Spiritual Encouragement

Impact

When you look at yourself in the mirror what name do you call yourself? Failure? Lazy? Ugly? Loser? Pathetic? Unhappy? Hopeless? Too old? Too tired? When you introduce yourself to someone do you say in your mind, “Happy to meet you. My name is nobody."? It’s time we stopped calling ourselves by these inappropriate names. These are not our names. What would happen if we changed our names to the names God calls us?

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Impact

It took a lot of years for me to finally realize that cookies and chip dip weren’t to blame for the extra weight around my middle. Food wasn’t the culprit, but my unmanaged feelings were.

Whether I was anxious about my children’s safety, overwhelmed by my non-stop schedule or feeling lonely because I lacked meaningful friends, those feelings collided, creating a deep, aching pit in my middle. I often felt empty inside and at times, nauseous. It was an awful feeling that I wanted to make go away as much as possible. My solution? Food. More specifically, I tried to soothe my uncomfortable feelings with comfort food. However, that hole in my heart and soul was like a bottomless pit so no amount of ice cream, pizza or any other food could satisfy the emptiness within.

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Impact

What a changed-life story we hear in this song! Listen to the joy in Jordan Feliz’ voice and feel it in the music—he is full of hope because he has found the love of Christ and it has changed his life. He experienced the transformation from being lost to being found. He knows his future is bright, no matter what it holds, because he has the Lord by his side. What about you? Has your life been changed like this—or do you need to recommit or commit for the first time to inviting Jesus into your life? Take action and he will begin the changes that will give you hope. It is just a prayer today. Your brand new day can start right now. Your future is bright, too!

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Impact

Our world can get shaken by many things -- health challenges, loved ones who struggle, financial problems, relational pain—and more. But, as this song says, God does not let us go: he is with us, in the middle of all of our life struggles. He can transform us from worry to trust and fear to faith if we cling to his precious promises, given to us in his love letter the Bible. In the thick of life’s battles we can count on him. We can reach out to him in prayer—even prayers of lament, as David did in the psalms. And like David, after sharing your pain and concerns with God, don’t forget to praise him. Express your trust and your belief. God is the mender of broken people. He is our fortress in the storms of life. He alone is our defense.

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Impact

It’s hard to hold on when you feel like you’re about to go under in some area of your life. This song is an encouragement to hold on because God is at work to make you stronger as you withstand the trial. The song guides us to remember that God will complete the work he has started in our lives.

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Impact

Life is full unwanted, unfair moments when we don’t understand “why,” and we feel like we “have nothing left” as this song says. Broken hearts—our own or those of loved ones. Unanswered prayers, causing sadness and frustration while waiting for the answers. It’s hard not to lose hope. But this song gives step one of a battle plan—it tells you what to do when you are in a life-moment as described above—move—keep walking!

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Impact

Who would've ever thought that I would love squats? Not me. Who would've thought that I would be able to work out for a whole hour? Not me. Who could've possibly imagined that I'd one day become an instructor? Goodness, certainly not me.

Yet here I am, with an entirely different life, because God is surprising and kind, and because my friend wouldn't give up.

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Impact

Am I so busy that I’m missing life around me? Am I reaching so hard for the next season or the next “thing” in life that I can’t or won’t savor the season I’m currently in? What have I missed living this way?

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Impact

The other week I started reading the Gospel of Luke. Chapter 3 contains a record of Jesus' genealogy that I hadn't really read before. To be honest, the first time I read Matthew, which starts with genealogy, I was cross-eyed by the time I got half way through and I skipped to the end. That was almost 20 years ago and in that time I have been through several amazing Bible studies, none of which had much to do with genealogy. However, in my studies on Covenant, Romans, Revelation, Joshua, Ruth and many more, I got to know some of the incredible people in the Bible and guess what? A lot of them are in the genealogy of Jesus! When I read through the list of names of who begat whom it wasn't a list of strangers but a list of people I knew. They aren't strangers to me, or faceless names but rather they are men of courage, integrity, and faith. Not perfect certainly (see David for instance) but real men living a real life who managed to be part of a family line that brought us Jesus. I would not have known them had I not been in Bible study all these years.

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Impact

When my family first contemplated a cross-country move, I automatically began searching websites for possible churches where we were relocating. As I did my Internet search, I stumbled upon a women’s ministry announcement about the local Body & Soul Fitness classes. I had never heard of Body & Soul, but I thought that it sounded like a cool idea to try it out. Well, the cross-country move happened, and Body & Soul remained just that – an idea of something I might do someday.

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