Holy Estrogen, Books, Inspiration

The Power of Prayer

God does indeed have a game plan for every Scrooge, Barney Fife, Cruella DeVille and Simon Cowell that crosses the path of your life. His strategy rarely involves emotion but always has liberal doses of love and prayer mixed together for a victorious conclusion. God did not create you to be some whirling dervish who uses her words to jab, hurt and control people. God created you to be a woman who is more committed to the Kingdom than to self. Difficult people can run away from your words, but they can never escape your prayers. We cannot and must not have a disconnect between what we believe and how we treat others, no matter how difficult they may be.

Bitterness

There is an anecdote for bitterness and wrath; it’s called kindness. There is a way to overcome anger and clamor; it’s known as being tenderhearted. There is also a way to conquer slander; it’s recognized as forgiveness. It takes a mature, Godly woman to bless the persecutors in her life. We bless with our tongues, with our heart attitudes, with our emotions and with our actions. Some of you might be thinking, “Yeah, but Carol, you don’t know my Aunt Matilda! She is unlovable in every way imaginable!” You may not want to hear my response to your Aunt Matilda scenario but here it is: Somebody loves your Aunt Matilda and His name is God, so start acting like your Dad! We are all unlovable in some way, aren’t we? We all can become prickly, outspoken and contentious from time to time, but I believe that the reason most of us are unlovable is because at our very core we are crying out to be loved. There will be many times in life when your decision to love a porcupine will disarm them completely.

Remember ... when it comes to difficult people ... Love + Prayer = Victory!

Just Give Me Drugs

I was about to become a mother for the very first time! It was only a few days past my due date, but my doctor was about to go out of town, and so I was given the drugs that were intended to induce labor. After about five hours of relentless, horrific spasms, I looked at my nurse and declared, “When I am not in labor, I am a very nice person! I promise!” After that pitiful outburst, the nurse initiated the process to have an epidural administered to my weary body. Within seconds, I returned to my normal, sweet self as I smiled after every push and laughed at my doctor’s jokes. I even stopped screaming near profanities at my handsome, loving husband. God made a way for you to be the very best version of yourself, even in life’s worst moments. It’s the epidural miracle cure of prayer!

If you will choose to continually devote yourself to prayer, you, too, will find relief from the onslaught of life’s painful moments. Your emotions are strong and relentless and without prayer, you will lose control. Life’s horrific spasms may be described as red hot and searing and the relief will only come as you continuously devote yourself to prayer.

Just Give Me Drugs

The Fingerprint of God

We all have difficult people in our lives who may have strategically been placed there by God himself. Imagine that! God loves you enough to trust you to be kind to difficult people. God wants you to grow in the fruit of the Spirit and so He allows a boorish, fractious woman to invade the sweet circle of your life. God needs men and women in every generation who will love the unlovable, be kind to the unkind, show patience in the face of ugly impatience and bless those who are categorically cruel.

God actually created you to love people who are monstrously rude; He placed you here at this time in history because He trusted that you would indeed mature and then allow His glory to shine out of you into the darkness of people’s souls. You will never do this with your own personality or if you rely on the emotional legacy bequeathed upon you by your parents. You will only do this when you determine in your heart that you want to be like Jesus. When you decide that His way really is better than your way, that you do not have a better idea than God.

Throwing Adult Tantrums

When you demonstrate love in monstrous situations and choose to be kind rather than throw an emotional and well-deserved tantrum, you are saying, “I will act like my Dad! I am part of His family and this is what we do! We love unlovable people. It is the family business to reach out with divine kindness to fractious people.” Do not ever forget that you are the beneficiary of the family genetic code that enables you to love difficult people. It is what Christians do!

The world has a different standard of behavior and will encourage you to rationalize rude, vengeful behavior. The world will tell you to spew your feelings out upon difficult people but the world’s way has never been God’s way. Who do you belong to? The world? Or the Kingdom of God? Perhaps your character, which is revealed when dealing with demanding and critical people, is the litmus test of which kingdom you are actually serving.

Worry, Worry and More Worrying

I know many Christian women who could win an Olympic gold medal in worrying! If these worriers ever find themselves unworried, they begin to worry that there is nothing to be worried about! Some Christian women would rather worry than eat chocolate...now I don’t understand a woman like that! I have a friend who worries that she doesn’t trust God enough and so she is worried about how much she does or does not worry. Women who have downloaded fear and worry onto their mental hard drive get their primary information from the devil himself. Ladies, let me be blunt here...you are listening to the wrong voice! You have bought the wrong newspaper! Put that gossip rag where it belongs...in the trashcan! You are accepting gifts from the wrong person! Change the channel! Press the mute button and open the Bible!

Fear Not

The Greek word for “fear” in both the Ancient Hebrew and the Greek, implies a fleeing or a running away from something or someone. So, when the Bible instructs us to “fear not” it is in essence saying, “Don’t run away!” Very few of us actually run away physically from a situation that frightens us, but where we actually run away is in our minds. We allow our minds to run like that infamous chicken with its head cut off and we imagine all sorts of sordid and ridiculous scenarios. When a child is 15 minutes late getting home from school, we imagine that someone has kidnapped him or her and that we will never seen them again. Fear not!

If you wake up two mornings in a row with a headache, you wonder if it could be a brain tumor. Fear not! You’ve gained a little weight and your husband forgot your anniversary so you wonder if there could be another woman. Fear not! When you are afraid or worried, rather than running away, you need to run forward into all that God has for you. Satan tries to give you a spirit of fear is so that you will run away from the blessings and power of God. The opposite of running away is pressing forward. You should never begin a sentence with the words, “I’m afraid....” As women who love and trust God, we never make a decision based on fear but based on faith in a mighty big God who is well able to take care of every detail.

Your mind needs to receive the message that you are one powerful chick! Did you know that the devil knows that you are powerful? He just doesn’t want you to know that you are powerful! Declare it today...out loud...and unafraid:

I am a woman of power! I will not run scared but I will press forward into all that God has for me!

There...didn’t that feel good?