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The GT Weekend! ~ Follow Week 1

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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!

Worship Through Journaling

Worship Through Journaling

1) Job didn’t know God as deeply or as intimately before he suffered as he did after. Truly following the Lord more closely cannot be pulled out of thin air like shaking a magic 8 ball when you need an answer. Big decision? Time to ask the Lord and get your roadmap, right? This isn’t what Scripture teaches. Real, genuine following, like wisdom, begins by fearing the Lord (Proverbs 9:10) and is continued as an overflow of deepening your relationship over time and struggle. The more difficulties we walk through while leaning into God, the more we come to know and trust the good heart of our Savior. It’s in the toughest times we can learn most steadfastly to listen for His voice and trust His heart. Then, when other life decisions come, we have already learned what it looks like to keep following Him. What are some things you know about God? Go ahead and list them out on paper or your phone. Now make another list of characteristics about God you have experienced as a result of struggle. Spend time in prayer, asking the Lord to keep teaching you to hear His voice leading you and showing you who He is.

2) As human beings, we like to think we have all the control over ourselves. We own our own paths in life and have total control, at least that’s what we like to think. How quickly we forget the Lord God is sovereign over all things. He leads our paths, He pursues our hearts. Often times, it’s the Lord who surprises us with His embrace as He draws us near, amazing us by His tenderness in calling us to follow Him. God called both Abram and Andrew when they least expected it, but His invitation radically changed their lives. Neither man needed to spend long amounts of time trying to decide if they should follow where God was leading, He simply guided them as their hearts chose to respond. Sometimes, we like to make our decisions more difficult than we should, when we are truly just being called to follow and trust His heart as He leads us best. Consider where you’re over-complicating what it is to follow Jesus in your everyday life. What would it look like to lean back and trust His lead instead of your over-complication? Why not simply tell Him about it? Lay it all out before Him, talking out loud of your worries and your desire to trust Him over you; let Him calm your heart!

3) Sarah begins her Journey Study yesterday by asking a pertinent question, “Who but God would invite an ex- murderer to lead an entire nation?” Surely, we would not. Incredulously, God would, because He doesn’t judge our ability to follow Him based on our past performance (or failure). He knows that when we surrender to His power and ability to work through our brokenness, He will do things in us that are far beyond our imaginings. In what ways have you discounted yourself from opportunity because you are peering at it from the vantage point of your lack? Perhaps you’ve even found yourself comparing what you are not to what someone else is. There exists no such measure of comparison with the Lord! He calls us each to follow Him in total surrender of ourselves so He can use our lives for eternal work. Grab a sharpie for your skin, a bright notecard for your mirror, or text a friend to remind you frequently this upcoming week to surrender to His work in you, remembering it is both important and eternal!

Praying Scripture back to the One who wrote it in the first place is a great way to jump start our prayer-life! Pray this passage from Proverbs 3:7-8 back to the Lord and
let His Spirit speak to you through it!

Don’t be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
This will be healing for your body
and strengthening for your bones

Prayer Journal
Father God, following is hard. It means a constant dying to myself, my plans, and my ability to see and trust myself. While I say with my words that I want to follow You, and I do mean it, Abba, my actions betray my spoken word at times. In honesty, following You feels dark and confusing at many points. I find it easy to question whether I’m actually, truly following You because it can feel like I’m stumbling down a ravine at midnight. I fear being crushed like Job, waiting for what feels like an eternity as Abraham did, or being continually mocked and criticized like Moses. Remind me over and over that Your definition of success is only summed up in two words, “faithful obedience”. Next time I’m tempted to define my “win” by the standards of the world, a big platform, or plenty of people following me, break through my pride and remind me it’s about my faithful obedience to Your call to do whatever is next. Thank You for loving me enough to provide a plan and a whisper to just follow You!

Worship Through Community

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Worship Through Prayer

Worship Through Music

Shepherd Day 5 Quiet Waters

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Read His Words Before Ours!

Zephaniah 3:14-20
Psalm 23:2
Colossians 3:12-17

Shepherd, Day 5

Lead
Definition of the Hebrew word: יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי׃ (pronounced naw-hal’)
to lead, give rest, lead with care, guide to a watering place or station, cause to rest,
bring to a station or place of rest, guide, refresh

Leadership is a tough road, friends. It’s scary, it’s intense, it’s pressure-filled.
It’s heavy on the side of accountability, vision, loving others, being “on”.
Leadership wearies.

