Challenging the Ninth - Holding back the lies

A couple weeks ago I was asked what I thought of a neighbor’s two-month old baby. My friend asked me if the baby was adorable. I honestly couldn’t say “Yes”. I had to think about my answer for a moment. Like most of us, I’ve been told my whole life that all babies are adorable. Well, let’s be honest. They aren’t. In fact, some are downright scary, with their red blotchy skin, screaming little mouths and toothless grins. (Yes, I do realize I may also look that way in another 50 years.) So, let me tell you the truth, that baby looked like a miniature tomcat, shaved bald. I was expecting it to point its finger up and whisper a hoarse sounding “Precioussssss” like Gollum from The Hobbit. But I couldn’t tell anyone that. What I did say was the truth; that the baby was a blessing to the family and a gift from God. Period. I gave my opinion but I didn’t have to express every thought that came into my head. I didn’t have to be harsh but I didn’t have to lie. I chose not express all my thoughts (though I did take them to the Lord) rather than lie about it. It took restraint, because honestly, I like to make people laugh. I try not to create giggles at anyone else’s expense. However, in my quest for smile-making or side-splitting verbiage, sometimes the truth that comes out of my mouth is a bit bolder than it should be.

So, as you can tell, I’ve had a challenge with the Ninth Commandment. I tend to take it to the extreme with the truth-sharing because I know that lying is easy and can become a huge stumbling block in our walk with God. We all have challenges with the Ninth, don’t we? (This is the one in the Bible that talks about not lying, by the way.)
Another challenge with the Ninth came up recently when I realized that a prescription I’d had filled was low. I’d only had it for 14 days yet there was only 1 dose left. I’d been so busy when I got it filled that I didn’t pay attention that I wasn’t given the full prescription. It was a big deal, although it was merely an inexpensive, non-narcotic pill that helps me keep my potassium up. I thought for sure the Pharmacist wouldn’t believe that I didn’t receive the whole prescription since I’d had it filled just 2 weeks prior and hadn’t said anything about a shortage. I was afraid if I called them with the truth of the matter, they wouldn’t fix the problem. I considered lying, telling them I’d dropped the pills or misplaced them. I thought those explanations seemed more plausible than the truth. I also didn’t want the hassle or embarrassment of stating that I hadn’t paid close enough attention. I didn’t want them thinking I was trying to get medication for free either. So, I thought I’d just lie. But conviction kept coming at me.

Every time I picked up the phone to call the pharmacy to tell them some made-up story, I hung up. I didn’t want to lie but yet I wanted to. I prayed, “Lord, I want to lie. I’m admitting it. I just want to lie and make my day easier. Please help me to tell the truth. You know I need this medication. Please work this out.” I didn’t hang up the next time I called. When the tech answered, I explained what happened. She asked me to hold on. The Pharmacist came on the phone and asked me to bring the bottle in to her. I did as she asked and after five minutes she came back with it filled, stating that they had a new computerized dispenser and sure enough, it hadn’t dispensed the proper amount in the first place. It had given me exactly half my prescription and she was able to tell this by doing a quick audit of their new system. It wasn’t as big of a deal as I thought it would be and the Pharmacist thanked me. Up to that point, the only issue they’d seen was it dispensing too much medication. Now they knew they had other things to fix. Wow, I was obedient and God was faithful! He made it easier than I thought it could ever be. Our human brain tends to think the easier thing is to stand for a lie because it often seems to be the effortless way out. Lying can indeed be effortless in the moment but the consequences can be enormous.
You may say to yourself that you don’t lie, but have you ever told someone you thought they looked wonderful even though in your heart you just didn’t think so? Perhaps you felt sorry for that person and you wanted to spare their feelings. Perhaps you ran into an old friend who just seemed down, ragged, having a really bad day. What’s the first thing that came out of your mouth? After “Hello”, it likely was some sort of fib. Those little fibs come naturally to us. Our culture encourages it. Even our Christian culture encourages it. Hmmm, thinking you don’t fall into the ‘fibber’ category? When was the last time someone asked you how you were doing and you said, “Great”? When in all reality you were feeling horribly stressed, your house was in shambles and you’d just had a fight with your spouse?

