She Speaks Conference Testimony

....The following was written by Loren's wife, Nan, in preparation for the speaker's track at the 2008 She Speaks Conference in Concord, North Carolina and this is how she began her 3-minute speech.

* * *

....When we were given the assignment to share a 3 minute testimony and a 5 minute teaching, I sat down to write my speeches. It was then I came to realize that I was in the wrong group and I should have been in the writer’s group!

"Oh, Lord please help me and give me your grace."

.... That’s my testimony. You see my grandmother, who raised me, was a sweet Catholic lady. We were very sincere and devout in our religion yet for all my sincerety, I came up empty and wanting more of God. It seemed there was always a set of rules to abide by in order to please God and I could never measure up. I was ever groping for God, hoping to please Him and not make Him angry.

* * *

....Through a series of events, 29 years ago, I eventually gave my heart to Jesus during the pinnacle of the Charismatic movement (namely, the Word of Faith). For the first time, I heard that God is good and He has wonderful promises for us -- both of which are true, but in order to get His favor for those blessings, I needed to do something. It was like trading my rosary beads for the 7 steps to healing, or the 12 steps to prosperity. The sad part is that I completely stepped over the cross by relying upon my performance to earn His blessings instead of who Jesus is and what He has done for me; I traded one religion for another. Please understand, I’m not coming against any religion, its just that what was terribly missing in my life was a deep abiding relationship with Jesus. My thinking was, if I just prayed more, just read my Bible more, maybe love my neighbor more, while all the while I was becoming more frustrated, religious, tired and judgemental.

....Then, after burning out on religion, the Lord introduced me to His loving grace. Ephesians 2:8 says, For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; grace that’s based on His finished work through Jesus, His unmerited favor and free gift of righteousness. If by grace we have been saved through our faith, our trust and reliance upon Jesus, then shouldn’t this walk with Him be the same?

....My 'story' is that I’m still walking out this mindset, still learning to yield to His grace and I’ve been asking Jesus to reveal His love to me and I encourage you to do the same. He loves you dearly, has more than enough grace to give to you and He desires you to know the depth of His love.

A Talented and Successful Woman
Created to Be a Success

by Regina Thorp —Part 4 of 4

But his/her delight and desire are in the law of the Lord, and on His Law
(the instructions, the teachings of God) he/she habitually meditates
(ponders and studies) by day and by night.
Psalm 1:2

....God knew that in a fallen world the message we would get about ourselves would be that we don't measure up, that we aren't capable of being successful, so He clearly covers this issue for us. He shows us how to dissolve the lies we have been told. He tells us to think about what He says about us, to ponder, to meditate on it day and night.

.... Isn't that what we do naturally with the negative things we have been told? We ponder them, we think on them. It's easy to believe the lie that we are less than. So He clearly gives us a beautiful picture of the woman He designed us to be in the Proverb 31 Woman, but we've allowed people (the world, even the church) to tell us that no woman could be this great, so we disregard her as someone we could never become. God gave us the Proverb 31 Woman to encourage us, not to bring us down.

As a woman thinks in her heart so is she.
Proverbs 23:7

....God didn't put the Proverbs 31 Woman in the Bible to mock us. No, it was to let us know how He sees us. With His help, His strength, and His guidance we can experience the fruit of a virtuous woman in our lives. She is put there in the bible for our benefit and God made it possible for us to become her through His Son. He knew we'd need a picture to look at, besides the one we'd come to see in the mirror. By asking us to meditate, (to ponder, to think on) His Word, we would come to believe what our Heavenly Father says about us. By His grace we can relinquish our negative thoughts of who we think we are, to His positive thoughts of who we truly are in the light of Jesus. We are the Virtuous Woman because of Jesus. We are a success in Him. Thank you Jesus!!

A Talented and Successful Woman
Divine Guidance

by Regina Thorp —Part 3 of 4

Thus says the Lord, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel:
I am the Lord your God, Who teaches you to profit, Who
leads you in the way that you should go.
Isaiah 48:17

....God’s love for us is so clear in this Scripture. God knew in His divine wisdom that we would need and want His guidance, so He made it clear and easy for us to know His plan. In Isaiah He reminds us first that He is our redeemer, that He has redeemed us from the curse of failure. Then He reminds us that He is God. We know that God is all knowing, so we know He has all the answers for our tomorrows.

....Psalm 37:23 says, “The steps of a [good] man are directed and established by the Lord when he delights in His way [and He busies Himself with his every step].”

....To further understand all that God will do for us, let's look at a couple of the words used here in Psalm 37:23. Direct means, to regulate the course of, to guide, show, point, aim, send toward a place or object, to focus toward a given result, proceeding in a straight line by the shortest course, undeviating, a direct route.

....Establish means, to bring into being on a firm or stable basis, to settle in a position or place, to cause to be accepted or recognized.

....When we look at this scripture outside of Christ, we could put ourselves under condemnation, thinking we don't qualify for this promise, but the truth is, when we understand that Jesus qualified us for all of the promises of God, we can look at this promise and know that it's because of what Jesus did for us that God will direct and establish our steps. This brings me great comfort and peace knowing that it's not about my goodness that will cause God to work on my behalf, but it's all about Jesus goodness!

Gods plans for us are good because He has such a great love for us. Soak in that love and allow yourself to receive His promises for His guidance in your life.