HE IS FAITHFUL

Hello Friends!  The boxes are still getting unpacked as we settle into our new home.  Taking a few weeks from writing has helped me be able to focus my attention while I strive to bring clarity and calm to the chaos and confusion.

Please welcome my friend, Jamie Britt.  I met her through a mutual blogging friend and am blessed by her friendship.  She is an encouragement! Her ministry is powerful as her personal testimony shines the light and hope of Christ to others.  Today's post is sure to minister to you.  Please visit Jamie's website (www.encouragingwomen-strength.blogspot.com) to support and encourage her back. :)    Hester,



"Lord, You're So Faithful! Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness." (Lamentations 3:22-23, NKJV)

 "Great is thy Faithfulness, Great is thy faithfulness. Morning by morning, new mercies I see, All I have needed, Thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me." The words to this hymn mean so much to me.
I could tell story after story of the faithfulness of God.

Here is my story: I was born three months premature, weighing only one pound fourteen ounces, at birth. My parents were told I would never make it through my first night. Well, here I am twenty-four years later. And, our God is still faithful! Not only did I make it through the first night; I also made it through a six month hospital stay. With all the surgeries I've had to endure and through physical struggles like my blindness, I'm still saying "My God is so faithful!"  I never dreamed I would get the privilege to do what I do: ministering to over 100 women through my writing!

Now, I would like to hear some of your stories. In the comments section, share with other readers how God has been faithful in your life. Your story could be what someone needs to hear. Ladies, your story could change a life!

Lord, thank You for being so faithful to me...even when I've not been faithful to You. Lord, I give You praise for all things. Thank You for being faithful!  Lord, I love You and praise You. In Jesus Name, Amen.

BURSTING AT THE SEEMS

After nine months of temporary living, God blessed us with a new home. We moved in last Saturday and are excited to make it our own.  There are plenty of boxes to sift through.  Maybe in nine more months we'll be unpacked.  :)

Please welcome my new friend Amy Alves.  We recently connected online and are a source of encouragement to one another.  Amy is a gifted writer and her illustrations and metaphors dig deep into the heart.  Be blessed by her words today.  Please visit her website:  www.fullherlife.com for more encouragement.







 Let’s just say right up front, I don’t know a single thing about sewing but… I know enough to say that I’m bursting at the seams! I’m like a button on pants that are too small, too tight, and I would gladly be freed to pop off at any moment! No, this isn’t a post about weight loss.


 I need my breath of fresh air! God is calling… and I’m answering. I want to be released to use my gifts and anointed into glorious ministry! Yes, God is calling me out of my comfort zone and I’m sewing up a storm! I’m just beginning to let Him iron me out all the way to my edges. He is removing my wrinkles ever so gently. He is preparing me for a good cleaning.


 And through all of my weak ways, lack of experience, and limited education…God is calling me forth to bring Him glory anyway! He is not limited by my limitations. Do you ever just want to burst forth into something new?

•  Pop off into A fresh start. 
•  Get stitched into A new kind of beginning. 
•  Get hemmed up so your imperfections don’t keep dragging over onto others. 
•  Are you ready to put on your new clothes of royalty, that suit you perfectly? 

There is endless opportunities to weave into His kingdom work. There is joy, purity, hope, holiness, thankfulness, and an everlasting love in these new royal clothes! It is a privilege to wear them… He will tailor them perfectly to fit your individual needs. That’s just how well He knows you. That’s just how much He loves you! High five goes up to God! He gets all the glory as He threads us in!

So, did these thoughts get you thinking? Is God calling you? Share in the comments below if these thoughts encouraged you or got you thinking…

 I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. ~ Isaiah 61:10 NIV

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

I lovingly dedicate this devotion to all of my sweet sisters in Haiti. Thank you for filling my cup and refreshing my heart. May our glorious Lord continue to uphold and strengthen you as you grow in your faith and minister to the broken.  I love you, Hester

1 Corinthians 3:10b-11 "But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ."

Even after two years since the devastating earthquake in Haiti, parts of the city still lie in ruins. Crumbled buildings, unstable homes, and broken lives fill this town. Debris along the streets masks the desperation in the people's hearts.