Telling a lie. What a simple thing in the grand plan of life. ‘Little white lies’ as many people call them are actually small dark seeds we plant in the middle of our path to the future God has for us. You may not see the weeds now but those seeds will grow and the weeds will get in your way. Lies can easily cross our lips and fly right out the mouth if we don’t practice holding them back. Though we find ourselves bombarded with temptation to lie every single day, God wouldn’t ask us not to, unless it was possible to refrain from it.

It can be difficult not to lie, especially when you’re concerned about being a burden or afraid of hurting someone’s feelings. Like you, I don’t want to tell someone, “I had an awful day and I’m just not doing well.” Or “Wow, you have baby spit-up on your shirt and really need to shower.” But the reality is, sometimes we need others to know what we’re going thru because we need prayer or support, even if we don’t share all the itty bitty details. We can share truths gently, in a Christ-like way. We don’t have to lie. Perhaps that old friend you ran into needs someone to tell her she has baby spit-up on her shirt. What if she was on her way to an important job interview looking that way and no one told her? You can be honest and say things with care and love. A lie should not be your automatic response in any situation. It takes practice being honest in ALL things but God never asks us to do something He doesn’t intend on helping us with. All we have to do is ask Him for that help.

And yes, I have learned that I don’t have to tell someone their baby looks “Preciousss” with a Gollum-style hiss in my voice. But I can tell them their baby IS precious because he or she truly is.

For more info about Karen and how to book her for your next retreat or conference, go to www.womaninspired.com
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And for some Biblical back up, check out these verses on lying and what the Bible has to say about it.
Leviticus 19:11 You shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.

Psalms 119:163 I hate and abhor lying: but your law do I love.

Proverbs 12:22 Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight.

Proverbs 13:5 A righteous man hates lying: but a wicked man is loathsome, and comes to shame.

Proverbs 14:5 A faithful witness will not lie: but a false witness will utter lies.

Proverbs 17:7 Excellent speech becomes not a fool: much less do lying lips a prince.

For a list of other awesome Christian blogs, go to: Christian Poets and Writers Blog

Letting go of the past

How many times have you been told, while you’re venting about your feelings, to “Just let it go. Move on.”? Honestly, I get a bit irked when I’m trying to share my feelings and I get cut off with a nonchalant statement meant to shut me down. There is nothing wrong with letting your feelings out. There is nothing wrong with sharing with others what has happened in your past. Sharing your experiences can help bring others through their difficult times. When we’re brought through a situation and God has given us strength or knowledge through it, or even hindsight long afterwards, it’s our duty to help encourage others in similar situations. By letting others know we came through a similarly difficult time, we not only help them but we hopefully will glorify God in the middle of it. 2 Corinthians 12:9 states, “And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” When we’ve been made stronger through a problem or have allowed Christ’s strength to get us through, we should boast all the more! However, boasting of Christ’s strength; sharing how He got us through the tough times, is not the same thing as holding on to the past and lamenting about it over and over again.

One thing most of us are far too good at is retaining past pains and pressing them into our today, instead of using them briefly to help others and then setting them back in a memory file of the past where they belong. We have this natural instinct in our brains to bring up all the old scenarios of what we did wrong or how wronged we were by others. Understanding what went wrong at various times in our lives is essential to learning. But we shouldn’t live in the pity and persecution of the past either. There is a balance to be had.

I’ve met women who wear their past mistreatments and painful relationships as a badge or as a banner waving above their heads that lists a line of adjectives describing who they think they are because of what they’ve been through. Let me state for the record, WHO you are is not WHAT you’ve been through. WHO you are solely depends on WHOSE you are. No matter what you’ve been through or who has done what to you, there comes a time when you must choose what you want to be. What you are depends on who you are. When you figure out that you belong to Jesus…then you are His. WHOSE you are will then begin to slowly define who you are and what you do day in and day out. It will mold your choices, your actions and reactions; your words, how you spend your time, how you view family and how you view your future. It can also help you see your past for what it truly was and also help you create a determination deep within to not allow your past to live in the middle of your today!

