Power Up for PCOS: faithful fridays

Showing posts with label faithful fridays. Show all posts

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Faithful Sunday's Religion or Relationship?

Do you want a Religion or a Relationship?

I'm sure you've heard the saying that God didn't want us to have a religion, He wanted a relationship with us. Man made beliefs into religion and made it so we spend more time arguing over beliefs instead of loving God and His people.

My view, there are too many religions out there and it can be confusing. People sometimes focus on a religion instead of a relationship with God. Most times, their religion involves a Sunday only practice of going to church or fellowship and that's where it ends. Whether you are a new believer, have an interest in learning more about God, or regularly attend church/fellowship, make sure you don't leave your faith at the door when you leave. It's more than just Sunday mornings. It's a 24/7 relationship. God doesn't go away, He is always there waiting to talk to us, be with us and share with us, like a good friend that you have known all your life. He wants to be everything for you and with you. To show you love, support, kindness, grace, mercy, comfort and so much more. "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10

But I'm not perfect...

God doesn't ask for perfection. You just have to talk to him and have a relationship with him. God sees all of us as perfect. He created us. I heard on a Joyce Meyers seminar one time, God doesn't make any junk. It's true. You are perfect just as you are. You may be skinny, overweight, tall, short, moody, happy, or what ever. It does not change anything. I like the verse from Jeremiah 1:5, "I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

What religion should I choose...

Because of all the religions out there,it can be confusing for people that have a sincere interest in learning about God. They may have an interest but not know what church to go to or what faith to choose. They may not know how to tell the difference if what their hearing is accurate. I found this really good chart on Religion vs. Relationship to start us off. This is my take on religion. I totally believe that it is better to have a relationship with God. As far as accuracy, I found a few verses: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." II Timothy 2:15 "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." II Timothy 3:16

Which leads me to my point. I am a believer and I do not practice any religion. What does that mean, you ask. I believe that God exists and that He is the author of the great book called the Bible. Not all the other versions out there that are interpreting it into their own views. I believe in the King James Version of the Bible. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God and he came to earth and died so that our sins are forgiven and we are now saved, if we believe that.

As a woman of God, I will love you because God has instructed me and all of us to love one another as He has loved us. "This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. John 15:12

Where do I start...

1. Pray to God and thank him for putting this on your heart. God is perfect with his timing and you may have seen this post for just that reason. God speaks to us in many ways. It can be a spontaneous thought, feeling, vision, impression or even through the right person calling at the right time. He will use anyway He can to get the message to you. You just have to listen for it.

2. Get a Bible. You can get a fancy one or you can get a dollar store one. It's not about how it looks. It's the words inside it that matter. Some people write and highlight in their Bibles and some think it's wrong. Google that and you will see some awesome results. I believe that God wants us to understand and learn from the Bible so it has been given to us as a tool to use for that purpose. He doesn't care if you write in it or highlight. It is helping you to learn.

3. Find places to start learning about God. This can be a church, home fellowship, friend, family member, website, TV, book, movies or a million different ways out there. I have a link here to my personal blog where you can see a complete list of my favorite resources.

If you are a faithful cyster, you can join our Power Up for PCOS Faithful Cysters group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/506575279358853/

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and will continue to read along. Please comment below if you enjoyed this post.

Written by: Beth Wolf, founder of Power Up for PCOS which provides support to women with PCOS through educational Power Up Groups, building connections with other PCOS women, calendar of upcoming PCOS events, professional referrals and reviews, PCOS store, and other specialized events to raise money for PCOS research. She can be reached by visiting http://www.powerupforpcos.com, emailing Beth@powerupforpcos.com or by calling 810-545-PCOS (7267)

Power Up for PCOS - emPowering Women to Manage PCOS

*Please note that I am not a medical professional. I am not qualified to give out any medical advice. I am a woman with PCOS who is sharing my personal experiences in this blog and I advise you to consult a professional.*

Friday, September 14, 2012

Faithful Friday: What We Fill Our Head's With

My, oh my, what do we choose to fill our head's with?