And before you say, “I’m not a leader, so this doesn’t apply.”
Stop.
You are. We all have a sphere of influence that we’ve been given. We all lead.

Every single one of my seven children from 15 months to 14 years are leaders.
They all lead those around them into either greatness or into disobedience.
And let me tell you, their influence is significant; able to quickly turn the tide of their siblings, of their friends, of their parents, and even their whole family.
Whether it’s a tantrum, an encouraging word, a genuine hug, or a kick and a punch,
their influence is felt.

As Is Yours.
Student. Wife. Mama. Friend. Co-worker. Boss. Woman. Sister. Leader.
What we do with our leadership is significant.
Its influence is felt far and wide, whether we realize it or not.

Because our leadership reach is so far-reaching,
where we lead from makes all the difference.

When my daughter reaches out to hug the brother who just kicked her and, rather than run tattling, rather than kicking back, she hugs and says, “I can tell you’re having a rough morning.”
She is leading from something deeper and more solid than her own sense of self-preservation.
She’s leading from love.
Sacrificial. Humble. Love.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

When my husband gets my text message and reads between the lines to know that something deeper is happening than the words appearing on the screen, and he chooses to lay aside his work, hang up his call, and ask what’s really going on…..he’s leading from love.
Sacrificial. Humble. Love

He leads me beside quiet waters.

When we hold our tongue to listen to others.
When we choose to step into another’s shoes rather than pass judgment.
When we give generously.
When we pause to consider what it would look like to love our spouse better today.
When we seek the good of another over our own convenience.
When we lay aside the insistence that others fit into our parameters.
We are leading from love.
Sacrificial. Humble. Love.

Leading like this is hard. Leading like this doesn’t come naturally.
Leading like this, doing it well, and doing it consistently, necessitates One Thing.
Being led.
Sacrificing our own agenda to be led.
Humbly submitting ourselves to another’s leadership.
Leading from love.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

Hush. Peace. Slow. Be still.
He leads.

Hands stop moving.
Brains stop rushing ahead.
Agendas die.
Must Do lists fade.
All the voices silenced.
Closed doors.
Hush.
Peace.
Listen.
Quiet Waters.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

We cannot lead well if we refuse to be led.

יְנַהֲלֵֽנִי׃ has the connotation of being led station by station, from one, very intentional place of rest into the next in a continuous journey of quiet water to quiet water.

Wait, you might say, I don’t know about you, but my life is anything BUT quiet water.
Yes! Mine too!
But still, His invitation remains.

He leads me beside quiet waters.
Whether I’m leading my toddler in a rhythmic bedtime routine, homeschooling my children, leading at church, or choosing to love my husband better, intentional rhythms are crucial.
Leadership takes planning, forethought, a direction, and the discipline to follow through on those plans.
Being led requires the same discipline.

We will not have access to the quiet waters if we refuse to be intentional on allowing the Shepherd access to our hearts.
Quiet time.
Space for silence and solitude with the Savior.
Journaling prayers.
Allowing access. Being led. Accepting love.

He leads me beside quiet waters.

When we make space for quiet and time carved out to let the Savior love us with His own Word, we can lead from that love.
When we make meeting with Him, in submission to His leadership, the rhythm and practice of our daily lives,
He leads us solidly from quiet water to quiet water.

The world will continue to be loud.
The relationships may continue to spiral.
Others choices may continue to frustrate and be destructive,
but you will be steadfast.
Held by the hand that leads you from the quiet water of Himself, the very Living Water.

Jesus answered,
“If you knew the gift of God, and who is saying to you,
‘Give me a drink,’ you would ask Him,
and He would give you living water.” (John 4:10)

If you knew….
Oh sisters, if you knew of the sweet intimacies and depth of riches of being led from quiet water to quiet water, while being refreshed and refueled by the Living Water of Jesus Christ Himself, you would ask Him. And He would give it.

Drink deep.
Create the space.
Submit to His leadership.
And learn the rhythms of leading from His quieting love.

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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 Shepherd Week One! Don’t miss out on the discussion below – we’d love to hear your thoughts!
Click the above image for today’s Digging Deeper!

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

Battle Day 8 The Weapon of Worship

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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

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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!