Oh, Be Careful Little Eyes what You See!!

I was called into women’s ministry to lead women in biblical living.  There is more to that than just teaching a Bible study or doing events.  The longer God allows me to minister the more I understand Paul when he said, “I am jealous FOR you with a Godly jealousy.” Paul wanted those who heard his words to grow closer to Jesus and to understand the incredible life we have in Christ.  Through lots of breaking in my life, I finally understood that a life lived for Christ is fulfilling and abundant.  He has had to do a LOT of work in me, let me tell you.  I was one messed up Christian girl! By His grace I can tell you His ways are best!  Today, please let me share my heart to the church.

The Bible clearly states these words:  But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” I Peter 1:15-16

If I read that right, Christians are to be holy just as God is holy.  Does that mean we are to be perfect?  No, it means to be “pure” and “set apart.”  The word “pure” actually means without foreign matter (things of the world) and obviously the “set apart” means to be different than the world.  Christians are to be different…God has, through the death of His son, intentionally set us apart for Himself…for a special purpose and we are to fulfill that purpose.   So why am I so grieved?  I see precious young women in our churches falling for the lures of this world seemingly without regard to what it means to the Father.

Now don’t think I think I am above this…I am not. I know the temptations and I know what happens to the mind when we don’t protect ourselves.  I wish to goodness I could remove from my mind things that I allowed to enter when I was young. Godly people warned me but that didn’t stop me because “I could handle it” or “I wasn’t hurting anyone!” (that was my justification!)  Oh, to have listened to wise counsel.   

Be assured our mind is the first place satan goes to destroy us!!  God knew that and he inspired Paul to write these words: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.” Philippians 4:8   If a thought comes into your mind that is not one of the above, it is not of God so take it captive.  Don’t let it go any further in your thought process.  Run!! 

This “taking captive” our thoughts requires work because so many of us just think without thinking!!  I am not talking about thoughts that creep in but what we actually invite in.  I mean the kind of movies we watch, the kind of books we read or the sites we visit on the Internet etc.  Our brains are amazing; they record every single thing it sees!  We might not be able to pull up the information at will but it is in there.  There is great wisdom in the song I remember singing as a child, “Oh, be careful little eyes what you see”.  How many times does a thought or a picture from years ago come to your mind at the strangest times?  Pretend you read a very racy novel…you do it alone in the privacy of your home so it won’t hurt you, right??? You justify reading it because “so and so” read it and she is a Christian.  It’s your business isn’t it?  But is it?  God sets the standard for holiness and it doesn’t include things like this. Satan, on the other hand, loves this for he knows once something is in your mind it can be used against you and you never know how or when.  God desires purity in our lives NOT for Him but for US…all His commandments are for our good. He knows when we get really tired and our defenses are down, the subconscious things in our brain begin to surface.  That is why I have become so adamant about the movies and television programs I watch and the books I read. Those images I wished I could erase from my memory from when I was younger, only the Lord could remove but I am intentionally taking captive the images that enter my mind now.  I am taking this seriously.  How about you? The scripture I claim is Romans 12:2 “…be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  There is hope of renewal in the mind even after we have put ungodly things into it. (Praise Him!!)

We need Christian women who will take a stand and help their sisters in the faith.  Have we been so engrained with the term “do not judge” that we have forgotten that we are commanded to help our fellow Christians flee from sin?   The tiny book of Jude states that we are to “snatch” from the fire those who are being swayed.  I truly hate with everything in me to tell a fellow Christian that what they are doing is harmful but I am commanded to do just that.  I am compelled to do that because I love them and because Christ loves them not because I want to hurt them or “judge them”.  I am in women’s ministry because I love our young women and …I love them too much to not warn them of the dangers this world presents to the Bride of Christ.  Revelation 19 says

 “Hallelujah!

For our Lord God Almighty reigns.

Let us rejoice and be glad

and give him glory!

For the wedding of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

The Bride is the church and we who bear the name of Christ are the church. Are we making ourselves ready or are we just playing a game…a game of being one thing at church and another away from church. It doesn’t really matter that everyone is doing it…God has a standard and He knows our inward being.  Yes, I am grieved--- over what I know grieves my Lord. 

