Trash Talk: Week One A Confident Heart Online

Do you talk to yourself? Me too! I find I can concentrate better when talking aloud. I can think clearly and remember things better. There’s just something about words coming out of my mouth that brings results.

Last year, 2011, God asked me to take inventory of my thoughts. I realized almost I talk trash to myself. Lots. I say things that would make my mama cringe. When dealing with myself, I take on the persona of the mean girl.

You’re so dumb, stupid, lazy, fat, ridiculous, annoying and ugly. You are such a loser. You can’t do anything right. You always mess things up.

These are only a sampling of the constant drone of my self-talk. The Word says “faith comes by hearing” (Romans 10:17) and the things I hear are trash. So, it’s no wonder my faith is so wobbly at times.

A few months ago, I accepted Renee’s challenge to “choose to embrace the reality of His measureless grace, unconditional love, and redeeming hope.” (p. 24) As I meditated on the vastness and unending nature of God’s grace. I developed a truth script to help me deal with situations that I would normally begin trashing myself over. I decided the things I hear would be filled with the power of God’s truth no matter how loudly my emotions shouted trash!

My go-to script goes something like this:

It would be wonderful if my husband agreed with me; but I am still completely accepted, totally secure, fully pleasing and 100% forgiven by God.

It would be great if my child had made a better choice; but I am still completely accepted, totally secure, fully pleasing and 100% forgiven by God.

It would be nice if I hadn’t had called that client by the wrong name; but I am still completely accepted, totally secure, fully pleasing and 100% forgiven by God.

See where I’m going here?

God showed Renee, “You can only see the shadow because you have turned away from the light. Turn back toward the light.” (p. 22) If we live turned toward the light, we have hope in this struggle because “doubt and hope cannot live in our hearts at the same time.” (p.23) Hope is what we need to see change as we go “beyond believing in Him to really believing Him.” (p. 24)

I’m giving myself two challenges based on Chapter 1 and I would love for you to join me. Learn to pay attention to the trash talk. Formulate a plan and use my script, or create your own, for turning trash talk into truth talk.

Remember how I told you I think more clearly and seem to remember things better when I talk out loud to myself? That’s why praying these truths out loud was an essential part of my transformation process. I know this makes some of you cringe with embarrassment.

Renee reminds us, “We can be confident we are praying God’s will when we pray God’s Word…When we pray God’s words out loud, and hear them, the Holy Spirit engraves them on our hearts and writes them in our thoughts. We internalize God’s truth as our faith grows and we are transformed from the inside out!” (p. 25)

Start with Renee’s prayer on page 26 and commit to praying it out loud at least once a day this week. I am writing it on an index card and carrying it with me. Each time I pull a healthy snack out of my purse, I will also pull out my card and pray—In the privacy of my car, of course. **smiles**

Turning our trash talk to truth talk, ignites the power of the Holy Spirit to release confident hearts in us. And after all, we are all gathered here because we want a confident heart, right?

4U: Leave a comment here about how you’re doing in the trash talk to truth talk department. Share your script. Let’s pray for each other!

And pop over to Renee’s if you have time. There are over 7,000 joining us in our transformation to A Confident Heart!

A Confident Heart: Growing Together

Happy 2012!!! I am here. Chatting. With you.


I am here. Excited about a brand new year. New beginnings refresh me. What about you?


Ready to share some of your journey with me? You know, I've been gone a pretty long time. I missed you. I want to know ways you grew, ways you struggled, ways you succeeded!! Grab a seat and share. Right here. With me.


I also want to grow with you. This year. 2012.


So, in an effort to do just that. Grow together. (And keep me accountable to firing up blogger even when I have a zillion other things pulling at me) I am joining forces with my friend, Renee Swope and over 6,000 other women!!! Women just like me and just like you. Women who want to grow. Together. Struggle together (you really can't separate those words.) Succeed. Together.


Come do life with us.


Here's how:


Go register to be a part of the A Confident Heart Bible study here. 


Buy Renee's book, A Confident Heart.


Come back and tell me.


Be here January 16 for our kickoff. You can visit Renee and the 6,000 that day too. But if you don't have time to click all over the place, just come back to discuss chapter 1. Renee will pop over from time to time and you can comment, link your post, text, tweet, facebook me or holla!, (if I know you irl).


This book has shown me how to live life with a new confidence through power that I possessed yet never knew how to access. The Word of God has tremendous power in our lives, if we tap into it realizing its worth. Most of the time we live like the farmer who lived month to month, harvest to harvest on his struggling-to-make-it farm, never knowing he had millions of dollars of oil under his crops. He was one of the richest men in the world, living like a pauper because he didn't know how to access his wealth. He didn't even know he owned it!


