{"id":13862,"date":"2013-08-07T01:00:50","date_gmt":"2013-08-07T06:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=13862"},"modified":"2013-08-06T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2013-08-07T03:55:12","slug":"i-am-chapter-5-day-3-i-am-free-to-be-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/08\/07\/i-am-chapter-5-day-3-i-am-free-to-be-me\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;I AM&#8221; Chapter 5 &#8211; Day 3: I AM&#8230;Free to Be ME"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/GFCHmemverse3.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13849\" alt=\"GFCHmemverse3\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/GFCHmemverse3.png\" width=\"600\" height=\"233\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As I thought about this lesson and what God would have me share, two words kept coming back at me and I thought &#8220;really God that is what you want me to talk about?&#8221; And He kept saying yes, so here we go!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<b><i>Do-Over\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (what is it?)<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>In our family, a do-over has consisted of many things in our daily lives, but the most constant one has been when we have been playing Putt-Putt at Myrtle Beach. \u00a0Every summer the kids would always have at least one hole they didn\u2019t do so good on and they would ask us, \u201cCan I have a do-over?\u201d \u00a0My husband said that is called a \u201cmulligan\u201d and the kids would say &#8220;Well, whatever.\u00a0 Can I have one?&#8221;\u00a0 So right then we made a rule that on every Putt-Putt game we ever played together in our lives we would always allow one \u201cdo-over\u201d *<span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">(<\/span>mulligan)* during the game. \u00a0 Sometimes we would pick the \u201cdo-over\u201d on the right hole, but sometimes we didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>As I thought about this story of our family I began to think about our daily lives and how we need <em>do-overs<\/em> in them too!\u00a0 Sometimes we say something too quickly to someone or hit the send button on an <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">email,<\/span> and both times wishing we should have thought a little longer about it before we spoke or wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Have you examined your life lately?\u00a0 Where are you spiritually?\u00a0 Are you wishing for something different?\u00a0 Are you living the life Jesus wants for you?\u00a0 If all of a sudden you feel burdened by any of these questions\u2026don\u2019t<span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">\u2026<\/span>because you must remember <b><i>our God is a God of \u201cdo-overs!\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p>No matter what the mistake, the pain, or any hardships, we can call out \u201cDo-over!\u201d and we can start fresh and new! \u00a0In order for us to have the freedom that knowing this truth brings we have to truly mean it, not just say it and then do the same thing again.\u00a0 But to truly mean it&#8212; we have to live it!\u00a0\u00a0 You may be asking, &#8220;Well how do I do that?&#8221; \u00a0&#8220;How do I break those bad habits?&#8221;\u00a0\u00a0 Here\u2019s your answer\u2026turn your life over to God fully and let Him <em><strong>RENEW<\/strong><\/em> you!<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b><i>2 Corinthians 5:17<\/i><\/b><i> <\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><i>Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a0<\/i>When you turn your life over to God He is giving you a \u201cdo-over\u201d from all your past; you will see a whole new view of yourself.\u00a0 You will also realize two truths:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>God does not see you as a struggling, troubled, or horrible person.<\/li>\n<li>Instead, God sees you as His beloved child, made in His image.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It is then we will begin focusing on God and not our mistakes.\u00a0 We will see that God can renew us.\u00a0\u00a0 When we see that by placing all the pieces of our lives before God and staying alert in the ways of God, and by seeing His divine nature growing in us, we will begin to take advantage of the blessings of all the do-overs.<\/p>\n<p>There have been many in the Bible who had opportunities to step up in their journey of faith and yet were not only offered a \u201cdo-over\u201d but also new opportunities to serve:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>King David after his affair with Bathsheba<\/li>\n<li>Saul of Tarsus after he hunted down Christians<\/li>\n<li><span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">Church<\/span> of Laodicea after they let their faith fade from passionate to lukewarm<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>There were also people in the Bible who discovered the blessings of do-overs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Jacob and Esau\u00a0 <b><i>(Genesis 33)<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<li>Both Joseph and his brothers got to start over <b><i>(Genesis 45)<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<li>After Peter denied Jesus, he got another chance to stand up <b><i>(John 21:15)<\/i><\/b><\/li>\n<li>And then there was Paul, he got an entire life do-over!