-God's Calling Us to...
-PERSEVERANCE

"We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." (Romans 5:3-5 NIV)

I read a quote by Eleanor Roosevelt in which she said, "You must do the things you are afraid of, because it's only in facing your fears that you will ever be free." I've found that to be absolutely true in my own life. If you had asked me as a teenager to name my greatest fear, I would have said, "That I would end up like my dad." He ended up in a psychiatric hospital when he was thirty-four. Well, I ended up in a psychiatric hospital when I was thirty-five or thirty-six. It is one of the greatest things to face your greatest fears. When you walk through them, stumbling at times, you come out with bloody knees, but you come out on the other side with a greater understanding not only of the grace and love of God, but of the fact that He can take you through anything.

After I got out of the psychiatric hospital, I met with a counselor, a very godly man, three times a week for three years. One of the most profound things he said to me was, "Sheila, Jesus has not come to get you through this; He's come to live in you through this."

That is why, when I stand up in front of fifteen thousand women on any given weekend, I know that what I say from that platform is true: "God will sustain you, whether you've just been diagnosed with breast cancer, or your husband just left you for another woman, or your child did not come home from the hospital." I understand Romans chapter five more than I ever did before: "Therefore, we rejoice in our sufferings, because suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope; and hope does not disappoint us."

--SHEILA WALSH

God's Calling....
FOR ME...
Phobias and fears can debilitate us from the freedom of life that God intends. Jesus' presence has the power to tear down the strongholds of fear we face. No matter what we struggle with, God is greater and He is mighty to save.

--Calling Out
-TO GOD....
'When I am afraid, I know You're there, Lord. You are my protector, my sanctuary, and my peace. Nothing is greater than You.' --
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