Come discover the wealth that is yours in Jesus Christ. 


I can't wait to dig for oil with you!


Who's in?

The Elephant

Picture source here

Ignoring it is not my style. Nor is sweeping it under the rug or walking around it in the center of the living room for so long it begins sitting in front of the couch with a plant on its back.

But I am setting it aside today. And asking it to stand and to lift each large leg as I vacuum under them and spray some Lysol where its hiney rests.

I intend to talk about the elephant in the room. Just not today. But I promise. I will. I will chat it up with you in true Glad Chatter fashion. I will spill the big, ugly truth right here on this blog where all seven of you who pop over to check on me from time to time will know where I’ve been for the last six months. **smiles**

I will take all the big ugly, spruce up each wrinkle, bling up the chub and we’ll sort and discuss until we all feel fuzzy warm inside and not just because we are sporting our velvety new Christmas scarves and  favorite furry slippers.

Today I am pretending having an elephant in your living room is the fanciest new Christmas decoration and hanging ornaments from its tusks and bedazzling its ears. I’m tying a giant sparkly bow to its tail and adding some gaudy rainbow blinky lights to its back. Then I’m giving it my favorite lepard earmuffs so it can’t hear me dish with you. About how I got here. Back online.

I’ve missed you, chatters. I’ve missed your hearts, your encouragement, your insight, your devotion to all things bloggy and all things Jesus. We Jesus gals needs to stick together, you know.

So today I’m sticking. I’m taking the fifty rolls of Scotch tape I just bought to wrap the gazillion gifts I have yet to buy and I’m sticking my heart right here on the screen. Its wrapped in a big bloggy hug and adorned with a sincere apology for just walking out on you, my seven faithful readers. **smiles**

Instead of introducing you to the elephant today, I’m taking a minute to pause in the panic of this holy season and thank Jesus for being with me. Even when I was not with you, He was. With you. And with me. And He is. With you. With me. With us.

God.With.Us. Emmanuel.

“Be silent, all mankind, before the Lord, for he has come to earth from heaven, from his holy home.” Zechariah 2:13

Again, Daddy, Again

"If we could see the miracle of a single flower clearly, our whole life would change."--Hindu Prince Gautama Siddharta


Do you have a part of your heart that's locked away from the world? From everyone, including yourself? Do you let God in those secret places?


This morning I asked God to let me see clearly. I prayed giving Him access to my innermost thoughts and beliefs. Praying like this can seem repetitious and humbling. I gave God all of my heart many years ago.


I just have a tendency to take it back. Snatch it out of God's hands and run. 


The result is I seem to struggle with the same junk. God heals me of my sin and then I find myself stuck smack dab in the middle of the old way of thinking before I even realize what I'm doing.


Today I read about Jesus healing a blind man in Mark 8. Jesus touches the sightless man and then asks him if he can see. The man says he sees people but they look like trees.


Jesus touches him again and the Scriptures say the man looked hard or intently and could see clearly.


I was reminded of my son, Palmer playing with his daddy.  Andrew tickles him until he can't breathe and when my husband thinks he can't take anymore, he stops. Palmer promptly take a deep breath and squeals, "Again, Daddy, again!" And Andrew tickles him some more. All Palmer wants is a second to catch his breath so he can play with his dad some more.


Sometimes it takes a second touch to see clearly. Sometimes we have to catch our breath so we can ask for more.


Today I asked for more. 


Then I opened my eyes and began to see clearly.


What about you? Are there areas you have been healed but may need a second (or third, or fourth) touch to see clearly? Leave a comment and I'd love to pray for Jesus to touch you.

The After

You may be wondering where I’ve been. That is, if you’re even still there at all. I’ve been in the after.

You get cancer and everybody is there. They bring you casseroles, hold your hand and ceaselessly encourage you. Then they see that you are good, healthy, moving on… and so do they.

It’s hard to tell people what you need when you don’t really know yourself. It’s been hard for me to put words to paper or sentences to prayer expressing my feelings for the last several months.

I’m living in the after. After the cancer. After the casseroles are gone. After the handholding ends because life’s crazy pace has picked back up and everything is back to normal—except it isn’t. It’s different. It’s after.

After the cancer.

After the junk.

Did you know, according to Google, aftershocks are smaller earthquakes that follow a larger one in the same area. They occur due to the area settling down and getting used to the new state of stress that was brought about by the mainshock.

I spent the last year adjusting. Adjusting kids to new schools, friends and schedules. Adjusting the husband to a new job, responsibilities and routines. A few months ago I realized they were all adjusted—but I wasn’t. At.all.