Itching Ears!

 ‎"For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear." --2 Timothy 4:3

I am so sad today in light of where it seems our country is going. The way I can combat this growing sense of dread is to write about it and today I am writing to my fellow believers. I know my views will not be shared by all but the views I share are not built upon what I think but what the Bible has taught.  


I am a Believer in Christ and His word is my compass as to how to navigate living in this world.  I am His bond-servant and He has brought me such joy and freedom I can't put it into words.  Jesus said "In this world we are going to have troubles!"  I know deep in my heart that this world is not my home and that one day I will be free from the devastation sin has built around me.  But today I am sad...not because the world is a sinful place but because those of us who have been set free from the grip of the world are compromising HIS Word in all areas of our lives.  I am sad about what we are calling right and wrong and where this will lead us.   Growing up (even in California) there was a great sense of right and wrong and it was obvious...we all knew.  Today, however, our kids are confused.  We have leaders who support "freedom from morality" and the results are pain, anger, jealousy, hatred and the list goes on.  


I believe the words of George Santayana when he said, "If we do not remember the past, we are doomed to repeat it!"  Today, I am reading the Old Testament...for even though I am part of the New Covenant for salvation, the lessons learned from the past are relevant.  I am drawn to the story of Abraham and his nephew Lot.  Briefly, God had promised them land but they needed to separate because their families and flocks were too big to live together.  Lot chose the best land because it pleased his eye!  Then, and this is where I shudder, "He pitched his tent toward Sodom!"  Sodom was an immoral city where anything went...a city with absolutely NO restraint.  Sodom was a pagan city...and it was doing what pagan cities do...but Lot was a part of the family of Abraham and were Yahweh fearing people...yet Lot pitched his tent TOWARD Sodom.  This simply meant, he wanted to watch...to see what was going on...and even though at the start, Lot lived a distance from this evil place we soon find that he lived inside the city gates.  When God's messengers came to warn Lot of impending doom, Lot was forced to offer his virgin daughters to the men of Sodom who came to his door to rape the new men.  How far he had come from just pitching his tent.  Would Lot say he had found freedom???  I think not.   You can read the whole story in Genesis 18:20-19:29.


The lesson is simple.  God has called believers to live a life of holiness.  There are statutes He has given...not to punish...but to protect us.   God's law are always for our good not our harm. He made us and knows what is best for us. The one thing we seemed to have forgotten in all of this is God's greatest enemy...satan who wants to destroy everything God loves and cherishes.  He wants to take what is beautiful and pervert it and call that freedom.  God's laws are the "sound doctrine" Paul was speaking about and satan has said they are old-fashioned. God's laws bring freedom but satan says they are to take away our fun.  Satan is at our door screaming the words he first used in the garden with Eve, "Did God really say???"  He has caused us to doubt God's love and protection and instead follow our desires which have led us to the place we are today.  As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that workin' for ya?" 


Are we peaceful within our souls as believers?? 

 James 4 says, 

"What causes fights and quarrels among you?  Don't they come from your desires that battle within you?  You want something but don't get it.  You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want.  You quarrel and fight.  You do not have, because you do not ask God.  When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?  Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.  Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely.  But he gives us more grace.  That is why Scripture says:  God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.  Submit yourselves, then to God.  Resist the devil and he will flee from you.  Come near to God and he will come near to you.  Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Grieve, mourn and wail.  Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and HE will lift you up.  

We don't get to make the rules, fellow believers.  We can't allow what we think is right to usurp the Word of God.  When we do, in essence we are saying we know more than God and that in a word is PRIDE! That in a word is what got Lucifer kicked out of heaven. 

Yes, I am sad. I am praying for the Bride of Christ, the church to stand firm for her Bridegroom.  It is not popular but it is right.  We will be persecuted and hated and our earthly rights are going to be limited...oh but the glory that awaits us for those who stand firm.  

Be ye holy, as I am holy says the LORD. I Peter 1:16

We Are All Called to a Purpose!

