Some Much-Needed Encouragement

I really needed to hear this... enjoy and let me know what you thought of it.

"A woman who has truly denied herself, taken up her cross, and become entirely consumed with Jesus Christ is not going to be insecure, starving herself and obsessed with making herself look more attractive.  Rather, she's so enraptured with Jesus Christ that she's completely lost sight of herself...

A woman who has yielded her selfish agenda to the Spirit of Jesus Christ, who does not listen to the voice of her self but yields only to the voice of her King, is not going to become a sex object, throwing herself at guy after guy in desperation.  Her security comes from a completely different source.  She doesn't derive her value from the attention of guys.  Her value comes from knowing she has been redeemed and loved by the King of all kings.  Her focus is on His desires, not on her own selfish wants."

Taken from The Lost Art of True Beauty by Leslie Ludy - emphasis is mine.

Face to Face

When the Lord directed me to go through training to become a counselor at our local pregnancy center, I don't think I knew the depth of that task.  Several months later, when I began sitting in on counseling sessions to learn how to speak with these girls in crisis situations, I worried about what I had gotten myself into.

What I had gotten myself into?  I'm sorry, but that was actually God's doing.

In my mind, I would be in India now living a dream as a godly missionary.  Yet in God's mind, I was here at home serving my family and those girls (some my own age, some much younger than I) at the pregnancy center.

This last week topped it all off.  Now, it was my turn to go in and do the talking with someone watching me.  I kind of freaked out.  I mean, I wasn't sure I was ready for it but the ladies there at the center seemed to think I was.  I quickly texted my family for prayers, sending up some of my own and braced myself.  How would they respond?  What would my answers be?  How could I gain their trust in so little time?  If their pregnancy test was negative, how would I talk to them about abstinence?

"...Take ye no thought how or what thing ye shall answer, or what ye shall say: for the Holy Ghost shall teach you in the same hour what ye ought to say."

The passage in Luke 12 came back to my mind and I took a deep breath.  Jesus Himself was telling me that I shouldn't worry about these things.  In the same hour, the very same moment that I would open my mouth to say something, the Holy Ghost would teach me what I should say.  How amazing is that?!

I would be face to face with women of the world (a life I had little understanding of) and perhaps be sharing the gospel with them -- face to face, up front and personal.  And yet the Lord was encouraging me not to think of what I should say or answer them... He would fill my mouth with His words.

The counseling session went quite smoothly, despite my doubts.  He always does that, doesn't He?  I went in with a smile on my face and greeted the woman by her name.  Before she left, she filled out a small questionairre about my sensitivity to her situation, and I got high marks on all.

But it wasn't me.  It was the Holy Ghost using me.  What a precious place to be.