Are You Caught in the Hustle and Bustle?

Are You Caught in the Hustle and Bustle?

Are you serving others in your own strength? I have experienced this in my own life and I know it’s easy to fall into during the Christmas season. We become so consumed with preparing and serving that we forget to take time for the most important things in life.

“But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her’” (Luke 10:40-42).

Just like Martha, we get annoyed when others don’t help us. We worry things won’t get done. We allow anxiety and frustration to rule in our hearts. When anxiety and frustration set in, it should be a wake-up call to us that we aren’t spending time drawing closer to God.

We’re trying to do things on our own and we’re forgetting to spend time with our Savior. 

Are you more like Martha or Mary?

In Luke 10, we find that Martha was distracted, anxious, and troubled about many things. She didn’t make spending time with the Lord her priority. In contrast, we find that Mary realized how important it was to spend time with her Lord and Savior.

Now, it’s not to say that serving is a bad thing, but rather, are we serving with the right heart before the Lord? Are we serving Him first and foremost? Or, are we pouring all our focus and energy into serving and preparing that we forget Who is most important? The hustle and bustle of this Christmas season doesn’t have to be filled with empty service and hollow delight.

By making Christ your first priority, you can find genuine joy and true peace as you pour yourself out for others. 

As Psalm 94:19 reminds us, “When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.” This Christmas season, let’s remember to keep Christ in Christmas. Let’s enjoy the hustle and bustle with the joy of the Lord in our hearts!

I’d love to hear from you below. 

  • In what ways are you caught up in the hustle and bustle?
  • In what ways are anxiety and frustration ruling your heart?
  • How do you need to prioritize your relationship with God this Christmas season?

This guest post was written by Micah Fox.

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Responding to Your Comments about Challenges During the Holidays

The holidays often bring on a variety of emotions.

Joy. Sorry. Cheer. Sadness. Happiness. Grief. Regret. 

Depending on your specific circumstances, the holidays can a great time or a really hard time.

Today we want to respond to your comments about specific challenges many of you are facing. 

Here’s what a few of you said:

My family makes me cry.

I get burnt out by all the parties.

It’s hard to keep my mind on Christ in the midst of a Hallmark flurry.

It’s hard to not get jealous of other people’s romantic relationships.

My mom passed away the morning of New Year’s Eve, last year. I don’t know how to cope.

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Getting to the Heart of Jealousy

My heart aches as I look at the eyes of one of my best friends. ‘Is she serious?’ I think. ‘Is this really happening to me?’

For a second I convince myself that this is not real. This is just a joke.

This will all turn out the way I thought it would.

Waking up the next morning, after a night of restless sleep, I had to conclude that this was not the case.

To make a long story short: my best friend started dating a guy with whom I was really close friends. When she told me she was dating him, I was hurt and really jealous.

I couldn’t believe that she was getting the opportunity to date him.

This was something that I so wished was happening to me in my own life. Not only was I jealous of my best friend, but, I was also jealous of him. He now got to share a level of best friendness that I used to have with her.

In this very complicated situation, God spoke to my heart very clearly.

He spoke as He had never done before and in all the areas in which this situation was affecting my life. One of those areas was my already existing problem with jealousy. The very first thing He pressed upon my heart was Romans 12:15, which says: ‘Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.’

I was just preparing a study about this verse, so it really struck me that God used it like that in my life. However, I found it really hard to do what this verse said. I prayed for it. I really wanted to be happy about her dating experience.

I just felt so hurt every time I thought about it.

I believe the heart of jealousy is an unfulfilled desire. When you find yourself being jealous, I think it is good to ask yourself the question: Which desire lies underneath this feeling? In my case, it was my desire to hold onto my friendships and my desire to be in a relationship.

It was my desire for the end of my season of singleness.

Though this helped me in understanding my feelings, it didn’t help to cure them. I really badly wanted to feel happy for her, but I just couldn’t manage.

You can’t always change the way you feel, but you can change the way you act upon it. So, one day, I walked up to her and said: ‘I’m very sorry about my behavior. I really want to feel happy for you, and sometimes I do, but in general, I find this really hard. Could you please pray with me?’

And as we sat there she prayed for my singleness, my future husband, our friendship and wisdom in this situation. And somewhere in her prayer, God reminded me of this: Share in My joy. I think this is such a great answer in our struggle with jealousy!