God granted me the privilege to minister to the women of Haiti last week at the Port-au-Prince Christian Women's Conference. Native and missionary women in all stages of life came.  We enjoyed a wonderful time of encouragement, prayer, sweet fellowship, spiritual growth and renewal.

God's presence was evident as women openly shared their struggles while seeking encouragement and godly wisdom from others. The Holy Spirit prompted spontaneous prayer; corporately and individually. Hearts were focused on meaningful worship while singing. Many tears and much healing took place through our time together.

Various ministries reach out to the Haitian people and strive to build hope through Jesus Christ; the true anecdote for relief. In my first message to the women in Haiti I shared how true aid will come when the Haitians put their hope in Christ; true help will come when they receive the redemption of our Lord; true relief will come when they rebuild brokenness on the foundation and solid rock of Jesus Christ. 

Building something is easily identifiable because truthfully, we are all under construction. All of us live in destruction without proper construction on Christ. When we receive Jesus, He imparts the necessary tools for constructing a life in Him, through His Holy Spirit. We are all a work in progress. We will struggle and stumble, but the strength of our life depends on the stability of our foundation. 

Whether we are building a garden shed or a relationship with Jesus, we must start with a proper foundation. Matthew 7:24-27 tells us the foundation we build on becomes more stable as we hear His words and put them into practice. 

Building on the Rock means constructing everything in our life on and around Jesus. It also means: Accepting Christ as the authority by which we conduct our lives; dying to self in order to live for Him; trading our will for His will; giving up selfish pursuits to further His Kingdom; putting into practice the truth of His Word and bearing fruit to what we profess.

We can also conclude that Jesus expects total commitment from us; an all or nothing surrender of our lives. We can't partially build our foundation on the Rock. Partial construction on the rock will succumb to destruction. It always costs to have a stable foundation because sacrifice is necessary when forming a relationship with God.

In 1 Corinthians 3:10-14 Paul encountered false teaching being taught in the church. He reminds them, there is no other foundation on which we are to build other than the true doctrine and person of Christ Jesus.  He tells the Corinthians if they build a skyscraper on a faulty foundation it will be revealed for what it is at the proper time and will result in sabotage.

A foolish builder builds on sand, but a wise builder constructs on the Rock because he knows the stability offered will last. Jesus is our Rock. To build our life on anything other than Him is foolish. Only Christ provides the unwavering strength an established life well-built on Him yields.

God is in the construction business. As we secure our groundwork, may we also consider these building blocks we can share with others: 

• He builds trust where it is broken. 
• He builds forgiveness where injury is inflicted. 
• He restores marriages in need of repair. 
• He reinforces faith that is feeble. 
• He establishes security that is shattered. 
• He builds hope from hopelessness. 
• He constructs comfort for those in sorrow.

Having witnessed such destruction in Haiti, I am encouraged to see the construction occurring in the hearts of the women, which is in turn, impacting the hearts of others. I am reminded of the importance of maintaining a firm footing in my life. And, I am even more motivated to mend brokenness in my area of the world.

Our lives will destruct if we don't construct. A proper foundation is built on the solid Rock of Jesus Christ.

Heart Work:

How can you better build on the foundation of Christ? What is missing? What repairs or reinforcements does your foundation need?

Bless another reader by sharing your testimony in the "comment" section by telling us about the construction God is doing in your life.

Heart Exam:

What brokenness surrounds you? What is God asking you to build or rebuild? 

What other construction is He doing in your life?

What will it cost you to maintain the foundation you are building on?

Heart Changing Word:

Isaiah 28:16 (NIV) "So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: 'See I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for a sure foundation; the one who trusts will never be dismayed.' "

Matthew 7:24-27 "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them in to practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

Ephesians 2:10 "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Ephesians 2:20b-22 "With Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

Hebrews 11:10 "For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God."

Copyright 2012 by Hester Christensen. All rights reserved.