Broken but Priceless Ministries

Lessons from Wonder Woman

6/22/2017

By Josie Siler

Do you want to know a secret? I kind of want to be Wonder Woman. I’ve always loved Wonder Woman, and I don’t even know why. I haven’t read any comics, I haven’t seen any other Wonder Woman movies, and I’ve only watched the old TV show a couple of times and, well, that was pretty cheesy. But for some reason, I’ve always identified with Wonder Woman. She’s “my” superhero. Needless to say, when the previews for the new movie came out I was pretty excited.

When Erin and I were together a couple of weeks ago we went and saw the movie and I loved it. The entire movie I was making comparisons in my head between the movie and the Christian life. (Note: There are no major spoilers coming so you can keep reading if you haven’t seen the movie yet. Personally, I would not take young kids to this movie. Parents, see it first and judge if it’s appropriate for your child.)

I didn’t have a clue what the movie was going to be about, so everything about it was a surprise. If I had to sum it up in one sentence I would say, “Wonder Woman is a movie about a girl discovering who she really is and learning to walk in that knowledge.” And isn’t that what the Christian life is all about?

As Christians, we’re on a journey to discover who we are in Christ and how to walk in that knowledge. Diana, aka Wonder Woman, didn’t know the full extent of who she was. As she slowly discovered the truth about herself she became more confident and powerful. As we discover the truth about who God really is and who we are in Him, we become less fearful and more powerful. We discover that our power comes from Christ, and when we allow Him to live His life through ours, we have no limits. We have nothing to fear. We’re prepared and equipped to face any battle, any fight.

I’m so excited to introduce this new series with you. Each week I’m going to be writing about our unity with Christ. What does it look like to be united with Him? How does it affect our daily lives? Does scripture really say that we’re one with the King of kings and Lord of lords?

Galatians 3:26-27 (NLT) says, “For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes.” Isn’t it nice to put on new clothes? They’re fresh and clean, not yet faded, and we feel like a million bucks. We want to show off our new clothes so others can see how good we look in them. Being united with Christ is even better than new clothes! Clothes rest on your body, but being united with something or someone is much more intimate.

Is there a time when you felt really close to Jesus? I’d love to hear about it in the comments. Also, please let me know any questions you have about being united with Christ. I’ll try to answer them throughout the course of this series.

Before I go, I have to share this video with you. Singer/songwriter Jamie Grace made a video that perfectly sums up the way I felt after watching Wonder Woman. Sorry Jamie, I think Gal Gadot is more graceful than we’ll ever be (even if Grace is your last name)!

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An Identity Crisis

5/11/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Who are you? I had the privilege of attending the Women of Joy conference this past weekend, and this question was asked several times. I’m thrilled to say I knew the answer to the question, something I couldn’t have done a few years ago. Now, I know what you’re thinking. “How can you not know who you are?!” Believe it or not, most people get the answer to this question wrong, and for years, I was one of them.

Most people, when asked this question, respond with answers like, “I’m a wife and mother of two children; I’m a nurse who loves to have adventures, etc.” Yet none of these answers tell who you are! They describe what you do. Intrinsically, at our very core, very few know their identity.

I was reminded of this after the massive response from last week’s devotion on expectations (see http://www.erinelizabethaustin.com/blog/great-expectations). Although the devotion was about our unrealistic expectations of God, it triggered many of you into thinking about the unrealistic expectations you place on yourself and how you struggle because you don’t measure up. That’s why this week’s name of God is my all-time favorite. I think it’s one of the sweetest, yet most revealing names we see throughout all of Scripture. The name is Abba, which means Father in Aramaic.

When we see our need for a Savior and repent of our sins, Scripture tells us we are adopted as God’s children. He becomes our Abba, our Daddy God. Romans 8:15-17 says it best, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”

Let that truth sink down deep into your soul. God doesn’t care what you can and cannot do. He doesn’t care about the size of your portfolio and your bank account. Your net worth in God’s kingdom isn’t dependent on your job. A CEO of a corporation isn’t considered more valuable than a homeless person. If you have a personal relationship with Christ, then God says you are His child. You are valued. You are cherished. You are wanted!

For years, I could not comprehend this. Life had beaten me down to the point I was beyond broken. I was shattered in a million tiny pieces. In my mind, I knew God had to love me because He was God, but that didn’t mean He was happy about it. Twisted though it was, I honestly believed I was the black sheep of God’s family. Just because God loved me didn’t mean He liked me, so I worked hard to be the best possible person I could be. And then sickness happened. I couldn’t work because my body wouldn’t allow it. I will never forget having to quit my job because I was too sick to work, thinking “What am I going to do now? I was doing all of these things to show God I deserved His love, and now I can’t. How am I going to show Him I’m valuable?”

