With all my Butt...

A new friend sent this little message to me today saying that it reminded her of me. And that makes me laugh - because it's true... my butt is much larger than the physical size of my heart.  But it also makes me laugh because what once would have been an excruciatingly painful jab has become one of the biggest compliments someone could ever offer me.

It's the laugh of the completely redeemed.

I love that she knew I would absolutely love this little saying.  I love that she could see that kind of freedom in me - that she could see how okay I really am with the body God has given me - that she knew I would laugh.

This just proves all the more that our God is in the business of taking the broken things in this world - including our hearts - and turning them into His masterpiece.  I spent years hating the shape of my body (especially my rear), and begging Him to make me smaller.  Instead He wanted to make my vision larger - to help me to see myself through His eyes and to quit sweating the small stuff (funny that my large behind is the small stuff).

I love that about our God.  He's a redeemer.  He can take the thing we hate the most about our looks - or our life - and turn it into our biggest victory point.  If we let Him.

I love God with all my heart...and with all my butt.  And even though that may sound a little unorthodox, I know HE understands that by saying this I'm truly shouting His praises - proclaiming His miracle...and I'm pretty sure it makes Him laugh.

New Bible Study Shout-out!

I always love reading about the Apostle Peter because he so often puts his foot in his mouth…something I can totally relate to.  Stories about this man warm my heart in a misery-loves-company kinda way, and it’s a huge encouragement to me that God included such a mess of a guy in the list of those whose writings would be included in His Word. It gives this mess-of-a-gal hope :)

I have even more hope after reading Mindy Ferguson’s new 10-week Bible study which focuses in-depth on the Apostle Peter as an eyewitness to the life of Christ.

In Eyewitness to Majesty: Abandoning Self for Christ, Mindy takes readers on journey through the scriptures while drawing attention to the unique insights of Peter – why he does some of the things he does – the deep things of the heart that his interactions with Jesus reveal.  And along the way we learn important points about the culture of the day, connect dots we never knew could connect, and then learn to identify and apply these things to our own lives.

Mindy’s study of Jesus through the eyes of Peter is packed with Scripture but also full of honesty and truth for daily life and real relationships.  Each week contains five days of assignments – not so much that your head will explode, but you will definitely need your steak knife.  You will do some digging into the Word and will feel like you’ve spent deep and quality time with God.

This is a great study to do with a group of friends or to enjoy in your own quiet times with the Lord.   I love it, and plan to go through it again because I know there is an even deeper layer of good stuff to find :)

You can find Mindy's study wherever Christian books are sold or at her website:  http://www.fruitfulword.org/blog.html