FBC Women's Retreat 2014 Part 1 "Life's Tough, Get a Helmet."

Our first lesson from our women's retreat, Walking with Jesus: Step by Step, Season by Season. Andrea Mercier shares from Exodus 13:17-22, 14:10-15 in her message "Life's Tough, Get a Helmet." Andrea encourages the women to let go of their 'helmets' and embrace the long, sometimes confusing road that leads towards deeper freedom in Christ. She shares from her own life, and a part of the journey of suffering God has taken her on. *We apologize for the glare on the powerpoint making it unable to view on the video.

Short Changed

 I have been thinking lately about what it means to really have Jesus as Lord.  Could it be that we love to have Jesus as Savior, but the Jesus as Lord part makes us a little uncomfortable?  Maybe our intentions our good, and we totally desire to have Jesus as Lord, but without knowing it we neglect His Lordship.  Think about it like this.  If Jesus asked you to give up your job, would you do it?  What about your home?  Your plans?  Your schedule?  Your comfort?  Jesus tells us that to follow Him means to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23) Remember the story of the rich young ruler who obeyed all the commandments, but when Jesus told him to give all he had to the poor, he went away sad?  Could it be that this man misunderstood what it meant to follow Jesus?  Perhaps he thought it meant special privileges or honor of some sort.  Yet, Jesus tells the man that honor and privilege would be found in giving all to follow Him.   

Following Jesus means complete and total surrender.  God does not do this because He is some unjust ruler.  No, He does it because He knows that in our letting go, in our surrender, there is complete and total freedom.  He does it out of love and He is more in love with you that you could ever imagine.  He wants you, ALL of you.

If we don’t surrender to only cling to our own life, we will end up expending far too much energy in working against our freedom in Christ instead of working towards our freedom in Christ.  Not to mention it is just down right sin and an offense to God.  Yep, it is.  When we think we can have all the treasures and blessings of God through His Son, yet skip out on surrendering all of ourselves—we are only deceived.  Because, frankly, we do not have all the treasures and blessings of God if we have not completely and totally abandoned our entire being to the Lord Jesus.    

He’s calling for you.  What is holding you back?

Walking with Jesus

So I thought it would only make sense to have a little blurb about the title of my blog. :)

Is. 61:1a "The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me,

because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim freedom for the captives

and release from darkness for the prisoners..."

Over these past 3-4 years Jesus has really been doing some work in my heart.  Seminary was such a wonderful time for me.  A time when Christ really began to break down some of my own walls and strongholds I had built up to protect myself.  That Jesus, He's pretty great.  As I think about my own philosophy for ministry and the calling God has put in my life, I am overwhelmed by the idea of how Christ longs and loves for us to walk with Him.  This is the path to true healing and wholeness. 

I never realized how many lies I believed and followed before I really began to dig into my own junk.  It was here that I began to discover the unhealthy coping mechanism I had in my life.  Instead of my identity being found and hidden in Christ, it was in myself and my own abilities.  What a tiring and stressful place to live!  God has been so gracious to me and showing me little by little the lies I have believed about myself and even about Him.  I am so thankful Jesus walks alongside of us in this journey through life and shows us piece by the piece the brokenness which truly resides in our hearts.  If He did it all at once, I do not think I would be able to handle it all, praise God He knows what He is doing. 

Yes, Jesus longs for us to walk with Him.  He longs for us to say no to the lies, the sin, the deceit and to truly give Him all of our lives and follow Him.  He is our Rescue.  I truly marvel at the grace of God, who sent His Son to die for us so we could be free from our sin, shame, and the brokenness which pervades our hearts.  "But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."(Rom. 5:8)  We do not deserve it, but truly that is what grace is. 

One thing God has been showing me over this past year is that everyone has junk, everyone has sin. (Check this clip out my sister did for a little encouragment to be real  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KxwFBtGiAg )  For so long I was not real about my own sin, and in doing so I limited the work of the Holy Spirit in  my life.  For the first time in a long time, or maybe ever, I am beginning to be real and broken over my sin and rebellion and am experiencing freedom over certain areas of struggle that have plagued me for quite some time. Thank you Jesus!  I take no credit. 

Walking with Jesus, what a glorious place to be; I do not want to ever be any other place.  Now, I would be a fool if I told you I had this all figured out, no, I have got a lot of work to do, but my job is to submit in obedience knowing God will do the work He will show me the path.  I've walked some of my own paths and I'm so done with it because those paths lead to pits of despair.  Yes, we may experience times of despair as we walk with Jesus, but I cannot begin to express to you how much He cares for you and the wholeness and hope that can overflow your heart when you walk with Christ. Keep walking, keep trusting.  Look to Him not yourself, not your circumstances, but to Jesus.  The Enemy is a liar, an accuser, and thanks be to God he is a defeated foe!  Let's not allow him (or our own sinful selves) to take one more inch of our freedom in Christ!