Share in the joy of God. Look with His eyes at the situation and not with your own.

When I did that, I saw two amazing people who wanted to follow Christ and who can learn a lot from each other in a dating period. I saw God’s excitement over this relationship. And at the same time, I saw His excitement over my singleness. I rested in the fact that God’s going to do amazing things in my life.

I can turn to Him with my disappointment, but I have to remember what a great God He is.

For weeks I had been struggling with the verse in Romans 12 because I was trying to overcome my jealousy and implement this verse based on my own power.

I turned my eyes upon Jesus but forgot to ask Him for His strength. When I did do that, I felt so free! I can rejoice over her life now, but at the same time, I’m still able to weep about my own loss.

I only can do that with God’s grace working within me.

In which situations do you find yourself jealous?

What is the joy of God in those situations?

GUEST BLOGGER: Hilde Pater

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The Meaning Behind Each Girl Defined Shirt

It was a cool Texas day as we sat on the couch and brainstormed for ideas. The year was 2015. Two of our younger sisters were there with us as we tried to create the first-ever Girl Defined shirt. What color should we choose? Which design should we go with? How many should we order? After several hours of chatting and tossing around ideas, our talented youngest sister (Suzanna) suggested creating a simple white shirt with a custom hand-painted font on the front that simply said, “GirlDefined.”

Of course! Our very first ever shirt should be a reflection of everything we believe in and stand for at Girl Defined Ministries. “Girl Defined” is two simple words, but it captures the heart and passion behind our vision to encouraged younger women to be girls defined by God and to embrace His identity for us.

Suzanna quickly hand-lettered the font on a white piece of paper, which we then scanned into our computers.

It was perfect. We selected a beautiful shirt design and BAM. The first every Girl Defined shirt was created!

Since that day, we have created six different shirt designs that have each been intentionally designed to reflect the heartbeat of Girl Defined Ministries. The goal with our apparel line is to curate a combination of quality, beauty, inspiration, and truth. We aren’t just girls…we’re girls defined by God — and that truth is something we want to reflect in our apparel.

With that being said, I thought it would be fun to give you a little peek-behind-the-scenes peek into the meaning behind each of our shirts.

GIRL DEFINED SHIRT

I’ve already shared the story behind this lovely shirt. It’s such a great reminder that we are all girls defined by God. He loves. He cares for us. He has a good plan for us.

AND SHE PERSISTED SHIRT

This “outdoorsy” army green shirt reminds us that the Christian walk is a journey with ups and downs. If we put our hope in Jesus, we will have victory. When you wear this shirt, you will be reminded to persist in your journey of pursuing Christ and His Word. Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.”

SISTERHOOD SHIRT 

This brightly colored shirt reminds us that we all need sisters. Whether you have physical sisters or not we are all a part of a bigger sisterhood through Jesus Christ. We are a family. We can encourage each other, pray for each other, and link arms side-by-side together and remind each other that we are not alone on this journey.

LITTLE SISTERHOOD SHIRT 

This shirt is one of our all-time favorites because the Girl Defined sisterhood is for women and girls of all ages. As older women come alongside younger women, we can each benefit from that friendship. The Christian sisterhood starts when we’re little. We learn and grow from the older women in our lives. This little Sisterhood shirt is perfect for the little sisters, nieces, and cousins, in your life. Invite them to become a part of the Girl Defined sisterhood now.

FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT SHIRT

This feminine and timeless design was handpainted by our sister, Suzanna. Each flower is accompanied by one of the Fruits of the Spirit. As we live out our calling to be girls defined by God, we can look at the Fruit of the Spirit to see the areas we need to work on. As our heart grows closer to God, we will naturally change into a woman that exemplifies those fruits. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” Gal. 5:22-23a.

LONG SLEEVE SHIRT 

We need to be reminded of this powerful statement every day: “The One who designed you gets to define you.” God created each one of us to be unique so that we could glorify Him. He created us, designed us, formed us, and wants to mold us into exactly who He created us to be. No one else has the right to define our beauty, feminity, or identity besides Him. When you wear this shirt, you’ll be reminded to trust God’s good and perfect design for your life a girl.