If you had that banner above your head, what would yours say? “Cheated on? Abused? Neglected? Fired? Manipulated? Beat up? Bruised? Broken? Taken for granted? Ashamed? Adulterer?” I’m sure each of us could recite a litany of adjectives or verbs describing the many ways pain and anger have set up in our lives, creating labels in our heads. The key is letting go of those labels from the past and replacing them with who you are today. If you are His, then perhaps you can get out a permanent marker, scratch over those labels you’ve given yourself and write “Forgiven. Unashamed. Knowledgeable. Authentic. Willing. Reconciled. Open. Molded. Healing. Honest.” With these kind of unjaded, Christ-inspired labels and a new mindset, letting go of the past will be easier. And as you let go of the strong hold the past has on you, you will be able to share about your past on occasion. You will be able to sit in a group of women or one on one with someone else who needs to hear about your shame, your pain and your brokenness…and not just share the difficulties but share how God forgave you, renewed you and made you His…boasting all the more for what He has done for you since.

Karen A. McCracken
www.womaninspired.com

Breaking Free From OCD

I would say that in today’s culture most everyone has heard of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. If you haven’t seen it portrayed in all it’s infinite, seemingly ‘crazy’ glory via the hit TV show Monk, you’re sure to have seen it played out on reality TV in recent years. MTV, Vh1, TLC, Discovery Channel have each found an audience over the years by spying into the private lives of men and women plagued by Ocd.

In case you’re not sure or in case you have a TV Sunday Night movie idea of just what Ocd is, let me just state that Ocd is far more than a need for cleanliness and symmetry in one’s daily life. It has, over the years, morphed from being considered some sort of insanity, to a neurosis, to a chemical imbalance, to an anxiety disorder. No matter what science prefers to label it today, it is a very real source of emotional and mental torture for more than 2% of the population. While parallel fights ensue in the world of psychology and biology over just what causes Ocd, there is no question that the millions of people who suffer from it seek relief over and over again. For some, that relief is found via medications, changes in diet and counseling. For others, there seems to be no relief at all. For me, it was my faith in God and the plan He gave me that set healing in motion for this once Ocd entrapped person.

Over 14 years ago I found relief for my Ocd, without drugs. In fact, taking a medication never occurred to me. I’m not against pharmaceutical help if needed. But for me, faith was the solution. In some ways I suffered the form of Ocd called ‘scrupulosity’. I was afraid every little thing I did was going to be seen as wrong in God’s eyes, that He was judging me harshly. I was afraid not to seek God for fear I would be rejected. But it wasn’t a healthy kind of ‘fear of the Lord’; it was a deep alarming fear of God, of people, places, death, circumstances…almost everything. Some people are so plagued by religious fear due to their Ocd that they never get past the religiousness to discover God and freedom through Him.

Ocd manifested in many other ways in my life besides what I now know was merely religion. (What I have now is faith and belief, not religion.) My memories of suffering with Ocd stretch back to the age of 8. With each passing year my compulsive behaviors became worse. By the time I was 30 I was nearly fully home-bound, unable to keep a regular job and afraid of everything.

Fear – that’s the driving force behind Ocd. A real, succinct, deep-seeded fear of…well, anything and everything imaginable. Sometimes the fears are rational and sometimes they aren’t. But the need to control something, anything, compels the Ocder to take action…any action, in order to feel better. Hence the counting, repeating, checking, touching, cleaning, hoarding….counting, repeating, checking…

Over time I have realized that if you have a lack of faith then fear will quickly invade your mind; your waking and sleeping thoughts. I also discovered that faith is not the opposite of fear but faith IS the ability to see beyond the fear into the eyes of truth. If fear is darkness then faith is turning the lights on! The opposite of fear is courage. Being courageous is stepping out, moving forward and living even though you feel fear. All you have to do is turn on those lights. Once you can see the lies fear creates in your mind for what they really are, then the brain of the person with Ocd can begin to dispel the many lies that make them feel compelled to obsessive, repetitive, nonsensical actions.

I am a seasoned, experienced, non-suffering Ocder. I wrote a book to help others out and to share the amazing path God took me down in order to manage and heal from the inside out from fear and Ocd! The brain of someone with Ocd is compelling, intelligent and sharp. I learned to use my Ocd to control my Ocd! And that means you can too. God lifted my fear and helped me move beyond the Ocd behaviors that plagued me.