In case you haven't heard, there is a few trends going on right now. One of them is about a series of books called 50 Shades of Grey and the other is about a movie called Magic Mike. Hearing about these so much lately has brought me to some big decisions in my life. I have been shown by God recently what to allow in my head and what to NOT. I admit, I was excited and intrigued by them at first.

I am not saying anything against you reading these books or watching these types of movies but I am going to give you my opinion of what I have been shown.

God wants us to surround ourselves with "godly" thoughts, people and things. When I first heard about the book series, I went searching online and read the description. I was actually shown a page of it by a friend before that. As I read the description on the back of the book, I noticed that it was very dark and almost satanic, I guess I would say. I just didn't feel right about the description. Someone told me it's not bad, it's about a love story. Well, I chose not to read it because I just didn't feel it was right to be filling my head with that kind of stuff. I was taught an important point about a year ago from my Reverend's wife. "If you don't have peace about it, don't do it." I felt uneasy and not so good about it so I went with it and chose not to.

Which brings me to my next encounter with this book. I was on a camping trip with my fellowship and one of my friends/fellowship ladies had brought the book. She was young, like 18. I didn't know she had it. Some of the other ladies and I were talking and she was off sitting on a bench reading and I saw the flash of the cover and I asked her mom if that was 50 shades and she said yes. I asked her if she knew what was in that and we started discussing it. She was shocked. I went over to my friend that luckily had only been about 2-3 pages in and asked her if she knew what that book was about. We talked about it and it turned out she didn't. It was just given to her. We flipped open to a page about 3/4 of the way through it and I showed her it. She was so shocked and disgusted. I told her she could choose to read it if she wanted to but I explained to her the same thing I am going to explain to you.

I believe that God wants us to fill our head with things that align with His word. Sex is supposed to be a beautiful way of showing love between a man and a woman (don't come after me on this one, I am telling you MY personal beliefs and I respect that everyone has their own beliefs on that). It is the most sacred and special act that two can share. If we fill our head with thoughts of bondage and inappropriate ways of this act, it does not line up with God's word. Why would we want to fill our heads with that and ruin such a sacred thing God has created for us?

As far as the Magic Mike and all the other types of movies and books like this, it is the same feeling. Before you watch, read or act on anything you should always use that famous WWJD acronym. I know it sounds funny but seriously, does it line up with God's word or is it living for the flesh in the world?

I make no judgments on any of you, I am just sharing my opinions and thoughts on these worldly vs Godly things.

Suggestions for some of my favorite Godly movies:

Fireproof

Facing the Giants

Flywheel

Courageous

Marriage Retreat (the one staring David A.R. White)

One Night with a King (about Esther)

WWJD

Hollow

Island of Grace

*Warning, some of these may not be ok for kids. I always screen first.

Power Up for PCOS - emPowering Women to Manage PCOS

Friday, August 24, 2012

Faithful Friday's: Prayer Time

Prayer Area Closet Door

My Prayer Closet...

Lately, I have been feeling a need to spend more time alone with God. Usually, that is not much of an option. I have a family, a job, a hobby/side business, girl scout troop and of course Power Up for PCOS. It doesn't leave much time left in the day. Over the last few months I have worked so hard to rearrange my priorities and put God first. I think I have done well but Prayer is one area that is lacking.

So this week, I was at fellowship and my Reverend's wife was talking about this prayer wall at Soul Fest. She said every year she puts a request on it and every year something wonderful happens. I liked this idea so much but wanted to figure out to make work in my home. I started Googling prayer walls and came across some closets as well and that's when the light bulb went off.

I found a small hallway/closet. It's actually my front door hallway that we don't use but it has a door so I consider it a closet. Anyway, here is what I put in my Prayer Closet:

Small table

Chair

Writing utensils (pen, pencil, highlighter)

Tissues

Heart shaped sticky notes to write prayers on

Empty box of tissues marked Answered Prayers

Bible

Bible studies

I also made a stop at dollar tree and picked up some decorations like a small faith plaque and some cards that I liked the pictures and sayings on to hang on the wall.