\u00a0\u00a0 As <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">Saul he<\/span> persecuted Christians, but he was transformed on the road to Damascus <b><i>(Acts 9),<\/i><\/b> received Christ, and began spreading the gospel instead of persecuting it.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Talk about a do-over, that is a total newly born, born again believer! He is a new creation!<\/p>\n<p>If God offers us this kind of do-over, then why is it that we feel trapped, paralyzed; we want to make a change but just unsure about how <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">to do<\/span> it.\u00a0 Most reasons we feel this way is because once we\u2019ve messed up we are labeled as a failure by others, we aren\u2019t looking at ourselves like God would.\u00a0\u00a0 That\u2019s what needs to change!<\/p>\n<p>We need to realize that we aren\u2019t living the way God wants us to and that we need a spiritual \u201cdo-over,\u201d\u00a0 so how do we get one?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Submit<\/li>\n<li>Surrender<\/li>\n<li>Yield to God<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If we aren\u2019t where we need to be spiritually what is keeping us from asking for a \u201cdo-over?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Why are we having a hard time letting go?<\/p>\n<p>Paul has painted us a beautiful picture in <b><i>Phillipians 3:13-14<\/i><\/b>, to forget what is behind and reach for what is ahead!<\/p>\n<p>As I thought about writing today\u2019s blog God showed me there are two kinds of people that will be reading today: 1) those that have had a \u201cdo-over\u201d and, 2) those that need to have a \u201cdo-over.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For those who need a \u201cdo-over,\u201d what would it look like for you to be free from your past and become a new creation&#8212;a <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">new-born<\/span> believer?<\/p>\n<p>We serve a God that allows \u201cdo-overs,\u201d He will accept you, forgive you, and grow you into a new person.\u00a0\u00a0 Yes, this is\u00a0YOU I\u2019m talking about!\u00a0\u00a0No matter what you\u2019ve done or said, no matter what,\u00a0 He allows us to start over!\u00a0 Here\u2019s a good verse for you to consider.<\/p>\n<p><i><strong>Psalms 116:12-13<\/strong> says, What shall I render unto the Lord for all of His benefits towards me? I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord.<\/i><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><i>\u00a0<\/i>Your \u201cdo-over\u201d is up to you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">\u00a0When we surrender our lives to You, God, we stop fighting with ourselves.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">If we truly want a \u201cdo-over\u201d we can have it.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\">All we have to do is <b>\u201cASK\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><b>\u00a0<\/b><b>********************<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>Let\u2019s Pray:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>God, I thank You for \u201cdo-overs.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0Help each of us today to feel new, act <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">new<\/span>, think new; help us to love others like we never have before. \u00a0Help us to realize that You are there every moment of every day to help us when we need a \u201cdo-over\u201d and to make a fresh start to something that started not so good. \u00a0God, I lift up a special prayer for the ones who are reading this that need a total \u201clife do-over;\u201d they need You as Savior! \u00a0Help them to see You are waiting in the wings of their day for them to call on Your name, asking to be made a new creation.\u00a0 Help them to know You give \u201cdo-overs\u201d and are ready to give them one right now! And when they receive it, help them lift their hands in praise to You and tell the world!\u00a0\u00a0 In Your name I pray.<\/p>\n<p>Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As I thought about this lesson and what God would have me share, two words kept coming back at me and I thought &#8220;really God that is what you want me to talk about?&#8221; And He kept saying yes, so here we go! \u00a0Do-Over\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 (what is it?) In our family, a do-over has consisted of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"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":[3171,3167,3165,3169,3170,425,2808,3172,3168,724,3166,3164,1052,1135],"class_list":["post-13862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-2-cor-517","tag-acts-chapter-9","tag-do-over","tag-genesis-chpt-33","tag-genesis-chpt-45","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-i-am","tag-i-am-free-to-be-me","tag-john-2115","tag-online-bible-study","tag-phil-313-14","tag-psalms-11612-13","tag-teresa-bolme","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-3BA","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13862","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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13862"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13882,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13862\/revisions\/13882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}