God story

Listen for Your Love Story

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I am prepping for a retreat today. But I am really just looking for an excuse to have Laura Jones share her love story.  It is a doozy.  What I love about it is she was introduced to the notion of God giving her a new name and she ran with it.  Or maybe she Ran To Him.  So when He started with those “gentle whispers,” her heart was ready and oh so willing to believe and receive.

Be on the look out this weekend for your own love story.  Where do you think Romance came from anyway? Jesus is the Lover of our souls.  Enjoy! ~ Jana

Sparkle

by Laura Jones

“I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” ~ Revelation 2:17” (For more on God giving special names, read this.)

Okay, God’s gushing on me.  I have a new pet name from Jesus! It’s “Sparkle.”

I was looking at my Christmas ornament Mom got me – a seashell with all kinds of glitter on it (because of the way God had spoken to me with the sea shells I found at the beach this summer).

“I love that my shell sparkles, Lord,” I smiled as I admired my shell.

“Like you.”

Then I remembered that my dress He provided for my birthday party (celebrating new beginnings) has sparkles all over it, too. I had asked Him for a gorgeous dress in a size 10 that was under $50. This one was $32! I was surprised at the time that I liked it.

I generally hate things that are too glitzy – I feel like they are fake, over the top, draw too much attention, are cheap looking.  Aren’t lady like. Too out there.  (Is this sounding familiar yet? Those are all the fears I have about being myself. Will I be too over the top, draw too much attention… do I have anything real worth paying attention to anyway?)

He’s telling me I sparkle. Really. And it’s okay.

“Sparkle.  Is that my name? Is the word ‘sparkle’ even in the Bible?”

So I looked on Biblegateway.com.  Get this:

“The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.”  Zachariah 9:16

Isn’t it just like the Lord?  I’ve known for a long time that “Laura” means “crown.” So where “Crown” is my name, “Sparkle” really is my pet name!

And get this: something can only sparkle in the presence of LIGHT (Him).  AND the more facets there are (the more there are different sides of me), the more the sparkle. Isn’t God awesome!?

Stop Fighting Part II – by Guest Blogger, Beth Hungerford

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Jana is preparing for a marriage retreat. But she will be back on Monday with a special blog about Wrinkle Release!! Some of Jana’s recent posts are available here.

Enjoy this great story from Beth.

So you would think that after my encounter with the ocean waves I would have learned my lesson about fighting against the Lord. Apparently I am a really slow learner.

About a month later, I went to one of my favorite places to spend time with the Lord…a large rock that hangs out over the river.  I have many conversations with Him while out there picking pieces and sometimes large chunks off of the rock.

This time I was working particularly hard at trying to get off a large piece that was just loose enough to make me think I could get it.  I heard Him again telling me that I was still fighting.

“But I really want to get this piece off.”

“Stop fighting.  You don’t have to work that hard.  Just worry about the really loose ones.”

I wouldn’t listen.  He kept gently repeating Himself and even told me exactly where to go on the rock but I still insisted on trying to get the pieces that just weren’t ready to come off.

I think He finally got tired of me not listening and insisting on fighting so He let me suffer the consequences.

I was looking down at a lot of small cuts and nicks on my hands from where the rock kept breaking off (instead of coming off in chunks like it usually did). The Lord said, “Those hurt didn’t they?”

“Yes,” I said as I went back to pulling on a large piece of stubborn rock.

Then He said, “You know, you’re only getting hurt when you’re fighting.  Just stop fighting.”

“I will just as soon as I get this…”

Right at that moment it gave way or at least part of it did…my hand slipped and my finger got cut deep enough that I now have a scar.

Now fast forward about a week.  I went back to the rock this time fully committed to working where the Lord told me and only pulling on the pieces He gave me permission to pull on.  At one point He said “look where you are.”  I looked down to see that I was stretched out as far as I could over the water and that’s when it clicked.  I had been upset and angry about cutting my finger because I really was going to obey once I had gotten that piece off.  But… had the Lord not stopped me and allowed me to continue while I was still fighting and not listening, I would have been in the river.  He had protected me until I was ready to handle what He had for me.