Maybe the most under publicized character in The Help was Constantine Jefferson played by Cicely Tyson.  When I saw the movie, it was her character that showed me the truth of what God wants of us.  Oh, yes, I know the heroes were Abilene, Minnie and Skeeter but in reflection, it was Constantine that was the strength of all of them.  This great woman of faith taught them all.  Constantine knew the truth-- that women needed each other and that we learn from each other. 

Her life was one of service…perhaps for money but I don’t think so.  She found joy in serving…she understood people.   Her conversation in speaking to Skeeter after Skeeter wasn’t asked to the big dance spoke worlds to my heart:

Skeeter: All the boys say I'm ugly. Mama was third runner up in Miss South Carolina and I just...

Constantine: Oh, you quit feelin' sorry for yourself. Now, that's ugly. Ugly is somethin' that grows up inside you. It's mean and hurtin', like them boys. Now, you're not one of them, is you?

[Skeeter shakes her head]

Constantine Jefferson: I didn't think so, honey.

 Everyday...everyday you're not dead in the ground and you wake up in the mornin', you gonna have to make some decisions. Gotta ask yourself this question; am I gonna believe all them bad things them fools said about me today? You hear me? Am I gonna believe all them bad things them fools say about me today? Alright?

[Skeeter nods her head in understanding]

Constantine Jefferson: As for your mama, she didn't pick her life. It picked her. But you, you gonna do something big with yours. You wait and see.

Here is real power!!  The power of encouragement and of teaching those younger than us that life is not about feeling sorry for ourselves but in believing the truth.  Here are a few wonderful truths God has for us:

            • I am loved with an everlasting love. (Jeremiah 31:3)


• I am the apple of His eye. (Proverbs 7:2)


• My name is engraved in the palm of His hands. (Isaiah 49:16)


• I am carried through every storm. (Mark 4:35-41)


• I am wonderfully made. (Psalm 139:14)


• I am watched over day and night. (Psalm 121:1-8)


• I am forgiven. (1 John 1:9)


• I am rejoiced over with singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)

Women pass on to their daughters about what they think is important.  

We taught our daughters: 

• Recipes
• How to iron
• How to load a dishwasher
• How to get along with other women!!    
• Table manners
•  How to dress and talk
•  How to get good grades so we can get good jobs
•  That we should always look like things are ok?  
•  To not embarrass our family
• How to get the “right” husband.
•   Etc.

·      These things had been passed down through generations but what about godly things and the Word of   God???

The Bible is NOT silent about what our legacy is to be as followers of Christ!!  It is not dependent upon what society says but what God has told us very clearly in His word.  God understands us better than we do ourselves and He gave a command to the Hebrews in Deut. 6: 1-9 (read) Verses 4-9 is called the Shema and was extremely important to the Jewish people.  They were to teach their children morning, noon, and night that God was the only God and the only one to worship.  Somewhere along the way, we quit teaching that to our children.  Yes, we took them to church and Sunday School but at home? Leaving a legacy of Christ is more than just going to church.  Today we are saddened by the numbers of young people who no longer go to church…could it be that we passed off our responsibility to others? 

What else does the Bible have to say???

PS 71:15-18

PS 78:1-4

PS 119:89-90;111

PS 145:4-5

Why?

Amos 8:11

 What are we to do?

Read Titus 2

Everyone is older to someone!!

Now, I am going to meddle!!  We older women have not been obedient to this.  I hear all the excuses:

•  I have done my part
•  They don’t care what I say
•  They wouldn’t listen anyway

We have thrown our younger generation into the fight without any training at all and then we sit back and condemn them for not doing things the way they should be done.  We talk about their dress, the way they raise their children, etc. but never once think that they have never been taught.  Paul understood this.  We gain wisdom as we get older. 

We do have a purpose. The way we live will affect everyone who comes into contact with us.  We are influencing someone and our influence will influence them and those with whom they come into contact.

When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world.

I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation.

When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family.

Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. Their impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world.

It is not too late to change your legacy.  You will not be finished until somebody leans over your coffin and says, “Don’t she look natural!”  It might be hard…Satan will tell you that it is not worth it.  But God’s word is clear that if we don’t spread the great news of who God is…then no one will. 