That time in my life was one of the darkest times I’ve ever experienced, and I am so grateful for it! As odd as this may sound, sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing helped me FINALLY begin to understand who I am and Whose I am. Now I know, I am Erin Elizabeth Austin and I am a daughter of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. If I ever become a best-selling author and world-renown speaker, my value will not change from the beaten, broken down girl eight years ago.

God’s love never changes. Even better, it’s unfailing. It’s unshakeable. It’s unstoppable. He is a good Father who loves you when you think you’re unlovable. Do you believe that? Do you know who you are? Do you know Whose you are? Do you know that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords says you are somebody?

If you don’t, know you’re not alone. Ask God to show you the truth of who you are in Him. Pray that He will help you see the beauty of your life through His filter of truth rather than society’s unrealistic expectations. Ask Him to help you block out the lies you have believed for so long. You, my precious friend, have a Daddy God who loves you in ways you can’t begin to fathom. Choose to believe what your Abba says about you. I promise, your life will never be the same.

“So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” ~ Ephesians 3:17-19

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Great Expectations

5/4/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

I’m a perfectionist. To be honest, it’s a family characteristic. Although not everyone in my family is a perfectionist, most of us are. People may disagree with me, but being a perfectionist isn’t always a bad thing. It means I work hard and do my best, no matter what I do. Yet there’s a downside to striving for perfection. It’s unattainable.

I was reminded of this last week when I went to see my nine-year-old nephew play soccer. Unfortunately, he too has inherited the perfectionist gene. I watched him play goalie, his favorite position. Even though I am biased as his aunt, he did an amazing job, especially considering his team has played more games than they’ve had practices due to rain. Under the circumstances, his team played a good game, but they didn’t understand the positions they were supposed to be in during the game, so 80% of the game was played in front of my nephew’s goal. Understandably, my nephew had more attempted goals he had to block than normal for a soccer game, and he did an exceptional job. He blocked two-thirds of the attempted goals, yet seven still made it past him. Being the perfectionist that he is, my poor nephew didn’t see how well he did. He only saw the failures, and by the end of the game, he was in tears. His expectations were simply too high.

As I’ve pondered this over the week, I can’t help but think we’re all like this, whether or not we’re a perfectionist. Since we started this series on Believing God I’ve had more conversations with people about why they struggle to trust God, and the number one reason given is “because a situation I was praying about didn’t turn out the way I expected it would.” In other words, we struggle to trust God because He doesn’t do what we want Him to do.

I can’t help but think of Job, who found himself in a similar situation. After losing everything, he cried out to God, “What are you doing? I’ve been a good person. I went to church. I tithed. I followed Your laws. Why aren’t you doing anything to fix this?!” (Job 31) For a long time, God let Job vent. He just sat there and listened while Job complained, but then, God spoke! I encourage you to read Job 38-41. It’s one of those passages of Scripture we all need to read every now then because it reminds us how great God is and just how small we are. Like God said in Job 38:12, “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning, and caused the dawn to know its place?”

Somewhere along the way, we’ve forgotten just how insignificant we are. On this planet, we are the top dogs - the alpha. We rule over animals and things which are weaker than us, so in our minds, it’s easy to forget that we are as small as a speck of dust compared to God. He is the One in control, and who are we to be upset when our expectations don’t line up with His? The further I get into this study, the more I’m amazed at the sheer audacity of believers in Christ. The God who set the world into motion knows our names. He knows the number of hairs on every person's head. Not only that, He knows the number of tears we cry, and He cares! We fail Him in countless ways every day. We demand He do things our way, and when He doesn’t, we say He isn’t trustworthy. And yet, God loves us with a love that can’t be contained. That’s why this week’s name of God is important, because it makes us stop and think about how big our God is. He is El Elyon, “God Most High,” (Gen.14:18, 22).

This is actually one of the more commonly used names of God in Scripture. Personally, I think it’s because we need to be reminded that God is the One in charge and not us. As you go throughout the next week, I encourage you to ask God if you have some unrealistic expectations. Maybe you’re expecting to meet your future spouse or get pregnant by a certain date, or maybe you believe a situation in your family will be resolved in a certain way. It may even be that you’re praying for a resolution to a problem and you’re demanding God fix it without stopping to hear what He has to say.

As children of God, we should start each day with one expectation, and that’s to see God. How would life change if we stopped demanding things happen in a certain way and our heart’s cry became to simply see God each and every day of our lives? Problems and circumstances probably won’t reach the resolution we thought was best, but I guarantee we’ll see God in ways we never expected or imagined. He is El Elyon, the God Most High. The God who knows when an ostrich flaps its wings on the other side of the world knows what is best for you and me. Trust Him! Choose to believe that God in His infinite wisdom will work out the minute details of your life in the best possible way. Expect to see God!

