A Woman with a Microphone & a Heart for the Lord
Around 1-1/2 years ago, God led me to share what He has taught me as a wife and mom with women around the world through the Faith Lived Out Podcast. This is where it all began. Just a woman with a microphone, a heart for the Lord, and a desire to help woman grow in their faith. I pray this blesses you.
Over the years, through various trials and circumstances, God has taught me how He guides us and directs us with His Word and how to seek His will and plan for my life and for my family. He's taught me what it means to be a godly wife, and what a marriage is truly supposed to be. He has shown me how to raise my kids in the Lord and how to lovingly discipline them for their good.
Most importantly, He has taught me how to live out my faith every day, to not worry about tomorrow or what the outcome of my circumstances might be, because I can trust Him for that outcome. I trust Him because I know that He loves me and has a perfect plan. His very best is planned for my future.
My Early Journey with the Lord
My relationship with the Lord certainly did not start out this way. I was not raised in a Christian home, so there was no example to follow of what a Christian family or a Christian wife and mom even looked like. In high school, I began to attend church with a friend of mine, and it was there that I met the Lord and became a believer.
I knew that His Word had the answers for how to live my life and how to have the kind of life that I wanted in the future. Being a teenage girl and dating, you begin to imagine what your family life might be like, what your husband would be like, and I knew that I wanted mine to be different from the one I had grown up in. I wanted it to be peaceful and not to feel like I was on the edge all the time. I wanted a family where the siblings got along and weren't so concerned about getting their own way, myself included. My family life was such that, unfortunately, it was no surprise when my parents decided to divorce in my junior year of high school.
Seeking a Godly Husband
With that kind of background, I knew that I wanted something different, and I knew that God's Word had the answer. When I thought about a husband for my future, I knew that I wanted someone who would truly love me and know how to show that love, someone who would be compassionate and considerate of other people's feelings, someone who wasn't prideful and put his family before himself.
Learning to Trust God's Plan
Looking back, I realize the first time I put into practice what God wants me to share with you about living out your faith was when I was dating and searching for the man I would someday marry. In high school, I worked at McDonald's, and there was a guy there that I dated. His name was Greg, and he truly thought the world of me. He put me on a pedestal, would give me anything, and do anything for me. He truly thought that I was the light of his world. He asked me to marry him, and I said yes. However, when I asked him to go to church with me, his answer was no. Even after talking to him a couple of times about it, he was quite emphatic that he would not attend church under any circumstances.
Well, having learned in the Bible that we are not to be unequally yoked, I knew this was not the person that God had for me. I knew that starting a relationship, a family with him, was not going to be the path that God wanted me to be on. So, I ended the relationship.
Finding the Right Partner
I then dated a young man named David who did go to church, not my church, but he did attend church at least. So, at least I had one foot in the right direction. But in dating him, we went to different churches, and there was a young man who came to our youth group and started to take an interest in me. We would chat some, and he asked me about where I lived, and I told him the vicinity of where I lived. Well, the next thing I knew, he was at my door asking me to attend the state fair to see a demolition derby, and I went.
As it turned out, whether it was God's doing or just my friends and his friends, my friends would invite me out to lunch after church, and they would invite him out to lunch also, so we would be together. As this relationship began to grow into something a little more than a friendship, I thought, "Alright, Lord, what do I do?"
I remember standing in the shower one day and praying to God, asking, "Lord, which one? Which one do You have for me? Which path do You want me to take in these two relationships, one that has been going on and one that seems to be starting?"
My heart and mind were filled with thoughts of this young man from my church. His name was Andy. I felt that this was the one that God wanted me to pursue. So, I broke it off with David and began to date Andy, and a year and a half later, we were married.
We now have three beautiful children and seven grandchildren, and have celebrated more than 40 years of marriage together. God is faithful!
Believing in God's Promises
This all started with knowing what God's Word says about what our spouse should be like and who it is that we should choose to marry and following that, having the faith to put my trust in Him and saying, "Lord, who do You have for me? What are Your parameters for a husband?"
And ladies, I cannot even begin to tell you how wonderful... I mean, not that we haven't had our difficulties and our struggles over the last forty years. My goodness, we certainly have. But I am blessed and thankful every single day for the man that God has given me to marry, for the family that I have, that my children love one another, they spend time with one another, they are concerned and care for one another, they have a care and concern for my husband and me, and we all just love spending time together.
There are no sibling rivalries or fighting or anything like that going on. Just the way that my husband treats me, the godly man that he is, and the godly marriage that we have is honestly just a blessing to me every single day. And as I said, this all started with believing God's promises and believing His Word.
Understanding Faith
In Hebrews 11:1, it says,
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."
Faith is believing in something that you can't see. You can only believe by faith that you trust in it. Some have given this analogy of the wind, that faith in God is like believing in the wind because we can't see the wind, but we can see the effect that it has on the trees, on the things that are outside. We can feel the wind on our faces, but we can't see it.
It's the same thing is with our relationship with God, we can't see Him, but we can feel the effect that He has on our lives. We can see the effect that He has on other people's lives. We can see Him working and planning and how He orchestrates things for our good. So we cannot see Him, but we definitely need to believe in Him by faith.
