December 24, 2024

Crazy Love: Chapter 8 – “Profile of the Obsessed” Lovers – Risk Takers (pp 129-133/ Kindle LOC 1673-1724)

obsessedwithjesus

Does this describe you? Are you a LOVER?

Now…when God prompts me to give, I give freely, I really do. But how open am I to giving without prompting?

This reminds me of a time in my life when God prompted me to do a very kind, loving, and selfless act to someone who I held much unforgiveness in my heart for. This person had hurt my family and my children for a long time.  But when God prompted me to extend kindness to them, I knew it was the right thing to do; but I also knew I would be unable to do it without His help and guidance.

Have you ever been in this position? How did it turn out for you? For me, I completely gave the situation over to God, and He totally showed off in every way! It did not turn out how I ever imagined it would, but He certainly knew exactly what He was doing, and it was 100% the right thing to do. He is so good!

However, I know I would not have come up with doing this on my own. I had shown this person kindness in the past in other ways, but in ways that were far less extraordinary and disruptive to my life. Reading this part of the chapter really made me stop and think about how foolish this is if I am truly living with a Crazy Love for our Heavenly Father.

“People who are obsessed with Jesus aren’t consumed with their personal safety and comfort above all else. Obsessed people care more about God’s kingdom coming to this earth than their own lives being shielded from pain or distress.”

Are you a RISK TAKER? I know I have been known to pray before trips for God to protect my family and keep us safe. But is that the best prayer? Chan suggests in this section that what we ought to be praying something more like this: “God, bring me closer to You during this trip, whatever it takes….”

Would that be hard for you to pray? I must admit, I love it.

It is what my heart believes…truly, it is. Whatever it takes, in whatever I do, I want to become a more fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ and become closer to Him…. Safety would be nice to have, but really, that is not necessary if it is not God’s will. What is there to be afraid of, really?  If we truly trust God to provide and we trust His perfect plan and provision for our lives, then this prayer certainly is most appropriate.

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

Let’s Pray:

God, we want to be obsessed with You in every way. We want every person who interacts with us to not just think we are “nice” but that we are crazy and madly in love with YOU!!! Help us be rid of any mistrust or unbelief we might be carrying and become more fully passionate and devoted to You. We love You, Lord, and we thank You for opening our eyes and hearts to Your Truth! In Jesus’ mighty name we pray, Amen.  <3

Your Assignment:

What aspects about your faith need to change in order for you to be a lover and risk taker as you strive to be fully obsessed with loving our God? Please share with us below 🙂

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Seeking Him – Prayer

Each Saturday in our current series, Seeking Him, we have spent time looking at various aspects of having a dedicated, purposeful, intentional, devoted quiet time. This week we continue to appreciate the joy and privilege of being with our heavenly Father—our quiet time alone with Him.

The aspect that we are talking about is prayers and petitions. (For those of you who have been following along with us each week and perhaps asking yourself, “WHEN is she going to talk about praying?  Isn’t it foundational?” …this is it! <3)

David wrote about his ‘quiet time’ in the following verse.  Does your Lord hear you expressing your heart to Him in the same way?  I believe that as we are intentional and seek Him that, yes, this is how God sees us.

In the morning You hear my voice, O Lord;
In the morning I prepare [a prayer, a sacrifice] for You
And watch and wait [for You to speak to my heart].
Psalms 5:3

Here  is a great example of God’s design for our prayer life:

Be earnest and unwearied and steadfast in your prayer [life],
Being [both] alert and intent in [your praying] with thanksgiving.
Colossians 4:2

Those are some very intentional words used at the beginning of that verse, yes?  Other versions use similar words: devote, persevere, continue….

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything,
but in every circumstance and in everything,
by prayer and petition (definite requests),
with thanksgiving,
continue to make your wants known to God.
And God’s peace [shall be yours, that peace]
which transcends all understanding
shall garrison and mount guard
over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6 and 7

Now, of course, that time you spend alone with Your Lord—your quiet, devotional time—is certainly not the only time to pray!  Actually, I think, being intentional…seeking Him first and foremost…prepares our hearts for the rest of our day to be filled with continual little prayers and petitions directed to our God.

How often do we go along through our day accomplishing the normal even mundane tasks talking with our Father?  Or driving (yet again) to school to pickup your children; isn’t that a great time to pray?  Or waiting for them at dance/soccer/baseball practice or music lessons/cub scout meeting/awana time/_______ (you fill in the blank); yet another small amount of time that can be eked out of our day to pray and seek Him.  Paul wrote a number of times in his letters to the Christian believers about the importance of praying.  He used terms such as, “pray at all times,” “keep alert and watch,” “pray with ceasing.”

