myself from God, I felt that if I didn’t behave the right way or do the right things, that God would leave me also.

It’s taken me several years to finally accept God’s love & mercy & not have to try to earn or accept it. It’s very freeing & liberating when you can get to that place, knowing you don’t have to stay on God’s good side for Him to love you. Or ever have to worry that you may do or say the wrong thing that will cause Him to leave or abandon you. His word says that He will never leave us nor forsake us. (Hebrews 13:5)

I love what Renee says on page 43, “A personal relationship with God sets us free to be all we were created to be. As children of God we were designed to find our identity, our significance, and our confidence in Him.”

Further down she says, “The only way we’ll have a confident heart is if we move beyond knowing about God to knowing and relying on Him – depending on His Word with our whole heart, mind and soul.”

A Confident Heart by Renee Swope – online bible study

Hey everyone! It’s been several months since I’ve posted but I decided to take a break for a while. But now I’m back & hoping to start posting at least once a week. Not promising anything, so we’ll see how it goes! 🙂

The main reason for this post is that I just started an online bible study for the book, A Confident Heart by Renee Swope & it is being hosted by Melissa Taylor of Proverbs 31 Ministries.

Our assignment for this week was to read chapter 1 & answer the reflection questions at the end. So, for this 1st post, I just wanted to briefly share what I learned from this 1st chapter.

Renee describes how she was wrestling with self doubt regarding an event that she was going to be speaking a the next day as she was putting on her mascara in the bathroom. She also talks about how this wasn’t the first time she’s struggled with self doubt & described several incidents that happened when she was younger.
She then stated that as she turned around in the bathroom to put away her mascara in her makeup bag, she noticed a huge 9 foot shadow that was so much bigger than her 5 foot 2 inch frame. Then as she bent down to put her mascara in the bag, she sensed God whispering to her heart, You can only see the shadow because you have turned away from the light. Turn back toward the light (page 22). As she stood up & turned back toward the light above the mirror she realized that she was no longer standing in the shadow. She says that was the day she discovered the shadow of her doubts.

The rest of this chapter goes on to talk about what it’s like when we decide to listen to doubt’s whispers.

I really like this quote on page 22

Self-doubt blocks the promise of God’s power and truth to change us from the inside out so that we can live with a confident heart.

She goes on to tell us that it’s not supposed to be this way & that

God doesn’t want us stuck in a cycle of fear or living in the shadows of doubt. (page 23)

So, the 1st thing we’ll do in this study is the “spend time digging deep in the heart & character of God so we ccan learn to depend on His heart for us” Then “we’ll identifly the triggers of our self doubt and the destrictive effects they have on our lives & relationships.” (page 24)

It’s not too late to join in this online study. We are currently doing one chapter a week, so you can jump in at anytime. All you need is the book, which you can purchase online or any major retailer & a computer. If you click on the word “assignment” above, it will take you to Melissa’s website & the 1st weeks assignment post. You can also comment on her post to let her know you are joining in. I know she’ll be happy to have you join us. 🙂