Happy is the (wo)man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind.
~Ovid, a 17th century Roman poet
Father help me to be intentional about praising you, like an arrow seeking its target. Regardless of the occasional drop of gale-force wind that threatens my path, may my thanksgivings shoot straight forth and penetrate your heart.
For You have made me a person of respect and worth, a person separated, distinct, set apart.
I am Your creation fashioned to suit your purposes.
Forgive me for the times I disregarded your extraordinary undertaking. The times I allowed the winds (hurtful actions of others) to devalue your doing. Today, I acknowledge what you have done, who you have created me to be, the voice you have given me.
Help me, in the future, to intentionally (forcefully) discern this truth, this muchness beyond my comprehension that you have created in me. Help this revelation drive my activity of mind, will, and character.
You’ve done a great thing for You could do nothing less. Forgive me for discounting your works, and for allowing the opinion of others to intimidate me, to silence me.
Lord, help me? Help me to maintain this mindset, this choice for healthy emotions and abundant living? Strengthen me, equip me to diligently protect my mind, the place from which all things flow so that I will always recognize what I’m saying to myself and to others about myself that might devalue my divine worth.
Help me to abide in Your word, for it is close relationship with You that I will know the Truth, be set free, and enjoy life in its fullest abundance as you intend.
No more will I forget the holy work of Your hands. I will now allow You to love me, direct me, and uphold my worth.
Love,
Your newly committed Silence-Breaker
Yes Lord, I will give thanks to You, for I’m fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.
~Psalm 139:14 NASB
(Psalm 139:14, Proverbs 4:23, John 8:31-32 AMP, John 10:10 CEV)
Beautiful as always Jo Ann! Going to share!
Thank you, Althea!
U know I love that vs in Ps! I was just telling a friend in Thurs night about how I’m seeing a need to speak up more. I never thought I had much to say but I’m growing in my God-fidence and am starting to spread my wings…thanks so much for this encouragement today!
Hey girl…this warms my heart. And you are the very thing that led me to this blog post, your love of this scripture! LOVE how God is moving in your heart.
Oh, amen and amen! A prayer that could’ve been from my own often insecure heart. Thank you.
Thank you Lee, for joining us in community. For sharing authentic. What a joy!
I take this for myself Jo Ann! Great post, and the picture reminds me of something my doctor told me long ago. We can handle being in a cage as long as the door is open. Jesus is the door! Even when we feel we are in a cage, whether it be the cage of someone’s opinion or something of our own making or doing, sacrificial praise can mean freedom.
I stumbled on your site I cried through both this blog and the one on the cost of silence. After 25 years in marriage where the emotional pain of being silenced trying to allow room for another to “get something..anything” and change, I found myself dying inside. Becoming numb and to the point of not losing my identity , but being willing to give it up even for false peace. I have since left the relationship. In the course of healing , I found myself on my knees one day asking the Lord to forgive me for being willing to compromise my relationship to Him even for the acceptance of mortal man, One mortal man. I had listened to the song Beautiful by Mercy Me. And surely began to understand He made me wonderfully and for more than this. Who was I to dismiss His purpose for me. Surely He had all I needed to live with abundance. I simply want to hold Jesus hand these days. He walks with me and talks with me and tells me I am His own. The cage in the picture?…..the open door, I finally went out it and my heart is held up by His love. Thank you for this incredible site.
This is just what I needed right now. I am slowly coming to realize how much God loves me and how much he is the only one that I need. That I don’t need to let others discourage me in any way. For almost a solid year the Lord sent Zephaniah 3:17 to me in numerous ways. It was amazing! Finally I realized he was trying to tell me how much he loves me and that he even “exults over me with loud singing.” It is hard to wrap my mind around that honestly. I definitely need to remember this – “Forgive me for discounting your works, and for allowing the opinion of others to intimidate me, to silence me.”
I am totally in awe of the way you craft words together to bring about help and healing to women. May the Lord give you favor and many blessings along the journey He has prepared for you. Congratulations on the book!
I’m unsure how I just saw this post Donna, but thank you. Thank you for such kind words and encouragement that permeates the heart. You are a blessing!