The Quiet Place

Founders Note: Today on the blog we have Melanie from Running to the Father sharing what is on her heart. You can find out more about Melanie in her bio at the end of the post.  Photocredit: Watchdog.org Return to your fortress, you prisoners of hope...( Zechariah 9:12) This past week has been hard. Far too many reasons to count. The lies have been stronger than the truth. Scripture has danced before vacant eyes and bounced off my hurting heart. My hands have been open and longing. My soul desperate and tired. Prayers have been sighs and moans. I could go on and on about frustrations. We've had a new social worker for almost each month we've had Little Bitty-- 4 workers in 5 months. Confusion, chaos, dropped balls. We've gone to court 3 times-- arranging for my gracious mom to come from out of town to keep the kids. Each time we've returned home with no trial. Court has been rescheduled 4 times. I hate family court. My fractured past colliding wit...

Founders Note: Today on the blog we have are newest monthly contributor  Buife Nomeh. She is sharing her heart on this month's theme forgiveness. You can find out more about Buife on the about  page. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ( I John 1:9, KJV). 'I am a sinner' Eww! Okay, I know how we love to be humble about our salvation and honestly, we should be remembering that we are saved by grace, not by our own doing (Ephesians 2:9). Having being saved by God through grace in Christ Jesus, I think it is unfair to God and to Jesus and His sacrifice on the cross to still call ourselves sinners. I will understand it when we say I was once a sinner but I AM?...no, no, no. Let's read a few scriptures. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17,  KJV). For w...

This weekend I took my roommates to my hometown to show them around and have some time away from school. Last night when we got back we were greeted by our roommates and friends sitting at the dining room table. After we settled in, we joined them for apple cider, pie, and good company. We got to talking and the Lord used my new friends to tell me a few things.... Namely... Hillary, YOU ARE LOVED! <3 God As a perfectionist, getting past my sins to where grace lives is quite a challenge most days. Grasping grace is difficult for me. I think it's because it isn't a logical concept. Logically, by earth standards, no one would let someone hurt them over and over and over and over and over and over and over again AND still say I love you, I forgive you, come home to me. YET, that is is EXACTLY what Christ says to us. It is incomprehensible that the God who made me would let me treat him that way and then forgive me. I just don't get how he has that much love...

I AM  in His hands. In His  hands I am FORGIVEN . I am SET FREE . I HAVE PURPOSE . I have a place. I am VERY  loved.  Ephesians 2:8 - 9 For it is by grace  you have been saved,  through faith —and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—   not by works,  so that no one can boast. THIS  is my identity through Christ.

But God, with the  unfathomable  richness of His love and mercy focused on us,  united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life—even though we were buried under mountains of sin—and saved us by His grace. Ephesians 2:4-5 (The VOICE) For the month of October our theme here at The Quiet Place is Identity In Christ. When I first began writing this post, it was my intention to share with you how we are to find our identity in Christ. However, as I searched for verses and other articles on the topic, it isn't my own words that I want to share with you all tonight. Instead, it is the words of a woman who has overcome, who has fought many battles, and yet owns her victory through Christ every single day.  Tonight soak up the words and testimony of this faithful women... Find Her Story Here

According to dictionary.com,  Self Worth  is  the sense of one's own value as a person.   In other words, self worth is how we see our personal value.  How do you see your own value as a person? Do you feel that you have value? What gives you your value? How do you define your value?  After answering these questions for yourself, maybe you feel the need for some assistance in the area of Self Worth. Then you came to the right place ;) Below are just some of the verses that demonstrate how much God values you.  Titus 3:5 He came to save us. It’s not that  we earned it  by doing good works or righteous deeds; He came because He is merciful. He brought us  out of our old ways of living  to a new beginning through the washing of regeneration; and He made us completely new through the Holy Spirit, God brought us salvation because "He is merciful" meaning that God brought us salvation because he chose to show us me...

I certainly can't let the month of August pass without mentioning this passage for our self worth theme. So read on my friend... Luke 12:1-12 (VOICE) The crowds at this time were packed in so tightly that thousands of people were stepping on each other. Jesus spoke to His disciples,  knowing that the crowds could overhear . Jesus:  Guard yourselves from the yeast that puffs up the Pharisees—hypocrisy,  false appearance, trying to look better than you really are. Nothing is covered up that won’t be discovered; nothing is hidden that won’t be exposed.  Whatever a person says in the dark will be published in the light of day, and whatever a person whispers in private rooms will be broadcast from the housetops. Listen, My friends, if people are trying to kill you, why be afraid? After you’re dead, what more can they do?  Here’s whose opinion you should be concerned about: the One who can take your life and then throw you into hell! He’s the only One y...

