The few months ago, the Lord gave me a creative idea for a devotional tool for my morning devotions. He showed me that I could take the “words in red” only and let them speak to me. While I do NOT recommend this as a comprehensive Bible study tool, it has been ministering to my soul like fresh rain upon dry ground.
Here’s what I do: I look at only the red words in the next passage of Scripture. If it’s one sentence, I stop there and write it down in my journal. if it’s a group of sentences, I read the whole thought and wait until my heart grabs one or two sentences; then I write those down in my journal. Once I have the sentence/s from the words of Jesus, I let Him speak to me directly. Taking the words out of context, as I said, is NOT a recommended course of studying the Bible, But for me, right now, His Spirit is using this technique to speak directly into the burdens of my heart, the issues that have been crippling me, and giving me insight into many things. His words are personal for me each day and man-o-man, am I hearing Him speak so clearly! Just one word from your mouth, Lord, and I shall be healed!
So in the blogs that I title Words In Red, that is what I am writing from. I am taking the actual excerpts from my journal and letting you into my personal journey. It’s humbling, but I think it might encourage you to see that you’re not the only one who struggles and that God really loves us and wants to show us every day that we are His cherished children.
Cecily is a mother to one daughter and three sons and a step mother to two daughters. She is a native New Englander, who, while fairly-well traveled, has never lived anywhere outside of New England. She loves the beach, the mountains, good food, and football (she’s been a BIG Patriot’s fan before it was cool to be one!). She loves to cook and you will most likely find her scanning PaleoOMG.com or Pinterest for her next recipe challenge. She is an avid fitness freak, indulging in Spin, Kickboxing, and Insanity classes along with running and working out at home.
But Cecily’s greatest passion is finding hidden treasures and bold Truth in God’s Word and teaching it in such a way that everyone can understand and remember what they heard. Nothing thrills her more than when someone comes up to her and says that they have been changed by something she taught (especially when they remember the message better than she does!). Cecily is a late bloomer in the blogosphere as she was very busy raising 6 children, volunteering in their schools, starting her career as an Executive Assistant, being the Worship and Arts director at her church and then recently taking the directorship of the Women’s Ministry. Life with 6 kids in a blended family posed more challenges than the Apollo 13 team had to face, and has given Cecily endless messages and potential blog posts! Cecily speaks at Women’s Conferences and at her church as a guest minister from time to time. Her husband John is a stalwart supporter of everything she does and is her greatest cheerleader. Now that the children are grown (they keep coming home, though!), Cecily has more time to write and speak about these wonderful life lessons regarding faith, blended family life, financial and marital challenges and the joys of watching God show off His faithfulness.
Women identify with Cecily because she has survived divorce, single-motherhood, being in the trenches blending a family, loving an addict, the stresses of ministry and marketplace jobs, and the life change of children growing up and becoming adults. Cecily has not only survived but thrived as a result of every difficult and unforeseen circumstance. She loves to boast about God’s faithfulness and the importance that her day-to-day, intimate relationship with Jesus has made through it all. She shares keys and practical steps that encourage women (and men!) to pursue the Lord for themselves and not sell their ability to hear from God short. Cecily’s favorite topics to talk and write about are Hearing God’s voice, Journaling for life, and Myth-busting.
Amen, I love what your doing. It blesses me to hear your comments!