Those of you who know me know I LOVE God and His Word. While the world thinks being a Christian and living according to the truths of the Bible means living a life of bondage, hemmed in with rules and regulations at every turn, the truth is exactly the opposite. Living God's way brings freedom, not bondage!
Perhaps you already know that, but the question is, do you live it? We can believe all the right things and still get entangled in the lies of the enemy. So how do we get free from these entanglements and live the abundant life God has for us?
I'm excited to share with you a brand new study from my friend Cindy Bultema that will help us to answer this question! Cindy's study "Live Full, Walk Free" uses the apostle Paul's letter to the church he planted in the sinful city of Corinth to help us navigate our way through the sinful culture we live in today.
Here’s Cindy with a sneak peek at Chapter 5 of Live Full Walk Free:
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You
Are Not the Only One
I was talking with my friend Jamie recently after
she’d had a long, disappointing Monday.
Everywhere she turned she was pelted with lies,
frustration, and discouragement.
Jamie was lamenting that at the end of her long day,
in the midst of trying to bake cookies for a sick friend—and burning half of
them—she caved in and inhaled a huge handful of half-burned cookies.
Easy comfort,
right? Except every woman knows what happened
next: After eating those cookies, Jamie carried guilt and shame on top of
everything else that had gone wrong in her life on that horrible, rotten, no
good day.
I have so been there. My
guess is: you have too.
One more cookie story,
because in this life we will have cookie temptations.
Once, when my kids were
ages one, two, three and ten, I came up with the brilliant idea to invite all
the 4th grade moms from my son’s school over for coffee, conversation, and
homemade chocolate chip cookies.
It seemed like a good
idea at the time, but my plan to win friends and influence people through
chocolate quickly went bust. In the midst of trying to keep my kiddos busy,
roll store-bought dough onto cookie sheets, and frantically hide all our
clutter – I gave in and ate (more like “sucked down”) four ooey, gooey warm and
chewy cookies.
Later that week, when I
sunk down into my therapist’s couch, I cried and told her that I was disgusted
with myself. I was filled with self-loathing, and shame. Why? Because of the
cookies. I told her that I had been striving to pretend I had it all together –
when the reality was I was hanging on by a thread (a thin thread, at that).
And then, longing for
connection and acceptance from these other moms, I had tried to numb my
feelings with homemade cookies. And afterward, what did I do? I let the enemy
flood me with lies and guilt and shame.
My therapist listened
and nodded. “Cindy, do you think you are the only woman who has eaten some of
her homemade cookies?”
“But I ate four cookies. Not one, not two, but four.” I said loudly, as if she spoke a
foreign language and couldn’t understand the meaning of the number four.
“Cindy, do you
think you are the only woman who has eaten FOUR of her homemade cookies?” my
therapist replied.
“Um, yeah, probably not”.
So recently, when I
listened to my friend Jamie describe her discouragement and self-loathing over
eating her chocolate chip cookies, I
recycled my therapist’s question.
“Jamie, do you think you
are the only woman who has eaten some of her homemade cookies? Because, friend,
you are not the only one.”
The words I gave Jamie
are the words I want to give to you: You
are not the only one.
·
You are not the only one who deviated from your healthy eating
plan.
·
You are not the only one who feels disappointed, discouraged, or
overwhelmed.
·
You are not the only one who wonders if you’re “not enough”
compared to air brushed perfection.
And,
sweet friend, you are not meant to live under harsh judgment, condemnation, and
self-loathing.
Thankfully God’s Word
speaks realistically to you, to me, and to cookie lovers everywhere about how
to live full, free lives—even in the midst of our most disappointing and
discouraging of days.
We can start by choosing to extend the same grace we
would share with a girlfriend to ourselves.
We would never say to a friend who indulged on
fresh-baked cookies, “You stink. You have no self-control, everyone thinks you
are fat, and no one likes you anyway.”
You would never say that, right?
So why do we let the enemy put such horrible, garbage
thoughts in our head?!
Let’s choose grace over guilt.
Let’s choose freedom over frustration.
Let’s choose kindness over constant criticism and
comparisons.
Let’s choose life…life to the full, more than enough,
super abundance, full, free life! (John 10:10)
May the God who made you, knows you, loves you, and
desires to fill your days with satisfying, life-giving moments remind you afresh
that you are accepted, loved and enough—cookie crumbs and all!
_________________________
Cindy’s
latest Bible study, Live Full Walk Free:
Set Apart in a Sin-Soaked World was released in December 2016. Visit her
blog to watch the study trailer, and download a FREE sample chapter and set of
A-Z scripture cards: http://www.cindybultema.com/live-full-walk-free/
With nearly
20 years of ministry experience, Cindy is a popular women’s speaker, author,
and Bible teacher. But don’t let her cheerful smile fool you—Cindy has endured
single parenting, overcome bondage to addiction, and survived tragic loss. Cindy
lives in Michigan with her husband and their four kids. Most days you can find
Cindy walking her beagle Rocky, attending one of her boys’ hockey games, or
serving hot lunch at her kids’ school. Connect with Cindy at
www.cindybultema.com.