Browsing Tag

hope

Blog, Faith, prayer

A new year gives HOPE

woman hiking mountain

woman hiking mountain

It’s a new year with exciting new opportunities, as well as new challenges like hiking a steep mountain as the woman is pictured above. The origin of the word opportunities comes from the Latin word opportunitatem, which means “fitness, convenience, suitableness, favorable time.”

Whether you’ve made New Year resolutions and goals, determining to be among the only 8% who achieve them, or you’ve chosen a “one word,” or you’ve decided to do nothing at all right now and que sera, sera (whatever will be, will be), a new year, like a new morning, always offers you a fresh slate to start over. Which is one reason I love it so much. A new year gives HOPE.

Hope

Hope

The definition above of the original Latin word for opportunities includes “favorable time.” God’s word says something about this, too:

“Thus says the LORD, “In a favorable time I have answered You, And in a day of salvation I have helped You; And I will keep You and give You for a covenant of the people, To restore the land, to make them inherit the desolate heritages.”–Isaiah 49:8

 

Speaker/Author Sheryl Griffin

Speaker/Author Sheryl Griffin

The year 2017 is a favorable time for you! God will answer you. He will help you. And He will give you hope. As my sweet speaker/author friend Sheryl Griffin says, “With Christ there is always hope.”

Yes, even in the eye of a storm, Jesus gives hope and is your anchor. 

And when the winds and the waves crash all around you, and you feel afraid like the disciples did, Jesus will calm the storm inside you as He speaks to the storm outside you. He doesn’t want you to feel afraid. He wants you to place your trust and hope in Him. 

Jesus is our peace in the storm. Image resource: http://farmersalmanac.com/weather/2012/05/28/2012-hurrican-season-forecast/


***
Do you need HOPE today? Check out Beth’s first fiction and Amazon Best Seller eBook, Storm Tossed, about a woman who had to face the storm inside her, as well as the hurricane outside her. Is this the last Rachel will see of her husband Jackson and her daughter Faith? Will her beach house in Destin, Florida, stand? Will Rachel die in this dangerous storm? 

Storm Tossed

Storm Tossed at Amazon
http://hyperurl.co/vq9iaa

January 9, 2017 by
Blog

When you’ve prayed and prayed for something: My new book on marriage now available in PRINT!

me & Ray

me & my husband Ray

Have you ever prayed and prayed about something, and it seemed like your prayers were just bouncing off the ceiling and weren’t working? That God was too busy, on vacation somewhere, or didn’t care?

That isn’t true, but sometimes when you pray so hard and nothing seems to be happening, that’s how you feel. I have felt that way many times about my marriage of almost 23 years to Ray.

Ray and I have been through so much together. From day one of our marriage, the enemy Satan has tried to destroy it because of the ministry calling of God on our lives.

Here’s just a few of the spiritual battles we’ve faced:

  • Adultery
  • Pornography
  • Financial crises (including our home foreclosing and bankruptcy)
  • Step-family issues
  • Ray’s career problems
  • and much more.

Currently the challenge we’re facing is that we’re trying to buy our rental home. We don’t know if the house loan is going to be approved or not, so we may be moving (again!). We’ve had multiple moves in our marriage, and it’s NOT fun–very stressful. Please keep us in prayer and I will keep you posted!

What are some of the problems you’ve faced–and overcome–in your marriage or in the marriages of those you love? With a frightening statistic of almost 50% of marriages ending in divorce, even for Christian couples, it’s hard sometimes to have faith and hope that your marriage will last “’til death do us part.”

The answer is always JESUS. Don’t stop praying! Being a believer doesn’t guarantee you’ll have an easy, happy marriage, but God can and will help you as you cry out to Him and walk in humble obedience to His word.

He’s able to do the impossible in your marriage, healing and restoring it, and making it resemble a beautiful, stained glass window, a picture of Jesus and His spotless, radiant Bride, the Church. 