Listen to this encouragement:

Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit,
with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty.
To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance,
interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).
Ephesians 6:18

Pray without ceasing;  in everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:17 and 18

So I think that we see by seeking God first and foremost, by being intentional in our quiet time in our  prayers and petitions, we will be better prepared to “pray at all times, and, keep alert and watch, and, pray without ceasing.”  We will be continually seeking Him throughout each day thus carrying out His will (1 Thessalonians 5:18)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EDGmeP1aA4

Keep seeking Him and enjoy your quiet time with your Lord!  As you seek Him, He will be found…He promises!

Jeremiah 29:12,13
Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me,
and I will hear and heed you.
Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity]
and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

Praying for each of you!  I know that the Lord will answer your heart’s cry as you are seeking Him with all your heart!

♥  coleen

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 Weekly Review – “You’re Best Life… Later”

Week 7 was probably not as in-your-face or convicting as the other past few weeks have been, but I do hope that you have finished the chapter feeling challenged to be more open to the fullness of what God promises to you in the Word as well as be more willing to submit all you have and all you are to Him.

On Monday, you and I talked about how we tend to “play it safe” with the situations and circumstances we are in. We were nudged to boldly get out of our comfort zones to live more passionately to please God in all we are and do. Martha asked us to explore with her on Tuesday about how our lives might change if we actually thought of each person we came into contact with as Christ. OUCH…. that slap was certainly needed. Then, on Wednesday Jennifer shared with us about trusting God to give faithfully. On Thursday, Donna explored with us about having the kind of faith in God that completely stretches us into situations that are totally uncomfortable if God does not come through.

At this point, I would love for you to watch this video of Chan with me…

http://youtu.be/dsTnQv-qexE

Chan challenges us to think about riches in a new light.  If we really believe in eternity and we really believe that there are eternal rewards that we can gain, then it’s not so much that it is sinful for us to buy these things but it would be silly because we are talking about eternal rewards. We are not here to judge or feel condemned for what we have…but I do think it is worth our time to devote ourselves to some thought and prayer here about our life on earth versus what the richness of our eternal life will be!

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

God, I ask that You help us search our hearts when it comes to things of this world and convict us of any ways that we might be storing up our riches on earth and not giving enough to our brothers and sisters. Show us the kind of stewards YOU need us to be to further Your Kingdom and help us to not be of this world, but be focused on our eternal life with You! Amen! <3

Your Assignment:

Rather than talking about the sinfulness of owning and buying things, let’s talk about the silliness of the things that we own in light of our eternal rewards. Please leave me a comment about this below….

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – “Your Best Life…Later” (pp124-127)

Chap7_CL

“What are you doing right now that requires faith?”  That is a profound question posed to Mr. Chan in this part of our chapter today. For some of us, we are holding onto faith for our next breath. For some of us, faith is getting through another day. And yet for some of us, it’s doing what God has asked us to do, though it might not be something we’re comfortable with.  Whatever it is, I think it’s worth looking at and pondering.

I read chapter 58 of Isaiah and here are some things I am pondering:

The Israelites cried out to God and acted like they were a nation that was right with God and had not forsaken God’s commands when in reality they were just going through the motions of fasting because it was required of them at that time.

There was a whole host of things that God wanted for them listed in the chapter, for instance:

  • He wanted them to break the yoke of all that entangled them in the day and set the oppressed free!
  • God wanted them to share their food with the hungry.
  • He wanted healing for them.
  • He wanted them to not turn away from their own flesh and blood.
  • He wanted them to stop pointing fingers at each other.
  • And most of all He wanted them to honor the Sabbath.

He told them when they did these things they would take delight in the Lord.

And isn’t that still true today of us when we fast? We immerse ourselves in God, putting away all the things in our world that hinder us from meeting with God for a time. Isn’t our faith bigger when we’re done because we have dwelt in the presence of the Lord? We feel like we’ve heard from God and He has increased our faith, so we can step out and do more. God wants this for us! He wants us to shout His name from the rooftops unashamed! Living freely and able to share our faith whenever called upon is what God wants for us too!! We just need to grab hold of His hand and step out.

Are you ready………?

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Let’s Pray:

Father, I pray we can holdour hands out to You and take that step that leads us into bigger faith for You. Increase our faith as we are obedient to Your call so that we can do even more. Let us live freely as You want us to and serve others more. Thank You for Your faithfulness to us, Lord. In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.

