So…let me start by sharing with you one of my FAVORITE Women’s Podcast – Be Still Be Free: www.bestillbefree.com If you are just hearing about this podcast – run over quickly and subscribe now, you’ll thank me later!
Monica and Sara are the real deal and each week they share truth, encouragement and God’s Word. I recently had the honor of being with them. I’d love for you to click on the link below and join in on our conversation on Emotional Wellness Part One & Two:
Most days you will find me in yoga pants and a t-shirt while driving carpool, changing diapers or preparing dinners for my family, but some days I have the privilege to counsel women, write and speak. This past Thursday was such a day where I was able to put on some cute shoes and share with hundreds of moms at Moms with Swords how GOD IS GREATER than fear, GREATER than our emotions, How God’s TRUTH exposes lies and deception, and how God longs for us to RECEIVE from Him each day…I like to say it this way, “God loves it when we take from Him!”
So, for the days when you feel overwhelmed with your to-do lists and the stress of life is coming down on you – take a few minutes with me to listen because GOD IS GREATER!
May Jesus bless you as you listen or watch today:
This past Thursday was week 6 of our Spring 2017 session: ESTABLISHED with special guest speaker Tracy Hurst.
You can also go to our website and click on Week 6 to hear Tracy Hurst: at www.momswithswords.com/podcasts to listen – Remember to click on Week 6 to hear Tracy!
OR you can watch live on Youtube:
“MWS Established, Week 6 with Tracy Hurst-
“So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: Compassion, Kindness, Humility, Quiet strength, Discipline. Be even-tempered, content with second place, quick to forgive an offense. Forgive as quickly and completely as the Master forgave you. And regardless of what else you put on, wear love. It’s your basic, all-purpose garment. Never be without it.”
Colossians 3: 12-14, The Message Translation
Ask any woman and she will tell you that a simple black dress will take her just about anywhere in life. For example, throw on a black dress, add a pair of high heel shoes and ‘hi-ho-hi-ho’ off to work you go. You can run errands around town by sliding into your favorite pair of flip-flops. You can enjoy a formal evening out by placing a strand of pearls around your neck. Not to mention that as you dash around town in this all-purpose black garment, you will look simply elegant! Every woman needs a go-to black dress.
However, when we enter our closets each morning, we typically select our outfit based on a mood, habit or inspiration. Psychologies Magazine states, ” Clothing choices are rarely neutral, and our inner secrets can be read in our choices.”
What many of you may not know is that God is interested in what we wear, spiritually speaking that is. He has picked out some articles of clothing that He believes are essential for every believer’s closet. So, let’s do some inventory shall we? Would I find the following items within your spiritual closet: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, even tempered, content with second place and quick to forgive?
I will admit to having most of these, yet I seem to wear the same things over and over again! For example, I regularly wear a shirt of compassion, slacks of forgiveness and shoes of kindness, but I often pass by the jacket of discipline! If we are all honest, there are probably a few of the mentioned garments listed above that we have a hard time putting on…which one is it for you?
But, there is one all-purpose garment (like that essential black dress), which God states we are NEVER to be without:
LOVE is the one piece of clothing we need to be wearing at all times – no matter the season, predicted weather forecast or agenda of our day. The garment of love is to be extended to others, ourselves and to God. It is the garment that will bring success our way no matter what. So go ahead and wear your black dress, but don’t forget to put on some LOVE to go with it! I promise you that with that combination – you will look fan-tab-ulous!
Prayer: Lord, I want to wear what you have picked out for me today. I choose to place upon myself this day: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline, I desire to be even tempered, content with second place and quick to forgive, but importantly I choose to walk in love. By choosing to wear the articles of clothing listed above – I am dressed for success. Thank you for loving me this day. Amen
“God will show me the path of life; In His Presence is the fullness of joy; At His right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 NKJV
*Lately, I have been on a quest to add more fun into my life. I realized that I needed additional fun when my husband and I went to see a romantic comedy at the movie theater and after the movie I could not control the tears that ran down my face. My husband looked at me totally perplexed (ladies, you know the look), he assumed that after viewing a fun, romantic comedy, I would feel encouraged and uplifted, but instead a deep sense of sadness filled my heart. I felt as if I was “missing out,” that everyone else was having fun, except me (do you hear the violin playing? LOL). And so began my quest for FUN!!!