Faith in Action
Hebrews 11:6 tell us,
"But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
So let's break this down for a minute. Who or what do you currently have your faith in? A good way to determine this is, when you go to make a decision in your life, who or what do you turn to? What is most important to you? What drives that decision one way or another?
We can put our faith in a variety of things, and what we have our faith in is going to shape our decision-making and therefore shape our lives.
We can put our faith in our finances, and when we go to make decisions, the financial benefit we are going to have is what's going to skew that decision one way or another, to either make sure that we make enough money or that we keep enough money.
We can also put our faith in our own intelligence, knowing this is what I know, this is what I can see before me, and so this is what's going to drive my decision because of my own intellect, because I know what I know and what I see.
Or maybe you put your faith in somebody that's close to you, someone you go to for advice, someone you look up to. It may be a counselor or someone you listen to on a podcast.
As believers, we would quickly say that our faith is in God. But do our lives reflect that? Is His Word and following His commands the priority when we are making decisions? Do we go to Him in prayer, and do we seek His guidance?
Diligently Seek Him
That brings us to the next point in Scripture, and that is to diligently seek Him. To do this, we must be in the Word, learning His precepts and the promises that He has for us, learning what God says in answer to the challenges and struggles that we face in our life.
During my walk with the Lord, He has taught me to seek His wisdom for difficult times and in everyday challenges and struggles. This is what He has called me to share with you, how to put away your fear and uncertainty by seeking His wisdom when you need it, guidance to make the right decisions, how to handle certain situations in a godly way, what it takes to have a long, loving, successful marriage, and what it is that we are to teach our children.
Living Out Your Faith
One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 33:3,
"Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will show you great and mighty things that you do not know."
What a comfort and just something that releases all fear when we know that we can go to God and that He's going to answer us, and He's going to show us those things that we don't know. And whatever things that we still don't know, whatever things that we don't see, what the future holds, we know that we can trust Him.
Fear comes from not knowing the future. It comes from not knowing what the outcome is going to be. But our Heavenly Father does. He knows what the outcome is going to be. And not only does He know it, He has planned it for your future.
In this podcast, you will learn what God teaches us about being faithful believers and how to live out that faith every single day and what a godly wife and mom looks like. I will show you how to find the answers, direction, and guidance that you are looking for in His Word, as well as tips on reading and studying the Bible that will fit into that busy schedule that I know you have.
Lastly, in Hebrews 11:6, it tells us that we are to believe that God is faithful and rewards those who diligently seek Him. Even His command to know and to meditate on His Word comes with a promise. It's in Joshua 1:8, and it says,
"This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
Did you know that Scripture is filled with the promises of God? I was surprised to find out that it's estimated there are over 7000 promises from God in His Word. That is truly amazing. One of them is Jeremiah 29:11:
"For I know the plans that I have for you," says the Lord, "plans for peace and not for evil, to give you a hope and a future." Listen to that, ladies, a hope and a future in God. Another one is Romans 8:28: "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."
This promise is in there because God knows sometimes it doesn't look like it. It doesn't look like what's best for you is what's around the corner. But trust Him, because He gives us this promise that it will all work out for good and according to His purpose. God has a plan for your life, for your husband's life, and for your children as well. And it is exceedingly more than we could ever hope for or ask for. And I tell you, that's what my family life is. It is exceedingly abundantly more than I had hoped for or asked for.
Knowing the Word of God, having faith to believe in Him and His faithfulness, and living every day according to the direction and the promises that He has given us, basically taking everything that is written in our Bibles and applying it to our lives, this is faith lived out. Doing this gives us peace. It gives us comfort and confidence as we follow life God's way and we follow His plan for our lives. He is there working everything for our good and His purpose.
Girls, I have lived this. I have seen it in action, and God has never let me down. I have never been sorry when I have followed God and His Word.
Warning!
Now, going back to what I told you about following God and who I should marry, there is something that I don't want you to take away from that, and that is if you didn't seek God in choosing your husband, please don't think that you can't have a loving, successful marriage or that you should leave him and start over. Do not let the enemy fill your mind with these kinds of thoughts.
You made a commitment to your husband, and God wants you to keep it. Even if you married someone who is not a believer, know that God is powerful and can change any heart for His glory and can work in any situation. His Word has instruction and guidance for wives in all types of marriages, and we will learn about these in future episodes. So stick around. God has led you here for a reason.
It's All About Application
Now, something that you should know about me is that I am all about application. I mean, honestly, girls, why learn what it says in God's Word if we are not going to use it to change our lives? So in each episode, we will go over how to apply God's Word in our lives.
So in applying today's verses, I want you to take some time and think about where your faith truly lies. Is it centered on God, or is it maybe centered on your finances, your own wisdom, or maybe the wisdom of someone else? Are you struggling to believe that God is really for you, that He truly is faithful? Go to Him in prayer. Do you know that you can ask God to help you with your unbelief? He will do that. Go to Him in prayer and say, "Lord, I want to have the faith in You to live out my faith every day." He love you and wants you to come to Him, even with your doubts.
Thank you for spending a little time to get to know me and what God has for me to share with you. Know that I am praying for God to be with you as you learn to trust in Him more and to live out your faith every day.
Love & blessings,
Nanci
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