INTRODUCTION TO PART 2 OF THE WHOLE WOMAN BLOGSHOP

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a great weekend. This week begins part two of the Whole Woman blogshop. I hope that you have been encouraged, inspired, and blessed thus far. My intent for this series was to offer stories and features that would serve as examples that say, yes, it is possible to walk in wholeness in every area of your life. I wanted to provide you with resources and "tools" to help get you started if you are not there yet or, if you are there, for this to serve as a refresher course of sorts. So goes with part 2 of the series.

Over the next few days there will be inspiring stories in the areas of weight loss and fitness, a feature on financial responsibility and money management, a devotional about the gift of singleness, inspiring words to cultivate intimacy with God, and a "rockin" feature about purity.

Today, though, I will kick off the blogshop with another commentary from my experience of brokenness to wholeness and to encourage you in an area that I hope will lift you up. Come back tomorrow for the kick off of part 2.

For now, a few words from me.

YOU ARE AN OVERCOMER
There are two things that became particularly important to me as I allowed God to heal me from my brokenness: knowing that I had purpose and embracing that, for the first time, the power I had through Jesus Christ to overcome the things in my life that were hindering me. Through Christ I overcame a shame-based nature, a bad temper, the negative thought (and lie) that all men were the same, and many other things. As I overcame those things I literally felt like a new creature in Christ.

For the first time (as it pertained to relationships), I could see myself being someone's wife and having a fulfilling, committed relationship with another whole person. And so, with a new frame of mind, I began looking at my singleness and the idea of one day being someone's help mate, in a whole new light. It was, indeed, refreshing.

Now, let me introduce you to three women who I believe were overcomers.

The scriptural references for the blogshop are Matthew 9:20-22, John 8:1-11, and Proverbs 31:10-31. All three of these scriptures speak about three different women. The first, in Matthew, speaks about a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years and was healed because of her faith after touching the hem of Jesus' garment. This woman was desperate and knew if she could just get to Jesus she would be made whole. The second woman, in John, was caught in the act of adultery. She was brought before a group of people who Jesus was teaching. In those days this woman could be stoned for committing adultery. I'm sure that she was terrified because she knew the consequence of her actions. But Jesus, in his unfailing love, showed her mercy and let her know that he didn't condemn her as the people would have (this, after saying to the crowd,“Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”) He told her to go and sin no more. And finally, the woman in Proverbs, better known as the Proverbs 31 woman. This is the woman that has been a biblical example to many women seeking to become a better, greater woman of God.

There are some of you reading this that need to overcome some "issues" in your life. You have been dealing with them for a very long time and if you can just get to Jesus, you know, through faith you can be made whole. Then there are some of you who need to overcome a lifestyle of sin. But you know if you were brought before the “people”, they’d be ready to stone you. But there is one who is waiting not to condemn you, but to simply tell you, “Go and sin no more.” And finally, after all is said and done, you will be complete, whole. You will be the one who allowed God to give you the power to overcome so that you could be all that He created you to be.

YOU’RE INVITED (AGAIN)
Tomorrow begins another great week of wholeness. Again, it is my prayer that something that is shared over the next few days will be a source of encouragement for you to walk in wholeness in a newer, greater way. You’ll get to meet another great group of ladies that will help inspire you to be the best whole woman that you can be.