Hope and Healing for Moms

Thursday, November 2, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 2 – Submission to the Scriptures: The Discipline of Submission, Part 5 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. Luke 6:47-48 Everyone who comes to me and hears my words and does them, I will show you what he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when a flood arose, the stream broke against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. Luke 11:28 But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!” Psalm 112:1 Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in his commandments! Psalm 119:1-6 Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who seek him with their whole heart, who a...

Wednesday, November 1, 2017 The Acts of Submission Part 1 – Submission to the Triune God: The Discipline of Submission, Part 5 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Psalm 5:1-3 1 Give ear to my words, O Lord, Consider my meditation. 2  Give heed to the voice of my cry, My King and my God, For to You I will pray. 3  My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct  it  to You, And I will look up. Psalm 25:4-5 Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all the day long. Psalm 143:10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God! Let your good Spirit lead me on level ground! James 4:7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your ow...

Tuesday, October 31, 2017 When Submission Isn’t Right: The Discipline of Submission, Part 4 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Acts 5: 29 We must obey God rather than men… Devotional: There is no doubt that we are called by the Lord to live a life of mutual submission one to another. However, as many wise men and women of God have reminded me over the years, we are at times expected to stand firm. We have the Bible to show us when submission is not right. When another God-created human is expecting us to walk against God’s plans, His Word, and His character, we are expected and called just like the believers in the early church to choose to lovingly resist. There is no witness in capitulating to the works of the flesh of others; there is no profit to the Kingdom in being a party to sin or willful disobedience to the Lord. There are going to be times when we need to resist even those closest to us—perhaps a spouse who is off base or...

Wednesday, October 25, 2017 The Wholeness in Submission: The Discipline of Submission, Part 1 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Mark 8: 34 “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me” Matt. 10: 39 “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it” From Celebration of Discipline: Self-denial does not mean the loss of our identity as some suppose. Without our identity we could not even be subject to each other. Did Jesus lose his identity when he set his face toward Golgotha? Did Peter lose his identity when he responded to Jesus’ cross-bearing command, “Follow me” (John 21: 19)? Did Paul lose his identity when he committed himself to the One who had said, “I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name” (Acts 9: 16)? Of course not. We know that the opposite was true. They found their identity in the act of self-denial. (Foster, Richard J.. ...

Thursday, October 12, 2017 The Dark Night of the Soul: The Discipline of Solitude, Part 3 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) Scripture: Isaiah 50:10 “Who among you fears the Lord? Who obeys the voice of His Servant? Who walks in darkness And has no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord And rely upon his God. Devotional: As we pursue the discipline of true solitude, it is common and even expected that we will enter into seasons of what often feels like a spiritual darkness or dryness. This is labeled by the men and women of wisdom who have gone before us as a “dark night of the soul.” God uses these often confusing times to teach us to rely less on our feelings as believers, and to draw us into a more intimate reliance on Him in our walk of faith. It is tempting to keep seeking a more emotional spiritual experience during these times, and we might even find others questioning our obedience to the Lord when we share our strug...

Tuesday, October 10, 2017 Silence and Solitude: The Discipline of Solitude, Part 2 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster) From Celebration of Discipline: “One reason we can hardly bear to remain silent is that it makes us feel so helpless. We are so accustomed to relying upon words to manage and control others. If we are silent, who will take control? God will take control, but we will never let him take control until we trust him. Silence is intimately related to trust. (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (pp. 100-101). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition).” “Catherine de Haeck Doherty writes, “All in me is silent and… I am immersed in the silence of God.”  It is in solitude that we come to experience the “silence of God” and so receive the inner silence that is the craving of our hearts. (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (p. 102). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.)” Sc...

Monday, October 9, 2017 “A Portable Sanctuary of the Heart:” The Discipline of Solitude, Part 1 (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster “We can cultivate an inner solitude and silence that sets us free from loneliness and fear. Loneliness is inner emptiness. Solitude is inner fulfillment. (Foster, Richard J.. Celebration of Discipline: The Path To Spiritual Growth (p. 96). HarperCollins. Kindle Edition.) “Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Life Together titled one of his chapters “The Day Together” and the following chapter “The Day Alone.” Both are essential for spiritual success. He writes, “Let him who cannot be alone beware of community…. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone…. Each by itself has profound pitfalls and perils. One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair.” 2 Therefore, we must seek ou...