“Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king’s enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.”
Psalms 45:3-6
~KJV BIBLE
How do we trust God through worry, anxiety, and stress?
If a beautiful woman is going to retain the kind of eternal, un-aging beauty that attracts and brings light to others, she must know that God the Creator is her King and He longs to fight her battles.
So many times, as women, we live in a stressed out state of mind with so many cares that weigh us down emotionally, physically, and Spiritually. I know that I constantly fight worry, anxiety, and stress. We worry over finances, our families, relationships, insecurities, health, hurts, our jobs, our resources, our failures, and we wonder if we have everything we need for the future.
- So many times I ask myself, “Where’s the balance in sitting back and trusting God, and getting off my lazy tush, getting over the hurts, and just getting the job done?”
I was thinking about Peter, and how he was the only one who got out of the boat. Yet, when the storm was cranked and he took his eyes off Jesus, Jesus reprimanded him. As I was thinking about that story and how I can apply it to my own life, I thought, “Lord, that’s not fair! Sometimes when our lives are spinning a million different directions and the water is splashing us in our faces, how can we see you, Lord?”
You know you are supposed to pray in order to have the victory you need, but you can’t ever seem to find a quiet moment.
You know you need to get up early, but you are up late meeting the needs of your home and family, and can’t seem to find the strength to get up earlier than your early birds to carve out that time alone with God. Does this sound familiar? How are we supposed to stay encouraged as women?
I just wanted to share a few lessons that God seems to always be teaching me.
1. Learning to be content in God’s will
Ever since Dan and I have been married we have been in full-time ministry. We have always known that this is the calling that God has placed on our lives. We have never expected to be rich, and knew that trusting God with our finances would be a challenge.Let me just say God has always provided, and He has never failed to meet our needs. Our church has also been very good to us.
My husband is very much a pro-active giver.
He has given to people that has had needs when I knew we didn’t have it to give. He has paid for children to go to camp who couldn’t afford to go. He has bought clothes for those who didn’t have clothes. He has invited people to dinner at our home when I felt like we barely had enough to feed our family (and many times on a weekly basis). My husband has never been the type to only give when we had it to give.
I have seen the Lord bless my husband and our family in so many miraculous ways.
Some of the ways that God has blessed us has been by allowing us to build our home. I cannot even begin to tell you of the miracles I saw God do which would be a whole blog post in itself. My husband was able to build our home at half the cost it is actually worth.We have a large family and always host a lot of people in our home, so we knew we needed a large open floor plan.
Although most of the people we serve are absolutely precious and love us tremendously, there have been those that said some very ugly things after we moved into our new home. One thing you have to realize is that no matter where you go, people will be people, and no one is perfect. There was a group of people that instead of being excited for the blessings God had given us, were upset about it. They made us feel that we were not right with God or that we were selfish because of our physical blessings.
I have also seen these types of people scorn others the same way for using their talents or gifts that they have to reach others with the Gospel.
I heard a wise lady say that some people think when you are putting your talents out there you are self-promoting yourself, but it’s actually the opposite. When you do not use your talents to help others you have ceased to be a blessing.
My mission is to use everything I have as a light to reach others with the Gospel of Christ.
~Jackie Carr
There were many statements made to us, so much that after over ten years of waiting for the right home, I had a hard time enjoying the blessings of God. That’s when God gave me this verse, “Trust not in oppression, and become not vain in robbery: if riches increase, set not your heart upon them.” (Psalms 62:10)
Paul says in Philippians 4:12, “I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.”
I do not tell you these things to feel sorry for me or to try and get pity, but I write for the purpose so that you can receive the truth the Lord has taught to me.
You see I was accustomed to praying that the Lord would show Dan and I how to pay our bills, or how we were going to cover our doctor’s visits, or how we were going to pay for the groceries we needed, or how I was going to take care of putting my home back together on Monday after serving all weekend. I understood what it meant to be poor.
On the other hand when the Lord blessed us with physical blessings, it seemed like I had to learn how to be content all over again, but in a different way. You see the Lord wants us to learn how to be content no matter what situation we find ourselves. You know why, because we are supposed to be rejoicing in Him.
2. My expectation is in Christ.
You see, we cannot wait till we are in the right circumstances to praise and rejoice in the Lord; we have to praise Him right where we are.
You cannot wait to praise Him until you have enough money in the bank, or until people like you, or until you have measured yourself successful. You have to know that He is good whether your belly is full from a PB&J sandwich or a steak dinner. I do not deserve anything but Hell. Anything good in me, God has done or given me.
The Lord will return to truly fight for us, and no matter how we think life should turn out, for the believer, our battle has already been won. Christ died for our sins and was raised to life because He was God in the flesh.
I have to expect that God loves me, because He gave everything for me. Everything that comes into my life is for my good and His glory even when I do not understand.
~Jackie Carr
The following are a few verses that I meditate on while I am working and I am trusting in my God that fights for me:
“Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.” Psalms 37:3
“Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” Psalms 37:4
“For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inheritthe earth.” Psalms 37:9
“For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.” Psalms 37:9
“But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” Psalms 37:11
“He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.” Psalms 37:26
“The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.” Psalms 37:29
“Wait on the Lord, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land:” Psalms 37:34b.
“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” Psalms 35:27
I hope you will find encouragement in this article, not because life will always be peachy, but because you have learned that even when the water is splashing you in the face, you have seen God first-hand at work.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God who are the called according to his purpose.” (Romans 8:28) We have to learn that we do not have to always see Him, but we know that He is there. So, babes, close your eyes, smell and feel the salty waves, and keep walking! Whatever comes in your life, know that you have been chosen to handle it.
By the way, one way you can find less stress is by purchasing this cute, stress-free dress from Belk. It’s so incredibly soft and stretchy! Dresses like these make my life much simpler by knowing I have a cute and easy dress to wear every day or out and about. I have linked my outfit through the Like.to.Know.It app. If you’re following me, you can shop my links.;) Also, I was super excited because in the store they were buy-one-get-one-free, and online they are still on sale with Mother’s Day approaching. For reference, I am wearing a small, and I am 5’6.”
For more encouragement specifically for women you can go to my personal website, www.theblossomandbud.com
Jackie Carr
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