My quest is to help others see that Ocd IS something you can live with, control, eradicate, deal with, move beyond and you CAN keep it from stealing your joy. Through faith, even if your faith is currently enveloped in Ocd, you can find healing.

To read more of my story and how God helped me break free from Ocd, check out my book "Breaking Free From OCD".
Softcover version: Breaking Free From OCD
iTunes iBook: Breaking Free From OCD
Amazon Kindle: Breaking Free From OCD

For more information about Karen and how to schedule her to speak at your conference or retreat, go to www.womaninspired.com

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Healing all the broken pieces

“He personally bore our sins in His (own) body on the tree (as on an altar and offered Himself on it), that we might die (cease to exist) to sin and live to righteousness. By His wounds you have been healed.” I Peter 2:24 (Amplified Bible)

Healing has been an intense theme in my life since I was in my early twenties. I sought God out for healing from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, severe adhesions, bladder and kidney problems, hemophilia, a brain aneurysm, broken relationships, infertility, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS)…the list goes on. This list might sound meager perhaps compared to yours. Or you may be wondering how in the world my list got so long. But truthfully I am no different than most women. We are each broken vessels, in one way or another, that need to be healed. God has healed many of my physical ailments, though not all. God has put His hand on my heart and my emotions and comforted me many times. What He has not healed me from, He has brought me through and shown me how to use it to help others. He has helped heal all the little cracks inside that used to let my joy escape…and now I am able to hold joy even during the times when my circumstances look seemingly impossible to be joyful about.

We were all born into a sinful world, not of our own doing, and as we walk the path with God or apart from Him, healing is what most people seek. We may call it other things, such as: striving for success, seeking financial freedom, longing for love relationships or ‘reaching for the stars’ but when it comes down to the core of each of these things, what our heart cries out for is fulfillment through spiritual, emotional, mental or physical healing; For if we feel the need to be better, greater, more fulfilled, then we must surmise that we are unfulfilled, incomplete – empty or broken – in one or more of area.

God’s Word tells us that Jesus died for our iniquities. He died for the places inside us that are broken. He died as a sacrifice for our sins and out broken parts. He died to heal the inner-most parts of who we are – the parts that are broken and hurting – that we might be restored and returned to His arms. Because of our hurts most of us attempt to fill ourselves up with things of this world. Many of these pursuits involve sinful tactics and selfish actions to achieve a desired status or recognition. Or they involve filling us with fruitless pursuits that may or may not garner us self-satisfaction, higher wagers, better titles, more accolades. If you’ve come to a place in your life where you realize that the pursuit of all these things is truly is fruitless (bearing no fruit, reaping nothing of substance, lacking in daily nourishment.), then perhaps it’s time to step back and reassess.

I don’t have the answers for your life but I know the One who does. I know that if I pursue God and His path for me rather than what the world expects of me, then I am fully nourished. I don’t feel lost, hungry, empty or afraid. I do feel excited, eager, encouraged, ready to wake up and see what God has next for me…and even when I do feel trepidation or nervousness over what He might expect me to do, I know I am not alone. Where He asks me to go, He will be with me.

If you seek God, you will Him and the path your heart truly desires. If you ask for forgiveness for wasting time, spinning your wheels and letting the world dictate who you should be, He will give it to you. And more importantly, you’ll begin to have healing and fulfillment like you’ve never had before. You are a vessel for God’s love. If you’re broken, allow Him to take you in His hands and heal you. A cup that has cracks in it won’t hold anything for very long, especially joy. God can repair those broken pieces and put you back together in a mighty and beautiful way. I pray you allow Him to.

For more inspiration, check out the book “PMS ~ Praising My Savior” A 28 day devotional for women.

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When the breath of God whispers

When you feel deeply, its easy to pretend you don't. When the breath of God whispers in your ear, "Go here..." Do you ignore Him? Do you swat the whispers away like an unwanted fly? Or do you conjure up the courage to GO or DO or BE...as God calls you? If not, then be still, allow God's presence to wash over you and open up to His guidance.

I've never, ever heard anyone say they regret following God's path for their lives. But I hear MANY cry with regret over the time they wasted not following Him.

Passion, purpose and praise!