“But He knows the way I take; when He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot has held fast to His path; I have kept His way and not turned aside.” ~ Job 23:10-11

© May 4, 2017

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A Handbook for Freedom: Breaking the Chains

4/27/2017

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by Katy Kauffman

Do you feel “chained”? I did. You wouldn’t have been able to hear the clanging links as I walked by or seen the chain that was metaphorically wrapped around my heart and mind, but for years, I struggled with chains of my own making. When I realized they were hindering my walk with God, I wanted to be free. I just wasn’t sure how to do it.

Have you been there? Even children of God battle bad habits or detrimental ways of thinking, feeling, and acting. Jesus died to set us free from sin’s power in our lives, but we can still walk hindered. We can let fear, anxiety, anger, loneliness, and so forth hinder what God wants to do in our lives and how we relate to Him and other people. But it doesn’t have to be that way. We can break free and stay free. The strategies to do it are in our new book.

I am excited to announce the recent release of Breaking the Chains: Strategies for Overcoming Spiritual Bondage. Published by my family’s ministry/publishing company, Lighthouse Bible Studies, this compilation features the insights and strategies of 20 contributing authors—all writing about how to break spiritual chains and walk in freedom. Six members of the Broken but Priceless staff and writing team have contributed to the book—Erin Elizabeth Austin, Josie Siler, Lauren Craft, Tessa Emily Hall, Rosemarie Fitzsimmons, and myself—as well as three past guest writers—Ron Gallagher, Cherrilynn Bisbano, and Jeannie Waters.

This is what our book is about:

Just like God’s people in the Old Testament longed for freedom from captivity and oppression, God’s children today long to be free from spiritual bondage. Powerful enemies such as fear, anxiety, anger, and loneliness war against our souls, but Christ empowers us to break their chains. Freedom doesn’t have to be a distant dream. It can be our reality.

Does your soul long to be free? Twenty authors have joined forces in this compilation to offer strategies for freedom by sharing personal stories, meaningful Bible verses, and chain-breaking principles. There are even some short stories.

Discover the strategies you need to break free from spiritual bondage and to form your own battle plan for victory. With God’s work and our cooperation, strongholds can crumble, chains can be broken, and freedom can usher in God’s peace and joy.

Our Contributors

The contributing authors come from all walks of life—a pastor, an engineer, an adjunct professor, a CFO, an ESL teacher, editors, novelists, nonfiction authors, ministry leaders, mothers, grandmothers, and one biker chick! (You can guess who that last one is.)

The “Chains” to Break

The first section of the book discusses how to overcome 25 forms of spiritual bondage. Could any of the strategies to overcome these chains help you or someone you know?

Fear
Guilt
Anxiety
Hopelessness
Loneliness

Enslaving Thoughts
Pride
Unforgiveness
Bad Habits
Legalism

Anger
Negative Thinking
Spiritual Depression
Indifference
Complaining

Rebellion
Prejudice
Low Self-Image
People Pleasing
Lust

Worldliness
Self-Reliance
“That’s Just the Way I Am”
Prolonged Emotional and Mental Pain
Idolatry

Our Short Stories:

I have always believed that fiction can teach truth. The second section of the book includes five short stories that illustrate a particular spiritual chain and the struggle to break free.

Breaking Free and Staying Free:

The final section of the book gives valuable examples of how believers have broken free from bondage and how to stay free.

Help us spread the word about Breaking the Chains and its freeing principles by sharing this post. Overcoming spiritual bondage and winning the victory is possible because God makes it possible.

Order your copy of Breaking the Chains here.

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A No Good, Very Bad Day

4/6/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Have you ever woken up knowing it was going to be a bad day? I think, if we’re honest, we’ve all had days like this. Maybe that’s why I’ve always loved the children’s story by Judith Viorst entitled Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. Not only do I find it amusing, but there’s a lot of truth to it. In case you haven’t read it, the book starts with Alexander waking up saying he knows it’s going to be a bad day because he went to bed with gum in his hair and woke up with gum in his hair, and it was a sign of how the rest of his day would go. Towards the end of the story Alexander realizes that even though bad things are happening he can choose to have fun and make the most of his day. What a powerful truth so many of us adults need to learn!

I’m not going to lie. I didn’t always understand this. For the longest time after I was diagnosed with lupus, I struggled with my attitude. I was often guilty of saying, “If it’s going to happen, then it’s going to happen to me.” Although I didn’t realize it at the time, that attitude set the tone for how each day would go. I expected difficulties, so all I saw were difficulties.

It’s easy to do this when you’re diagnosed with a chronic illness. Let’s be honest. Being sick or the caregiver of someone who’s sick is hard. There’s nothing easy about it. Sickness steals your time, health, money, and sometimes, even those you thought were friends. When that happens, it’s easy to become so wrapped up in what’s happening you miss seeing all the good in your life. Life becomes a series of no good, very bad days.

