A Confident Heart Devotional 60 Days to Stop Doubting Yourself Renee Swope O
2013 by Renee Swope Published by Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.revellbooks.com Printed in the United States of America All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC. ISBN 978-0-8007-2243-2 (pbk.) Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com Scripture quotations labeled AMP are from the Amplified Bible, copyright 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations labeled CEV are from the Contemporary English Version 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by permission. Scripture quotations labeled GW are from GOD S WORD. 1995 God s Word to the Nations. Used by permission of Baker Publishing Group. Scripture quotations labeled Message are from The Message by Eugene H. Peterson, copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. All rights reserved. Scripture quotations labeled NASB are from the New American Standard Bible, copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. Scripture quotations labeled NLT are from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. Published in association with The Fedd Agency, 317 Ranch Road 620 South, Suite 100A, Austin, TX 78734 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents From My Heart to Yours 9 1. Turning Points 11 2. How Did I Get Here? 14 3. When Life Is Hard 18 4. Getting Past Our Past 21 5. My Image of God 24 6. From Wimp to Warrior 27 7. Sometimes I Have to Boss My Heart Around 30 8. Becoming the Woman God Created You to Be 33 9. Because God s Love Is Perfect 36 10. How Are You, Really? 40 11. When Your Feelings Don t Tell the Truth 44 12. Sin Doesn t Get the Final Say 47 13. When You Don t Want to Be a Burden 50 14. I Haven t Got Time for the Pain 53 15. It s Over 56 16. Praying with Confidence 59 17. Away from the Crowds 62 5
Contents 18. Giving In or Getting Up Again? 65 19. How Forgiveness Sets Us Free 68 20. More Than Breadcrumbs 71 21. Set Apart 74 22. When Helping Others Helps Us 77 23. Letting God Rebuild Your Confidence 80 24. When Fear Paralyzes Our Faith 83 25. The Things We Do for Love 86 26. When You Feel Like Damaged Goods 89 27. Who Told You That You Were...? 92 28. If God Is for Me... 95 29. Living in the Hear and Now 98 30. When Hurt Steals Your Hope 101 31. I Just Don t Have It in Me 104 32. When You Feel Empty 107 33. Dealing with Disappointments 110 34. Measuring Up 113 35. You Are Good Enough 116 36. Before the Battle Begins 120 37. A New Pattern of Thought 123 38. No More Guilt-Induced Doubt 126 39. He Cares about You 129 40. Dare to Hope 132 41. You ve Got Something Special to Offer 135 42. When You Feel Far from God 138 43. Freedom from the Grave 141 44. Pursued 144 45. Changing Your Mind 147 46. Shipwrecked 150 47. His Compassions Never Fail 153 48. Peace-full 156 6
Contents 49. Remind Me Who I Am 159 50. Words for the Weary 162 51. Because You Are His 165 52. Failing Forward 168 53. Compelled by Love Alone 171 54. Mistaken Identity 174 55. Surrender 177 56. Talking Trash or Talking Truth? 181 57. I m beyond Hurt 184 58. He Bends Down 187 59. Turning Worry into Worship 190 60. A Lifetime Heart Warranty 193 Appendix A: Personality Summary 197 Appendix B: When You Say, God Says 199 About Renee 207 About Proverbs 31 Ministries 209 Notes 211 7
From My Heart to Yours As I imagine you reading this page, I wish we were sitting in a coffee shop chatting. I would love to talk with you about things that may be weighing you down. They always seem to lighten when shared with a friend. I would tell you about the times I let my doubts pile up, and how the weight of my worries almost took me down. And you just might hear the story about the time I accidentally took my dog s medication. Yes. I sure did. Hopefully, knowing that little fact about me would make you feel a little better about yourself. There is nothing more reassuring for a woman than realizing she is not the only one who struggles with doubt, fear, or any array of emotions and imperfections she s convinced herself that other women don t have. And in that moment we sometimes wonder if maybe just maybe that friend who let us know she struggles too could walk beside us as we try to find our way out of the shadow of our doubts. I have had that kind of friend, and I would love to be that kind of friend for you. But since we can t chat in a coffee shop, I m hoping we can meet right here on the pages of this book for the next sixty days. I d 9