I have often been told that I am a passionate person or that others appreciate the passion I have for life. I love the word passion. Many people with a worldly view relate this word strictly to sex or sexual acts. Recently during a deep prayer time the word 'passion' kept coming to my heart and mind. I couldn't release it so I researched it. I thought for sure it had a far deeper meaning than merely something sexual.

The word passion comes from the Latin word passio – meaning an act of suffering. More detailed than that, the word came about specifically to describe the time that Jesus Christ suffered between the night of the Last Supper until his death on the cross. The very word, passion, ceased to exist in its fullest meaning before this time period. (Ever wonder why the blockbuster hit was titled, "The Passion of the Christ"? Now you know!) This time period is the foundation for which we have a thing called passion and the gauge to which all acts of true passion should be measured.

Jesus, in His last days, used His mind, heart, body and soul. During this time period when He suffered, He felt great passion and purpose for what He was called to do. Naturally, He was not 'making love' but yet…was He not displaying the most unbelievable act of love ever committed? He suffered much. He anguished much. He enjoyed much, felt much, cared much and all to an extreme intensity and with every part of who He was - mind, heart, body and soul. If you enter into any relationship with the frame of mind and spirit that Jesus had, then you can indeed enter into it with true passion. You can be a recipient and a participant in real God-given, Christ-like passion by embracing life with the same kind of God-breathed passion and purpose.

If you state that someone has lived a passionate life, then in order for that to be true, by the very definition of the word Passion, that life must have been lived as Jesus lived His life; loved as He loved; cared as He cared; believed as He believed and lived accordingly. No, you don't have to be perfect to live with passion! But to live a passionate existence means that you must be prepared to encounter some things similar to that which Jesus encounter in His last days. There are many Christians who ask the question, "Why me?" when they experience trials and difficulties in life. Why you? First off, why not you? And secondly, because if you dare to live a life of passion then you must expect, at the very least, times of deep pain, hurt, emotional upheaval, persecution, physical traumas and times of feeling alone and lonely. Again, remember that the definition of passion exists because of Christ and His last days before his crucifixion.

Also remember that there IS purpose in the passion, just as there was for Christ. You CAN live a life of passion, just as Christ did, but you will never suffer more than Jesus Christ has on your behalf! You were never meant to suffer more than He…though some lament as if they have. I have had many difficult, painful and lonely times in life and am certain there are more to come but if what I have to go through allows me to live a life of passion verses not living a life of passion, then I will endure it! A life without passion will not yield much for the Lord. A life without passion will not likely bring others to Christ. A life lived without passion is rarely a life lived to its' fullest potential and purpose. A marriage without passion will eventually lose its' way and possibly lead to dissolution. A love for the Lord without passion involved is surely an insult to Him. Praising Him without passion is not truly praise. For without the passion, the very thing He brought into this world, we would cease to be free. We would not be saved. The very least we owe to our Father is to dissolve the worldly idea of how we see passion and replace it with the true meaning He gave us through the very life and death His son endured for us!

I encourage you to live a life of passion, which IS indeed living a life of purpose. And with a life such as that, you will hopefully turn all your praise to God for every deep, loving, blessed, momentous, love-filled, laughter-injected, truth bearing, sweet and memorable moment.

~ Karen

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Beyond the walls of fear

Have you ever lived with a wall of fear around you? A thick fog of fear that you cannot seem to see beyond? It's as if you're stuck there…You know you should be knocking that wall down but you don't have the strength to do so. So you stay within those walls. The walls can even be strangely comforting. You feel secure because they are familiar, habitual; consistent. Knowing that you have the walls of fear is one thing but the idea of not knowing how to exist without them is a whole different kind of frightening thought altogether and so you do not dare break them down to see if you can indeed live without them around you. You do not dare rid your life of them or of the very thing, person, feeling, events, relationships that helped to build them in the first place.

The resistance to break the walls down inherently comes from the sense of comfort in the middle of pain; a kind of comfort that only someone in the same position would understand. To others, that comfort looks disastrous, ridiculous, and even insane…for they see the dangers lurking. They see the future you might likely face if you stay where you are. But you cannot see beyond today or tomorrow. You have become comfortable in your pain – in your fears – because at least you know what to expect then. You know, at least at a reasonable rate, how to successfully deal with the wall of fear on a daily basis. It's your wall. You know every crack, every graffiti mark…every place where the wall has threatened to topple. So you let it stay.