Yet as I’ve studied God’s Word, I’ve realized we choose whether or not we have a bad day. In Psalm 27:1, we are introduced to another of God’s names. It’s here He’s called Jehovah-‘Ori, which means “The Lord is my Light.” I love the verse because it’s says, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defense of my life; whom shall I dread?”

We all go through difficult times, times when it feels like our world is caving in and we’ve been left locked in a dark room trying to dig our way out. That’s why it’s so important to believe God is our light. He can give hope and joy on even the darkest of days. I can’t help but think as we approach Easter that God did this on the day Jesus died. Before Jesus’ death, He told His disciples He would come again (John 14:2-4). Even when all hope seemed lost, God was working.

Therein lies one of the great privileges of having a relationship with Christ. Bad things may happen to us, but God gifts us with hope in hopeless situations. Because of Him, even on the worst of days, there is always a possibility for joy. When our focus is on God, who brings light to every situation, we can honestly say our day hasn’t been bad because God is there.

It's taken me years to understand this, but this is a truth that’s transformed my life. There is a difference in a day being bad and a day being hard. When we say a day is bad, we’re saying absolutely nothing good was a part of the day. We’re, in essence, saying it doesn’t matter that we’re alive, have people who love us, have a roof over our heads and food in our bellies. We’re saying everything is horrible and there’s no good to be found. Yet when we say the day is hard, we’re acknowledging difficult things have happened, but we refuse to negate the blessings we have been given. Do you see the difference?

Every day is good when we keep our eyes focused on God because He brings light to the darkest of situations. No problem can outshine the power of God. He is greater!

Do you find yourself going through some dark times? Have you asked God to shine His light into your situation? Jehovah-‘Ori wants to shine His light on your life. Choose to stop having no good, very bad days. Take your eyes off your problems and focus on the One who is greater.

“Then Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” ~ John 8:12

© April 6, 2017

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More Than Anything

3/23/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Can you believe it? We’re finally on the last segment of our mini-series on healing and deciphering what God’s Word actually says about it. Over the course of the past month, I’ve had some interesting and often intense discussions with many of you about this topic, and I want you to know, I applaud your tenacity in doing this study. By no means, is this an easy topic. I’m proud of you for seeking God through this issue! So, once more, let’s step into the last part of our study and see what God has to say about healing and death.

I think, more than any other subject, death is probably one of our greatest struggles in believing God. Honestly, I’ve lost count of the number of people who’ve approached me disheartened, ready to quit on God because they prayed for a loved one to be healed and God allowed the person to die. They quote verses like Psalm 103:2-3, which says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases,” and then they feel God lied by allowing their family member/friend to die. We discussed this two weeks ago, but let’s stop here for a moment so there’s no confusion. Verses like these are a wonderful promise from God, but if you actually study the original language, it’s written in future tense, meaning God will heal your diseases in Heaven. We all will be completely healed when we reach Heaven, so when you pray for God to heal your loved one and the person dies, God did in fact answer your prayer. The problem is, He didn’t answer your prayer the way you wanted. Again, let me be clear, you should pray and ask God to heal you in this lifetime, and He does sometime answer that prayer; however, you need to be ready to accept whatever His answer may be.

This is where it gets tricky. People are temporal, meaning even though we know about Heaven, we can’t fully grasp the concept that there’s more to life beyond the here and now. We see what’s in front of us; we feel the pain and hurt of now, and we fail to truly understand we have an amazing future promised to us in Heaven if we have a personal relationship with Christ. Even worse, whenever we encounter problems, we get desperate. We can become so focused on resolving our problems that we miss what God is doing in our lives.

I never truly understood this until I met Sharon. Even though I only met Sharon once, she changed my life more than anyone I’ve ever met. After speaking at a small church, a friend of Sharon’s asked me to go visit her because she only had a few months left to live. She was dying because of ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. For those who don’t know, there are two common ways to die from ALS – either your diaphragm is paralyzed and unable to make your lungs work so that you literally suffocate, or you choke on food, drink, or your own saliva because you lose the ability to swallow, and you asphyxiate. It’s an incredibly painful, agonizing illness which slowly kills you, which is why I was so surprised to meet one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. I went to Sharon’s home and spent several hours with her talking and laughing. When I asked her how she was so joyful, Sharon’s response changed my life. She told me that for the longest time she was too focused on her illness and her healing, or lack thereof. As months passed, God challenged her to not be so focused on her death that she forgot to live. So, she began to daily ask God to help her see Him throughout the course of the day, and He answered her prayer. She saw Him in her granddaughter’s laughter, in her husband’s tender care, in the sound of the ocean crashing on the shore, and in the kindness of a stranger who was willing to hug her when most people were scared to touch her.