From My Heart to Yours love to tell you just how normal and wonderful you are, and help you take hold of truths that will unfold the plans and promises God has for your life. Over the past several years, God has been changing me and rearranging me, using His Word and His unconditional love to lead me to what I call God-fidence. It s a deep-down soul-security that has little to do with what we do or don t have but everything to do with all God is and all that He offers us each day. Through stories of men and women in the Bible who battled insecurity and fear, I ve discovered it s possible to stop doubting myself and to start living, by faith, in the security of God s promises, no matter what my circumstances or emotions tell me. Using powerful promises from His Word, I ve created a new thought-map. And I use it every day to redirect my thinking, to make sure my heart is being led by truth. At the end of each devotion I ll share one of these promises that ties in to the topic of the day, so you can use His thoughts to redirect yours all day. I ve also asked a few friends to share their stories throughout the book, so you can be inspired by their journey and learn from their process of finding confidence in Christ. Each morning, I hope you ll grab your Bible and meet with me here. I can t wait to encourage you and walk beside you as you step out from the shadows of your doubt and learn to live with a confident heart! 10
1 Turning Points You are a chosen [woman], a royal [priest], a holy [daughter], God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 1 Peter 2:9 I stood in front of my bathroom mirror, getting ready to travel to a large event while begging God to zap me with confidence or send Jesus back before it was time for me to speak. I had been struggling with paralyzing self-doubt that week and it was making me question everything. When I turned to put something in my suitcase, which was behind me, I noticed a huge nine-foot shadow on the wall. I was surprised how big the shadow was and how much it distorted the image of my five-foot-two-inch frame. In that moment, I realized my uncertainty had also created a huge shadow a shadow of doubt that was distorting my thoughts and overpowering my emotions. 11
A Confident Heart Devotional As I stood there looking at that humongous shadow, I sensed God telling me I could only see the shadow because I had turned away from the light. Slowly I turned back toward the light above the mirror, and I was no longer standing in the shadow. But the fact that I had created the shadow by blocking the light taught me a powerful lesson a truth that became a turning point for me. Shadows are created all around us whenever something blocks the light. And so it is with the shadow of doubt. When we focus on how inadequate we feel, or what others are thinking about us, we cast a shadow of doubt in our minds by blocking the light of God s truth in our hearts. Yet we were not designed to block the light or to be the light. We were created to live in the light, by finding our confidence in what God thinks about us. Before that day in my bathroom with God and my shadow, I saw doubt as an annoying weakness, a lapse of faith, a dip in my self-confidence. And I just wanted God to take it away. But through my doubt, God led me to dependence on Him and taught me a powerful lesson that became a turning point in my life. A shadow of self-doubt had been cast over my thoughts and emotions when I turned my attention away from God s perspective and promises. By taking my eyes off the light of God s truth, I ended up paralyzed by the darkness of defeat. How about you? How often do you agree with the whispers of doubt and find yourself living in discouragement and uncertainty? That day in my bathroom was a turning point where God equipped me with a powerful way to process and conquer selfdoubts. And, as we take this sixty-day journey together, I want each day to be a turning point for you... As you turn toward God, so you can know who He is and His heart toward you. 12
Turning Points As you turn toward His truth, so you can listen to what God says about you and what He can do through you as you learn to depend more on Him. As you turn toward the light of God s promises as a woman, a friend, a leader, and a follower of Jesus so your life can be about living, loving, and leading others to the light of God s truth as you walk it out in your everyday life. When we turn our focus away from feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty and intentionally turn our thoughts toward God s promises of all-sufficiency, we create a turning point and we begin to replace our wavering self-confidence with lasting God-confidence. In doing so, our lives become a response to the One who has called us out of darkness into His wonderful light (1 Pet. 2:9). So, are you ready to start turning? Lord, I want to take Your hand and trust Your heart as You lead me on this sixty-day journey of overcoming self-doubt and living in the power of Your promises! You say I am a chosen woman and a holy daughter who belongs to You. If doubt overshadows my thoughts today, help me turn back to the light of Your truth, so I can focus on all I have in You. In Jesus name, Amen. When I say: My doubts won t go away. God says: I am calling you out of the darkness. Turn toward the light and truth of what I say about you. You are a chosen [woman], a royal [priest], a holy [daughter], God s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Pet. 2:9) 13