Spiritual Life Archives

August 24, 2015

A prayer for The Captivating Woman

There is so much on my heart and the words on my mind are all jumbled, but what I want to say first is:

Lord, let this website be used for Your glory. May my words and the words of The Captivating Woman team be pleasing to Your ear and may we increase the Kingdom as well as strengthen other sisters in Christ. May our mind not focus on numbers but on You and glorifying You with our gifts. Lord, I pray that this passion in our hearts to celebrate women and our Creator will become the passion for many others. Lord, we thank for being women. We thank for giving us the gift of femininity. We thank You for the talent You have placed on our lives and how that talent was created with purpose. Lord, may we understand that our lives have purpose through Your will. May we seek You daily and surrender our hearts to You. May we learn to walk confidently in You so that we may shine. Help us to reflect Your image to others. May we love others well and have more grace. Lord, impress on our hearts that we cannot do everything – we are not perfect women. God, we thank You that we are not perfect and do not have it all together. Because of that truth, it means we have to cling to You daily. Thank You Lord for life, abundant life. May Your glory shine through The Captivating Woman.

We are so thankful you are here. We hope that our site will bless and encourage you. Learn more about our site by checking our “About” page as well as learn about the team behind The Captivating Woman.

August 21, 2015

Get Off the Boat

I spend a lot of my time in the car. Don’t ask me why, but I do. My best ideas happen in the car. My best prayers are cried out in the drivers seat. Some of my best conversations happen when my hands are ten and two. As I was driving home from Southern California, the phrase “get off the boat” flooded my mind.

Get off the boat.

There could be a possibility that you have heard that phrase before in a sermon series. To me it sounds like a catchy Sunday sermon title. As I continued on my drive home I just didn’t understand why “get off the boat” was in my mind and what God was wanting to share with me.

As I was stuck on the 405, the most dreaded freeway to be on in Southern California due to its length and bumper to bumper traffic, I starting asking God questions. “Lord, what does this mean? What boat are You talking about?” He knew I was going to be on that road for awhile, so this was an appropriate time to speak with me.

He reminded me of Peter – the disciple who walked on water. But before Peter walks on water, the disciples had just witnessed an incredible miracle of Jesus feeding five thousand people. Their view of Jesus became even bigger. Jesus asks the disciples to do something wild – He wants them to feed the crowd. “With what?!!!” they ask (& probably freak out a bit). Jesus blesses the food and BOOM! They are able to feed the people. Could you imagine that? Could you imagine what the disciples were feeling at the moment?

But the story continues and Jesus immediately insists that the disciples get on the boat and cross the lake (Matthew 14:22).

Back to the boat. See, they were fishermen so spending time on a boat was normal. They were probably really good at what they did. Their job supported them. It could of possibly been the first job they had ever held. It was a second language to them – like driving a car to us. It came naturally.

Rough waters came and they were in trouble. But here comes Jesus walking on water. If they had an iPhone, a picture would of been posted on Instagram with the hashtag #jesuswalksonwater. Jesus calls out to Peter and tells him to come out and meet Him. But Peter’s faith wasn’t enough and began to sink.

Here’s the thing: the boat that I’m in is my comfort zone – it’s the life that I’ve created. And God is calling out “get off the boat.” My boat looks like this: college graduate living with my parents in a small town/substitute teacher/going with the flow. Yet I dream of bigger things. I dream that God will send me to incredible places. And here He is saying: get off the boat.

“But Lord, I just don’t know where to start in building Your Kingdom.” “I’m not that talented.” “I need to save money.”

Those are excuses I make. My view of God has become so small because I haven’t let Him fully use me. I’ve let fear and lies get in the way of the truth. Hebrews 13:20-21 says, “Now may the God of peace—who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and ratified an eternal covenant with his blood—may he equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he produce in you, through the power of Jesus Christ, every good thing that is pleasing to him. All glory to him forever and ever! Amen.” There is POWER with Jesus. I can get off the boat and do His Will and have faith that He will support me.

May our view of God become greater when we understand that He will equip us when we feel so inadequate. May His power flood our minds so that we may “get off the boat” and keep our focus on Him without our fears and excuses stopping us. May His truth be a stamp on our hearts so that we can go out and accomplish His work.

Amen.

August 21, 2015

Haley Bower’s Testimony

Our testimony is one of a kind. It’s powerful. It can bring tears. Maybe even questions. Our testimonies give us a better understand of who God is and His relentless love for us. Today you will read about one of our writers – Haley. You’ll see how Jesus changed everything in her world and how He gave her new life – spiritually and mentally.

I grew up in the Catholic church, attending Sunday school and church camps. I hated going to the traditional church every Sunday because it was extremely boring to me. At age fifteen I came to a crucial point. Being forced to make a confirmation made me truly start to think about what I believed in. I mean, I knew there was a God, but I felt like there was something I was missing. I couldn’t pinpoint it. After I was confirmed into the Catholic faith, the required classes and camps came to a sudden halt. There was nothing for the newly confirmed to be a part of, other than the regular church service.

My best friend invited me to visit her churches youth group. Honestly, there wasn’t any notable difference between the two to me. I started going to the youth group more frequently and fell completely in love with the community of young people and the leaders with their love for Jesus and each other. I had never seen anything like it.

At the same time as this I had been going through a time of severe anxiety which had caused me to experience my life as if it were in third person. My Sweet 16 had arrived and there was a party with about 200 people in attendance. Everyone was crowded around me singing happy birthday. My mom came out carrying a big cake and I realized in the middle of the song that I was seeing everything from a third person perspective. It was as if I was watching everyone sing and celebrate a girl and I was an onlooker. This out of touch feeling went on for two years. It was the scariest and hardest thing to not know if I would ever feel present in my own life again. I would pray and not feel anything.

It wasn’t until one night when I was worshipping at my youth group that I broke down and realized that worshipping was the only time I ever felt truly present in my life. My leader pulled me aside to talk and that night I accepted Jesus into my life. I barely knew what being a Christian meant compared to being a Catholic. It took me a year or two to see what that differences were.

I can tell you now that the difference I found was true relationship with Jesus. There was a shift for me and from there my relationship has grown. There have been many trials these last few years with the worst being the death of a best friend at the hands of a drunk driver; that shook my faith around. These trials have ultimately pushed me to new areas in my faith that I had not experienced, but have helped me to grow in my relationship with the Lord.

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