The next day my husband and I sat down and made a list of the things we considered, “fun.” Of course, our lists were completely different! My husband, who is a ex-paratrooper and Golden Knight for the Army, listed various adventures, such as: jumping from planes, mountain biking, getting his pilots license, watching Brave Heart and Blackhawk Down. My list consisted of things such as: more girlfriend time, dinner parties, buying new shoes and travel.
So my husband began watching his war movies, doing his “guy stuff” and I bought some new pair of shoes (sorry honey), met girlfriends for coffee and together we hosted a few dinner parties, but these activities DID NOT SATISFY our desire within.
Finally, one morning during my quiet time with God, I asked Him why we were having such difficultly implementing fun into our lives?
Then God led me to Psalm 16:11:
“God will show me the path of life; In His Presence is the fullness of joy; At His right hand are pleasures forevermore.”
The truth is, nothing on earth will bring us eternal joy. Don’t get me wrong, a mountain bike and new shoes are great, but both will eventually end up in the junk yard!
The truth is, we were looking for fun in all the wrong places! Only the Lord can provide the JOY that can satisfy your soul. Fun is fleeting, but JOY is eternal.
EXTREME JOY is only found in God’s Presence, JOY is seeing God bring breakthrough and healing into people’s lives, JOY is telling people about Jesus and how good HE is!!
As Psalm 16 sank into my spirit, a smile spread across my face. I found what I had been longing for in the Word of God.My quest had been fulfilled! That following weekend, my husband and I hosted a Bible study and I sensed God’s Presence in our home. As I looked around the room I thought to myself, “NOW THIS IS FUN!”
Prayer:
Lord, forgive me for looking to the world to bring joy and satisfaction into my life. Nothing this world offers can bring me eternal peace. It is only in Your Presence that I am filled with supernatural joy. And this joy is not dependent on my circumstances. I choose to no longer look for fun in all the wrong places, for it is only in Your Presence that I am filled to overflowing! Amen.
*A Published Article by Tracy Hurst, “Atlanta Christian Chronicle”, June, 2004
“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in TRIUMPH IN CHRIST, and through us manifests the fragrance of His knowledge in EVERY PLACE. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among who are perishing.” 2 Corinthians 2:14-15
Are there days when you “feel” totally defeated? And are there times when your circumstances sometimes pile on top of you to the point that you can barely breathe? Well, no matter what you are facing – God will lead you to triumph in Christ!
Let me encourage you today:
Do not give up. Do not lose sight of who you are and to whom you belong. You are the righteousness of God. You are His beloved child. You are an over-comer in Christ Jesus. No weapon formed against you can prosper. Every idle and dishonest word that is spoken against you, God will condemn. You are the apple of God’s eye. He formed you in your mother’s womb. You are not forgotten and never forsaken. You are above and not beneath. You are the head and not the tail. The blessings of the Lord will chase you and overtake you. What the enemy meant for evil, God will turn it around and use it for your good. Our God is willing and able. He is your healer. He is your Abba Father. He is your provider. He is your vindicator. He is mercy. He is grace. He is love. He is EVERYTHING you need!
What is that “place” you need victory in today? If you allow Him, Christ will lead you to triumph in that very place. And as you walk out this victory, God’s fragrance will manifest around you. Whether you realize it or not – People watch you and they know something is different about you. They notice the smile on your face even through you are walking through the greatest trial of your life. They see a peace resting over you that no words can describe. And according to the scripture above – they will also see you TRIUMPH in EVERY PLACE!
Smith Wigglesworth (one of my faith heroes) said it well: “Great faith is the product of great fights. Great testimonies are the outcome of great tests. Great triumphs come only out of great trials. Every stumbling block must become a stepping stone. And every opposition must become an opportunity.”
Prayer:
“Lord, You lead me in triumph in every place of my life. You will not leave me in the valley of the shadow of death. You send your rod and staff to comfort me and you will pull me out of the pit of destruction. Many will see my life and give praise to Your Name. You are Jesus. Your Name is above every name. This situation that I am walking through must bow its knee at your Word. I declare triumph. I declare Your fragrance be manifest in my life. Thank You for your love and mercy. I worship You Jesus. You are everything I need.” Amen.
