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The GT Weekend! Chase Week 2

January 20, 2018 by Michelle Promise Leave a Comment

The GT Weekend

At Gracefully Truthful, weekends aren’t for “checking out”.
Use this time to invite the Almighty’s fullness into you life in a deeper way!
Saturdays and Sundays are a chance to reflect, rest, and re-center our lives onto Christ. Don’t miss the opportunity to connect with other women in prayer, rest your soul in reflective journaling, and spend time worshiping the Creator who longs for intimacy with each of us!

Journal With Us!

Journal Prompts

1) How has a change of plans brought anger in your life? After that anger wells up, we have two options; to move forward in that anger or choose to give thanks that God is sovereign over all (even the chaos!). Pray today for the Holy Spirit to help you choose thankfulness!

2) God forgave an entire city because of their immediate repentance. God’s forgiveness does not stop being offered because of your sin; that’s just the beginning! While there may still be physical consequences of our sin, God will always extend His gracious hand of forgiveness to the response of genuine repentance.

3) At the end of Jonah 2, we see Jonah was given so much grace. His response was to “sing a song of thanksgiving”. He made a resolution to move forward and share that grace but ended up being sidetracked. We’ve also been given an abundance of grace, how are we using it? Are we passing it on to others freely? Or holding onto it tightly?

Worship In Song

Music Video: Forgiveness 

Pour Out Your Heart

Lord Jesus, forgive me for the times I let my selfishness and pride give way to anger in my life. Lord, I get so stuck on my schedules, my lists, and my time. All of that focus leaves very little margin for You to do any work in my life; it’s no surprise I get all worked up that I don’t witness You working. I haven’t left You any space to do so! Let me lay ALL my life at your feet and leave it there as I watch Your hand at work in my life!

I don’t deserve Your lavish love and forgiveness. As You pour out those in my life, encourage me to be a good steward of them. Out of the outpouring of Your love at work in me, let me love others deeply and freely as You do. For Your glory, Lord!

Pray With Us!

In everything, with praise and thanksgiving,
make your requests known to God!
Click here to comment and pray with the GT Community!
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Send your prayer request to prayer@gracefullytruthful.com
We are committed to praying over and walking with you!

Journey With Us

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What were your thoughts from the GT Weekend?
How were you drawn near to the Father and encouraged in your faith?
Share with the community and encourage other women!

Posted in: Accepted, Broken, Busy, Excuses, Faith, Fear, Forgiven, Freedom, Generous, Gospel, Grace, Healing, Help, Hope, Love, Relationship, Slow, Space Tagged: busy, gospel, grace, love, schedule, space, still, time

Battle Day 8 The Weapon of Worship

August 30, 2017 by Sara Colquhoun Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Psalm 73:26
Psalm 150
Romans 8:12-17
Revelation 4 

One day, during my first pregnancy, I was driving home from work talking to my mom about some thoughts I had been wrestling with in regards to miscarriage. I was still very early in my pregnancy, and couldn’t shake the overwhelming fear that something bad was going to happen.

This fear I’m talking about isn’t a normal fear, it was the panic in the middle of the night, breaking out in hives, can’t fully function, paralyzing type of fear.

Since being diagnosed with PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) at the age of eighteen I had done a good amount of research when it came to the subject of pregnancy and one of the most startling facts was that the miscarriage rate was upwards of 40-50%. I tried not to let the numbers get to me, yet this particular day they weighed so heavy, I couldn’t stop myself from going down the destructive path.

You know the one…
The path where you come up with fifty different outcomes to the same problem and each one ends up being worse than the last.
The path where you tell yourself that you are the problem and that everything will be okay as long as you don’t get in the way.

Sisters, why do we do this to ourselves?
Why do we allow the enemy to speak these lies into our minds so often we start believing them?

That day in my car I knew the only way I was going to allow myself to move from the state of paralyzing fear was to turn on music.

But not just any music.
Worship music.

The new Bethel worship album had just come out and hands-down my favorite song was No Longer Slaves. The chorus is simple, but powerful.

‘I’m no longer a slave to fear,
I am a child of God.’

It felt as though the only way my body would relax and allow my breath to become easy, was to play this song on repeat and allow the words to wash over me.

Within a few moments, I felt the life rush back through my veins. 

Worship is an act of total surrender of self, allowing us to find comfort and peace as we praise our Heavenly Father for how good and perfect and holy He is.

Worship allows us to do battle on the front lines of the fight occurring between our flesh and our spirit.

For most people, when they hear the word worship they think of music, which is true, yet there are many more avenues we can travel down in regards to how we worship our Heavenly Father. I have been immersed in church my whole life, which has allowed me to witness the different ways that people worship.

There is so much beauty in worship and depending on the season of life that I am in, I find myself leaning in different directions to wage those frontline fights.

Some battles are similar to the one I described a bit ago, and the only way to find peace is through music.
Some battles require nothing except prayer and thanksgiving to God for what He has done, and what He is going to do.
Some battles call for journaling our life story and allowing God to pour out His goodness and grace over the hardest, most vulnerable places of our being.
It could be something completely different, but the goal should be that we know how to battle confidently through worship regardless of circumstances.

About a month after I had this battle in the car, I found out that Everett’s heart had stopped beating. I vividly remember the emergency room doctor coming into our room and telling us the news. Within an instant the tears came and all I could mutter was “Jesus, Jesus, be here right now. You are a Good Father.”

In the hardest moment of my life thus far I could only turn to my eyes to heaven and tell God that no matter what, I was going to praise Him.