Stained Glass & Marriage cover
Here’s a few tips from my new book on marriage, Stained Glass & Marriage: Reflections of Light and Hope by an Imperfect Wife:

  • Forgive daily. This is really hard sometimes, but God has forgiven you and me of so much. We need to extend that love and forgiveness to our spouse. Ask God to help you agape (unconditionally) love your husband or wife, the way God does you. This is a powerful prayer!
  • Pray for each other and with each other. Prayer can help to divorce-proof your marriage. One great resource I recommend isThe Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. Often as we pray for others, God changes our own hearts, convicting us of sin. It’s also hard to stay mad at someone that you’re praying for! Your prayers are powerful. (James 5:16) God wants you to have a happy, blessed, fulfilling marriage. 
  • Have fun together. Go on regular dates. When you first met him or her, you did fun things together to get to know each other. After you marry, you both get busy, work, take care of the kids, do chores and errands, etc. Make time with each other–without the kids-a  priority. Dream again. Go have some FUN!
  • Learn to communicate well, not just yell (or ignore each other). Ray and I recently attended a marriage retreat in Kansas City, Kansas, taught by Roger and Laureen Traver of Mountain Top Marriages ministry. In the teaching sessions, they have couples volunteer to demonstrate effective communication versus bad communication. You can use “I feel” statements instead of saying, “You always” or “you never,” or express how you are feeling, without attacking, accusing, or blaming. Listening to your husband or wife is an important key because most spouses don’t really hear each other–the words or especially the HEART message. I encourage you to consider attending the Travers’ marriage retreats. This was our second one and we’d love to attend more.
  • Don’t give up. Satan is attacking Christian marriages hard today because he knows his time is very short and that Jesus is coming soon. What he’s really after is your children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren–your godly seed. (Malachi 2:15) Don’t give Satan or the people giving you ungodly counsel to just go ahead and divorce “to be happy” the satisfaction of your marriage being destroyed. (Even some Christian marriage counselors, family members, or so-called friends will tell you this!) Don’t quit! Too much is at stake spiritually.

These are just a few of the tips I cover in my new marriage book, which compares marriage to the traditional art of making stained glass windows. God wants to make your marriage like beautiful, multi-colored stained glass windows, displaying a picture of Christ and His Bride, the Church.

Stained Glass & Marriage book

I’m so happy to announce that this new book is now in print–a physical copy available for sale for you. You can find it here, and please share with your family and friends: https://www.createspace.com/6099550

This book is also available as an eBook for your Kindle at Amazon here: http://hyperurl.co/j1un48

It’s also available as an eBook for your Nook at Barnes and Noble here: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/stained-glass-marriage-beth-jones/1123488507?ean=2940157802592

Just click below to see the new video trailer for this book! (It’s less than a minute long!)
https://youtu.be/7EEnWmf4GLU

March 12, 2016 by
Blog, Faith, Marriage, prayer

Do you need a reset button?

Reset button. Source: http://jarche.com/2009/04/push-the-reset-button/

Source: http://jarche.com/2009/04/push-the-reset-button/

This morning I woke up much later than usual, which threw my day off. Then Ray and I had some “intense domestic fellowship,” as our friends Don and Gala dub marriage conflicts, over something stupid (usually arguments between married couples are!).

As I sat in my sunroom having coffee with God, I prayed, “God, I need a reset button for this morning. I need a reset button for my life.”

Do you ever feel that way? The good news is that with Jesus, you have “a reset button.”

He exchanged His life for yours, His perfection for your sins, His healing for your sickness, His heavenly riches for your poverty of spirit (and finances), His eternal promises and hope for your discouraging trials and tests, His joy for your tears, His beauty for your ashes. 

I haven’t had a perfect life. In fact, I’ve been through so much in my life that a TV researcher interviewing me for a possible TV segment last year said, “Beth, you’ve been through so much in your life that it could easily be made into 3 movies.”

If I had a reset button for my life, I’d do a lot of things differently. But all I have is the present-today. That’s all you have, too. And through Christ we can have a reset button right this moment.

Whatever you’re going through, God is there. He loves you. He has a good plan for your life. (Jeremiah 29:11)

If you’ve messed up, ask His forgiveness. (1 John 1:9)

If you need healing, Jesus is the Healer. (Psalm 107:20)

If you don’t know what to do, pray for wisdom and direction. (James 1:5-6)

If you feel discouraged, there is always hope with Christ. (Romans 5:2-7)

If you need a miracle, nothing is impossible with God. (Matthew 19:26)

If you have a dream in your heart, God has more for you than you can even think or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20, The Message)

Remember, with God there is a reset button for today.

*******

Promises In The Dark: One Woman's Search for Authentic Love

Promises In The Dark: One Woman’s Search
for Authentic Love by Beth Jones

Had a hard life? Going through trials and tests which seem overwhelming? I relate. Read the story of my childhood sexual and physical abuse, 3 abortions, and adulterous affairs and the healing and hope I found through Jesus Christ in my book, Promises In The Dark: One Woman’s Search for Authentic Love, by clicking here. Available for sale at BethJones.net, Amazon for your Kindle, and Barnes & Noble for Your Nook.

June 1, 2015 by