Okay, last week, I had no idea how perfect “New Beginnings” would bee! Are you also ready for a refresh? Aren’t we all! Today, award-winning author and pastor, Andy Clapp, returns to talk about how to refresh our own souls in this new season of hope.
On a really personal note, my buzzy bee friends swarmed away to their new safe home. (Thankfully not to the hole in my roof!) I’m more sad about saying bye to my bees than about my front porch being a total loss due to the big storm.
Find more pix at the end of today’s blog. Now, back to the important message from my new North Carolina friend, the amazing Andy Clapp. (And hi to Mary Eloise’s family in NC.)
Yep, our souls crave a new season of hope. We all need oxygen; sunshine for our soul. How do we refresh our own souls when it feels like life is suffocating us?
Andy shares 3 tips. He and our mutual friend, Michelle Medlock Adams, call this process, “Plant the Word, Pray the Word, Work the Word.”
“A lot of it is in what we see. What is it we see the most in our lives? Do we see the obstacles or do we see the opportunities?” Andy begins.
3 Tips to Refresh Our Soul
Sometimes, we forget God is good all the time. I can be tempted to think God is “holding out on me,” to quote my friend Paula Quinn. Andy explains how three small changes in our mindset and habits can make all the difference.
#1 Plant the Word
“Michelle actually came up with that idea,” Andy says. “Because we were talking about how we read devotionals sometimes and the information’s great, but what do you do with it?”
He explained how the idea of planting the word means to hide it in our hearts, i.e. memorize verses.
“Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.” ~Psalm 19:11
Of course, memorizing verses forces us to ponder their meaning. Andy call memorizing scripture “writing the word on your heart.”
#2 Pray the Word
“Pray the Word is Let’s go to the Lord in prayer and ask Him to move. To help us with the truth of what we’ve just read,” explains Andy.
#3 Work the Word
“To me, one of the most important ones is that Work the Word,” Andy claims.
Why? Andy calls it “applicable truth.” Truth can free us and transforms our lives, if we apply what we learn.
“We sat down with 90 different things and said, How do you put this into action? Because you need to put the word into action,” says Andy, adding, “ The Bible says, ‘Be ye doers of the word not hearers only (James 1:22).’ But a lot of times people are like, But I don’t know how to apply it.”
To refresh our soul, Andy recommends searching for ways to apply truth very personally to our lives. Ro example, He shares a personal example from his own life about how forgiveness freed him.
“Embrace the forgiveness of God. See yourself as forgiven so that you may shed the weight of what you no longer bear and shine the beauty that speaks of God’s eternal forgiveness.” ~From Springtime for Your Spirit: 90 Devotions of Hope, Joy, & New Beginnings
How Forgiveness Frees Us
Andy tells of how bitterness short-circuited his life until he became desperate enough to forgive.
“My family fell apart when I was in high school,” says Andy. adding he focused his hurt on one person in particular. “So I carried that bitterness around for about 13 years.”
Bitterness is really scary. Kristin Faith Evans said bitterness was the spiral that led to her depression and a suicide attempt.
Unforgiveness and bitterness were Andy’s close companions for years.
“It sounds terrible, and I know that, but I was comfortable in my strong dislike, borderline hatred, unforgiveness of that individual,” reports Andy. “When we do that, we’re getting further and further away from having joy in our lives. We make ourselves miserable.”
Then, one night, he realized something significant.
“It (bitterness) had tainted every relationship. I didn’t want to live that way any more. I was sitting there one night and I had prayed. God, why can’t anything, just, I’m not happy, I’m miserable, I don’t want to live like this.”
Andy describes what happened next as a clear communication from God. (Find more on a personal relationship with God.)
“I just heard clearly, ‘Go!’
Driving Life’s New Turn
He got in his car and drove an hour and a half to the person’s house. Imagine standing on the front porch in the dark, an unexpected visitor.
“All I said, ‘I don’t want you to say a word, but I forgive you. I know what happened and I forgive you.’”
Almost immediately after that night, his life took a new turn.
“Four weeks later, my wife walked into my life after I had forgiven the person I harbored the most bitterness to.”
Talk about a new season of hope!
“To go from failed relationship after failed relationship to this is the one the Lord put in my life. I believe that would not have happened had I not been able to listen to God and go and forgive,” emphasizes Andy.
Find more about how to forgive relentlessly from Janet McHenry.
Thank YOU for Your Part in New Seasons
This Spring, we’ve had a series of victorious, joy-filled Christian leaders come on the show and share how they overcame depression, anxiety, even suicide attempts, in life’s most trying moments. Satan seems to be having a field day with Christians right now.
I am so grateful for all the guests and experts who share their stories and wisdom!
Of course, Andy’s book is one more way we can all get positive messages out there in the universe. After listening to his podcasts, you probably guess his book is also tons of fun and very refreshing. I highly recommend buying one for yourself and one for a friend. As a bonus, send your friend the link for today’s blog so they can hear more of Andy’s personal story!
I get really excited when I find books that speak to my soul. I bet you do, too! So I really loved Springtime for Your Spirit: 90 Devotions of Hope, Joy, & New Beginnings.
The Blessing of Random Conversation
Finally, Andy suggests conversation as a way to inspire others. Now, you know I can’t let THAT idea slip past!
“There are those people that we see so often and never stop to have a conversation with them,” he says. “Take a minute. Stop. Get to know them. They may need you that day. God may have put you in that very place on that very day to talk to that very person for a specific purpose.”
Amen, brother! And remember to Bee Kind! 🐝 🐝 🐝
🙂
Cathy
We LOVE to hear from YOU Beecause we LOVE YOU! 🐝
When has life crashed in on you? What have you done when unforgiveness drove you to a dark place? How do you choose to bee kind? 🐝
May we pray together?
Dear good Father, I am looking out my front window now and counting the blessings. Nobody got hurt. The bees are settled. My friends connect me with wonderful, godly folks who share their stories and wisdom with generosity and courage. You are good, even when storms rage. Thank You for blessing us, even when we are unaware of Your loving presence. Bless us now because that is Your heart’s desire! In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Happily (I Guess), Our Bees ❤️ 🐝
Happily (I guess), our healthy bees swarmed to their new home this week after their tree demolished our front porch. I can’t decide if I like the bees or their keepers best. So many bee keeping friends offered us help. I will really miss my special buzzy friends, but I gained a new respect for those who keep them! 🐝 🐝 🐝 A special shout out to Penn Bagnall, Steven, Randal Glaske, and Fred Pate. 🐝 ❤️ 🐝 ❤️ 🐝 ❤️
On the Go: My books LOVE YOU, too!
My books LOVE going to your home, Bible Study, or Book Club. They come in multiples (at a discount) to share with your friends and family. Plus, sometimes they bring me along, too. Books really hate sitting on the shelf getting dusty.
To make it easy for you to order, you can get The Well: the art of drawing out authentic conversations here.
And find Marriage Conversations: from coexisting to cherished easily, too. Men also love this marriage book. Crazy! Who ever heard of a Marriage Book men like? Find it here. Read the first chapter FREE here.
Cathy Krafve, host of Fireside Talk Radio and author of The Well: The Art of Drawing Out Authentic Conversations and Marriage Conversation: From Coexisting to Cherished. We welcome your stories, ideas, and questions at https://cathykrafve.com/contact-cathy-krafve/.
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