{"id":11697,"date":"2013-05-08T00:01:55","date_gmt":"2013-05-08T04:01:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=11697"},"modified":"2013-05-07T21:51:05","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T01:51:05","slug":"girls-with-swords-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/05\/08\/girls-with-swords-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Girls with Swords: Chapter 7 – “Pressure” (pgs 112-114)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/b>Day 3 of our Anniversary Giveaway<\/h3>\n

is<\/span> listed at the bottom of this blog.<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/i><\/b>My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks<\/span> wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.\u00a0But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind.\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup>For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\n

James 1:2-8\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/i>(NKJV)<\/b><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Pressure<\/em><\/strong>. We can all relate to this word, this feeling, this state in life. I truly enjoyed how Lisa broke this scripture down into separate parts. When pressure enters our life and minds the last thing we think to do is \u201ccount it all joy,\u201d I know that I don\u2019t. Joy is often times the last word I would use to describe myself. When I\u2019m dealing with the topic of joy I look it up each time, because it is so much more than a simple three letter word. This statement is one of the many that I found about joy.<\/p>\n

\u201cJoy is something that is unaffected by circumstances<\/b>. It is a state of mind and an orientation of the heart<\/b>. Joy is deep<\/b>. It is a settled state of contentment<\/b>, confidence<\/b> and hope.<\/b>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I have to remind myself that joy isn\u2019t about being happy<\/strong>, it doesn\u2019t mean that it is going to be easy. What it means is that I am going to accept my situation for the time being, and walk in the joy of the Lord<\/strong>. Pressure<\/em> and joy<\/em> are not two words that are normally paired together in this world. I also have to remind myself that I only live in this world, I don\u2019t think like it<\/strong><\/em><\/span>.<\/p>\n

“You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors…\u201d (James 1:3, MSG). \u00a0Basically I understood this to mean that when life is hard, when obstacles are placed in our path, or when we place obstacles in our path, the strength of our faith will be shown. This is a hard realization for me, especially when my faith is not as strong as it should be. But I learned something a long time ago—just because I wasn\u2019t where I thought I should be at a certain time doesn\u2019t mean that I cannot grow to be that person<\/em>. Just because my faith-life wasn\u2019t strong during a time of pressure doesn\u2019t mean that it never will be.<\/em><\/p>\n

We have to remember that a sword didn\u2019t start out strong. It took work; in most cases, it took a lot of work. \u201cGod wants us to thrive whether we are under pressure or free floating\u201d (page 113), and in order to thrive in all situations we must be prepared<\/strong><\/em>, we must be tempered<\/strong><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"TemperedDaughtersl.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

We have trials. We have pressures. We count it all joy. We exercise our faith. We ask for wisdom when we need it. We work towards becoming the women that God created us to be. And we do all of this with God by our side, with God directing our paths, with God holding<\/span> us up.<\/p>\n

When I was reading these scriptures in my study Bible, this note was given:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential a Christian woman has for maturity relates to the realization of her God given destiny. She is striving to reach a goal that only God can enable her to achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order for us to be the warriors we were destined to be, we must be willing to face our trials\u00a0and be willing to accept the pressure and accept it with joy in our hearts. \u00a0Joy isn\u2019t happiness, it\u2019s the knowledge that we are where we need to be for a season in order for us to be formed into the woman He wants us to be<\/strong><\/em>. We are being tempered by God so that we can withstand any level of pressure, so we can continue to fight for the Kingdom despite the battle.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Heavenly Father, each day we face the pressures of life; each day we walk our journey. \u00a0Some days we walk with<\/span> faith that could deal with anything and some days it feels like the smallest thing could crush us, but always despite the circumstances You are with us! You are right next to us with Your hand on our lives. Lord, we are told to count it all joy. \u00a0Thank You for this joy that surpasses all situations. Thank You for the gentle reminders of this gift, and thank You for the grace You offer when our faith and joy is not where it should be. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 Name, we pray. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n

__________________<\/p>\n

Day 3 of our Anniversary Celebration Week!<\/h2>\n

Are you ready for another giveaway????<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Today’s giveaway is something that I wish was around when I had little ones at home! \u00a0I’m telling you, I remember days where I honestly wondered why God chose me to be a mom! \u00a0I remember going to bed at night crying my eyes out, thinking what a horrible mom I had been that day! \u00a0And then the next day, I wake up to two little girls who jump in bed with me, and we all begin to giggle from all the tickles!! \u00a0And I start another awesome day of being a Mom! \u00a0Being a mom has been one of the greatest joys of my life, and I am so forever grateful for the wonderful children (and grandchildren) God has given me! \u00a0I am truly blessed!<\/p>\n

*****<\/p>\n

“Psst\u2014over here! I\u2019m hiding out in the laundry room eating dark chocolate. Got a sec<\/span>? Good. I was wondering, is it just me, or do you sometimes find it really hard to be a mom? \u00a0<\/i>Faith Bogdan never planned to have children, but within six years, she had four.\u00a0Who Are All These Children and Why Are They Calling Me Mom?<\/i>\u00a0is<\/span> the story of Faith\u2019s journey to fully embrace unexpected motherhood as, little by little, God revealed the heart issues that prevented her from relishing the role He\u2019d called her to fulfill. \u00a0Whether you\u2019re a mom to tots or teens,\u00a0Faith offers real hope for change and concrete guidance to help you navigate the joyful, messy, and sometimes overwhelming challenges of motherhood.”<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We are giving a signed copy of Faith’s book to not just one, but TWO<\/strong> blessed winners<\/em><\/span> in today’s giveaway!! \u00a0All you have to do to enter is read today’s blog, and post a comment below about how this blog spoke to you! \u00a0That’s it! Easy-peasy, huh? \u00a0If you don’t want to wait until the giveaway is announced, and you want to order your copy of Faith’s book today, just click on the picture to be taken to our Amazon link.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
ALL ENTRIES MUST BE COMPLETED BY 8PM CST TONIGHT.<\/strong><\/div>\n
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED ON OUR FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE, ON MAY 11th.<\/strong><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0Day 3 of our Anniversary Giveaway is listed at the bottom of this blog.   My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":11699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[144,147,2083,2082,218,2087,365,2422,370,379,394,425,1985,436,2081,2420,554,1986,620,723,2421,879,1617,2085,2084,1075,2423,1135],"class_list":["post-11697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-womens","tag-bible","tag-bible-study","tag-choice","tag-choose","tag-christianity","tag-destroy","tag-faith","tag-faith-bogdan","tag-family","tag-fellowship","tag-friendship","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-girls-with-swords","tag-god","tag-hero","tag-james-12-8","tag-jesus","tag-lisa-bevere","tag-love","tag-online-bible-studies","tag-pressure","tag-relationships","tag-satan","tag-steal","tag-target","tag-tonya-ellison","tag-who-are-these-children","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/TemperedDaughtersl.jpg.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-32F","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11697"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11709,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11697\/revisions\/11709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}