"For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do" --Ephesians 2:10 These past couple weeks we have talked about what self worth is, how we should find our identity in Christ, and how we are precious in  his sight despite the lies that we tell ourselves. Today I want to talk about how God see's us, simply because it's been on my heart lately, and it fits right in with this months theme of self worth, it's funny how God works, isn't it? I love it! The World tells us that we aren't worth the pursuit, or we should do things that disregard our morals to fit in, or that we aren't worth it at all. Stop, cause those are all lies. My dear sisters, we have a God who says we are loved and chosen by him and that is all we need. Taped to my closet door I have this list of  who God says I am, that I got from a friend, it says: I am crucified and the life I now live is not mine but Christ...

I was just reading this lovely blog post written by Holley Gerth and I think it is perfect for this month's theme of self worth. You can read the whole post here...  When It's Hard to Be You . There are a few quotes I want to note from her post.   " Yes, sometimes it’s hard to be you. But it’s always harder to try to be someone else."  Have you ever tried to be someone else? I know I sure have had my moments when I wanted to portray myself as somebody different from who I really am. Often it was to impress new friends or mask insecurities. But the truth is, no one can change their innate personality, eventually it seeps through the cracks. But you know what, I think that is a good thing. Because...  " You’re made in the image of God and your purpose is to mirror a part of who he is in a way only you can.  When you try to be like someone else, you end up reflecting them instead of God." ...God made us to mirror a part of who he is. No two of us a...

Founders Note: Today on the blog, we have our monthly contributor Kiki, from In It's Time . She is sharing her heart on this months theme Self worth!  My family has been doing some major cleaning around here. And by cleaning, I mean spring cleaning during the hot and sunny days of summer. We've been tossing out old perler bead creations, recycling old magazines that we saved for random projects, and discovering old craft projects that we never did finish. All of that cleaning oddly enough put me in reminiscing-mode. A mode where I found myself thinking back on childhood, teenage, and even more recent memories. And somewhere, somehow, I unfortunately began thinking remembering old middle and high school ID cards. You know, those business card sized laminated cards with your school's mascot and your ever-so-lovely school photo? Yeah. Don't ask why, but I still have all seven of mine (6th-12th grade). And while I have no desire to relive those years, it got me to t...

You know, the song by Relient K called Getting into you, well I was listening to that the other day and as I heard  the words-"I'm getting into you, because you got to me, in a way words can't describe", I instantly thought of this months theme.  Since listening to that song, those words have been stuck in my head and have  reminded me that God loves us in a way that we can't describe. When it comes to our self worth, I think that sometimes we compare ourselves to others, or feel like we aren't good enough, or feel defeated because of the circumstances going on in our lives. But sisters, those things are all lies that Satan is feeding us, cause we know God loves us in a way we can't describe. Proverbs 3:15 says, "She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her." This verse is a good reminder that God loves us as much as a precious ruby, and  he let's us know that we are worth it, despite the lies that we tell our...

When I thought of this months theme self worth, I thought of Isaiah 43:4, "Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give men in exchange for you, and people in exchange for your life". This verse captures just how much God says we are worth it to him every time, despite what we are going through. To the world our self worth should come from things or people, but God tells us multiple times throughout scripture to find our self worth in him and that no matter what our mercies are new each day. Lamentations 3:22-23 tells us just that,   "Because of the Lord's Great love we are not consumed, for his compassion's never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness"   Right here God is telling us that because of his love we are renewed in him each day and that no matter what his love for us never goes away. You may be saying to yourself, how can he just wipe the  brokenness  of  your past or yesterday away, a...

Today I want to talk to you about worth, simply because it has been on my heart and mind all week. Our self worth is something that can sometimes easily be shot, especially when someone or something makes us think that we are not worth it. However, the truth is, those are all lies that the world is putting inside our head because sisters, you and I are always worth it to God. He will never walk away and say, "oh I tried, but she wasn't worth it". He will always be right beside us letting us know that no matter what we do, we are always worth it to him, no matter the cost. 1 Peter 1:7, 1 Peter 3:4 both talk about worth, 1 Peter 1:7 tells us that are faith is of greater worth than gold. In God's eyes we are worth more than gold, we are precious in his sight. Nothing and no-one can take that away from us, his love is unchanging--just as I mentioned last week when we were talking about singleness.  Once we get to chapter 3 of 1 Peter verse 3:4 tells us that God sees great...