Your Assignment:

What steps can you take even today that God has been calling you to do that will grow your faith? Let us know so we can all pray for you as you step out in faith for God.

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If you would like to email a private message to Donna in regards to this blog, please email her at: Donna@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 7 – Your Best Life…Later (pp 113-116)

World-doesnt-Need-crazy-love-francis-chan-T

 

“Christians today like to play it safe. We want to put ourselves in situations where we are safe ‘even if there is no God.’ But if we truly desire to please God, we cannot live that way. We have to do things that cost us during our life on earth but will be more than worth it in eternity.” ~page 116

There are countless examples throughout Scripture of people just like you and me who followed God with their whole hearts…faults and all. When we read about people in the Bible such as Abraham, Paul, Daniel, and Elijah it’s so easy to lose sight of the fact that their God THEN is the exact same as our merciful God NOW!

God answered BIG prayers back then and He is the same God that answers BIG prayers from us NOW…we only need to trust Him with our prayers and with our very best life. Have you ever thought about this before? We limit ourselves and God when we do not dare to give up our life to Him and BOLDLY live our life by faith in what He will do with it!

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

God, we come to You humbled and with repentant hearts if there has been any way that we have been steering clear of situations or circumstances that might make us uncomfortable for Your glory. Please forgive us, Father, and show us today how to make it right and to be bold enough to live in such a way where we are not afraid to do things that cost us in this world. Thank You, Lord, for showing us grace and for guiding us closer to You through this. In Your Son’s matchless name we pray, Amen. <3

Your Assignment:

How are you “playing it safe” in your life right now? Pray for God to show you where and how He needs you to kick your life up a notch and not be complacent to “play it safe” for Him any longer. Leave me a comment about this below.

 

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re in Love Weekly Review

It is so hard to believe that we only have 4 more weeks left of this study! Oh, what a journey it has been and this week really forced us to take a deep look at our relationship with Our Lord and Savior.

On Monday, we discussed two different types of love…reverence and intimate love. We asked ourselves a pretty tough question about our relationship with God and moved on to Tuesday where Martha urged us not to try to hard! On Wednesday, Jennifer boldly claimed with us that there is nothing better than giving up everything and stepping into a passionate love relationship with God. On Thursday, Donna pleaded with us to let go and show God the real YOU! That kind of complete disclosure will help break that barrier and give us the intimacy with the Lord we so desperately crave!

Please watch this video from Francis Chan with me now:

Chan tells us that our relationship with God is not like any other relationship in the world, but we spend our whole lives trying to figure it out. We don’t need to figure it out, we need to surrender and trust God with all of who we are!  THIS is the most fascinating relationship in your life….  I hope you believe that and crave it now more than ever!

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

God, we love You! We want to know You more intimately than we can even dream of! Help us to surrender everything today that might be hindering us to have this passionate closeness with You. We pray we are forever changed in how we have a relationship with You, Lord! Thank You for this provision! In Jesus’ name we pray, amen!

Your Assignment:

Does your relationship with God resemble an “in-love” relationship?  Please comment below <3

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If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

 

Crazy Love: Chapter 6 – When You’re in Love (pgs 109-111)

Back when we were married for just a few years, my husband had to change jobs. It was a good move, but in the first month we were strapped for cash.

The bills came in and we were able to pay all of them but one. It was a daunting $100 (back then that was a lot of money to us)!  We didn’t have it.

So we prayed and told God that we wanted to be good stewards of our money, but we just couldn’t pay that one. We went to church that week and told God that we couldn’t do it without Him.  We made a plan to make up for it in the coming weeks, but the bill would be late.

It was hardest on my husband as he was never late with his bills. While we were discussing how we were going to pay this bill in the future, I kid you not, there was a knock on our door.

It was one of the deacons from our church. He handed us an envelope and said someone was told by God to give this to us anonymously. He said the person wanted nothing in return except that, when we could afford to, we would bless someone else who needed it! We were stunned!! I mean we never told anyone about our need! How did they know?

This was a good lesson on how faithful God is to His children. We prayed and thanked God for His provision for us in that time. We have also  been able to do this a few times since and know the joy that person must have felt when they gave it to us. You can’t out-give God! We’ve learned that over the 35 years that we have been married.

YouCantOutGiveGod

The seasons that we go through in life are a testament to  God’s faithfulness. We can be real and cry out to him and hold nothing back.  He already knows our needs and what we feel anyway.

What does God need from us? Absolutely nothing!! He has everything He could ever need; after all, He created it! Including us!!  So what can we give that means anything to Him?