I got curious about aftershock so I Googled some more and I discovered that aftershocks can occur months even years after the main event.

I’m living through some aftershocks, y’all.

And I know that God is still here. In the after. I know that His promises are true. “Jesus is the same, yesterday, today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)

That passage goes on to say, “For it is good for the heart to be established and ennobled and strengthened by means of grace.” (13:9a)

I know God is asking one thing of me in the after: To trust the same God I trusted in the cancer.

To receive the same grace that carried us through the “stuff” to carry us through the “little” daily problems that “normal” life brings.

No matter what you have been through or are experiencing now, His grace is available to strengthen your heart. I would love to pray for you, just leave a comment.

Winner of A Confident Heart

And the winner is...

Holly. Commenter #1. Congratulations!! You win a signed copy of Renee's book. Please e-mail me your address and I'll send it right to ya!

To the rest of you wonderful ladies, click right on over to order your very own copy.

Happy weekend, y'all!

A Confident Heart Give Away!

Have you ever read a book that changed you? A Confident Heart by Renee Swope is that book. Reading A Confident Heart and applying the truths has not only changed my heart, it has changed my life.

Renee candidly shares her story and own struggle with self-doubt and depression. Renee relates to readers as the girlfriend who understands. She will cry with you, laugh with you and tell how much you need God's truth! If  you have ever doubted God’s call on your life or lived in constant frustration, this book is for you too.

By using the scripture based prayers at the end of each chapter of A Confident Heart, you can replace self-doubt with God-fidence. You can lose the fear of failure by learning to fail forward. Failing forward has shown me how I can live freely as the me God created.

I am reading the book right now for the third time, tagging and highlighting each verse Renee uses. I pray each verse out loud over myself before I start my day.

Changes I’ve noticed in my own thinking include: accepting God’s forgiveness without meditating on my failures, seeing failure as a chance to grow and mature instead of as disappointing God and others, viewing myself as a worthy work-in-progress and utilizing grace and gratitude as the primary language of my heart, mouth and mind just to name a few.

Today I leave you with this prayer from chapter 2:

I want to know and rely on the love You have for me, Jesus, and live in that love. You say that whoever lives in love lives in You, and You in him. In this way, love is made complete in me, so that I can have confidence today and forever... I trust that because Your love is perfect, I don't have to be. Amen

If you’d like to jump on the Confident Heart bandwagon, leave a comment telling me why you want to read A Confident Heart and I’ll choose one random commenter to win a free autographed by Renee copy. Winner announced here on Friday, September 9. You can also go to Renee's website to register for the 7 Day Doubt Diet and other free Confident Heart related resources. You can order your own copy of the book here.

Available August 2011 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. Super thanks to Revell for providing me with a free copy of A Confident Heart which I am giving away to one of you!

Paybacks

Have you ever found yourself on the receiving end of spectacular? There are times when a mere ‘thank you’ doesn’t cut it on the gratitude scale.

Last year God gave me life. He spared me vicious side effects of cancer and made me healthy in record time. The very breaths I breathe are evidence of His grace. All I want to do is give God a giant payback. In response to His saving miracle in my life, my heart cries, “Use me to change the world for You.”

All I want is to pay back God. Thus, I wrestle with grace.

Grace is life freely given by the innocent sacrificially shed blood of My Savior, Jesus.

No, friends, thank you isn’t enough.

For it is by grace my lungs inflate. And it is by grace my soul expands.

It is grace that causes my soul to sing no matter how small my role in life.

Grace—freely given—humbly accepted.

Paybacks not required.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And all that is within me, bless His holy name. Psalm 103:1

The Bloggy Vacation

This blog has been busy.

Playing cards, going swimming and enjoying the children.

Sharing with the needy from its closets, cabinets and clutter. 

Organizing the pantry!!!

Preparing to paint white walls.

Vacationing in Florida.

Packing for camp.

Playing All-stars.

And preparing for She Speaks.

But mostly this blog has just been looking and listening for Jesus. When life gets to be too much, He calls. And this blog answers.

After attending She Speaks.

And cancer check-ups.

And company.

And school shopping.

And another week of camp.

And a special and wonderful wedding.

And of course, a little more playing with the kids,

This blog will resume its regularly scheduled programming.

PS Once this blog finds its zip cord, pictures of the pantry will appear.

The Winner

Congrats to Jess S. winner of the $25 gift certificate to Ashley's shop. Email me your address and enjoy your bling!!!

Remember, I am taking some time to enjoy the kids, unpack the last few boxes, read good books, play board games, go to sleep at a decent hour and anything else my kids want to do. So subscribe so you won't miss a single installment of Glad Chatter!

Happy Summer!!