Is your name safe?

I decided to start following the Proverbs 31 Woman devotional until I can find one that better suits me. I will copy and paste each day what I read into a post for others to read. I am going to have my quiet time & prayer time every day for 31 days, eventually it will become a habit...a good one.

"No longer will they call you Deserted, or name your land Desolate. But you will be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the Lord will take delight in you ..." Isaiah 62:4a (NIV)

Several children were asked to define love. One said that love was when her mother was pregnant and her daddy painted her mother's toenails. Another said that love was when her daddy walked in after work smelly and sweaty and her mom said he looked handsome.

But one child said this, "I think that love is when your name is safe in someone's mouth."

Makes me think about Candy. One day she showed up at school. Her morning was like every other. She got up early, fixed her siblings breakfast, and got them all out the door to school. She had picked up her jeans off the floor and put them on in a hurry. Candy's mother was addicted, and her daddy wasn't in the picture, and sometimes laundry just didn't get done.

She arrived at school and a mother of one of the students confronted her, asking, "Why are you always so dirty?"

All she could do was bow her head in shame. There was no way she could share her secrets with this condemning woman.

In Isaiah 62, a nation was marked by shame. Through the prophet Isaiah, God let the nation know that He was willing to come down into the trenches beside them. Yes, He saw their situation, but He also saw them for who they were to Him.

Shame can teach us many lessons, like:

Stay low.

What you have to offer isn't enough.

Keep your secrets to yourself.

But when God marks your life, there are new words to redefine you, like: Beloved. Mine. Beautifully and wonderfully created.

As a teen Candy became a Christian. She knew little about faith, but what she did know is that for the first time in her life her name was safe in Someone's mouth.

As time passed Candy handed her shame to a Heavenly Father who took it willingly because each of us is precious to Him, and shame was never a burden God desired that we bear.

Perhaps you, like Candy, define yourself through the words of someone else. Or see yourself through the past. Or the actions of someone who was supposed to love you and failed.

When shame encounters the love of God, something powerful takes place. That love lifts the receiver up and over shame to a place of value set apart by God. Your burden is shifted to God's broad shoulders and He is now free to complete the "good work began in you" (Philippians 1:6).

As God's girl, shame has no place in your life or heart. Your name is safe in His mouth because you are beautiful. You are loved. You are His.

Dear Lord, that past incident or those words from the past, they do not define me. Your words and Your love define me. From this day forward I choose to see myself as You do. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

Written by Suzie Eller
Found (Copy & Pasted) from: http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/

Isaiah 62:3-5

³ Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
⁴ Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.
⁵ For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.

From today on you are a new creation. You past is your past. Your sins are washed away. You have been made new again.

2 Corinthians 5:17
¹⁷ Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.



How much energy are you currently devoting to thinking about your past?

My answer:
I currently spend a lot of time not regretting my past but wishing that some things had been different or not happened. I have to realize though that the past is the past and I have a brand new day in front of my. I can't change the things in my past but I can protect and perfect the days I have ahead of me.


Name one way that this energy can be used in a positive way.

My answer:
Instead of using it toward my past I can get up and start a new daily routine that includes keeping my house cleaned for J.D. , rather for us, working out, eating healthy, having a relationship with God, and working every day. 

Psalms 103:5-6

⁵ Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's.
⁶ The Lord executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

"So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised." Hebrews 10:35-36 (NIV)

One night I was cleaning our kitchen and found this little rubber thingy on our countertop. It wasn't until after I threw it away that I realized it was the power button for our TV remote control. As I dug through the trash to find it, I regretted how quickly I'd thrown it away.

Then, as I reached to pull it out, I sensed God showing me that's how easily I throw away my confidence—without recognizing it.

It's usually very subtle. Sometimes I'll be thinking about something I want to do or sense God calling me to, and a feeling of uncertainty comes over me and whispers to my heart, You can't do that. You're not good enough. Out of the blue, I'll just get that awful, insecure feeling.

Too many times in the past I've gone along with it, tossing my confidence into the trash without even thinking.

For years, I didn't tell anyone about my lack of confidence because I figured if I told them all the reasons I doubted myself, they'd see my flaws and agree with me. Honestly, I was convinced I was the only one who struggled with doubt.

However, I didn't call it doubt. Maybe you don't either. Sometimes I called it worry—worry that I was going to disappoint someone, worry that I might make a mistake and get criticized for it, worry that I might start something but not be able to finish.

Other times I'd call it fear—fear that I wouldn't measure up, fear that I'd look stupid, fear that I'd look prideful thinking I could do something special for God. What I've realized over the past several years is that these feelings may end up as fear or worry, but their source is self-doubt.

What about you? Do you ever question your worth as a woman? How often do you agree with the whispers of self-doubt and throw away confidence that should be yours as a child of God?

I've learned to ask God to show me when I'm tempted to trash myself and then depend on Him to help me trash my insecurities instead. Want to join me? Let's hold onto God's promises and depend on His truth for the security we need and the confidence we long for:

• When self-doubt whispers, "I can't do that. I'm going to fail and look foolish." Trash that lie and hold onto this truth: "The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?" (Hebrews 13:6, NIV 1984)

• When self-doubt whispers, "I'll never change." Trash that lie and hold onto this truth: "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in [me] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6, NASB)

• When self-doubt whispers, "This is too hard for me. I don't have what it takes to..." Trash that lie and hold onto this truth: "No, in all these things [I am] more than a [conqueror] through him who loved [me]." (Romans 8:37, NIV)

Dear Lord, I want to become a woman with a confident heart in Christ. Will You help me recognize when I trash myself, and remind me to trash my insecurities instead? I want to persevere in Your truth so that when I have done Your will, I will receive what You have promised. When doubt or insecurity tell me I can't do something, I will remember that all things are possible to her who believes. In Jesus' Name, Amen.
By Renee Swope
Found (Copy & Paste) from: http://www.proverbs31.org/devotions/how-stop-trashing-yourself-2012-09/

Hebrews 10:39
³⁹ But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul.

Mark 9:23
²³ Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.

My thoughts:
To those of you that know me personally know that I am a very confident person but truthfully there are times every day that I feel that I cannot do something. I am so confident and have great self worth about a lot of things but others not so much. For instance everyone around me thinks that I am a great IC for Scentsy and that I know everything there is to know -- even come to me for advice and questions answered. The truth about that though is that I feel that I don't know it all and that there is know way that I can ever know it all. I even feel inadequate when people come to me because I don't feel that I teach them and answer them correctly all the time.

I don't always have self worth when it come to my Photography. I always get compliments and people rave about my work but when I look at my own work it is a completely different story. So, I will definitely have to work on this topic. I am so glad that I found these two devotions today! I cannot wait to have great self-worth through Jesus!


I hope that this helps all of my followers and that you will comment with your thoughts, what you took away from the devotions today and suggestions for topics we should cover!
You can also follow Proverbs 31 Ministries on facebook.

Song of the day to go along with the devotions:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlA5IDnpGhc&NR=1&feature=endscreen

Thanks,
LO