We can give Him ourselves…that’s what He truly wants! Our heart, given to Him willingly, open, and truly waiting for God to fill it. Wanting God is the thing He wants from us, and we need Him too.

In Christ,

Donna

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Let’s Pray: I like the prayer at the end of the chapter that Francis Chan writes so let’s pray that prayer:

“Jesus, I need to give myself up. I am not strong enough to love You and walk with You on my own. I can’t do it—I need You. I need You deeply and desperately. I believe You are worth it and that You are better than anything else I could have in this life or the next. I want you, and when I don’t, I want to want You. Be all in me. Take all of me. Have Your way with me.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Your Assignment:

What holds you back today from giving your all to God? He wants you and you need Him. If you can, list those things; and let’s pray for one another to let go of them and live full on for God.

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Donna in regards to this blog, please email her at: Donna@girlfriendscoffeehour.com.

Crazy Love: Week 6 / Chapter 6: “When You’re In Love” (pp 99-101)

life-measured-by-love-crazy-love-francis-chan-T

I love love.

Seriously…. I really do! I love being in love, thinking about love, matching people up I know will fall in love…I love everything about LOVE!  I’m one of  those insanely passionate head-over-heels-in-love-makes-you-sick-to-your-stomach-to-watch-in-movies kind of characters who would rather DIE than be apart from my true love.

I know, I know…. it’s enough to make you vomit, but THIS is how God made me so I’ve decided to embrace it! I really am this way about anything I feel strongly about.  I’m one incredibly passionate person and THANK GOD that also translates to my love of Christ…although I have been in seasons where I am sad to say this wasn’t always the case.

As a Christian life coach, I have seen firsthand how intimacy issues here in-the-flesh on earth can greatly affect our relationship with God. Typically, if we keep people at arm’s length and not ever let them in, this also translates to how we interact with God in our relationship with Him. This causes us to not want to spend every waking moment with Him, or crave our time with Him.  But rather only to go to Him when we have no other option and then pick and choose the areas of our life we want to open up to Him.

As dangerous as this is for our in-the-flesh people relationships, this will 100% keep you from the type of intimate relationship God calls us to through being a Christ Follower. He calls us to Crazy Love. In my passionate life, I have held things I “loved” in 2 categories…

1. Reverence

  • A feeling of profound awe and respect and often love; veneration.

2. Intimate

  • Marked by close acquaintance, association, or familiarity. Relating to, or indicative of, one’s deepest nature: intimate prayers. Essential.

This week’s chapter is all about examining the love we have for God.  I really like this thought-provoking quote from John Piper that Chan shared in today’s lesson:

“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—is this:

If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the friends you ever had on earth,

and all the food you ever liked, and all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed,

and all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted,

and no human conflict or any natural disasters,

could you be satisfied with heaven, if Christ was not there?” 

Well, could you?

This certainly has the potential to be a very convicting question for us to ask ourselves….

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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Let’s Pray:

Lord, help us today to yearn to be with You as often as we can and not ever want to live without You! Some of us are struggling with obtaining this passion love for You, Father, but we do want it! We need Your help and we thank You in advance for wooing us closer to You and helping us to finally be free of anything that is keeping us from having this deep passion for You! We thank You in advance for all You will do. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen <3

You’re Assignment:

Balance in our relationship with God is important so that we don’t “humanize” God to the point that we infer the failures of humans on God.  How often do you think of God as more of a concept rather than a real person?  Which is more of a struggle for you:  intimacy with God or reverence for God?

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love Week 5/ Chapter 5: Serving Leftovers to a Holy God Weekly Review

Chapter 5…. WOW!!!

On Monday, you and I talked about leftovers and how we give them to God. It was rough, but we were honest with ourselves and Him and we made it through to Tuesday.  We were challenged with Martha as we asked ourselves some tough questions about which areas in our lives our hearts might be hardening. On Wednesday, Donna journeyed with us as we were challenged to re-think what we are offering God and how much of it is really leftovers. Yesterday, Jennifer worked through with us about being willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants…no longer being complacent with giving Him our leftovers, but instead giving Him our best with a joyful heart!

Thank you for browsing this menu of leftovers with us.  I pray we not be able to continue to give God what’s left any more, but to give Him our very best…of everything!

Please watch this video from Francis Chan:

http://youtu.be/c0dXmWMwSb4

I’m not going to muddy it up by saying any words except to echo those of Chan….

“The solution to living a lukewarm life is not trying harder…it’s falling madly in love with Jesus Christ.”

