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The right of every woman and girl

For 25 years, God has allowed me to share His heart with Texas college and high school women about our true identity. Who are we, anyway? All of us currently live in a world of pretend, heartache, and shame. Yet, we are more than filtered Instagram pics.  Our collective beauty can be more than external.  Our level of satisfaction in life should be more than just “the next thing” in life.  All women sense there is something more to life than beauty, school, career, health, wealth, marriage, and motherhood. Is there something else to make us feel valued?  Rather than a something, could it be a Someone? Could it be Someone who knows us because He made us?  I cannot adequately express the joy of seeing young women choose to come to Jesus to be made new as someone cherished, valuable, and crucial to the plan of God. It’s no accident that the first person to see the Risen Christ was a radiantly new woman. (John 20) Remember, Jesus was -and is-perfect and yet He gave His first glimpse of resurrection purity to an astonishingly imperfect woman who loved Him. Mary could be my bestie! (Can I get a witness?)

He is still at work in the lives of women.   

Now, ready for some next generation hope? For years,  my daughter (and her dance pals!) joined me to speak about true identity  every summer.  These are more than just cartoon princess events. These are times we look at what Jesus -the true King-offers to every girl who believes in Him the role as Daughter of the King.  The symbolism of this crown is never lost on these girls! They understand it’s a gift to be received and that crown means “princess”.  When girls put on this crown and turn (for the first time) to see themselves in a mirror, they always smile at their reflection! Why? Because the unconditional love and favor of the King has been lavished upon them and they see it represented by the crown!  

Many of are not girls anymore-yet we STILL want new identities.  We don’t want a mere makeover.  We want a MakeNew.   Have you given up on feeling “special” in this world? Look out of this temporal world to the eternal Kingdom of Love. Jesus holds out a new crown  for you with the inscription SHE WHO IS ADORED.  He loves you. (John 3:16)  We’ve all made mistakes. (Romans 3:23) Jesus paid for our mistakes and wants to give us new hearts and new lives!(Romans 5:8) Now what? Tell Him you believe Him . Tell Him you believe He is God and you are not. Thank Him for dying for you. Ask Him-now-to make you new! (Revelation 3:20) Are you ready? Your life is about to radiate His love, His purpose and His power! Learn about your King by reading the book of John.  Then,  look in the mirror and say, “This girl is special for she knows the King! ” 🙂

 
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WANT better relationships? Say these things. Don’t Say these things.

ALL of us want great relationships! How can we change them? God can help us!

THINGS NOT TO SAY

1. Anything SARCASTIC. Sarcasm is the world’s attempt at humor by tearing another down and then applying the bandage of “Just Kidding!” I learned a quote from my hubby, “Sarcasm always contains a kernal of truth.” In every relationship, sarcasm always leads one person to think, “Do they really think that?”

2. Anything DEMORALIZING about an individual’s appearance or behavior.  We can challenge ourselves to turn away from this age-old (and socially acceptable) form of bullying.

3. Anything impugning AUTHORITY. When my kids were little, I remember thinking, “Wow!The greatest example I can give my kids is to honor God, my husband, the governing authorities in my life, and other people. ” The Bible  is very clear about following well. Great leaders always follow first .

THINGS TO SAY

1. Anything that is BUILDING. A great action verb! Let’s ask ourselves, “Am I an encourager?”. It seems like a discipline but over time, but “verbal building” becomes a language. Gather some gal pals and challenge yourselves to  write down 3 positive things about people in their lives. REHEARSING TRUTH CHANGES LIVES! I’ve seen this rescue marriages!

2. Anything that UNITES.  Many of us know how to do this!This is nearly natural. SHARED EXPERIENCES + SHARED GROWTH=DEEP FRIENDSHIPS. This builds lifetime friendships & encouraging relationships.  This is the kind of positive habit that can actually heal.

3.Anything that LOVES. Maybe the greatest satisfaction in our lives will be that we left a LEGACY. We all  to have a legacy that honors God, our marriages, our children, and our friends.

A legacy of kindness is truly a legacy of reward. God wants to give us this gift today!

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Amos Bible Study!

Me and my pal Abby Perry loved putting Amos study together with our friends, Carolyn Jones and Buck Anderson!

Many of us at Grace Bible Church have loved going deep into our Amos bible study! Many of us have studied much of the Bible but had never stepped into Amos. Why study this book? Amos is sandwiched into a section of Scripture called the “Minor Prophets”. Maybe it’s just me, but I think I avoided this book because it seemed so very “minor”. Can there be anything new to learn here?
YES! The 9 chapters of Amos portray a typical society in human history that had become consumed with its own importance and eventual abandonment of God’s preeminence. Throughout this book, God used Amos to call our attention to the PRIDE of Israel, the IDOLATRY of Israel, the SOCIETAL EVILS of Israel, and the impending JUDGEMENT on Israel. Amos is sent from Judah to Israel to point out the people’s sin and to point up to God’s constant mercy. God shows Himself in this book in fascinating ways. How?

  • He is a LION who roars in response to His people’s disobedience.
  • He is the divine JUDGE who will call to account His people’s idolatry and subsequent oppression of their fellow men.
  • He is the CREATOR who sits above the vaulted sky and orchestrates the symphony of time.
  • Finally, He is who He always is–the patient spurned FATHER who asks His people to return to Him because He loves them completely!

This book is so very timely for us.
Whether ancient Israel or Rome or America, the SOCIETAL CYCLE OF IDOLATRY AND OPPRESSION always follows a typical pattern: a society blessed with physical prosperity is often disregards God which leads to neglecting other people. We are forever ignoring what Jesus called the greatest commandments, “to LOVE GOD AND LOVE ONE ANOTHER.” His judgment is consistently executed on disobedient civilizations. If we are to learn from the book of Amos, we must ask ourselves some questions: How much of the world’s values do we weave into our Christian faith, not realizing we’ve compromised the exclusivity of God and become idolatrous? How much of our society’s love of luxury has wounded fellow human beings made in His image? Finally, how do we get out of this cycle?
SEEK THE LORD. The most glorious and hopeful section of this book centers in Amos chapter 5 where three different times, God offers Israel a divine escape hatch and opportunity for cultural restoration. He offers FULL PARDON, FULL HEALING, and FULL BLESSING if they will seek Him and Him only. He is the Ever Patient One.
The book of Amos will challenge, convict, and renew our hearts. He will enable us to see our culture more clearly & guide us to responding appropriately to His loving leadership. We will see age-old patterns of human (and God’s) history dropped into these 9 chapters and boldly shared by the prophet Amos. Not bad for a “minor” prophet. 🙂

You ready for the challenge?

Download this FREE study at www.grace-bible.org!
Tristie Fisher, Abby Perry, Carolyn Jones, Buck Anderson