Browsing Tag

Promises In The Dark

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.

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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.

Blog, Faith, prayer, Writing

Give the gift of books this Christmas

www.OurGreatGifts.com

www.OurGreatGifts.com

Sometimes it’s hard to know what to buy family and friends at Christmas. Fuzzy colorful socks? An Itunes or Starbucks gift card? A funny reindeer that sings when you push a button?

But you want it to be a gift that they love and that makes a difference and impact in their lives. Give the gift of books this Christmas!

My book, Promises In The Dark: One Woman’s Search for Authentic Love, is a great gift to give your loved ones this Christmas season.

It shares about the authentic love you and others have been missing in your life and are looking for… God’s promise in a dark world…fulfilled, wrapped up in the gift of Jesus our Savior. 

To learn more, click here

Blog, Faith, prayer, Writing

Ultimate Blog Challenge: National Make A Mistake Day

Ultimate Blog Challenge

Ultimate Blog Challenge

Yesterday I joined Paul B. Taubman II’s and Danni Ackerman’s October 2014 Ultimate Blog Challenge. You post 31 blog posts for the month of October to grow your blog, increase traffic, build your list, and give your business a boostI joined it primarily for the discipline of writing each day and to join a blogging community.

You can make connections with amazing people, set examples for your clients, be accountable, and read other interesting blog posts.

It’s free and fun! Want to join too? Just click here.

Each day you receive ideas which you can blog about in your email inbox, so you aren’t at a loss for what to post. One idea today was that it’s National Make a Mistake Day.

Mistake. Its origin is likely from the Old Norse word mistaka, which means to “take in error, miscarry,” or to “misunderstand, misinterpret.”

I thought that was interesting. Miscarry.

Jesus on cross

Jesus on cross

Jesus Christ carried all our shame and guilt at the Cross over 2,000 years ago so that we wouldn’t have to carry around our mistakes. He took it all.

A substitute for our sins so that God would forgive us. When Jesus died, He said, “It is finished,” and breathed His last as Son of God here on earth. His mission complete.

Then He rose again and ascended into Heaven. He’s coming again soon.

Have you accepted what He did for you – carrying your mistakes, your sins, so that you wouldn’t have to? Received Him as Savior?

The woman caught in adultery who was going to  be stoned The Passion movie

The woman caught in adultery who was going to be stoned
The Passion movie

I’ve made so many mistakes in my life.

Done more things wrong than right. Royally messed up. I share about a lot of this in my newest book, Promises In The Dark: One Woman’s Search for Authentic Love.

But Jesus offers such hope. We fall, we get up. He offers us His hand to walk with us. Sometimes we let go, like a toddler child letting go of her parent’s protective hand and running off, carelessly. And she falls on the sidewalk, scrapes her knee and cries. But she’ll be okay.

Each morning offers a fresh plate of God’s mercy.  I’m thankful for His mercy and grace to me.

As our daughter Leah told me recently when a friend questioned if I should write this new book because it might hurt my daughter to know about my past (she already knew; I’ve been very open and transparent with my husband and our children about my past), “Everyone makes mistakes, mom.”

I think it’s a good thing to have a National Make a Mistake Day. Because we all do. Let’s offer each other that sweet grace. 

Only Jesus was perfect. He offers His perfection to us when we receive Him as Lord and Savior. His perfection in exchange for our sins.

Redemption. Salvation. Deliverance. Freedom. God glorified. Jesus magnified. Our hearts satisfied, in solely Him.

Despite our mistakes, God loves us so much. Unconditionally. Even with the mess of our lives we create, and the mess we are sometimes.

 He knows and loves you and me through and through, because He made us. And He carries us…until the day we come home.