I Need What You Have

“I Need What You 

“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:14-16 MSG

One morning I was sitting in the living room. I was doing some work on the laptop when my son Bryce came in. He looked at me and said, “I need what you have.”

When he said it my immediate response was to jokingly say, “Why, of course you do!” For some reason, I just haven’t been able to shake this statement. The statement pierced me!

I have sat and pondered this for quite awhile. Wondering what message God had in this simple statement. The question that came to my mind was this. Am I living my life in a way that people will look at me and say “I need what you have”? Do they notice a difference in me and how I live my life? Do they see Jesus when they look at me?

1 Peter 2:11-12 MSG says:

“Friends, this world is not your home, so don’t make yourselves cozy in it. Don’t indulge your ego at the expense of your soul. Live an exemplary life among the natives so that your actions will refute their prejudices. Then they’ll be won over to God’s side and be there to join in the celebration when he arrives.”

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Reading these verses made me stop and look at how I live my life. It made me wonder, “How does my life look different from others?” Am I living an honorable life? Am I doing beautiful works for God? Am I winning others over to Christ?

I’m not just talking about when we are at church. I’m talking about when we are at home. When we go into the grocery store. When we are driving down the road. When we encounter a stranger.

When there is no one around that we think we know, would someone look at us and know there was something different about us? Would they NEED what we have? Do we shine Jesus to those around us?

Ladies, the greatest compliment any one of us can receive is for someone to look at us, see Jesus and say “I need what you have!”

This has challenged me and has caused me to do an evaluation on how I live my life. I hope it challenges you too! Ladies, let’s live our lives in a way that others will say “I need what you have!”
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Music For You:

* Let Them See You by Colton Dixon

Walk the Path

“Walk the Path”

“Stand on your feet alert, then you’ll always be ready to share the blessings of peace.”
Ephesians 6:15 TPT

One of my favorite things are fuzzy socks! I absolutely love them! Sometimes after wearing shoes all day, your feet ache. Nothing feels better than coming home and putting on a pair of fuzzy socks.They can comfort you after a long day and just make you feel warm.

You see, our feet carry all our weight.They carry us through our day and we use them with every step we take. Feet also keep us steady when we stand.

For many of us, we have to walk in places we might not choose, but God has promised to protect us as we walk with Him. We need to protect our feet so that we can continue to walk the path that God has for us! But we also need to protect our feet so that we can walk with other women down all their paths.

Handprints

“Handprints”

Your hands do a lot of things and are responsible for a lot of things.They clean our houses, they cook our meals, they fold our laundry, they pay bills, they change dirty diapers, they give baths, and the list goes on and on.

But our hands also get the privilege of wiping tears, holding peoples hands, carrying our babies and caring for our friends & family. They even give us the privilege of laying our hands on others as we pray for them or using them to worship God.

What would we do without our hands? We need to keep them nourished and protected so we can continue to do what God has created us to do.

“Jesus has chosen to leave his handprints on the world through our hands.”
David Jeremiah

Refresh & Nourish

“Refresh & Nourish”

“His massive arms are wrapped around you, protecting you. You can run under his covering of majesty and hide. His arms of faithfulness are a shield keeping you from harm.”
Psalms 91:4 TPT

Different weather environments wreak havoc on our lips. Causing them to be dry and cracked and even sometimes bleeding. But, we don't have to let that happen.

We know when the weather change is coming.We know when we will be in conditions that could damage our lips.  Because we know, we have the ability to prevent this and protect them in advance. We can pull out this little tube of Chapstick and nourish and refresh our lips.

Ladies even through times when the “environment" or “weather” is wreaking havoc, when it is the least desirable to us or maybe even to other ladies around us, we have the power to call on God for ourselves & for others. He has the authority to prevent & protect. Just like this tube of chapstick,God alone will refresh & nourish our Lips.

Words of our Mouths

“Words of our Mouth”

“So may the words of my mouth, my meditation-thoughts, and every movement of my heart be always pure and pleasing, acceptable before your eyes,
my only Redeemer, my Protector-God.” Psalms 19:14 TPT

Days can be crazy at my house! I don’t know about you, but I tell the  kids all day what time we have to leave. It never fails - we are running around at the last minute and I am giving orders, “get your shoes on, comb your hair, get your coat, brush your teeth, get in the van!”