GIRLDEFINED SWEATSHIRT

Just like the original Girl Defined shirt, this sweatshirt reminds us that we are girls defined by God. He holds the answers to our questions about identity, purpose, and feminity. He loves his Daughters and has a good and beautiful plan for our lives. This cozy sweatshirt is perfect for a chilly day, athletic event, or just relaxing. Every time you wear this sweatshirt you’ll be reminded of the fact that you are a girl defined by God.

We hope you’re as encouraged and inspired as we are! 

We are excited to offer you these beautiful and meaningful shirts as a way to link arms and encourage one another in our walk with Christ. We are a family. We are sisters. We are united in Him. These shirts are so much more than “merch” or “apparel”… they’re life-giving sources of truth that we each need to be encouraged in. We hope you’ll grab one for yourself or for a sister or friend this Holiday season. Every purchase you make at the GirlDefined.com/shop goes 100% directly back into supporting Girl Defined Ministries.

These lovely items (along with our necklace, hair scarves, signed books, and more) will only be available online until December 8th, 2019. If you’re interested in grabbing something, we encourage you to grab it fast because we only have a limited number of sizes available.

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The Power of Living a God-Centered & Worship-Filled Life

The past few months of my life feel like they’ve been filled with a certain 7 letter word. This word flies in the face of my natural heart’s desire and is the opposite of everything the culture promotes.

This word has challenged me, convicted me, encouraged me and given me incredible hope. When I focus on living this word out, I have such incredible rest, contentment and joy in my heart.

I want to share this word with you in hopes that you can find the same hope, conviction, contentment and joy that I’ve found by *attempting* to live it out.

The word is WORSHIP.

The word worship holds such incredible power, that if lived out, will dramatically change your life.

True worship is the ultimate recognition that God alone is worthy of all glory, praise and honor. He is Creator. He is Sustainer. He is Ruler. He is on the Throne. He is King.

Living a lifestyle of worship acknowledges that God is your King and He is ultimately in control of this world and of your life. When I personally live in light of those truths, my attitude, perspective, and actions dramatically change. I realize that I am a creation of the God of the universe and my entire life should be lived to make His name known.

None of us can deny the fact that we live in a self-worshiping, self-glorifying, self-promoting, selfie-filled world. From Hollywood, to Instagram, to our own hearts, the push is to promote oneself. God is usually left far *far* out of the picture and we zero in on making ourselves look good.

It’s time to regroup and live a God-centered lifestyle.

Over the past few months, God has been reminding me of how great He is and how small I truly am. He is God and He is worthy of all my praise. When we live a life that says “look at how awesome I am,” we are acting like total fools. We aren’t awesome or worthy of any worship. Not one bit. Only our Creator and Savior is worthy.

When we worship God, and acknowledge His incredible greatness, we will be filled with peace, joy, trust, hope and rest. God created us with the ability to worship and He created us to find ultimate satisfaction by fixing our eyes on Himself.

My hope is that each one of you will begin to live a lifestyle of worship and recognize just how Big, Awesome, Majestic and Great God truly is.

Incredible resources to help you worship.

I want to share with you several incredible resources to help you live a lifestyle of worship. These are some of my favorites and I think they will be an immense blessing to you as well.

Verses

“Worthy are You, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4:11)

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” (Revelation 5:12)

I highly *like high high highly* encourage you to take some time to read chapters 4-5 of Revelation. Wow. It is an incredible picture of Christ and His perfect worthiness to receive worship.

Songs

Victorious by: Third Day

“In all the heavens, there is One

Who conquered death alone and brought our freedom

Your throne will last throughout all time

Let all the nations bow and bring You praise”

This I Believe by: Hillsong Worship

“I believe in God our Father

I believe in Christ the Son

I believe in the Holy Spirit

Our God is three in one

I believe in the resurrection

That we will rise again

For I believe in the name of Jesus”

All I Have is Christ by: Sovereign Grace Music

“Now, Lord, I would be Yours alone

And live so all might see

The strength to follow Your commands

Could never come from me

Oh Father, use my ransomed life

In any way You choose

And let my song forever be

My only boast is You”

Article

The Greatest Thing You Could Do Today by: Francis Chan

“God literally determines whether or not you take another breath. ‘He himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything’ (Acts 17:25). Could anything be more important than meeting with the One who decides if you live through this day? Could anything be better? How can we not make time to be with the Maker of time?