That moment challenged me and changed me. You see, two weeks after I turned eighteen, I was told I had one of the most severe forms of lupus and would live a maximum of ten years. When I met Sharon, I was eight years into what I called my prison sentence. It was in that moment I realized I was more focused on my healing than I was on the Healer.

Don’t we all do that? We find ourselves in the midst of a major trial and we so desperately want the problem to go away, we become more focused on the solution than we do on the Problem Solver. Even worse, when God does step in, we often thank Him once and then move on in celebrating the fact our problem has gone away. As I’ve studied Jehovah-Rapha, “The Lord is my healer,” I can’t help but feel we’ve all done God a huge injustice. We get angry if He doesn’t answer our prayer the way we want, we pout like a two-year-old, and then turn our backs on Him. We say He’s not trustworthy, even though He’s daily walking with us through our trials, bringing good into a bad situation.

I took Sharon’s words to heart, and began to ask God on a regular basis to help me see Him in each day. His answer blew me away! When I stopped focusing on the negative, I saw God do things I never thought possible. The amazing thing is I just celebrated my thirty-third birthday. I’m five years past my expiration date. I’m still sick, but by the grace of God, I’m still here. Yet, I’ve realized over the years, my healing isn’t nearly as important as I once thought it was. More than anything, I want to see God in each day.

What about you? What is your focus? Do you see God in each day? Are you focused on the healing or the Healer? Are you so focused on the possibility of dying that you’ve forgotten to live? What do you want more than anything?

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.” ~ James 1:12

© March 23, 2017

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Why me?

3/16/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

I’ve been very honest with you all about my thoughts, opinions, questions, and doubts I’ve dealt with over the years in regards to God and sickness, and I admit, there’s been a lot. After I was diagnosed with my third chronic illness and forced to quit work, I spent over a year studying Scripture trying to figure out what God was doing in my suffering. Once I finally realized that my definition of healing and my understanding of Scripture was wrong, I still couldn’t help but feel dejected, as I imagine many of you were after reading last week’s devotion. As wonderful as it is that God cares about our heart, mind, and soul, that doesn’t take away the frustration of living with a chronic illness. I admit after finally coming to terms with what God has to say about healing and sickness, I still couldn’t help but ask the ever-present question since I was diagnosed with lupus, “Why me?”

I know from talking with many of you that I’m not the only one to ask this question. To be honest, I think it’s normal when a crisis happens in our lives to wonder why we have to go through difficulties. Whether it’s a chronic illness, a broken family, or financial difficulties, the temptation to throw our hands up in aggravation and shout “why me” is at the forefront of our thoughts. Personally, I asked God this question countless times over the course of several months. After months of fighting with myself and God, I heard a gentle whisper in my soul late one night saying, “Why not you?”

It’s a difficult question, but it made me stop and think. And once again, I found myself learning some uncomfortable truths from God’s Word. We want God to take away all our problems and fix everything, but we also want freewill to do whatever we desire. We want the best of both worlds, and we can’t have it. God loves us so much, when He created the earth He chose to give us freewill, meaning we can choose to murder someone or we can choose to worship God. We can choose to be kind and considerate, or we can choose to be rude and say whatever we want without thinking about how our actions affect others. God made us different when He gave us freewill. Unlike animals who have certain parameters and rules they must live by, people aren’t confined in such a way. A bear must hunt in order to eat, and he will because it’s been predetermined that’s what a bear will do. Unlike a Disney movie, a bear won’t suddenly decide he wants to be a vegan and eat salad for the rest of his life, because it isn’t in his nature. However, we have been gifted with a life of freewill. We can choose to do whatever we want in this life and unfortunately, we chose sin, which made this world broken. When Adam and Eve chose to willingly turn their backs against what God said, our world became broken, meaning our world was no longer perfect. Brokenness comes in all forms, and chronic illness is simply one of them.

Somewhere along the way, we got the idea that having a relationship with Jesus meant we didn’t have to suffer. Yet because we live in a broken world, we aren’t exempt. The only way for us to no longer endure brokenness is to no longer live on this earth, meaning we’re dead and in Heaven. So, where’s the hope if we’re going to be exposed to sickness?

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that one of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in Daniel 3, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown into a fiery furnace for not denouncing their faith. The reason I love this passage is twofold. First and foremost, we see in verses 24-25 they weren’t alone in their suffering. Jesus joined them in the fire. Therein lies the great promise to those who have a relationship with Christ. Yes, we will endure suffering and hardship in this life just like everyone else, but we don’t walk through our trials alone. We have been promised that God will never leave us or forsake us (Deut. 31:6). Because of Jesus willingly choosing to die on the cross so that we might have a relationship with Him, we are offered comfort only God can give to His children who are going through hard times. He may not take away the suffering, but He does ease the burden. Even better, God will use our trials and turn them into something good. One of my favorite verses in all of the Bible is found in Daniel 3:27 when it says, “The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king’s high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.”

