Something that our squad has been rightfully passionate about as of lately is backing up truth with scripture. Let’s not just speak truth, let’s speak biblical truth and have the answers to the ‘why’ behind our truths. I was thinking the other day about how I don’t always use a ton of scripture in my blogs and so I felt challenged to go back over some of the truth statements I made in my last post and back them up with what The Lord says. Here is some of what I came up with. If you have any comments or anything to add or challenge me with, I would love to hear it!
People do fail you but there’s forgiveness that can be extended and taken with His help and you can healthily move on.
My favorite verse about this one is in Ephesians. Ephesians 4:31 – Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger … be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other just as God forgave you. Walk in the way of love.
I heard someone say the other day that forgiveness is a supernatural experience. Ain’t that the truth.. forgiveness is freaking hard but the fact that the Lord makes it possible is huge. A couple other verses that encompass this topic of loving others are:
1 Peter 4:8 – Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Philippians 2 – Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit but rather in humility value others above yourself.
You might get tired of traveling abroad but this season isn’t forever.
I think of Galatians 6:9 – Do not grow weary in doing good for at the proper time you will reap a harvest if you do not give up. This is my favorite verse about endurance. I’m really confident that I’m right where The Lord wants me in this season, and so although some days I’m tired and over it, I can take it as an opportunity to press into endurance. I know that The Lord is working through that.
You might have anxiety but there’s nothing to fear because you don’t have to listen to your feelings.
2 Timothy 1:7 – The spirit gives you a spirit of power love and self control.
Self control. This is one of my favorite topics to talk about and encourage others in because I’ve sooooo been there. We have the power of self control which means we can decide what thoughts and what feelings we are going to listen to.
I do matter and I do have a whole big circle of people around me who love me.
Dang isn’t this just the entire theme of the Bible? We’re loved? We matter? That the Lord came to earth because I matter to him. I can’t prove in the Bible that I have a circle of people around me here on earth who love me, but I can prove over and over the fact that I’m loved by the Lord. For God so loved the world……
I do have a voice that I can feel empowered to use.
For this one I think it boils down to the confidence that we are empowered to walk in. It comes with knowing who we are, believing that God created us in His image, and then not shying away from using the talents and ‘voice’ that The Lord has given me. I think of the verse in Psalm that talks about how we are ‘fearfully and wonderfully made’. He created my inmost being (Psalm 139:13-16). My friend also reminded me about the story of Moses in Exodus, where The Lord calls Moses to go speak with Pharaoh and Moses begins to question why God would send him to do that. He doesn’t want to be the one to speak up. The Lord reminds Moses that He is the one who literally “gave us mouths” (Exodus 4:11) and that He will help Moses. The Lord wanted Moses to walk in confidence. In Ephesians it talks about approaching the Lord with with confidence (Ephesians 3:12). I believe that the Lord wants us to walk in the freedom we have to be confident in who we are and what we bring to the table.
I am a human who has limits and I can’t do it all. I can’t compare my energy to other people’s energy because how I was created is enough.
The Lord knew when to stop and rest. He knew his limits. This is one of the most encouraging and relieving characteristics of who God is. He knows when to say “enough”. This is demonstrated in the very beginning when God creates the world for 6 days, and then chooses to rest on the 7th. He knew when to say enough. He knew when to put the towel down and rest. This is also shown in the story of Noah and the flood when The Lord chooses to flood the Earth to restore humanity. The Lord did what He needed to do to save creation by sending the flood. He didn’t destroy the whole Earth out of HIs anger though. He knew when to stop. Although the story of the flood doesn’t compare perfectly to my point, it does compare in the sense of The Lord knows when to say “enough”. We need to know when to say “enough” sometimes in our lives. We need to know what we can handle and what we can’t. With this I also think about how in 1 Corinthians 12 that talks about how each person in the body of Christ has different strengths. None of us can do it all.
This process was fun — finding scripture to and jogging my brain to tie some of this together. It’s easy sometimes to know concepts but I want to make sure that I’m also balancing truthful concepts with biblical truth to make sure that I’m staying on course.
Thanks for following along!!
Heather