What plans do you have today that you think are so important that you would race past the Creator to get to them?”

It’s time to live in light of these truth’s.

My hope and prayer is that you will live a life of worship. That you will understand the greatness of God and live as if He were (because He is) the most important person in your life.

I would love to hear your thoughts on the word worship. How would you describe living a life of worship?

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How to Get Your Spiritual Life Out of the Drive-Thru Lane

Another day was over and I had done it again. With sleepy eyes, I reached for the lamp on my nightstand and turned off the light. I fell asleep to the familiar feelings of guilt and regret.

I had intended to spend some quality time with God that morning. I had pulled my Bible out and found a nice comfy spot to sit on the couch. I intentionally made coffee ahead of time…so I already had that in hand. I even set an alarm to remind me to get started. So what in the world happened?  

Sadly, what happened this morning was what happened to me many mornings.

Millions of little distractions.

One click on Instagram here. One “quick” email response there. One little squirrel moment over there. And…oh yeah. That text message. Yep.

Distractions had stolen my attention yet again.

But even worse, these little distractions were slowly robbing me of my time with God.

If you’re anything like me, you know the feeling. You’ve been there. Instead of your personal devotions feeling like a rich hearty meal, it feels more like a fast food drive-thru. Quick and on the go.  

Girl, I am going to be really honest with you here. This is a seriously battle in my life and I have not totally conquered this problem. But in my heart, I know that I don’t want to live in the spiritual fast food drive-thru. I want something more. Something spiritually nutritious. I’m guessing you want the same thing.

Over the years, through trial and error, I have learned some helpful tips for staying focused and consistent in my devotional time.

But you know what? These tips won’t work very unless they’re rooted in the right motivations.

First, it starts by recognizing that your “daily devotions” aren’t simply a good Christian habit to check off the list. Instead, your personal devotional time should be just that — devotion. This is a set-apart time of the day where you humbly come before your amazing God to worship Him, praise Him, study His word, and seek His help through prayer.

This isn’t simply “devotions”…but an intentional time of devotion to your Savior.

With that mindset as your foundation, I want to share some of the practical tips with you now.

1. There’s no shortcuts to loving God.

If you’ve ever thought, “man…I wish I had a deeper, more passionate relationship with God!” you’re not alone. But the truth is, there’s only one way to get that. Quality time with God.

The more time you spend with God, the more you will love Him and worship Him. The less time you spend with Him, the less you will love Him and worship Him.

Your relationship with God will only be as deep as the time you spend with Him. If you want to love God more and develop a passion for Him, then you must spend quality, daily, and intentional time with Him.

2. Get into a consistent rhythm (put it on your calendar).

In life, we have a lot of natural rhythms throughout our day. We typically do similar things at similar times (i.e. breakfast, lunch, and dinner to name a few). Instead of “hoping” to get some solid time in with the Lord, pick the time of day that you’re going to make it happen.

Don’t squeeze God into your life, plan your life around God.

Everyone’s schedules are different, so for you it might be right before breakfast. Or maybe it’s the very first thing you do when you wake up (highly recommended). Or maybe it’s a block of time you set aside each night before bed.

Whatever it is, be intentional to carve out specific times and stick to them.

3. Ask for accountability.

Personally, I am most consistent and faithful in my devotional times when I have accountability in place. As Jesus Himself said to his disciples, “The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41). My flesh is weak. Your flesh is weak.

Let’s be real — rolling over in bed typically sounds a lot more appealing than getting up.

Having personal accountability in place will help you as you seek to be faithful in your time with God. Ask a mature friend, a parent, or a godly woman to hold you accountable on a weekly basis to your quiet time schedule. Ask her to text you (or email or call) once a week to see how you’re doing.

It’s time to ditch the drive-thru method. 

Instead, make intentional decisions to spend quality the with God in order to build a personal relationship with Him. Choose to make your devotional life a priority every single day.

The more you do this, the more you will grow to love your Savior. And the more you love your Savior, the more passionate you will become to live your life for His glory.

I’d love to hear from you below.

  • Where do you struggle the most in your personal devotional life?
  • What have you found to be personally helpful for you in growing closer to the Lord?

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