Have you ever been around a campfire? As fun as they are, the smell is awful once you step away from the fire. The smell of smoke permeates everything on your body. That’s what normally happens when a person endures a personal trial. It negatively impacts him or her. Yet when we have a relationship with God, if we keep our focus on Him, it doesn’t matter how severe the trial or how big the fire. We will come through and we won’t smell like smoke.

Talk about a testimony! Have you ever been around someone who radiates joy despite all they’ve had to endure? Compared to someone who is negative and bitter, the difference is astounding. People are drawn to those who have hope and joy even though their lives are challenging, and because God made it possible for us to have a relationship with Him, we get to be those people who point others to God no matter what. I want that more than anything else! Yes, I have three chronic illnesses, but it doesn’t have to destroy me because my God is bigger than any fiery furnace this life throws at me.

God is walking with us through the fire! Do you see Him? Are you looking? More importantly, do you smell like smoke?

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ.” ~ 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

© March 16, 2017

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What if...?

3/9/2017

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By Erin Elizabeth Austin

You came back! I have to admit, I wasn’t sure how last week’s devotion would be received. To my surprise, the response was HUGE! Apparently, many of us struggle to believe God because we question why He doesn’t always heal. This topic is so complex we are going to discuss it for another two weeks, because we need to understand what the Bible says about sickness, healing, and God’s role in it. Please come back next week; today’s devotion only covers part of what God has to say about healing and sickness. If you have questions after reading today’s devotion, chances are we’ll cover it in the next two weeks. For those who haven’t read last week’s devotion, I urge you to take a moment to read it (http://www.erinelizabethaustin.com/blog/when-sickness-prevails). Otherwise, this devotion will not make sense. So, are you ready to dive in?

We’ve all prayed for healing, yet few of us have gotten the answer we were hoping for. So, let me ask you a question. When you pray to be healed, what exactly are you wanting? I can hear many of you thinking “Duh!” all the way over here. I know it’s a straightforward answer, but it needs to be said. Yes, we’re praying that we will no longer be sick, but let’s take it a step further. Why are we praying this? Because being sick is hard and uncomfortable, and we want God to take away our discomfort. When we pray for healing, we are praying to be physically comfortable. Yet what if God sees something as more important than our discomfort?

I have spent years studying God’s Word. More specifically, I have studied all the references throughout Scripture about healing, and I was shocked at what I learned. The word for heal, which we see throughout the Old Testament, is rapha, and it does not in any way reference physical healing. It’s talking about the healing of our souls. If you study Hebrew, rapha actually means several things in regards to healing. The actual definition is to “to heal, become fresh, completely healed, repaired,” and my personal favorite, “purified.” When you know this, you can see how far we’ve taken Scripture out of context. In fact, one of the most misquoted verses in the entirety of the Bible is on healing. Isaiah 53:5 says, “But He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our sins; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and by His wounds we are healed.” So many people pray this verse out of context! They “claim” God’s promise to heal them from their diseases, when in fact, God’s not promised that at all. In this verse, the word healed means “to be completely healed,” and the language in the passage indicates it’s talking about being forgiven. As wonderful of a thought it is that God would heal us from our chronic illnesses, to me, the verse is so much more beautiful when you truly understand what it’s saying. It’s saying “God loves you so much, He sent His Son to be beaten, whipped, and hung on a cross to forgive you of your sins. He wants your soul to be healed.”

Maybe it’s just me, but I find that mind-boggling. For years, I was angry because I thought God wasn’t fulfilling His promises to heal me. I thought being sick meant God didn’t love me. And I was mistaken! Now, don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to ask God to heal us, and we should. However, we need to be prepared for whatever His answer may be. God does heal people, but it’s not His first priority. Even Jesus, who often healed people, didn’t focus on the healing. His priority was always on a person’s soul, and although it’s not a popular thought, the number of people He didn’t heal is far greater than the number of those He did. In John 5:1-17, when Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, he only healed one person, when it clearly says in verse 3 that there “lay a multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, and withered.”

Now, this doesn’t mean that God causes you to be sick. Sickness and health problems are a part of living in a broken, sin-filled world, but that doesn’t mean God isn’t Jehovah-Rapha, “The Lord who heals.” If you get sick and God doesn’t answer your prayer for healing, then God has a purpose in your sickness. God not only cares about our physical health, but He cares about our emotional, mental, and spiritual health. Sometimes, in order for us to be healed in other areas of our lives, we have to be physically uncomfortable. I can honestly say that after being sick for over fifteen years, I’m a completely different person. God has healed areas in my life that I didn’t even realize were broken. Even though being sick is hard, I can honestly look back at all I’ve been through and be thankful because God has changed my life in ways I never imagined. He's used me, not in spite of my chronic illness, but because of it. There’s an old song by the Gaither’s called “He Touched Me.” I love the chorus when it says, “He touched me. Oh, He touched me. And oh, the joy that floods my soul. Something happened, and now I know. He touched me, and made me whole.”[i] God’s priority is for us to be whole. He is working in each of our lives, but it may look different than what we imagined. Some of the greatest stories in life are about transformation. God is in the process of transforming each of us to bring about a complete healing, from the inside out.

