Guest Blogger Julie Moore

I am so excited to introduce to you my new friend Julie Moore.

I recently met Julie at a function for the women's leadership team at our church and am blessed to be serving with her in a Life Group as well. Though, as women, we have many things in common, the greatest of these is GRACE.

Love Him Where He Is Right Now

When Brandy asked me to guest post I began thinking about what makes a grace full wife. Lots of things came to mind but one stuck out in my head.

My husband and I got married when I was 17 and he was 18. Neither of us were believers in Christ. He was enlisted in the army so we traveled to Kentucky for a year then Germany for another. I was miserable away from home as I was a family girl. So when I found out I was pregnant and would go stateside to deliver I was elated although I would miss hubby.

After my daughter was born and hubby was home from Germany I decided (the Holy Spirit decided) it was time for me to start my baby in church. She and I went and after a few weeks I accepted Christ and life began to change for me.

I no longer wanted to smoke, drink, hear bad language, or listen to secular music. All these were things hubby and I did together. Needless to say Jesus was changing me and I loved Him and wanted my family to have this sweet relationship I had too.

So I started asking hubs to come with me. His answer was always a firm, “No.” It went on like that for years and I continued to pray and pray waiting for God to make him get saved. I didn’t understand that neither God nor I could make him believe, it was hubs decision to change his way of life.
However I continued to plead as if going to church was the answer to all our problems.

Then the day came and he finally went. 

Then he asked the pastor to come over to our home.

Then he prayed to receive Christ.

Hallelujah! My troubles were over, right? Wrong.

Hubby continued to go with us for a while. By then we had a son also and the four of us went to service together several times a month. Then one week he stopped going. I was so disappointed. Hurt. Let down.  I was alone. Again.

Guess what I did? Yep I began to nag him to come back to church. Let me just say now, nagging does not work! It does however push your loved one in the opposite direction. He did not come back for years.

One day I heard the Lord speak to me in my Spirit saying, “He doesn’t have to be in church for Me to speak to His heart. Leave him alone, love him where he is and let me work it out.

As a grace full wife this has brought me more peace in my marriage than almost anything God has taught me. Love. Your. Husband. Where. He. Is.  As hard as that sounds it is so easy to do. The burden of his relationship with Jesus was taken off me and put where it’s supposed to be. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30

Julie Moore

julieemoore@bellsouth.net
www.gracefullwomen.com

Silence and Intimacy

 Written April 2010:

When I first met my husband, I was a broken mess. I had no idea what God had in store for me, only that I was lonely. I was tired of being a single mom and not having someone to come home to. I was sick of not being able to spend as much time with my child as I wanted because I had to work. And most of all, I was appalled at how these feelings manifested themselves in the form of anger and resentment.

I struggled for much of mine and Mark's early relationship as I didn't want to "not be true to myself". I HAD to go to nursing school and have a back up plan. I HAD to support myself and my son. I HAD to be both mother and father (a role I knew, and still know, nothing about). Not to mention constantly punishing myself for getting stressed out and suffering those around me with the mood storms. It can be exhausting to think that you have to do everything, to be everything to everybody. I wanted relationships, but I didn't know how to maintain them. I couldn't maintain myself.

Because of all these things, I pushed God away and I pushed Mark away. My thinking was always along the lines that the relationships would end anyway, why get too attached? I know so many that have faced or are facing these same emotions.

Fortunately, we serve a God who not only is the author of life, but knows us, loves us, CHOOSES us!! He has been showing me little by little His love and how He woos me. I believe that God used Mark to show me how valuable He thinks I am. I always wanted to be a wife and mother and He answered that prayer. He has given me an example of how He loves that I can understand and relate to.

Over and over we are referred to as the bride of Christ. My favorite verse comes from Hosea and God says, "In that day you will no longer call me Baali (my master), but you will call me Ishi (my husband). He loved us so deeply that He sent His Son to die for us!!!

We are His BELOVED!!!

If that isn't something to rejoice about, I don't know what is! God is slowly wooing me, longing for the quiet times that we can spend together each day.

Over the years, weeks, months, I have prayed for God to strip away my pride, to show me His face, to hold me. The author of Intimate Faith gives such a beautiful picture of the scripture "be still and know that I am God". Like a loving husband holds his bride in His arms to comfort her, so God wants to hold us in His arms.

He wants to love and comfort us if we will only let Him. I am so overwhelmed that He would choose me for His bride. That He declares me worthy to worship and praise at His feet.

The Pain of Pride

Another repost, from March 2010:

Okay, so if you are alive in any sense of the word, then you have had a bad day. If you have had a bad day, then you know what it feels like to be beaten down, to feel the wounding of pride. During the Life Group last night, we briefly touched on the "thorn in [Paul's] flesh" (2 Cor.). Now this morning I have been dwelling on the scriptures from last night and I think there is a lot to be said about thorns.

I have, many times in my life, talked about the good things I have done such as how often I have read the Bible, how many times I have read scripture, etc. But I don't often admit when I fail. I fail everyday at some point and have to pray for forgiveness. Some days, I don't even know where to start when it comes to forgiveness because I have messed up so many times.

