When a Woman finds her Voice, by Jo Ann Fore

When A Woman Finds Her Voice

About This Great New Book by Mary Young Robinson

It didn’t take long for most of us to learn to put the mask on, protecting ourselves from more shame and pain. And then there were those well-meaning non-victorious Christians who just encouraged that type of living filled with pride.

Well now we know! That’s definitely NOT what Christ wants for us. Jo Ann Fore is able to plainly articulate why that plan always fails. With grace and experience, Jo Ann seeks to point others to the real answer and how to apply it Biblically.

Using her own war battled wounds and scars, Jo Ann genuinely hugs each reader with her insight and encouragement. It is amazing how God is still raising up special people like Jo Ann to melt our hearts and strengthen our spirits through Jesus Christ.

I won my book through a give-away on Good Reads. (a great place to read reviews and leave reviews)  I would have bought it anyway…and now I want to get it into the vision of other wanderers…you will love her stories! You will love how God has helped her overcome!

Friends, don’t you agree that when you are depressed, ashamed, and nursing wounds, you wish you could talk to just one person who understood?  Jo Ann does, and she surrounds herself and ministry with other vital women who are learning the process that will make them free.  Read it, make notes, and treasure your outcome as you serve others.

GUEST Dr. Michelle Miller Bengtson

From Her Series on BEAUTY

When I was traveling up north and observing and drinking in the beauty of the fall colors, there were times when I saw one tree changing its colors but surrounded by trees that had not yet begun the process of change.  It made me think of those times in our lives when God calls us to do something new, to forge a new path, to stand apart, despite all those around us who are not called to the same in their journey or perhaps resist change.  It’s not easy to blaze a new path, especially when we are surrounded by those who want to hold on tightly to the old, familiar ways of doing things.

As I looked on those changing trees flanked on all sides by those yet to give in to change, I realized how beautiful the one tree was that was undergoing the transformation. What a beautiful sight it is to gaze upon those whom He has called and set apart for kingdom purposes.

“So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2 (The Message)

Will you embrace change today?

Visit Dr. Michelle @http://drmichellebengtson.com/  or on Face Book

You Gotta Get The “Want To”

Colossians 1:13-14:  He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”  ESV

Do you ask the Lord for the tools that you need to accomplish things?  And I mean everything your heart desires to do or you have been called to do?

If you are called to do a job, don’t you ask the Lord to help you do it efficiently with His help?  No? Yes?  Don’t think on something that you know you should do for years without asking Him to give you “the want to.”  If you do, you will not succeed in the way you hoped and you may suffer more than you could ever have imagined.  Pain manifests itself in so many ways.

My father was a sick man.  He was physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally ill when I was growing up.  I dreaded a day when he didn’t take his tranquilizers.  It was either black moods, bleeding ulcers, or temper tantrums that kept me from sleeping at night.  He was rude to my mother and made our lives very hard.  He had a heart attack and died right after I turned fifteen years old.  But something happened that last year before he died.

Our small church in middle Tennessee had a 24 hour family prayer chain.  Each family had to take an hour and pray at our church in the sanctuary.  He had just started going back to church a few months earlier when we took our family time.  I watched him come out of the church with his face “glowing”.  I knew God did business with his heart that night.

Although I was happy, I was still angry at all the years he fought God, caused stress and tension and then died.  I stayed angry for another 13 years until one day I took a chair in my kitchen and pretended that he was there and I talked with him audibly and asked him to forgive me and I told him I loved him.  I needed that closure to end that chapter of my un-forgiveness.  I now believe my Daddy will be in Heaven when I get there.  I did want to do that for a long time, but when I did it, I meant it.  But if he had still been alive I am not sure when I would have done that.  And if I had missed out on years of relationship it would have been sad.

I have recently been on a journey re-examining my life, my goals, my inner thoughts, and my personality/behavior traits.  Just because I am a Christian doesn’t say that I don’t have wounds that still need to be healed, that I don’t have forgiveness I still need to extend, and all kinds of “Jesus adjustments” to be made.

I also realize that I need to ask Christ for the “Want to” to go forward and obey.  I cannot be released from old baggage, introduced to new life, and keep growing to touch others if I do not seek the work of the Redeemer.  One part of this new life is “Forgiving”.

No matter how deep the wound, how big and tough the scab, Christ paid the price for ALL sin.  He forgave us.  We must forgive them!

For more on “Forgiveness” go to:

http://joannfore.com/forgiveness/

or on Face Book:  “Write Where It Hurts” with Jo Ann Fore.