I want my legacy to be that I loved Jesus with every bit of me and that I told everyone who He is.  Today, become intentional in teaching your family but also those in your church.  If you have trouble, then first renew your own relationship with Christ.  If He isn’t everything, then He is nothing.  Take care of your own relationship and then get busy building your His legacy of faith onto the generations to come. 

We Are All Sweaty Messes

James 4:1-10

Ok, let’s talk about the villain in The Help!!  The woman we loathed:  Hilly Holbrook!!  We see that she is controlling, selfish, cruel, more concerned with what people see than what is inside her heart, and covers it all with a covering of spirituality… taking up donations for people far away.  Aren’t we glad we are not like Hilly???  Well, that is what I thought until I truly started looking at myself…Controlling???  Moi???  I like to call it taking care of people but if I really look deep inside, it is because I want things to go my way…always.  Edith Ann, the 70’s little girl in the great big chair said, “I am not bossy…my ideas are just better!”  But there is much more to Hilly than her controlling nature.  Much more…when we see this in us we must begin to ask our selves why we need to have so much control…not only on our situations but on others as well.  Could it be that if she let go, people would see her as she really was? Could it be that she was so doubting of being loved that she wanted to keep others around but used control and fear in doing it?  Could it be she couldn’t trust anyone or anything??  Could it be that she’d rather swim in a sea of denial rather than admit that she needed the other women, too?  Hilly’s problem is one of Pride…and it is the downfall of most of us! Last week we spoke of the woman at the well…I mentioned that there were other women, too…the ones who came in the morning who looked down on her, who lived “above” her and shunned her so as not to “catch” what she had.  I am afraid this is where a great number of us live our lives.  Last week we said that admitting gave freedom…well, denial gives us only bondage and eventually we will discover we never really had control at all; it was an illusion.  

I think one of my favorite lines in the movie, The Help, is when Skeeter’s mother comes onto her front porch to confront a “wet-hen-mad- Hilly “with these words, “Why Hilly, you are just a sweaty mess!!”  The “always in control president of the Junior League" had discovered she was not infallible!! Truth had hit her in the face and her life was falling apart.  She reacted with rage, violence, and threats.  That is what happens when we have built our lives on perception instead of reality!   

Jesus was confronted with lots of Hillys!! People who wanted life to be just the way they wanted it to be…they wanted the honor from the world but wanted to keep their spiritual lives as well. They weren’t the president of the junior league but they were the leaders in the synagogues. We call these people Pharisees. Let’s read what Jesus had to say about them:

Mark 7:1-9. 

They had everything wrapped in a pretty little box and as long as no one came along to disagree with them, they were fine.  They smiled and walked through life with arrogance…swimming in a sea of denial.  But Jesus came along and spoke truth to them…just as He had spoken to the woman at the well.  Instead of being glad someone had finally released them from the ball juggling they had been accustomed, they fought back.  They fought with anger so great that murder and violence was the only thing they could think of to retaliate.  When we don’t want truth and we prefer delusions we find ourselves in a sweaty mess.

I am very familiar with these people for I often refer to myself as a recovering Pharisee.  Being a person like this comes from deep inside…it comes from feeling completely inadequate and empty…to fill that emptiness Pharisees take control…they put burdens on others that they cannot fulfill.  They have all the answers even though they haven’t clearly understood the questions. All that matters is what people perceive…not what is truth.  Women do this through mask wearing!!  I was an expert at putting on the masks…I believed perception was reality until my life fell apart and my masks were cracking all to pieces.  Hilly’s denial led her into a false sense of security and that lead to her downfall and her looking like the sweaty mess she always was.  At the end of the movie…Abilene asked a very important question:  Mrs. Hilly, Aren’t you getting tired??

Maintaining this delusion is tiring.  No, it is exhausting. Jesus asks of us authenticity and that requires admitting the truth and giving up control…control we never really had anyway.  I don’t know how Hilly’s life turned out after the movie but I do know how my life did!! I now know freedom I never knew existed.  I have discovered I can only control me and I freely give that over to the Holy Spirit!!   The masks are thrown far away.  When Jesus said in John 8:31-33:  To the Jews who had believed Him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.  Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

When we experience this freedom, then we truly can experience the next phase of spiritual life…that Jesus came to give us!

