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General

Let Us Not Forget The Naomi’s

written by Katrina

One of the most beautiful trees of God’s creation that I have ever seen is The Weeping Willow. It looks so serene, peaceful and wise but it also has a haunting glow of sorrow. It reminds me of many elderly women that I cared for when I worked in nursing homes years ago.

The Weeping Willow

They have been through The Great Depression, The Civil Rights Movement and sent their husbands, brothers and sons to serve several deployments of war. You know, back when we actually fought for freedom instead of money and power. There they were, staying strong alone on the homefront. Their discipline was tough but their comfort was gentle. They cooked meals every night and only allowed an hour of television. They stretched every penny, irons many creases, scubbed many floors and sewed many seams. They have been to many weddings and sadly even more funerals.

Growing Solid Roots

They have witnessed and survived tragedy but through their journey, they have grown solid roots that sprout trunks and branches that sprout beautiful and magnificant leaves of both wisdom and sorrow.

Today, many women use the term “strong” so loosely. But we women of today are just apple trees compared to these weeping willows. Yes, we have all had our share of trials and tribulations but we are still growing in wisdom, knowledge and experience. And most of our sorrows are from our own poor choices.

True Definition Of Strength

These willows have been through the worst of times, yet survived and through their trials, they maintained eloquence, class and an attitude of gratitude, never whining and never complaining. They taught us that in the midst of their storm, fall to your knees to praise the Lord. They scrubbed clothing with their bare hands and hung them out to dry, planted and maintained a garden, made dinner from scratch, used cloth diapers, sewing machines and wash dishes by hand. There was no air conditioning, dishwashers, microwaves, spas or Reality TV. There was no time fillers in their parenting such as McDonalds, video games, MTV or BET.

When they spoke, their words poured out wise instruction, encouragement and fair warning.

They despised lies, gossip, back-biting and foul language because they understood that life and death were in the power of the tongue and if you didn’t tame it, you got a switch to your back-side and a bar of soap in your mouth. You sat down at the dinner table saying your grace, and asking to be excused before you got up. School was a privilege not a burden and work came before fun.

The Anchors In Our Lives

They are the anchors in our lives, a glimpse of the flickering star of hope that we still have a chance to get it right by modeling them in their fight for faith, hope and the restoration of the family unit. They are the true definition of strength.

Let us not forget the Naomi’s in our lives so that the Ruth within us can rise up when we face loss and despair. Happy International Women’s Day.

“For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief.” Ecclesiastes 1:18

Those girls are not your competition

written by Gerdina

I recently came upon this quote that read, “Those girls are not your competition. Remember, the devil comes to steal, kill, and destroy. Stand with those girls and fight evil with good.” Does this sound all too familiar to you?

Paul tells us in Romans, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 (NIV)

Euodia and Syntyche

Hearing this quote reminded me of the two women from the Bible in Philippians Chapter 4. Their names were Euodia and Syntyche and they were from the church in Philippi. In Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, he called upon Euodia and Syntyche to live in harmony and reconcile their differences.

Paul states, “Now I appeal to Euodia and Syntyche. Please, because you belong to the Lord, settle your disagreement. And I ask you, my true partner [Syzygus], to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.” Philippians 4:2-3 (NLT)

Never again do we come across the names of Euodia and Syntyce in the Bible. However, the quick mention of these two women, in these two verses, speaks volumes. All of Scripture is God-breathed and the Lord has much to show us through this situation.

Losing sight of the most improtant thing

Paul doesn’t describe what actually took place between Euodia and Syntche. But the reason behind their fall out, their broken relationship, and their continued quarrelling doesn’t really matter much when you get down to it. The point is that they allowed sin to crack the door open and Satan was given the opportunity to creep in. In turn, this created chaos and division between the two women. Often anger, bitterness, and resentment can quickly rear its ugly head in a circumstance such as this, and take root in the heart if conflict remains unresolved. Euodia and Syntche, once fellow warriors in the proclamation of the gospel, lost sight of the most important thing – JESUS and telling others the Good News! It’s very possible that they began looking at themselves and at each other. This often creates strife and causes individuals to fight against one another and relationships are sadly destroyed or terribly broken. Soon they forgot that they are on the same side, part of the same team, and aiming for the same goal.