Description: The continuation of our Be Healthy discussion with guest Tracy Hurst. This week we explore how our emotions affect our physical health, and how our bodies affect our emotional health…and how to truly BE healthy in mind, body and soul.
Whoops. We were so excited to continue our talk with Tracy about physical health that we didn’t discuss a verse at the top of the show. But I (Monica) found the above verse in The Voice translation the other day, and it’s as if it leapt off the page and took root deep into my heart.
At the core of these two weeks on Be Healthy is this verse, you know? We want our souls and bodies to be healthy and prosperous! Because at the end of the day, we aren’t going to be able to DO all that God has called us to do (and face it, all that we have to do in a day), if our bodies are operating at 50% and we feel run down, sluggish and consistently down.
We have to BE healthy before we can DO what God has ordained for us to do.
So confession time:
I haven’t been healthy lately. My soul and my heart and emotions have been pretty healthy (relatively speaking…there’s always room to grow). But my body — my physical health — is pitiful. The past few months in particular, I’ve felt run down, lethargic, on-edge, headachy and generally feeling like I’m in a fog.
I hate feeling tired after just going up the stairs in my house, you know?
The frustrating part was that I’ve been exercising regularly and watching my food intake. However, I just realized I was watching the calories of the food I was eating, but not the food itself.
Don’t laugh — but I will always sacrifice real food calories for Cheez-Its calories.
Always.
And Cheez-Its calories — while delicious and satisfying in the moment — are not enough to fuel my body.
I’ve listened to this unpublished podcast episode no less than four times in the past two weeks, because I need help here. And I kept remembering what I said in the podcast about Michael Hyatt and his discipline in regards to physical health. And then I came across that verse from 3 John,
“…and that your body is as healthy as your soul is prosperous.”
And suddenly, one night last week, I had enough. I’m not even kidding — I went to bed determined to make a change, and on Tuesday morning at 5:30 am I made one. And for the past six whole days in a row, I’ve cut out most sugar and processed food. Because my body (at FORTY) operates best on a clean diet.
(I’m not saying this is what everyone should do — I’m not a nutritionist or expert whatsoever.)
(And I haven’t throw out the Cheez-Its yet.)
(The kids…you know.)
I say it to commiserate with you that we are all struggling to be healthy!
Just because discuss a particular topic on the podcast, it doesn’t mean we’ve learned it and mastered it. It’s always a process. And someone might be doing awesome when it comes to physical health, but struggling emotionally. Or kicking butt with spiritual health, but fighting with mental health.
So Tracy shared some incredible insights with us this week about how our physical health can be affected by our emotions…and how our emotions can be affected by our physical health. There is such great content in this podcast — you have to make time to listen!
Here are a few highlights:
What we think impacts how we feel, and how we feel impacts our body.
Our bodies will tell us when something is wrong! Stomach pain, headaches, etc. may be symptoms of emotional issues that need to be addressed.
When your body is speaking to you through back pain, headaches, stomach pain, etc…it’s God’s way of telling you to slow down and BE.
Medication helps our bodies feel better, but our emotional health might not be where it needs to be if we don’t process our emotions and change our mind and the way we think.
Even in the Bible, God brought health in mind, body and soul to many people (example: Elijah).
God wants you to be whole — mind, body and soul.
Women need more sleep than men, like 7-8 hours! (Tracy said it so it’s true.)
We need to be able to recognize when to say no, so that we can nourish our bodies and our souls.
Our bodies need to operate at full capacity so that we can fulfill the destinies God has for us!
30 minutes of physical exercise a day can have the same effect on your body as taking a low-dose antidepressant.
Isn’t that all so rich?? You have to give yourself 30 minutes to listen to it if you haven’t yet. I promise, you’ll be so much healthier for it!
Tracy became a Christian at the age of 16 and her life was changed forever. She went from being a depressed, suicidal, rebellious teenager to a dynamic leader for Christ. Immediately after accepting Jesus as her Savior, Tracy fought the school board in order to begin a Bible study on school grounds at her high school in Illinois. The dramatic transformation in Tracy's life has inspired many, including her own mother, to give their lives to Christ.
