Open Door Policy

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If you are clicking over from She Seeks, welcome!

 

Here’s a little tid bit from my {inspirational entry} on She Seeks.

 

I’m super excited to officially launch my new book, Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties In A Decade of Drama. (There’s a giveaway of my book over on She Seeks this week and more to come!)

 

Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. {Hebrews 4:16 ESV}

The image of our powerful King Jesus on His throne captivates me and gives me a sense of calm confidence when when I bring Him my stress. Even more encouraging is that we can approach our King 24/7 with anything and everything. There is no sign on the door that say, God is out for the moment, come back later.

 

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I’m wondering how this might change your view of our Lord — that He is ready and willing to hear us out, help us out and show us His glory any time. Nothing scares our Jesus away. None of our life junk. None of our ugliest thoughts. None of our weirdest requests. Nothing. Looking back at Hebrews 4:16 where it says that we find mercy and grace, God reminds us that there is no list in which He says, “nope, not gonna help you with that.” or “um…I don’t do messy junk you are bring me…”

 

Instead, Jesus is ready and willing and able to be our everything. To be our hero. In fact, He already is our hero…we just need to draw near to that throne of grace with confidence that His arms are wide open.

 

The ONE requirement is that we love Him and serve Him alone as our King of Kings and only savior.

Have you known and loves Jesus for some time now, but have yet to surrender everything at the throne of Your King?

Have you heard about this man named Jesus, but never handed over your life to His Kingship?

Where ever you are in life, where ever you stand with Jesus know that the creator of the universe, the ONE who holds it all together, cares deeply about you. He sees it when you stress out about life. He sees your heart heart. He is waiting for you to come boldy and confidently to HIS throne of grace and mercy with…

 

anything

and

everything.

 

Let’s chat: What image comes to mind when you read Hebrews 4:16 above and how does it change your view of Jesus?

 

***ONE MORE THING: I would LOVE for you to join me this summer in my online book study/Bible study of Stress Point. Sign up for FREE =======>

RISE UP! with Doubts

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Did you know that God can handle your doubt? Yes, I believe our King is totally not bothered by your

 

Source: Pinterest

 

But why, Lord?

Jesus, when?

Father, how come?

Lord, I don’t understand…

God, what happened?

Jesus, this doesn’t make sense…

 

What commonalities do you see in the phrases of doubt and questions above?

Directing our fears, doubts, questions straight toward THE SOURCE who first, will not balk at our ???, second is in control of doubt causing life issues, and thirdly longs to interact with us about our questions.

 

As women who desire to RISE UP! and make Jesus famous in our life, we must must must take those questions straight to Him. Our fears and “but whys” don’t diminish His ultimate power and prerogative to do things we don’t under stand. God doesn’t get His feelings hurt if we wrestle with Him over life stuff we just don’t understand.

The key is that we wrestle directly with God about it rather than hmmm and haww over our doubts and questions. If find it interesting that even John the Baptist questioned His beloved Jesus. The very one who’s life mission was to “pave the way” for THE ONE sent a messenger to His Lord asking…

Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another? {Luke 7:19 ESV}

 

Can you even imagine???

Jesus didn’t call out John for his doubt-filled question. Instead, He reinforced John’s place in God’s plan. Jesus highlighted John’s humble nature, which is of upmost importance to our God. {Feel free to flip to your Bible NOW and read Luke 7}

 

I thought I’d give you a sneak peek of my book Stress Point and leave you with an excerpt from my favorite chapter: Spiritual Maturity.

Take a glance back at our working definition of spiritual maturity. I included in this definition an aspect of questioning God that is specifically for you as a 20-something. This is naturally a decade of exploration, inquisition, and plainly figuring life out for yourself. I wonder what questions you’ve asked in regard to your faith. I wonder if you have struggled with certain passages in the Bible that the world often considers controversial. The fact that God’s Word says that there is only one way to heaven via Jesus Christ causes strife and questioning in so many hearts. Because so much of our world declares many routes to God, many ways and actions to end up in heaven, it is difficult as Christian women not to question what the truth is. This is completely acceptable to God. You are allowed to ponder and wrestle with parts of the Bible that might not make sense to you. All throughout the Psalms, David worked through His issues with the Lord.

We are able to approach the King in worship, in waiting at the throne, and in focusing on Him and bringing our questions of faith. I hope that you have already explored your questions and journaled through them with the Lord throughout this book. Oh how I hope that He’s spoken to your need to inquire and showed you that it is okay to take anything and every- thing to Him, even the issues and questions you struggle with.

I encourage you to explore, inquire, and question the Master, Adonai, with white knuckles. When we hold tight to Jesus, we should grasp Him so tight our knuckles turn white. These white knuckles aid us in asking God the tough stuff without walking astray during the exploration. Our white knuckles keep us right in His presence rather than flying off the handle and following the world’s fleeting teachings regarding faith. Jesus is not afraid of our questions; He knows that He is Ultimate Truth. Ask away with a tight fist gripping the hand of your Master. Let Him walk you through your questions and guide you as you ponder. As you journey with your Adonai, the special pearls of biblical truth that He speaks specifically into your questioning heart will stay with you for life, made all the more meaningful because you walked with Him through the questions.

Excerpted from Stress Point: Thriving Through Your Twenties in a Decade of Drama by Sarah Francis Martin. Published by Thomas Nelson, Inc. ©2012. Used with permission.

 

What do you think? Let’s chat…

Permission to Nap

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Do you have days when you look and feel like this…

I’ve written many posts lately about stinky moods and feeling as if running on empty. Not sure if I needed to pour these words into my own stinky mood and empty heart or if I see too many of my friends rushing through life causing them to look like the little girl above.

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