But what happens when the walls close in on you – moving ever closer – smothering who you are? Stunting your growth and keeping you from becoming who you know you can become? Then what do you do? Lay in wait until the walls come so close that all God's light is blocked out completely? Becoming a dark, dreary, sorrowful shell of who you should be? Perhaps you are already a mere shadow of the person God meant for you to be by now. Perhaps the very dangers others see lurking are the ones you live with on a daily basis...and these dangers seem too daunting to tackle on your own and so you stay where you are - comfortable, though not comforted; secure in the habit, though not safe from the dangers..feeling unable to break free.

For many of us, that is our exact scenario. Perhaps the reasons for the walls vary amongst a thousand different stories, but the walls are the same. The story is familiar. The ending all too familiar for many. Will it be your ending as well? Or will you reach up through the last bit of existing light and grasp hold of God's hand – allowing Him to pull you through? Will you see beyond the walls to grab a life-saving hand of a friend and allow him to help you break the walls down?

You have to make the first move. The walls are impenetrable from the outside except by God. You must be the one who reaches up to accept the help. You must be the one that looks forward to the future…who sees beyond the walls to the outstretched hands of friends and loved ones...and you are the only one who can say Yes to life…No to fear….

You are the only who can lean on the Lord's promises that He will never leave you nor forsake you. You must be the one who decides that growing into the child God is calling you to be is more important than hanging on to your fear and to what you wish could have been inside those walls. Letting go of what might have been to see what truly is - that is part of the challenge. You can do that - with prayer and God's help - you can see the truth of the fearful walls you are living within. You can move into the Today He calls you to be in! Saying Yes is the very first step. You can do it…God will reach for you but you must take hold of Him and never, ever let go…
For I am the LORD, your God, who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, do not fear; I will help you. Isaiah 41 1:13

...Karen

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Out of the flesh and into faith

“I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up out of a horrible pit (a pit of tumult and of destruction), out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings. And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.” Psalm 40:1-3 (Amplified Bible)

When God first gave me the idea for PMS – Praising My Savior – as a theme in my life, it seemed ridiculous to me but the more I spoke it out and shared it with other women the more His ideas resonated with me…and not just with me but with many other women as well.

In my twenties and early thirties I was so caught up in what my body was doing that I could barely think of anything else. I had chronic pain, infertility issues, many surgeries and subsequent depression due to my physical ailments and inconsistent periods. I surrounded myself with reminders that I was trapped in a body that didn’t work as I thought it should. I felt inadequate for not being able to have a child and I felt worthless as a woman.

In an attempt to make myself feel better and catch the attention of my husband in the midst of a failing marriage, I went on a radical diet. (If you could call it a diet, that is. I think you actually have to eat something most days to call it a diet!) I also took to exercising 2 and 3 times a day for more than an hour at a time. I thought for sure IF I’d lose weight then all my troubles would go away. I thought IF I would lose pounds then my marriage would be healed and I would feel more attractive.


I did indeed lose weight, drastically. I lost more than 30 pounds in one month. I also started to lose my hair, became dehydrated and my fingernails started to split and fall off. I became sicker than I’d ever been and I had to have my thyroid medication changed several times to keep up with the ways I was abusing my body. And it did nothing what-so-ever to fix my marriage or my self-esteem.

In the process of being so caught up in my flesh and my ‘woe is me’ attitude, I forgot about my relationship with the Lord. I had stopped praying; opting to take more time to exercise rather than having one-on-one quiet time with the Lord. As I faced another surgery, my wake-up call came and I realized that I hadn’t cried out to the Lord in quite some time.


Through some very personal tragic events and God’s prompting, I finally came back to Him…and He waited patiently, with open arms…expectantly. He set my feet more firmly on the path He wanted me on and this time I paid attention!

If you’re in that place, getting so caught up in what your body is doing, that you’re neglecting your spirit and who you are in the Lord, then you need to stop, drop and assess the toll your self-centeredness has taken on who you truly are. Go back to the basics: quiet time every single day with God and His Word. Get out of your flesh and back into His arms. When you do, He truly will put a new song in your mouth.

For more devotionals and inspiration check out “28 Days of PMS ~ Praising My Savior” or “Running On E’

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