It never fails that one of those items does not get done and more often than not, it is “brush your teeth” that gets neglected. I don't realize it until it’s too late and they are sitting by me in the van. The kids start talking to me and all of a sudden the odor travels over and I get a whiff of their breath. It about knocks me over. Immediately I'm asking if anyone has any gum!

Ladies, we don't want the words of our mouth to knock others over. Let God freshen up our breath.We want our words to be pleasing to God and to others.

We want to be able to reach out to other ladies with God’s refreshing words.We don't want to be knocking ladies over with distasteful words. Let God speak to us, so that in turn we can speak to others.

Wipe the Tears

“Wipe the Tears”

“Laugh with your happy friends when they’re happy; share tears when they’re down.”
Romans 12:15 MSG

“All who are oppressed may come to you as shelter in the time of trouble, a perfect hiding place.”
Psalms 9:9 TPT

What would we do without Kleenex? Many times I have been in prayer groups, bible studies, worship services, or a much needed heart to heart conversation with a friend that ends with us crying!

And you know what happens when we cry, the inevitable...our faces are covered in tears and our noses run. We need kleenex, sometimes a whole box to come in and clean us up! How uncomfortable it is to need a kleenex and not have anything around that you can use. I have been there and done that!

Without the Kleenex to come in and clean up, our face would be a mess and if we are honest, it leaves us feeling uncomfortable. We look like little children with
boogers all over our faces instead of grown women.

Ladies, let us be the kleenex. So many ladies - teens too, just need a friend, a mentor to come along beside them. Let us be women who come along side these ladies to pray with them, to have a heart to heart conversation with them, or to invite them to a bible study. Let God use us to go in and wipe the tears of other women.

Shut It Out!

“Shut It Out”

“My own sheep will hear my voice and I know each one, and they will follow me.”
John 10:27 TPT

There is a lot of noise in this world! Lets admit right now that sometimes, there is no escape from all of the noise!  Concerts, workplaces, stores, restaurants, even our homes have a lot of noise!  Even doing different jobs around the house can be loud and require ear plugs. Sometimes we probably wish we had ear plugs when we overhear other peoples conversations!

When there is a lot of noise, we need to shut it out so we can hear God whisper. If we don't protect our ears, we will begin to lose our hearing.  Sounds that were once easily heard can grow faint in the background.

If we aren't careful, we will even lose our ability to hear what God has to say. Let us be ladies that protect our hearing. We want to be able to hear God speaking to us, and we want God to know we are listening! We want to be able to hear Him drawing and calling us closer to Him!

Music For You:
* Speak to Me by Kari Jobe

Continue Looking to God

“Continue Looking to God”

“I look up to the mountains and hills, longing for God’s help.  But then I realize that our true help and protection come only from the Lord, our Creator who made the heavens and the earth.” Psalms 121:1-2 TPT

How many of you have left the house in a hurry, driving down the road and all of the sudden the sun is glaring in your eyes?  You can’t see a thing and you left your sunglasses behind!  We tend to panic when that happens and begin to pray that nothing is ahead that we will run into or that can hurt us or someone else!

That is exactly what happened to me one morning.  Bryce was just a baby, he had been up all night sick.  I got up the next morning to go to the store to buy some Pedialyte.  All of a sudden the glare from the sun was so intense and when I turned a corner I ended up hitting a parked car! How horrifying and embarrassing!

The glare of the sun had completely blocked my vision of that vehicle. I had made that turn many times, but that morning the sun had totally messed with my bearings and my vision.  I learned the hard way that sunglasses are a necessity!  They not only protect our eyes from the sun, but they also protect our entire being.

When it is sunny out and we are without sunglasses, we are forced to squint our eyes so that we can adjust them to see in that condition.  Our eyes are not open wide anymore and we aren't seeing everything that we are intended to see.  When the sun is out in full force, we need sun glasses so we can continue to see what is ahead of us.  If we don't protect our eyes when we are out in the sun, then we are compromising our vision.

Lets not reduce or compromise our vision.  We want to be able to continue looking to God regardless of what might be hindering or reducing our vision.  We need to be able to see what God is doing each and every day.  We need to be looking to him for help and for protection!