8.22.18 Recap

Good Afternoon Sisters,

What a BLESSED and ANOINTED night of fellowship! Each week we get a greater glimpse of what Heaven is like, a deeper revelation of His love for us.

One of the sweetest ways He expresses that love is through the support and encouragement we share each Wednesday night. It is the solid foundation upon which our ministry is built. The testimonies that are shared each week are such great validation as to the transformative power of His grace. God is going AMAZING work in your lives sisters!!! For those of you who could not be with us we missed you and covered you and your families with an abundance of grace, love and prayer.

We began our evening with prayer (led by Stacy) and devotions. This week’s devotion (sent through MailChimp yesterday) ”Fight like God” laid a very solidation foundation for our Chapter 9 study “Tune into Peace.” One of the areas of battle for women is in their emotions. And the emotion that is causing so many heart wounds is anger. There are so many angry people in the world today. All of that unresolved anger have led them to become critical, cynical and bitter. A lot of angry people are depressed. Depression is anger turned inward. Many are angry because they have so many unresolved issues in their lives. Many of these issues can be traced back to their childhood...issues that were not dealt with or dealt with in an unhealthy way. I understand the emotion of anger very well as I lived full of it for the first 30 years of my life. I was mad at God, myself and everyone around me. The anger was destroying me from the inside out.

Many people today grow up without the love and validation they need and feel cheated out of their childhood because of a problem within their family. The world teaches us to fight that injustice by becoming harsh and hard…”nobody is going to push me around or tell me what to do.” Many Christians are living like this today and it is causing havoc in their health, relationships and finances. The bottom line is that we cannot continue to live by our flesh and by the way we “feel.” The only way to fight like a Christian is to fight evil with good. We need to learn how to exercise controlled anger and confront those who have mistreated us with love and mercy. God’s ways are higher than ours and His way ALWAYS leads to our victory. The first thing to do when someone hurts you is to talk to God and say “God this hurts and I’m angry about it but I know that my anger won’t solve the problem or change the person so I trust you and I’m going to keep doing good and commit my way to you. I know you will vindicate it and bring it to pass.” God is angry that you were mistreated too but He knows how to fight it the right way. The only time we grow spiritually is when we do what’s right when we don’t feel like doing it. We must have a lifestyle of giving our cares to God. It keeps our souls free and our bodies healthy.

This week’s chapter “Tune into Peace” was chock full of truth and wisdom. One of my favorite stories of healing in the Bible is in Mark 5:34…”Go in peace, and be healed of your affliction.” Our English translation says “go in peace” but in the original Greek text the word used is “eis”, meaning “TO INTO PEACE”. So the Lord wasn’t simply bidding her farewell; He was telling her to step INTO the realm of peace, the way you would step into a house. If you know someone that is going through a prolonged season of challenge please share this story with them. As you reach out to the Lord in faith allowing to work a miracle in your situation, He is inviting you to step out of your place of fear, worry and anxiety and step into a realm of peace.  He is asking you to go INTO a realm of peace. The peace that Jesus gives is not like the world give us...it passes all human understanding. The peace He gives us is not affected by external factors. You can’t get it through meditation, a day at the spa or through medication and tranquilizers. His peace is a peace that is robust and stable, a peace that guards our hearts and minds (Phil 4:7).

Jesus did not leave us to fend for ourselves in this world. In John 14:25-26 He promised to give us a “Helper”...the Holy Spirit. You have a helper that will help you in ALL things. This means instead of being stressed out or anxious, you can ask the Holy Spirit to teach you how to handle the situation.

You can ask Him to teach you to handle the situation in your marriage, how to handle your finances, how to meet sales targets or how to handle your rebellious teenager. You don’t have to fight alone my friend. The Holy Spirit is YOUR Helper who will teach you ALL things.

Have you been letting many things...doctors’ reports, news headlines, financial lack or family strife rule your heart and cause you stress?

Practice the let-go life today by saying a prayer of THANKS to the Lord for His PEACE that is already your portion and that is always ready to guide your heart. Go into your quiet place and spend time with Him today. Get in His word, ask Him to help you and then listen to His quiet, still voice.

As we were on our way to our daughters’ volleyball games yesterday my husband Kent said some very wise words that I have been meditating on. He said…”you know talking and communication are two entirely different things. He said a lot of people are good at talking but few know how to communicate. Communication requires listening.” How very true this is!

Many times we don’t hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us because we are NOT LISTENING.  We spend a lot of time talking to God but very little time listening to Him. Listening requires our minds to be quieted, our mouths to be shut and our thoughts focused on Him. It is SO important that we learn to LISTEN as only HE can direct our paths. We need His wisdom and His guidance for every decision we make. May we all put HIM first this week by giving Him the first part of our day and LISTENING to our Father who loves us so deeply and wants us to guide us into our Promised Land.

THANK YOU for your prayers for sweet 16 year old Lily Rutledge. She has been diagnosed with a genetic disorder called ARVC (Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy).

It is controlled through medication and possibly a pacemaker. Lily and her family have been such a great testimony of faith through this journey! She is SO positive and has a great outlook... a JESUS outlook! She will not be able to play Volleyball but is going to be our team manager. This girl is truly a rock star in God's kingdom! I told her mom last night that witnessing Lily's faith through this makes me realize why God tells us to have faith as children. They don't question, they don't analyze, they don't get full of fear and doubt... they just BELIEVE and trust God. And this is exactly what we are going to be doing for Lily...BELIEVING and STANDING on God's word for COMPLETE AND TOTAL HEALING. Ephesians 1:21 says our Lord Jesus is far above all principality, power, dominion and might and EVERY NAMED THAT IS NAMED...and that name includes ARVC. So please continue to stand on this promise with us for Lily. We are so excited to see God's grace flow mightily through her and how He will turn it ALL around for her good and His glory. This young woman is a WORLD CHANGER!!!

Next week we will dive into Chapter 10 entitled “All-Encompassing Shalom”.

Please read the chapter and answer the questions in the study guide. Also meditate on the scriptures in the chapter as they will help you to take ownership of the peace that our Lord Jesus has given you as your inheritance. We are now half way through our study and my prayer is that you are growing closer to Him and that you are learning to let go and let God.

THANK YOU sisters for your love and support of this ministry. Our website is launching soon and I am SO excited that we will be able to share with the world the teaching and testimonies that God will use to change hearts and renew minds. Please send your story into Karen April (shesgotstyle603@gmail.com).

Step into His realm of peace. Live in the moment and thank Jesus for ALL of His love and super abounding grace. I look forward to seeing you next week!

Love,

Sherry :-)