Let’s Pray:

Dear Lord, we praise You for not letting us finish this chapter the same way we started it. Thank You for working your supernatural power through each of us! Transform us, Lord! Help us be different and more complete in You! We love You, Lord, and we thank You for the boldness you have given us through this study! May what we have through Christ be contagious! If we have any fear or anything holding us back from the fullness of your unfailing love, rid us from it NOW in Jesus’ name! AMEN!!!!!!

Your Assignment:

After reading this chapter, do you have any doubts about your salvation or your relationship with Jesus? Where does this chapter leave you? Please share with us below….

Blessings,

Megan 🙂

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Megan in regards to this blog, please email her at: megan@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

Crazy Love: Chapter 5 – Serving Leftovers to a Holy God (pgs. 90-94)

In this part of the chapter Mr. Chan really challenges us to re-think what we are offering to God. Are they leftovers? Or are what we offer truly given out of a heart solely wanting to give the best of everything we have to God, our first fruits? Is it the best we can give? I know I was really convicted when I read this! I am examining everything.  I was thinking about when I get up in the morning,  Do I quickly pull out my Bible and give God the first minutes of my day before everything comes crashing in? Or I do I think about what’s on my plate today and put it off ’til later when I think I might get a minute? (Honestly, I never find that minute!)

I grew up in a family of seven people. Because my dad grew up on a farm, dinner was always a big meal. Lots of meat, boiled potatoes and veggies. Most of the time both parents had to  work and we had five growing kids. There was always a little something left over to put in the refrigerator for another day. Once a week at our house was “leftovers night.” YUK!  I hated leftovers! Not all things you warmed up the second time tasted good. In fact, I didn’t like most of them. It was always a race with my brothers to get the best of them. Dry meat, soggy vegetables and fried potatoes were not my favorites. Sometimes I just skipped dinner because I didn’t really care for anything on the table. To this day I try to cook just the right amount of food, so there won’t be any leftovers. Can you tell I’m not a fan??

If I am giving to God the kinds of things I don’t like or skip because I don’t even like them, what does that say about how God feels about them? What does it say about me? I think it says that I’m serving Him things that are sub-standard. OUCH!!! It calls into question my commitment and love for Him. Do I really love God and put Him first in all I do and say? Or do I feel like a liar, as Mr. Chan says? If I am to represent what love is to other people, how can I truly do that when I haven’t first given the best to the Author of love?  It’s very humbling when you think that God has already given us His sacrificial best in Jesus, doesn’t it?

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 we read the example of what God means by real love. Francis Chan challenges us to put our names in place of the word “love.”  How do we measure up against these words? I’m afraid I fail miserably at times in this. I am committed, though, to work at this more and more. I want to love like God loves me. With an abandon and an unreserved feeling!  I want “Perfect Love” to reflect out of me…so people know it’s God.

Mr. Chan also shares a line from Mark Buchanan’s writings. He says, “Physical sickness we usually defy. Soul sickness we often resign ourselves to.”  Did any of you get the flu this winter? How many of you got a flu shot? There is no vaccine for soul sickness. I had the stomach flu for a week and a half. By the time I was done I was weak, tired, and just wanted to be done with it. I fought it every step of the way. I didn’t want to be sick! Why don’t I fight “soul sickness” with the same resolve? Why don’t I come out with my spiritual dukes up and fight it with all my might? I don’t want to be like the church in Laodicea, I need to acknowledge that I desperately need what Christ has offered. And what Christ has offered is a real commitment, real love—no leftovers! It’s the “shot” for soul sickness that is there for the asking. Can we ask Him for it? Who knows what could actually happen when we are giving God all the first fruits of our life without holding anything back? It gives me “Holy Ghost Shivers” just thinking about it! Now to put it into practice….

In Christ, Donna

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Let’s Pray:

Father God, today we pray for our hearts to be willing to give You our first fruits not our leftovers. We pray for Your cure for our Soul Sickness. We dedicate ourselves to truly love and show love to others the way You have authored it. Touch every woman reading this today and help us all to renew our commitment to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Your Assignment:

Substitute your name in the verses in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  Pray over it and have God reveal to you how you can change the way you measure yourselves in these verses. Ask Him to show you how it can be done. It could be life changing. Share with us, if you wish, how God is leading you.

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If you are interested in joining this amazing online Bible study for Crazy Love, click HERE to sign up. Once you are registered, you will receive an email with further details.

If you would like to email a private message to Donna in regards to this blog, please email her at: Donna@girlfriendscoffeehour.com.