As you think on this over the coming days, I want to challenge you to ask yourself some questions. What if you’ve been asking the wrong questions? What if God is answering your prayer for healing? What if you’re so focused on not getting healed physically, you miss what God is doing in other areas of your life? What if your anger in God has been misplaced? What if God loves you so much He’s willing to allow you to remain sick in order for you to become spiritually, mentally, and emotionally whole? What if because of your illness, God is in the process of transforming you into someone absolutely amazing?

What if…?

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” ~ Romans 8:38-39

© March 8, 2017

[1] http://www.lyrics.com/lyric/17363580

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When Sickness Prevails...

3/2/2017

15 Comments

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

I have a confession to make. Before I started our Believing God series, I printed out a list of all the different names of God used throughout the Bible. As I was reading the list, I came across a name I immediately decided I didn’t want to write about. The reason for this is because, to be perfectly honest, it’s a touchy subject for most Christians. There are many different viewpoints on this particular topic, and quite honestly, I didn’t want to touch this subject with a ten-foot pole. Yet God won’t let me move past this subject. So, let’s all take a deep breath and step into God’s Word to see what He has to say about this.

Have you guessed what the topic is yet? If your answer is healing, give yourself a gold star! The name of God for the week is Jehovah-Rapha, which means “The Lord who heals.” Deep subject, I know. I can hear many of you yelling, “If God heals, then why am I sick?” Like I said, this is going to be tough devotion to read, but we need to address this area because it’s one of the main reasons why people struggle to truly believe God. In fact, this is such a complex, multifaceted subject, it’s going to take us several weeks to address everything God has to say about healing. So hang with me in the next several weeks, because we’re going to take an honest, in-depth look at healing and believing God when sickness prevails.

Personally, I’ve lost count of how many times someone has told me that if I believed God would heal me, then He would. Yet I’ve prayed, been anointed with oil, and believed with all my heart I would be healed and the sickness remained. And I was left wondering if I didn’t have enough faith or if God was simply a liar.

I have studied this subject more than any other subject in the Bible. It’s taken years of study and prayer, but I’ve learned a couple of things, as a result. The first thing we need to stop and realize is that for many of us, our definition of faith is wrong. We’re told that we must have faith God will do something for us, like healing us from our diseases. But that’s not faith! Faith is believing God - period. It’s as simple as that. God is not a genie in a bottle who answers our every whim. He can do what He wants. We are called to believe Him, not for what He can do for us, but for whom He is. Stop and think about that for a moment. No one wants to be friends with someone who likes you because of what you’ll do for them. You want to be friends with someone because they like you. God is the same way. He wants a relationship with us. That’s what faith is – believing God is the one true God. He’s the all-powerful, ever-present Lord of all creation, and He loves you and me. It’s saying that you know God is bigger and greater than you. He sees and understands things we can’t begin to comprehend, and He will do what’s best for us.

That’s the next thing that hinders us in believing God. We think since we’re sick and going through a difficult time, that must mean God doesn’t love us. Again, that’s WRONG! Time after time in Scripture we see people going through sickness, financial difficulties, hardship, and even death, yet God was with them. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in Daniel 3. For those who aren’t familiar with this passage, King Nebuchadnezzar built a 90-foot statue and ordered everyone to bow down to it. Knowing they would be sentenced to death by fire if they didn’t obey, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego refused to worship anyone other than God. Their faith in God was rewarded by them being thrown into a fiery furnace. Not much of a reward if you ask me. Yet I’ve learned something through studying this passage. There are three things which can happen when we’re praying to be delivered from something. The first is that we can be delivered from the fire. This is when the doctor runs tests, we pray the tests show nothing negative, and God answers our prayer and everything is okay. This is the one we all hope for. The second way we can be delivered from a trial is by going through the fire. This is where a lot of us are at. The test results come back, the doctor gives us a diagnosis, and we have to learn how to live with a chronic illness. We’ll come back next week and talk in more detail about this. The last way we can be delivered from a trial is we can be delivered by the fire. This is the one we struggle with the most. It’s when we’re praying for someone’s healing and the person dies.