Finally the door... The door has glass panels on it and I felt I really needed my privacy. My time with God can become emotional especially while in prayer (this is the reason for the tissues). I decided to take construction paper and write out my favorite versus or other things that inspire me on them. It worked great. Nice and private.

Here is a list of things that WILL NOT come into my Prayer Closet:

Phone

Computer

Food

Pets

I actually have a study I'm doing write now online but I watch the video part out in my main part of the house. If I attempt to bring it in, I will get distracted. I also make sure to leave my phone on the other side of the house too. It happens often that I sit down to study and get a phone call. This is stealing my time with God. The world can wait for us just a bit. It won't die.

One thing to take into consideration, talk to your family about this special place and your intentions of time in it. I spoke with my family and they have taken part in using the prayer closet too but we make sure to respect each others time alone with God and to not disturb each other.

So there you have it, my new Prayer Closet. So when I say I am praying for you, my family is. Don't worry, I only put a first name and briefly what the request is for. I encourage you to create your own special place with God where you can be alone with just Him and pray, listen and praise. Do you have a special place alone with God? If you do, what does it look like?

Power Up for PCOS - emPowering Women to Manage PCOS

Friday, August 10, 2012

Faithful Friday's: New Group and a Chance to Challenge Yourself

Power Up for PCOS started a emPowering Faithful Cysters page sometime ago. Now we have a private group too where you can post freely without your friends or family seeing your posts. Only members can see posts. I'm excited to share my faith with others. I believe it is our purpose in life. Sometimes you just need to make a prayer request, sometimes you need to vent about something going on and sometimes we love to share what God has done for us. Hop on over and join our group.

On Monday, August 13th, we will be starting the Joyce Meyer's 8 Week Boot Camp series. Monday-Friday, we will be posting instructions on which video's to watch and what articles to read. This is an amazing series and I personally got so much help from the season 1 last year. It is all about strengthening your faith. It is especially great for new believers or those that wish to enhance your life with God. You don't have to join in the bible study in order to be part of the group.

Hope to see you all there...

Power Up for PCOS - emPowering Women to Manage PCOS

Friday, August 3, 2012

Faithful Friday's... Healing Comes in Many Ways

Welcome to our new series, Faithful Friday's...

This has been a favorite verse of mine lately:

Worship the LORD your God, and his blessing will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among. ~Exodus 23:25

Sometimes I am so caught up in the symptoms and feelings that go along with PCOS that I forget to pray and take time with God. A year ago, I was not in my faith. I did not pray, I did not go to fellowship or participate in any part of my faith. Then some personal events happened in my family and I found God. Over the last year, I have been learning as much as I can about God, faith, healing, prayer and such. Until recently, I have never actually prayed that God would heal my body. Now I pray every day that God will heal me, Does that mean that all my PCOS symptoms will go away or that I will be cured of PCOS? No! It means that whatever way God has designed my body to be... will be. I believe that God does not give PCOS to us but I believe that he will not give us anything we can't handle and from every situation there is a purpose and a lesson.

My purpose has been to start Power Up for PCOS and to follow our mission to help others to successfully manage their PCOS. I have also felt a need lately to spread the Word of God to you all. I know from first hand experience that once I found God, the depression got better, I had more joy and peace in my life and some of my symptoms didn't seem so bad. The most important part is that I can cope better without this disease stealing my joy.

I wrote an article way back when I started Power Up for PCOS and it was titled Blessed to Have PCOS. Lots of people thought I was crazy. This is a year later and well I can honestly say that, YES, I am crazy but besides that point, I still feel blessed to have PCOS. Without it, I wouldn't have met all you amazing and passionate women out there. My healing came in the form of my mind and spirit and a touch of my body. It gets better each day.

So, today, I ask you to stop for just a moment and pray to God for a great day with your PCOS and to ask him to guide you in treating your mind, body and spirit.

Power Up for PCOS - emPowering Women to Manage PCOS