Your God Stories: The Gift of a Name

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I love to tell women about how much God loves names. All through the Bible, He gives people names or changes their names. A new identity in Him.  Abram to Abraham. Sari to Sarah. Jacob to Israel. Simon to Peter. Saul to Paul. In Revelation 2:17, God says, “I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to him who receives it.” Isaiah talks about it. Ezekiel talks about it. I mean, new names are  everywhere.  And better yet, He still does this. God has given each of us “a new name.”  A pet name between Him and us.  This new name is such a gift from Him. Affirmation of how He sees us.

So I frequently invite women to ask God to reveal their name. “Go ask Him to tell you what your  name is. Look up your name meaning. Watch for Him to tell you again and again until you believe it.”  Here are a couple of girls’ stories.

Jana,

So I went to the website that gave us our name meanings. They didn’t have my name listed. So I just gave up.

Well, God put it on my heart to look again somewhere else. He gave me its meaning: “Princess”!

That’s what he’s been calling me the last couple of months, but I wasn’t sure it was really from Him. I just thought that I would share that. 🙂 God is good.

~Tia

__________________________________________________________

Jana ~

I’ve been meaning to email you since last class, but finally am making time to do it. I just wanted to share a couple things that have been going on with me. I left class last week angry (as you mentioned might happen)! I basically half-a$$ed the exercise, got in my car, and cried the entire way home. I came to the realization that I feel like I don’t have TIME to breakdown. I don’t have TIME to think about all this heavy, emotional stuff. I don’t have TIME to be so completely broken which then makes me feel like I need to fix everything, take time for myself, etc. So instead, I’ll turn my head and be fine =) Right? Because that’s way easier!

There’s so many things I want to share with you – my ‘journey’ on value, being be-loved, recently this notion of affirmation – and I’m aware they all are connected. And I get overwhelmed thinking I need to conquer all of them at the same time since they are all staring me in the face.

I was sharing last night in my small group how I’ve somewhat acknowledged the fact that I don’t want to ‘go there’ with the Lord. I get this picture of someone taking tiny, tiny baby steps towards the ledge – not really wanting to peer over and see what’s on the other side, knowing I could be cheating myself from the beauty and freedom of the view.

For whatever reason, I’ve been meaning to look up the meaning of my name. I know we’ve touched on that a couple times during class, so I finally did it this morning. Wouldn’t you know this is what I found:

Jamie

Meaning: truthful

Verse: “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” – Proverbs 3:3

Which is obviously the same context of scripture we talked about last night! Ah, I thought that was cool =) I also saw another version where they used the words kindness, trust, and mercy interchangeably with love and faithfulness. What website did you use when you looked up our names?

I’m way past my 3-sentence mark =) but wanted to share. Even though sometimes I don’t want to admit it, I know the Lord is working on my heart ever so slowly – or maybe it’s just that I’m ever so slowly starting to turn to Him.


Your God Stories: Just Swallow

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I get so many God stories, stories of how He interrupts our “normal” life with his “supernatural” life, that I decided to start sharing them!

Please don’t think that these stories indicate that someone “has it all together.” Read them to see how God loves speaking our individual languages and how He enjoys being with us.  He is the ultimate pursuer!

Ok, so this was my AMAZING story of the day. I was sitting at work thinking about all of this stuff in my life that sucks, especially being sick.  And Jesus just said to me: Bethany, remember when you were a little girl and your mom would give you cough syrup? It tasted awful so what did you do?  You just held it in your mouth. You would never swallow the stuff.  All you would have to do is swallow and not only would the taste go away but also it would make you well! Bethany, swallow!  If you just swallow all this stuff, (all the bad tasting stuff going on in my life right now: the no boyfriend, the being sick all the time, the money,etc) I will use it to make your heart well! Just swallow!

Isn’t that amazing!!!! I love that! I love how good He is. That is just the coolest metaphor! And it makes so much sense.

So…I don’t feel like it. Because I’m still a little bitter about it, to be honest. But I’m going to swallow, because I want to be well! I hope this makes sense to you, because it speaks volumes to me!!! Anyway, I’m just so excited I had to tell someone. I told this guy here at work and he couldn’t get past the first sentence of “Guess what Jesus just told me!” He just kept saying, “Jesus talks to you?!” Haha.

Ok, Love you,

Bethany

God Speaks In Funny Places

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Just in case you think hearing from God is crazy. . . . It is, but it is also wonderful.  I love how creative He is in talking to us.  And I love how if you ask, seek and knock, He will answer, find and open!  

