Book Club Thursday--Chapter 12

Decided to show some pics of John and I in Cape May in 2006 (before kids) Then me pregnant with Julia (2007) in Cape May and pregnant with Mark (2009) at home with Julia kissing my belly.

Chapter 12 of The Confident Woman by Joyce Meyer
Fear Has Relatives

Worry and dread are both relatives of the spirit of fear. God does not want the children he dearly loves, provides for, created, died for to worry. But we all do it. We jump ahead of ourselves and allow fear to cripple us with worry and dread not far behind. Instead of trusting God we worry and get anxious and think negative thoughts and allow them to totally take over. I do this much to often, I am totally guilty of this.

Just a few months ago, I allowed a situation to plague my mind, and I worried over it for weeks, 6 weeks to be exact, I lost about 7lbs and I ended up in the doctor's office because of stomach issues. The day I finally decided to give the situation over to the Lord, stop dwelling on it, and move on, the pain went away instantly (no exaggeration) and I could sleep better at night. One of the many things I learned in that particular situation, was that it wasn't worth me getting sick over and leaving me incapable of enjoying my family. I love my kids and my husband and during that 6 week period all I could think about was worrying over something so ridiculous. It isn't even worth sharing. I talked to a dear friend of mine and I asked her, how do I get past this, and her answer was priceless, "Get in the Word, and give it to the Lord." I don't know if she said it like that, but that's basically what her advice was, and it did work!

Joyce says we just have to humble ourselves and tell God that we realize we can't solve our problems but we just have to trust Him to give us the answers we need. "You can only be a confident woman once you remove fear and worry from your life and it starts with prayer."
"Prayer opens the door for God to get involved and meet our needs."
Philippians 4:6, 7 "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

"Prayer must replace our worry"

John and I waited a few years before starting our family, but in 2006 I was really ready to be a mommy! We began trying to conceive, and when it didn't happen right away, I got so worried and felt that something was wrong with us. Was it me? Was it John? Was it my age (27 at the time)? After both of us being tested the doctor assured us we were both healthy, but just needed to be patient. That was hard! Everyone around me was holding a baby or pregnant it seemed. I would go to church and see all the babies in the nursery and just lose it. Finally my dear friend Christy W. saw my tears and I shared with her my worry. We prayed, she gave me advice, and finally I just had to give it to the Lord, because every month was a painful reminder if I got my period. I finally bought two magnets. One with Julia's name on it and one with Mark's name on it. (We knew ahead of time these were the names we wanted...like way ahead of time!) It took us about 9 months to conceive, I kept the magnets by my nightstand and prayed...and you all know, in Dec 2007 Julia was born, and May 2009 Mark was born...prayer does work! Joyce says "Worry believes it will have trouble before it does." And in this case there was nothing to worry, two babies were going to be mine and are! "Worry is the end of faith and faith is the end of worry."

Another great quote was, "Worry does not make you escape your trouble, it only makes you unfit to deal with it when it comes." As confident women, we choose not to worry because we are taking one day at a time, one step at a time, and God is right there with each step. We choose to trust Him because when you trust God you realize you don't have all the answers and He does, and that brings so much peace!

*Don't worry about past mistakes!
It's over and done with and once we ask for forgiveness we can joyously move on because we know God separates our sin as far as the east is from the west. God wants us to keep moving forward not looking back with regret. We can't change the past so let's work on doing our best in the present.

Next we move on to the idea of Dread Draining our Joy. This is one that can happen easily throughout the day, we may dread cleaning our home, dread taking our kids to the doctors, dread a family gathering filled with unbelievers, dread grocery shopping, whatever it is, dread does suck the life and joy right out of you. Joyce is so right! How often have you allowed the feeling of dread to keep you from experiencing the joy of cleaning your home, or the joy of bonding with your child during a scary trip to the doctor? I can honestly say that dread can really dampen your whole outlook on life. Most of us just want to rush to the part of our day that is comfortable and filled with rest and relaxation, right? I know I do! But I've learned in the last few months even that I refuse to let dread keep me from enjoying this season of my life.

Right now we are potty training Julia and let me tell you I was dreading starting it. Part of me was excited because you want to see your child pass a milestone, but the other part knew that this was going to be a huge undertaking, it was going to be a lot of work and worst yet it was going to be messy. But John and I have really enjoyed bonding with Julia and getting to know her little personality and her fears and how she works under pressure. It is so neat to see her grow. And I refuse to dread this time because in a few months she'll be trained and it will all be over and I'll go, "See that wasn't so bad, wish I could have relaxed more and enjoyed it." I don't want dread to steal my joy. Do you?

Being a confident woman means that I choose to trust God as opposed to worry or dread a difficult task. Nothing is going to steal my joy or keep me from doing my very best at being the woman God wants me to be. Am I there yet? No way, but each day I'm taking steps in the right direction, and that brings me joy and more confidence. After all I have Jesus on my side. Look at what David was able to do to Goliath with a stone and a sling shot! God was on His side and that's all he needed. I love watching Julia help me around the house or try something new, I've noticed that she doesn't worry or dread anything! She's confident, daring, and adventurous! Perhaps that's why we are to come to Christ like a little child. We need to simple hold out our hand and trust our Savior.

Stop by http://godlyrose.blogspot.com to see Suzette's take on Chapter 12 and Fear.