The Road Less Traveled: Forgiveness
July 5, 2008 | faith
I was talking with two friends about forgiveness. All three of us have dealt with this issue. One friend’s dad was an alcoholic. The other was sexually molested as a girl.
These close friends, and I, have moved on from the past, leaving those memories behind to pursue life and all that God has for each of us. We are writers and speakers. We teach on healing and wholeness. We have solid marriages. Families that are close and loving. Faith that transcends the events of the past.
But as we talked, I realized that forgiveness was still an issue, just in a different way.
“It’s the small stuff that gets me,” one friend said. “I’ve forgiven my past. I can forgive the big things. But someone can do something little and it makes me angry, and I don’t want to let it go.” (more…)
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4:19 am |
Shameless Audacity
July 1, 2008 | faith
I’m on a word kick this week. Words that rock my world. Words that show me Jesus.
My friend, Kris Hammonds, is a twentysomething man and is an amazing teacher. (Hey, Kris!)
He ministered to some other twentysomethings nearly three years ago and the words he spoke stuck in my heart. They are still there today. The title of his sermon was Shameless Audacity. (more…)
Posted by Suzie @
10:11 am |
Nevertheless
June 30, 2008 | faith
Nevertheless.
She was in jail, addicted to meth; nevertheless, today she is a godly woman, she has recaptured the love of her children, and ministers as a chaplain in the jail in which she was once imprisoned.
She had an affair and wanted to die; nevertheless, she found hope in Jesus, and now leads a flourishing ministry for women who walk in the shoes she once wore.
She was high, destitute, pregnant; nevertheless today she worships in the front row, her hands lifted high, her beautiful little girl receiving a different life than the one momma once had.
He was lost, couldn’t get past the hurt of losing someone he loved, unable to reach out for hope; nevertheless God reached for him and he opened his arms wide and today he knows the love of a Heavenly Father.
I love this word: nevertheless. Perhaps it is the word that most resembles salvation to me. Not rules. Not people’s expectations. But rather God’s abounding love that runs deeper than any river. God’s mercy that is wider than the Grand Canyon.
God’s transformation that happens in spite of our best–or worst–efforts.
Nevertheless.
The people I described are real. How many more are there that can point to the nevertheless experiences in their life. I know I can. Not just the encounter with God when I didn’t know Him, but today, every day.
I am angry; nevertheless I will trust you and ask you to soothe my heart and help me to respond wisely.
I am hurt; nevertheless you are my shelter.
I need direction; nevertheless I will trust you and seek your guidance.
I am happy and joyfilled, why? Because of you.
Because of nevertheless.
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10:03 am |
That thing that HE does
What a wonderful weekend!
I love it when God does His thing. I spoke twice at She Speaks (a conference for women who want to write and/or speak). I shared the message of making your faith your own with a group of beautiful teen girls, and then I was scheduled to speak at an after-dinner coffeehouse writers’ event.
This is the deal. It was the worst hour of the day. The women had just eaten dinner. They got up that morning at 7. They went to bed the night before after midnight. It wasn’t a fascinating topic, though it is one that I’m passionate about - The Things I Wish I Had Known When I First Started Writing.
So the odds were stacked against that presentation. And yet something very cool happened.
God showed up.
Don’t you love it when that happens? Somehow, out of a writing topic, He gently ministered to a woman who is a breast cancer survivor, to a mom of teens, to a woman estranged from her loved one, and to many more. After the presentation, many women lined up to share their story.
Have I mentioned how much I love hearing your stories?
This is the one thing I really have learned. It’s not about the woman with the mike, or even the carefully prepared and prayed-over presentation. Somehow, some way, God can take ordinary words and place them in the hearts of His girls — the women sitting in the audience with their private joys, their private pain, their secrets, and their dreams.
Because He knows them and loves them.
I walked away this weekend in love with Jesus all over again.
Posted by Suzie @
11:40 am |
An Uncommon Woman: Susie Larson
Suzie interviews Susie Larson, author of The Uncommon Woman: Making an Ordinary Life Extraordinary
Suzie: Hi Susie. I just finished the preview copy of The Uncommon Woman and it’s a great book. Thanks for joining us. Let’s jump in! What is your definition of an uncommon woman?
Susie Larson: First of all, Suzie, I want to thank you for taking the time to read the book and for interviewing me. I’m passionate about this topic because I believe churches, families, and communities will be strengthened when we as women rise up to the high call on our lives.
~ An Uncommon Woman is Not Defined by What She Does, but Whose She Is ~
An uncommon woman has determined to believe the beautiful truth about herself; that she is called to something so much greater than the pettiness, drama, and gossip common to women. The uncommon woman embraces a holy confidence and humble dependence that declares, “I’m nothing without Christ, but everything to Him.”
She is willing to reach for the stars and do things way over her head (without pride). And she is willing to do things that seem beneath her (without self-awareness). She’s not defined by what she does, but by the fact that Jesus has made her whole and He has equipped her to do mighty things.
Suzie: You say that an uncommon woman “gets back up again”. How is that possible? (more…)
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9:14 am |
I’m hungry
May 15, 2008 | faith
Sometimes I feel a million miles away from God.
(more…)
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11:07 am |
Amanda’s Story
My Story
by Amanda Grogan
Newlywed, Believer, Chi Alpha Ministries: NSU University
Today has been one of those days where I have done a lot of talking to my father in heaven in addition to those around me.
I am a firm believer that absolutely nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. So why is that every time something happens, the human part of me stops to think why is this happening?
Eventually, I realize that things occur because nothing happens in God’s world by mistake. So where am I going with this? Well, I believe that many years ago, my heavenly father began to write a story on the tablet of my heart. Throughout the course of my life, I have faced many obstacles. Some worse than others, some self-imposed, and some well…who knows but regardless, these obstacles have become a huge part of the woman I have become today.
Maybe it started when was a child and lived in a really disfunctional family that finally resulted in my parent’s divorce, losing loved ones in my life to death and/or distance, or maybe just the trials of everyday life, but I believe that the never-ending theme throughout my story is the idea of overcoming.
(more…)
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4:37 am |
Discipleship
Our work begins where God’s grace has laid the foundation; we are not to save souls, but to disciple them. Salvation and sanctification are the work of God’s sovereign grace; our work as His disciples is to disciple lives until they are wholly yielded to God. One life wholly devoted to God is of more value to God than one hundred lives simply awakened by His Spirit. ~ Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
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5:20 am |
When things don’t go the way we hope
My mom is sick. We received the call last Thursday and I rushed to the hospital. (more…)
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4:55 pm |
Gloria’s Story - II
Gloria’s story continues from yesterday. If you would like to share your story, send an e-mail to Suzie.
Gloria’s story - Part II
After trying so hard to be good and trouble free for my mother I rebelled after I graduated from high school.
I had enlisted in the United States Air Force and was due to go in November. I had a few months to kill. I got a summer job and ‘met a guy’.
How quickly I forgot about my ambitions in life. When it was time for me to go into boot camp for the Air Force I was ready to make a hasty decision to marry this man. (more…)
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6:32 am |