I called out to the Lord in my distress,
and the Lord answered me,
and He put me in a spacious place.
Psalm 118:5

As we left the hospital that day I turned on my phone and a song immediately started to play. This song has been with me for the last twenty-six months as I’ve battled the on-going grieving process, and it never fails to comfort me. It’s a song many of you may know and the chorus goes like this:

“It is well
With my Soul
It is well, it is well with my soul.” 

There were no other words that were needed during the drive home.
God was already working in and through me as I entered into battle that day.
One I wasn’t going to let the enemy win.
Jesus was going to be glorified through it all.
Not because I was so strong, but because,
in my weakness, I threw myself onto the Savior’s strength.

“Worship is not an experience. Worship is an act, and this takes discipline. We are to worship ‘in spirit and in truth.’ Never mind about the feelings. We are to worship in spite of them.”- Elisabeth Elliot

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
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Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Battle Week Two! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme?
Here’s a link to all past studies in Battle!

Posted in: Adoring, Courage, Enough, Faith, Fear, Healing, Help, Hope, Jesus, Pain, Peace, Power, Praise, Prayer, Trust, Worship Tagged: battle, calm, doubt, faith, fear, life, peace, still, storm, trust, worship

Brave Day 13
The Bravest Word

October 12, 2016 by Katelyn Bartlett Leave a Comment

Read His Words Before Ours!

Luke 10:38-42
Psalm 46
Exodus 33:14attachment-1-16

Last August, I thought that I was being brave.
Looking down the barrel of the next 4 months, I had to admit to myself that I was facing quite a bit. “Yes, it’s a lot,” I told myself, “But these are great things – and God desires for me to attempt great things for His glory, right?”

My husband and I were leading a new community group at church that met weekly. New friends are a good thing – it means new people to invest in spiritually and relationally.

A dear friend was coming to live with us while she completed doctoral clinicals in our area. I was stoked to have a friend around to watch “girly” shows with.

I had signed up for my second half marathon and was beginning training. Getting to know other runners at church was going to make this training experience so fun!

A new chapter had begun professionally with a new job. My dream job! A job that I couldn’t believe I had landed – God had to be in the works here.

I had committed to teaching adjunct at a small local college on Monday evenings after work. I loved teaching in graduate school and knew it would be a great way to invest in students.

So many wonderful ways to serve God’s Kingdom!

Or so I thought.
One week into October, I was exhausted.
My new community group was draining.
I felt like I had to entertain my friend living in my home at the end of long days.
The time commitment of training for a half marathon had become a burden.
My new job was extremely challenging, and I constantly felt behind and incompetent.
I discovered quickly that I wasn’t as qualified as I’d hoped for the class I was teaching and didn’t have nearly enough time to put into lecture preparation.

One Monday evening, I came home after a long day of work and teaching.
I lay on the floor and wept.
I was tired.
I was scrambling through my days, barely keeping up.
I felt like I had nothing left.
I was physically exhausted, mentally drained, and spiritually dehydrated.

All of those good things I was doing for God had become burdens that kept me from pursuing God Himself and the life He had called me to. Following Jesus doesn’t result in anxiety and “stretched-too-thin”. Challenged? Yes. Overwhelmed and defeated? No.

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

Did you read that?
“But Martha was distracted with much serving, leading her to be anxious and troubled.”

Martha’s “service” flowed from a heart where the pressure to perform overwhelmed her.
Somewhere along the way, she began to see perfection as her only viable gift of service.

We’ve all been there. Striving for the perfect look, the perfect family, the perfect relationship, and when it doesn’t happen, the sense of overwhelming defeat stares us in the face, like it did for me the night I fell to the floor dissolved in tears.

But Mary.
She bravely recognized that at the feet of Jesus was exactly where she needed to be.
It wasn’t that she didn’t care about service.
Or that she spent all her time studying the Torah and praying.
She simply understood that without being filled up with Christ, all of her stuff was just…stuff. She knew that overextending herself without carving out time for the “best thing” was like building a sand castle right next to the shoreline.
Pointless. Unfulfilled. Overwhelming. Frustrating.

Sound familiar?

I love this quote by John C. Maxwell, “Learn to say “no” to the good, so you can say “yes” to the best.” (Also check out, “The Best Yes”, by Lysa Terkeurst!)

Sometimes we must bravely say “no” to good things so that when something great comes along, we say confidently say “yes!”.
And the very best yes that provides a firm foundation for every other “best yes”?
Time alone. At the feet of the Savior.

Last year, in my effort to serve well, I wasn’t being brave after all.
I was afraid to say no.

But Jesus.
Rather than punish me or be angry, the Lord carried me through that season, despite my unwillingness to find sufficiency in Him.
“My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14)

Jesus won the battle of busyness on the cross, and has invited us to sit as His feet as He gives us living water and rest. Let the call of Jesus in Matthew 11 reach your heart.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”

Share your thoughts from today’s Journey Study!
Can we pray for you?
Sign up to receive every Journey Study!

Join the GT Community and share your thoughts!

Embracing God’s fullness in our lives is rooted in scripture and memorizing His word is vital to our continued growth and depth with Jesus. Tap and hold from your mobile device to download this week’s verse and make it your phone’s lockscreen!

Thanks for joining us today as we journeyed into Brave Week Three!
Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for other journeys from this theme? Here’s a link to all past studies in Brave!

Posted in: Brave, Broken, Emptiness, Fear, Hope, Jesus, Peace, Purpose, Rest, Restored, Strength, Trust, Truth Tagged: Brave, control, courage, letting go, next, peace, power, rest, still, trust

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