This post is from a Women’s Event at Grace Monroe. I spoke to the Woven women’s ministry on Monday evening. Several women asked for a copy of my talk, so here it is. Hopefully, others may also be blessed by it.

Good evening, Ladies. Thank you for leaving your burdens at the door. Sometimes we don’t even have time to think about what is weighing us down. We just rush through our days, not really feeling the heaviness of our worries. Writing them down and pinning them to the board requires us to stop. To think about the toll they take, and to be intentional in laying them down. Just that alone can release some hope in your spirit.

So, let’s pray. Lord, We have come for this moment. We have set this time aside from our daily schedule intentionally. We lay all our burdens at your feet. We give them to you, and we pick up your mantle of peace. Jesus you are the Prince of Peace and we long for that peace in the midst of our days. Give us this time to hear what you have to say. May it change our hearts and minds and bring some relief from the anxiety that swirls around us. Cover us now. Open our ears to hear what the Holy Spirit has for us. In Jesus name. Amen.

About 6 months ago, I woke in the night feeling the Lord tugging at my heart. I got up and went to my writing/praying chair. I wrote what I felt he was saying. I prayed. I wondered. I pondered. I listened. In my heart I heard him say, this is for the women of grace. I wondered some more. How do I give word to women I don’t know in a church I don’t go to? I messaged Peter and said I think I have a word for the women in your church, but I have no idea what to do with it. From there I was connected with Jill and here I am. Thank you for letting me come and share this. I hope it will be meaningful for you all.

Here is the word I wrote that night…close your eyes and listen to his words to you…

Beloved, I see you. Always. No matter what you are doing, you are in my vision…and my heart. You mean so much to me. You cannot even comprehend how much. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. Even in trying times. Even when you feel as if you are barely hanging on. I am there, beside you and inside you. In your dark times. In your joys. At every place you are, I am there also. So dear one, lay down your anxiety and your fears. Your worry over your children. They are my children too. Your concerns about the world. I am not surprised by one thing that is happening. Your own health, I see you. No matter what you are facing. Your marriage, I am in it with you. We are a cord of three. Your singleness, I am your partner. Every day and every night. Your parents, their health is in my hands. The viewpoints of your loved ones…some you may not agree with…are also in my hands. You carry so much on your shoulders…but it is unnecessary. I have it. I have it all. Free yourself from the burdens. Even if just for a few moments. Lay it all down. You are enough, daughter. You…as you are…this moment…are enough. No need to perform for me…or anyone else. No need to make yourself into someone you are not. I know you. To your core. I made you. As you are. You are enough for me. My singular desire for this moment in time is that you are also enough for you.  

Breathing prayers…

Inhale– I choose love over fear – Exhale-God, you are steady in every struggle

Inhale-I release my worry and what-ifs – Exhale– I welcome your prevailing peace and holy possibilities

Inhale– friend of my soul – Exhale– come rest with me Amen.

There is something about breathing which connects us with the Lord in peaceful ways. When you think about it, he is our breath. Without him, we would cease to live. On the days when you feel as if you are drowning for one reason or another…stop. Breathe. Close your eyes. Breathe. Use breathing prayers to center yourself in his truth.

The fact is ladies, you know the truth. It is not far away, as something to be obtained by working to find it. It is in you, because he is in you. So, right there inside of you…is all that you need. The trick, is believing it. We say we do…and we want to…and we believe we do…until. Until the voices that tell us we are not enough start whispering in our ears. They are sneaky. They use scripture sometimes to convince us that we will never meet up.

No matter what stage of life we are in…we will always have to work harder to “get there.” We will always fail to meet the standard. We can blame it on our society and media, or we can blame it on the theology, or we can blame it on all kinds of outside influences…but allowing those whispers to define us is an internal issue. The issue is that we so easily believe those voices…which are the opposite of the truth.

This is what God says. You are the apple of my eye. You are my home. I abide in you and you in me. I am your provider. I am the lover of your soul. I cover you with my hand. I protect your heart at all costs. This is not just anyone saying these things, ladies. It is the God of the universe. That is mind blowing, and yet we let the whispers reign, and convince us that we are only women.

So, let’s talk about being women for a minute. The word only is meant to demean us. It is a four-letter word we need to ban from our minds. I am only a mom. I am only a wife. I am only a single woman. I am only …fill in your own blanks. Only means no one or nothing more. I looked it up. Synonyms are not more than, as little as, barely, scarcely, hardly. When I think I am only a woman…what I am saying is I am no more than a woman. I am barely a woman. I am hardly a woman. A bit harsh, no?

Yet, our actions show what we actually believe vs what we say we believe. We step back instead of stepping up. We try to get comfortable with our role in the shadows, rather than believing we have something to say, we discount ourselves because of our perceived weaknesses and flaws. And we keep all that stuff…the hard stuff…bottled up inside. We are trying to fit a mold that has been part of who we believe we are for years and years.

The Christian woman certainly can’t have mental health issues. The Christian woman has to keep her household clean and running smoothly…always. The Christian woman can’t have questions about life. Nor can she say no to tasks she is asked to do by others. She can’t talk about problems in her marriage or with her kids. She can’t feel included if she is divorced or alone. If she struggles with addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, work or any other obsession she is knows it is best to be silent. She needs to be a Mary, not a Martha. She cannot be selfish.