John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  Or as the KJV says:

John 10:10 The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.

The thief is the same thief that was there in the garden with Eve…wanting to destroy us.  Do Not allow this in your lives…get rid of pride for it is a delusion.  Accept the truth of what Jesus says about you and live this life abundantly!!  Then you will begin to understand your true purpose and meaning in life…which is what we will discuss next week. 

We Are ALL from Sugar Ditch!

I love the movie The Help…but maybe for different reasons than others do. I see it as a movie about women and how we treat each other. There were all types of personalities and at one time or another, I have taken up all of them. I want to start with Celia Foote, who was from the other side of town!  She was treated badly but instead of becoming bitter she ended up being the better person???  Think about that for just a second…and then look at today’s world.  Mean girls actually grow up to be mean women…exclusionary girls grow up to be exclusionary women…girls who think they are better than other girls grow up to be women who think they are better than other women. The women in The Help did not even realize how they were…they did “charity” work but ignored the needs around them.  Some were so strong others were afraid of disagreeing with them.  Celia, in the beginning tried to be a part…she tried to do all the right things…the most moving scene in the movie was when she was bringing a pie to Hilly and saw all the women hiding and laughing at her.  She left crying, pie in hand.  But by the end of the movie, Celia came to grips with who she was and who the others were resulting in having the love of her husband and her dignity in tact.  

One of the most wonderful passages in scripture to me is found in John 4 and is about a trip Jesus took to the place where the disciples did NOT want to go…In the Bible it is called Samaria but it could also be Sugar Ditch!!  It is a place where people who are “less than the standard” live!  It could be called the other side of the tracks…or where THOSE people live!  It is where some women live who do things we in our comfortable churches would never do and with whom we would never associate.  (After all, our mothers told us not to!!) But if what I said in the last session is true, (and it is!) that all women are the same and desire the same things out of life, then these women are also looking for love and acceptance but in the wrong places.  They are you and me on the inside praying someone will really see them beyond their circumstances!

One of the ploys of satan is to have us confuse “the choices we have made” with “who we are.”  Jesus on the other hand sees us all as daughters of Eve and pursues us with His everlasting, unconditional love to show us what we can be.  That is what we find here in this story. Jesus broke all of man’s rules just to give truth to the soul of one woman. 

Let’s read it:  John 4:4-30;42.

·      Jesus HAD to go….there was someone who needed Him

·      Jesus SPOKE to this outcast and offered her freedom

·      Jesus spoke TRUTH to her.

·      She DIVERTED the truth to talk about spiritual things…trying to cover up who she really was.

·      He offered her HOPE with dignity and no shame.

·      She LEFT where she was and SHARED with others. She was changed.

This woman had sinned outwardly and was an outcast.  It is so easy to look down on people with outward sin but if we look at Celia Foote in The Help…we find a woman who only wanted to belong…to fellowship with other women.  Her heart was pure --even if her body wasn’t…I am going to say that again, her heart was pure even if her body wasn’t, because there are many women in our congregations who understand this…they only want to be loved, accepted and brought into relationships yet because of their poor choices continually find themselves on the outside looking in.  

What about INWARD sins??   You know the ones we can hide from others…the ones that only God knows about???   Bitterness?  Anger?  Lying?  Slander? Malice? Unforgiveness?  Pride.  Pride is the very thing that caused Lucifer, the angel of light, to fall and become the enemy of the daughter’s of Eve and son’s of Adam.  This woman at the well knew who she was and was ready to admit it and take on the new life Christ offered her.  She received freedom.  The point is, when we admit….we receive freedom.  However, denial is deadly.  Next time we will take about the other women at the well…the ones that came in the morning…the ones lead by Mrs. Hilly Holbrook!! 

We Are All Daughter's of Eve!!