This is heavy stuff. There’s a reason why so many Christians struggle to believe God. It’s not that He’s not trustworthy, but this area makes us take a step back and question if God is who He says He is and if He will do what He says He will do. God’s Word has so much to say about this that we’re going to camp on this topic for a couple of weeks, because if we aren’t honest with ourselves and with God, we will never get past this. God wants us to believe Him with every area of our lives. He can handle your questions. Don’t hide from Him. As you go through this next week, I encourage you to set aside some time to pray about this. Examine your heart and see if you wrestle with this topic. You might be surprised at what God has to say.

“Call to Me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” ~ Jeremiah 33:3

© March 2, 2017

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When Life is Hard...

2/23/2017

7 Comments

By Erin Elizabeth Austin

Life is hard. Sometimes, it’s downright impossible. I began to truly understand this when I was barely seventeen and diagnosed with lupus and told I had a life expectancy of ten years. I have to admit, when that happened, I felt a bit like the Road Runner when the anvil drops on him. In a moment, everything had changed. I didn’t know what was going to happen, but I knew I had a hard road ahead.

When I was diagnosed with lupus, I held firm to my faith in God. In those first days, immediately following my diagnosis, I knew God had a plan for my life and would work everything out for the good. Yet as days turned into weeks and months turned into years, I began to get sicker. Medicine could only help so much, much like putting a Band-Aid over a gaping wound. And little by little, my faith in a loving, benevolent God slowly began to crumble.

At twenty-one, I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Although I never voiced it aloud, I began to question if the God whom I claimed to believe was worth it. All I could see was heartache and brokenness. There were days I was physically in such severe pain I couldn’t get out of bed. But I bolstered my faith and continued to try to trust in God. That all came to a screeching halt when I was twenty-five and diagnosed with Crohns. With three chronic illnesses attacking my body, what little belief I had left in God came crashing down around me. I’ll never forget that moment when I stood by the trashcan in my bedroom holding my Bible, ready to throw it and my faith in Christ away forever. Life was harder than I ever imagined it could be, and I wanted to quit on the God whom I believed had quit on me.

In the moment, right before I threw away my Bible, I felt a stirring in my soul. With tears running down my face, I told God I would give Him one last chance to show me I was wrong – to show me He loved me and cared about what I was going through. That moment changed my life. I know some people would say it’s blasphemous to give God an ultimatum like that, but for the first time since I became sick, I was honest with myself and God. I was done pretending that my faith was steadfast in Him, and God blessed that honesty. I didn’t understand why this was happening, and it caused me to lift my eyes off my problems and place them solely on God. For the first time since I was seventeen, my focus was on God and God alone.

Since then, I’ve learned I’m not the only one who’s wrestled with God on why we go through difficulties. For some reason, we’ve bought into the lie that God won’t give us more than we can handle. I’ve even had some people tell me it’s a Bible verse, and that’s not true. Nowhere in Scripture does it say as believers in Christ we have a limit on the difficulties we’ll encounter. Hebrews 11 is one of the most recognizable chapters in the Bible; it’s commonly referred to as the Faith Chapter. So many people read the first 34 verses in the chapter about all the good that can happen in a person’s life when they believe God, yet they skip past the last five verses, which are just as important. They say: “Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection; and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect.”

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying God won’t perform miracles in your life. He’s done so many things that shouldn’t be possible in my life, counting but not limited to the fact that I’ve already lived six years past my expiration date. Not only that, I’m the healthiest I’ve ever been in my adult life. Yes, I’m still sick and life is hard, but God is still working in my life and through my life. That’s something that amazes me every day.

What I’ve learned over the years is I don’t get to pick and choose what problems I’ll have to face. If I’m going to believe God, I have to believe He’s not only the God of the good times, but He’s also God of the bad. Being a Christian doesn’t mean we’re excluded from the problems of this life. Yet when we choose to believe God, and make no mistake, it is a choice, we’ll know the peace that passes understanding. We’ll see why in Acts 16:22-30 Paul and Silas could sing God’s praise when they were imprisoned. They knew Jehovah-Shalom, “The Lord is my peace.”

Over the years, I’ve become intimately acquainted with Jehovah-Shalom. I’ve had days when I couldn’t uncurl from the fetal position because the pain was so severe. There’ve been moments when I’ve been told by doctors to prepare to die. Yet time after time, when I’ve cried out to Jehovah-Shalom, I’ve experienced the most amazing peace when there should have been none. That’s what God does during those hard times. He may not remove the burden, but He’ll help you carry it. When that happens, you can honestly say, “Today has been hard, but it hasn’t been bad because my God is good and He gives me peace.”

Can you say that? Do you know Jehovah-Shalom?

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” ~ Romans 15:13

© February 22, 2017

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Lessons from Wonder Woman

An Identity Crisis

Great Expectations

A Handbook for Freedom: Breaking the Chains

A No Good, Very Bad Day

More Than Anything

Why me?

What if...?

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When Life is Hard...

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