Somehow, the weight of these biblical examples, doesn’t help. It makes the burden worse, doesn’t it? Trying so hard to add Mary-like behavior, in addition to living life at break neck speed. Trying to be both…because Martha’s skills are needed to get things done, but there is Mary sitting at his feet. It feels like she is mocking her sister. Or, we must be an example of the Proverbs 31 woman at all times…up early…caring for everyone…but ourselves. Setting the alarm even earlier to tend to the needs around her. Being crafty. Buying land. Is there anything the Proverbs 31 woman can’t do?

We are setting ourselves up for failure when we fall into the comparison trap. Even with biblical models. He didn’t tell us to be like those women. He said to be like his Son. When we all know is impossible, without His help. God made us each unique. He gave us the quirks we have. Our personalities have been shaped by his hand. It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. We follow him. He transforms us. It is his work, not ours, which changes us.

Let him do the work. Open your hands. Lay down comparison. Put striving aside. Just breathe. That is all. Breathe and let the Holy Spirit fill you with his breath. He guides you. He directs your steps even when you feel you are going nowhere. When you wait on him, he moves on your behalf. Not because you are only a woman who cannot do it herself, but because you are a woman who allows him to do it through you.

You are a woman! His creation. AS YOU ARE. He is enraptured by you. He understands you. He covers you. He celebrates you. He loves you so very much. He died for you, you know. The not-enough whispers, don’t remind you of that, do they? You are so valuable to him… that AS YOU ARE, he died for you. Took all the sin. Replaced it with love. He replaces the enemy’s whispers with his own. You are mine. I love you. Rest in me and with me. Let me sit with you. Listen to my heart for you. You are enough for me.

We can do hard things ladies. We ALREADY do hard things. Young moms are raising the next generation. That is a hard thing. Some of us are burying our parents. That is a hard thing. Single moms do hard things every single day. Widows walk with their grief…a hard thing. Every woman here is doing hard things. We are working and managing everything. Keeping the schedules and the budget. Grocery shopping and laundry. We can do hard things, because…

Women are strong. You are strong. The enemy wants us to think otherwise, but when you look at all you are carrying, the joys and the burdens, you can see you are a woman. What a gift it is to have been made a woman! We are made in his image. Somewhere along the line that seems to have been dropped from our minds. But it is still true. We were made like him.

We are a unique creation, with a powerful ability to commune with him. Our intuitiveness and emotional connection with spiritual things is our superpower. It is when we abide in him, that his power flows through us to the world. It is then… when we can see our pain is redemptive. It is then… we are no longer afraid to speak. It is then… when he empowers us to be his hands and feet. It is then… that his message surfaces in our stories which embrace others and draw them in.

Community is born here. Compassion is formed here. It is here… that we see ourselves as he made us, imperfect, but loved beyond measure. It is here… that we accept ourselves and each other with all of our weaknesses. A transparent place of vulnerability. A community of suffering. Real and raw. We are formed and transformed here.

We have to have a safe place to tell our stories. A community woven together by his hand. The tapestry which is a mess on the back, but exquisite on the front. Both. And. A mess. A wonder. A tangled, tumultuous, lovely Masterpiece. Held together by his scarlet thread. He is weaving himself into our lives, with every breath we breathe. Make no mistake. You cannot mess up what he is doing. You are not that powerful. Rest in that fact. Let me say that again…You cannot mess up what he is doing. One more time, you cannot mess up what he is doing. Feel the freedom? There is liberty in knowing that. 2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”

Change your whispers in your head, and repeat these new messages…I cannot mess up what he is doing. I can do and am doing hard things. I am his masterpiece. I am held together by his scarlet thread. He loves me absolutely and completely. He made me a unique creation. I am strong. I am gentle. I am who he made me to be. I do not have to earn his love. I am loved. Now. As I am. Now. He has given me a voice. And a story. And the ability to share it.

Is it scary? Absolutely. It’s always scary to say yes to God. Check out the disciples. Check out Mary and Joseph. Check out Paul. But being vulnerable and transparent brings freedom, not just for you, but for others who are in the same boat. Life is hard, but you are made in his image, of his cloth, with his thread. You are not an accident or a disappointment. You are his beloved.  

There are some of you here who are in a broken place. We all have brokenness in our lives…but there are times when it is so overwhelming we cannot see past it to the hope. If that is you, today is the day for healing to begin. Today is the day you are going to allow others to carry you. Just like the friends who took their friend to Jesus for healing, those around you are going to lay you at his feet and believe his words of healing for you…even when you cannot believe them yourself.

Every woman here has been broken. Every one of us knows pain. Heartache. We have compassion because of our testimonies, each one uniquely individual. Each one of us has something to offer to those currently suffering. And when we are the ones in crisis, you will have something to offer. That is what community is all about. For those of you currently struggling and for those who have walked hard roads and come through on the other side gather around your sisters. We are going to pray for one another. The body being the body. Lifting each other up. Encouraging words and prayers. Understanding that you have something powerful to offer…the Holy Spirit and He lives inside of you.

God, we love you so much. We need you in our lives to remind us of who you made us to be. Thank you for my sisters. Thank you that we are women. Thank you that you love us as we are. We go now, back into our lives. We carry only what you have for us and leave the rest with you. We lean on each other and the community you are creating as a safe place. We build each other up and speak words of encouragement that you give us. Thank you that you have given us everything we need. In Jesus name, amen.