We must start this conversation about "mean girls" with an understanding of who we really are as women.   I have been given the wonderful opportunity to travel to different countries to speak and begin to know women from other cultures.  What I have discovered is that--we are all the same on the inside!! For some reason that was a surprise to me.  No matter what skin color, what age, what language, what economic strata, or whatever difference--women have the exact same hopes and desires.  Our needs are: to know that we are loved, to love someone, to believe that we are beautiful (to someone), to know that we are safe, and to understand that we really matter.  An honest look at these needs will reveal that our meanness comes when one or more of these needs are unmet.

The first and probably the most important need is to know that we are loved! It begins as soon as we breath our first! If we go to the book of Genesis we find a world of perfection where God walks daily with His beloved creation.  There was no doubt that He loved the man and the woman we call Adam and Eve.  There was no doubt.  But in chapter 3 that doubt enters the lives of these creatures and causes Eve to listen to the words, "Did God really say???"  Doubt.  Fast forward to today.  Doubt.  Doubt about all the needs we have....does God really love me???  How can He love someone who is___________.  But the fact is, dear ones, God has never changed His mind about loving His precious children..He still loves those whom He made in His own image and breathed the very breathe of life.

The problem is that we have allowed that very same doubt to enter our minds and our hearts.  Doubt is the strongest weapon that our enemy has against us.  Think about it.  What causes you to feel insecure?  What causes jealousy?  What causes envy?  Doubt that you have abilities?  Doubt that someone truly loves only you?  Doubt that what you already have is enough?  I could go on but I think you get the picture.  Closely related to that doubt is fear....and so what we tend to do as women is to try and take control in the situations we find ourselves...tear down another's beauty, try to get others on our side against another, desire what the other woman has and the list goes on. We try to alleviate that fear and doubt on our own...and wasn't that what got us in trouble to start with???  As Dr. Phil often says, "How's that working for you???"  It isn't!!

The answer is simple...believe what God has said about you: that you are His precious child, that He will never leave you or forsake you, that He loves you with an everlasting love...and that He has plans for you that far outshine any plans you have for yourself.

This might be too much for some of us to grasp all at once so we are going to break it down each session to what our enemy tells us and what God has said.  Once we begin to understand His truths in our lives, perhaps the "mean girl" in all of us will disappear.  I hope that God will do a mighty work these next lessons....we need each other!!

Still Thinking About Mean Girls!!

My last post ( a long time ago!!) was about mean girls growing up to be mean women.  When I wrote that I never thought that God would keep that on my heart but He has. Since that post, much has happened to emphasis this attitude within the church of today including some serious issues in my own church.

Women are created to be relational.  We need the fellowship of other women!!  (I am sorry, guys, but as great as you are, sometimes we just need a good girlfriend to talk to!!)  But what happens when we don't have that listening ear??? Or worse what happens when we are intentionally ignored? (that happens...don't pretend it doesn't!!)  What happens is women get hurt and our churches are full of women who have been hurt...Hurt women hurt women.

I saw the movie The Help and even though it is about the civil rights movement of the 60's, there is also a sub-plot of the interaction of women.  There are some personality types I see in every women's group I have been a part of:

• Hilly Holbrook:  The ultimate mean woman who must take charge and doesn't care who she hurts!  In her own mind she is spiritual and right!!!
• Elizabeth Lefolt: The insecure woman who will do anything to please...even if she doesn't think it is right. 
• Celia Foote: The one who has messed up but wants to become a part...and is laughed at and exluded.
• Skeeter and Abilene:  The ones who plot to help out but do it secretly
• The Help: Those who just go along because they don't think anything can change...they live in           their own little world.
• Minnie:  Has a big heart but it has been so beaten down, she has bitterness growing. She will not show weakness.
• Constantine:  The one who see people as they are, sees herself as she is and loves everyone. 

Do you see these women in your circle of friends??  Be honest!!! Which one are you?  I long to be Constantine but I am not sure I am there yet!!  You see, each of these women came to this larger story with their own smaller stories! The fact is, each woman has come to your congregation with her own story (which you probably do NOT know) and it will influence the whole when joined together.

Jesus has come to take our story and change it with His story. That is our only hope!!  For the next weeks, I want to take each of these women, show how they got to where they were...and what Jesus can do about it!! Perhaps you will see your own story...I know I did!!