I have occasionally confessed to those I knew would help hold me accountable, but sometimes it feels like you are spilling so much bad that you are constantly bringing them down. For that reason, I don't do it on a regular basis. I have not sat down with anyone and said, "Listen, will you meet with me regularly and be my accountability partner?". I need to though.

I am in a constant struggle to let God strip away my pride. I want Him to speak to me anytime, anywhere and I will KNOW it's HIM speaking, just like someone else mentioned last night. I had the desire in me, but had never phrased it out loud. I want to learn to accept His teachings, both fun and painful, with joy and gladness. I want to learn to take joy in my weakness like the apostle Paul.

And even with all the mess ups, He is still fiercely protective and loving to me. He still yearns for my everything. He is jealous FOR me. That's a pretty cool thing to know, even if it is hard to understand. I can't wrap my mind around the fact that my husband wants and loves me in spite of my flaws.

How much MORE does GOD love me?

I have always been told that as much as you love your children, God loves so much more than we can imagine. Well, a different thought occurred to me last night. God is jealous for me. I am jealous for my husband. I wouldn't want anyone or anything to come between me and my husband (save God, who SHOULD be the center of marriage). How much MORE does God desire that with me? If we are the bride of Christ and He outlined how a husband should love his wife, didn't He also show how He loves us? And in the same way, He showed us how we are to love and honor Him, the way a wife should honor, love, and obey her husband.

This was a powerful example for me.

Blind Faith Revisited

As I am setting up this new blog, praying over it, and seeking other Godly women to post along with me, I wanted to share some old posts I shared a couple of years ago.

~~*~~Blind Faith ~~*~~

This morning, while reading in the book of John, I was struck by a certain passage. To give you some background, Jesus had just fed the multitude with the fish and loaves of bread and had crossed over to the other side of the Sea.

When the people realized that Jesus had gone, they went to find Him. Once they found Him, a conversation ensues about eating the flesh of the Son of Man and drinking His blood. Now, this concept was obviously too much for many of the disciples and John 6:66 (think there might have been some significance in the number?) says that "from that moment many of His disciples turned back and no longer accompanied Him".

I don't know about you, but this probably would have confused me! I like to believe that I would be able to blindly follow anything that Jesus said, but I often find myself questioning things even now. I guess that means that I should have more mercy when thinking of the silly Israelites wandering in the desert.

But the disciples that Jesus had chosen, even JUDAS, said "Lord, who will we go to? YOU are the one with the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that YOU are the Holy One of God!" Now that's deep! Especially when someone is telling you that you should "eat the flesh and drink the blood". That must have sounded pretty odd at that time!

Of course, we now know what Jesus was referring to when He said that we should partake of the body and the blood. I am sure that I probably would have pestered Him saying, "but seriously, what does that mean??"

Such a stark contrast to the Israelites in the desert. Both groups saw miracles. The Israelites saw the plagues God placed on the Egyptians, the cloud by day and fire by night to guide their way, and the parting of the red sea just to name a FEW. And the disciples and crowds witnessed healing of the lame and feeding MULTITUDES on just a small lunch of fish and bread with 12 BASKETS left over.

In my opinion, the Israelites saw much bigger and flashier signs, and yet strayed so often from their faith. In many ways I myself can see those same qualities in my character, though I pray that I will have more the faith of a mustard seed. What kind of faith do you have? Will you trust when things seem completely incomprehensible?

I pray today that I will have the faith and strength to stand and to follow Christ, no matter what the cost and no matter how crazy it may sound to me at the time. The bottom line is that Christ can do ANYTHING!

Habakkuk 2:4 tells us that "the righteous will live by faith".

And finally, I love the NIV translation of Hebrews 11:1 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." I have faith that "HE who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus"

To me, this includes teaching me to have faith; teaching me to trust in him. I can't wait to see what He has in store for me and my family. One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment in Christ Jesus. We are either praising Him or learning from Him and then praising Him!

Nice to Meet You

Who am I?

I am a grace-FULL wife

What makes me special?

Well, there really isn't anything special about me. The truth is, my Jesus living inside me is what is so special! You see, as a child of God I have been saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). As a woman, I have been given special gifts specific to what God has called me to do (Rom 12:6). And as a wife, I have been blessed to find my Boaz (Ruth). Not only that, but I am the bride of Christ. ESPECIALLY, I am the bride of Christ!

I want to point your attention to being the BRIDE.

To explain the idea of the grace-full wife, you must first understand what Christ did for us when He died on the cross. He fought for us and HE WON! He broke the chains of bondage of sin and death.

Just like Christ fought for His bride on the cross, so should we be fighting for our families. Divorce runs rampant in today's society and I am tired of seeing the enemy win. This blog was created to minister to women so that we would have friends and mentors to help us learn how to fight for our families. Maybe you need help learning to manage, pray for, or grow your family.

If you are reading this and have a testimony to share, prayerful advice, or even a prayer request, I encourage you to contact me and I will be more than happy to hear from you. If I don't know the answer, I have some wonderful grace-full friends and a book with ALL the answers....the BIBLE.

May the grace and peace of our Lord, Jesus Christ be with you!