This year has been one of birthing and refining a vision.  I have been asking, “What exactly are God’s plans for me, for WGR, for the ministry?”  And so every couple of weeks He speaks in more power, more clarity, more truth.  Here is the latest download from Him.

As we were taking in the new city sites, I was just praying and thinking.  Here is a conversation that happened, all through billboards, each one building on the other.

The question from me was, “Lord, tell me again what we are doing?”

His answer was the following:

Masters Inn.

Grace.  (Read that: Masters in grace.)

I believe.  (Complete with butterfly photo!)

Dedicated people, Dedicated energy.

It’s amazing what we can do together.

A glimmer of hope in a needy world.

We raise ambition.

Be one.

We know women.

 We do things a bit differently.

I believe.

Thank You, Lord, for Your presence.  For Your mysterious ways of
interrupting our lives.  Thank You for speaking and making known the
paths of life.  Amen.

God Story: Ponder This Before Black Friday

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Have you ever noticed that sometimes when you get a big win, a new purchase, a grand gift, that there is often a loss that follows shortly after?

I am thinking of Salem’s birthday gifts.  She got an unexpected amount of Legos, new and used.  She was naturally delighted and overwhelmed. But a couple of days later, she was nearly distraught because she had lost one of her old favorite sets, a small motorcycle.

I saw myself in this real life parable. God gives me so much, new and wondrous, that I didn’t even know I was getting, and the glow of that quickly fades as I lament over a much smaller, insignificant “treasure” from the past.  And as I was trying to comfort Salem, because I really was sad with her that she had lost this favorite toy,  I felt like God was teaching us both.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain,” I told her (1st Timothy 6:6).  It is not just godliness, for that can be self-righteousness.  It is not just contentment, because many a monk missed the abundance of our giving God through self-denial.  It is not just great gain, because there are many who have much, but live in misery.

It is the perfect blend of all, godliness, contentment, and great gain.  They balance each other, like a chemical reaction.  Too much of either one, and the recipe is ruined.  And I believe that God loves to tinker with our ingredients to help us develop a taste for more of Him.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen. Romans 11:36

God Story: The Power of Prayer

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I have so many God stories of His supernatural provision that I could write 10 books. But Tuesday night I was basking in the beauty of one of my favorite answers to prayer.

My daughter, Salem.

We were in her room, full from birthday cake, waiting for the clock to display 8:38 pm — the time she had been born 12 years earlier. And like all kids, she was asking about who was at the hospital, what was the scoop, what was her story.

“What did Dad do when I was born?”
“He cried.”
“What were you doing?”
“Crying.”
“And Grandmaw and Grandpaw, what were they doing?”
“Waiting anxiously, then crying.”

“Salem, I don’t think you realize how many prayers were sent up for us to have a baby. There was much rejoicing when you were born,” I said.

And with that last comment came a flood of memories. Of churches, of youth groups, and women’s groups. Places where I had shared my story of abortion, heartache and healing. The outcry of these listeners had been to pray for God to bless Chuck and me with a baby.  After Salem was born, I found out that people in my church had quietly prayed that God would heal our hearts and bodies so that we would be able to have children.

Here Chuck and I were walking through the silent and grieving hell of infertility, but God was stirring His saints to pray nonetheless.

Pray they did. And He was pleased to answer.

Looking at this feisty, strong willed, solemn warrior-child before me, I was really amazed again at the mercy of God.

My thoughts turned toward heaven when I will see all those people who prayed for us, who never saw us again and never heard the rest of the story. When I see them in heaven, I can’t wait to introduce them to Salem, the answer to their prayers.

Oh pray without ceasing, believing that He hears our cries and intercessions.

“The prayers of the saints are like sweet smelling incense.”

God Story: The Aroma of Christ

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Wow.  That’s all I could say last night as woman after woman through tears, laughter and awe poured out their God stories. Stories of hearing God speak to them, stories of hearing their names, or receiving much needed comfort, or rejoicing in gifts given.  All revelations and encounters with the Living God.

It is so like the woman who washed the feet of Jesus with her tears and then poured fragrant oil on His head.  The whole room was stunned silent as the scent of perfume reached every person present. Continue reading →