Lysa Terkeurst describes this very nicely when she said, “In God’s economy, people do not stand on opposing sides of the conflict scale. People stand on one side and Satan stands on the other. When we dump into another person’s lives, we are not leveling the conflict scale. We are just weighing down on the side of the scale. Satan loves it when we do his work for him by dumping on each other. The secret to healthy conflict resolution is not a-you-against-me-stance but realizing it’s all of us against Satan. He is the real enemy.”

Scripture is clear when stating, “For our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” Ephesians 6:12-13 (MEV)

A wonderful gift from God

Let us not give Satan the opportunity and the great pleasure of observing us tearing each other down. We really need one another. A church body, a congregation, is a wonderful gift from God as Paul describes it so beautifully in the letter to the Corinthians.

Paul states, “The way God designed our bodies is a model for understanding our lives together as a church: every part dependent on every other part, the parts we mention and the parts we don’t, the parts we see and the parts we don’t. If one part hurts, every other part is involved in the hurt, and in the healing. If one part flourishes, every other part into the exuberance. You are Christ’s body, that’s who you are! You must never forget this.” 1 Corinthians 12:25-31 (MSG)

Don’t fall for the enemy’s lies

So let’s be sure to edify one another and continually build each other up. By using our gifts and talents that we have received from God, we can join forces, come together, and use them to honor and glorify His precious and holy name – this is our purpose – to glorify Him in everything. We must ensure that we don’t lose sight of this through the cunning and deceptive tactics of Satan. We must always be on guard and must always be aware of his wicked ways. Know the Truth so you don’t fall for the enemy’s lies. Do not forget that we are a unity in Him – Our lord, our Redeemer, our King, our Savior Jesus Christ.

In closing, I want to share with you from Philippians 2: 1-4, “Is there any encouragement in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any compassion and mercy, then fulfill my joy and be like-minded, having the same love, being in unity with one mind. Let nothing be done out of strife or conceit, but in humility let each other esteem the other better than himself. Let each of you look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

AMEN!

February 14, 2019 Comments

General God Love Relationships

The love of a Father

written by Carla

What comes to mind when you think of your father? What was he like? Do you have fond memories of a loving childhood or do you rather not think about it? Father God is unlike any earthly father.

October 12, 2018 Comments

Fellowship General God

Different cultures, one Kingdom

written by Carla

In my quiet time this morning, as I was praying, asking the Lord what I could share in this blog, I had to think of all the nations and people She Rises reaches out to through the Internet. What a wonderful opportunity this is, but at the same time … what a challenge also, because people who follow She Rises come from many nations and cultures. It is important to be aware that how we think and express things is not always the same as the way in which people in other countries would do.

July 6, 2018 Comments

General Life Relationships

When your mind is taking it’s own way

written by Willemien

Imagine: You are walking in the mall when you see someone from church, the person passes you but doesn’t greet you. The radars in your head start to work, “Is she angry with me?”, “Did I say something wrong the other day?” You start filling in your own story, your mind takes a walk with you and often it is in the negative realm. Do you recognize this?

June 15, 2018 Comments

General Testimony

Share His story by sharing yours

written by Willemien

I love to teach about Gods word, so the children in my class know their teachers favorite subject: Religion. And last week we talked about the great commision Jesus gave His disciples and how He tells them they will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on them. And they will be His witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Matthew 28:19, Acts 1:8). We talked about how amazing it is that without the internet, airplanes and television, the gospel was spread and nowadays there are over 2 billion Christians. So these disciples did a pretty good job in sharing the good news. We talked about how important it is to share your faith with others, it can literally change peoples lives.

June 9, 2018 Comments

Bible General Jesus

Truth is a person

written by Carla

Did you ever talk with people about faith and the truth of God and they said: ‘What is truth? Something that is true for you, is not necessarily true for me!’ Or: ‘Well, if your beliefs are working for you, if that’s the truth for you… that’s fine, but I see things differently!’ The overall idea seems to be– sometimes even among Christians – that absolute truth of God does not exist; they say truth depends on people and their views; it’s a personal thing, they say.

June 8, 2018 Comments

General God Life Lifestyle

Rest time is not wasted time

written by Lexi

Life is fast paced. With social media, fast food, fast speed internet, and constant pressures to look and be a certain way, it seems like we are always trying to accomplish 100 things at once.

May 4, 2018 Comments