The Christian Working Woman

Presented by Lauren Stibgen We have been exploring fasting from things that keep us from the abundance we can have in a close relationship with Jesus! I am asking you to deeply consider how certain habits can take you farther from this abundance than you realize. Earlier this week we talked about social media specifically, but what about devices in general? From your phone to laptops and TVs, ther...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen Whoever keeps his mouth and his tongue keeps himself out of trouble (Proverbs 21:23). This short verse is a good summary of why I want you to consider true fasting from both gossip and complaining! Neither of these habits are very lifegiving, and complaining can become very prevalent in our lives when we don’t feel like we have abundance in one area or another. Consider...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen Let’s think about how to find our true inner abundance in Jesus and consider how fasting from common worldly things we seek can help us draw closer to our relationship with him. As we consider fasting, one of the most common things to fast from is food. Our health crazed society has given us many takes on fasting from food from a water fast to intermittent fasting based...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen Abundance. A state of more than enough of something. I would argue our access to viewing social media can lead us to very distorted views of what abundance truly is! In fact, social media has proven to foster a constant state of social comparison. Likes, comments, and shares are a proven dopamine-driven reward system. What do I mean? Your brain gets sucked into a patter...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen How do you define abundance? A quick search will tell you abundance in life is experiencing a state of more than enough in all aspects which includes but is not limited to wealth, relationships, health, joy, and fulfillment. Further defined as a mindset, abundance in living focuses on feelings of inner peace and gratitude regardless of external circumstances. Now, this...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen Abundance means having a very large quantity or supply of something, more than enough, or overflowing fullness. Let’s make this tangible. How many times have you turned this definition into something you wanted more of? Or maybe you perceived if you had more of a thing your life would be better? Have you ever caught yourself thinking if I only had X amount more money, I...

Presented by Julie Busteed I’ve been reflecting on John 15—on what Jesus told his disciples during his final moments with them before everything in their world changed. Before the crucifixion. Before the resurrection. They had walked with him for three years, watching his ministry unfold. It must have been an intense, exciting, and bewildering time for them. They believed he was the Messiah, yet s...

Presented by Julie Busteed The topic has been abiding—remaining in Christ—and why it’s important and what the blessings and consequences are for us. How do you continue to remain in Christ? Gem Fadling shared a beautiful picture in one of our Zoom gatherings about what it means to remain—or abide—in Christ. She said to imagine a teacup or mug, and then a pitcher. And the pitcher is over the teacup...

Presented by Julie Busteed Do you like to work in the garden? I love to see the results of all the work—planting, watering, weeding and pruning. In John 15, Jesus teaches the Father is the gardener who lovingly tends the vine. Part of that tending is pruning. Pruning is essential to the life of a vine, and Scripture uses that imagery to help us understand our own life with Christ. In a vineyard, p...

Presented by Julie Busteed Abiding in Jesus—remaining with him—is an active daily practice. The Apostle John writes: By this we know we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:5b-6). How do you and I walk the way Jesus walked? Reading the Gospels, we see how often he withdrew to spend time alone with the Father—on a mountain, in a quiet...

Presented by Julie Busteed We don’t use the word abide very often today. Yet Jesus uses it eleven times in John 15. The scene is the Last Supper. He has just washed his disciples’ feet, and now he is teaching and praying for them—sharing his final words with them before the crucifixion. Because Jesus emphasizes this word so strongly, it’s worth pausing to understand what he meant. He says: Abide i...

Let’s look at some passages from the Bible that give specific and clear instruction about many tough decisions. I want to begin with: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14)? If you’re facing a decision about a relationship—it could be marriage, a business partnership, o...

Don’t do something; just stand there! Am I advocating idleness and laziness? Not for a minute. We are to be busy about the Lord’s work, doing everything we do with excellence and making certain we are good stewards of our time and energy. But we must also learn this important biblical principle of standing still. Samuel put it so well in his farewell speech when he said, stand still an...

Don’t just stand there; do something! How many times have you said that? We live in a world that honors activity, rewards busyness, and respects perpetual motion. Yet amid this performance-driven society, God often tells us to stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes (1 Samuel 12:16). I’ve been talking about how difficult it is for me to learn to st...

Has God ever told you to take your hands off, to quit trying to make it happen, to stand still? My biggest struggle in my Christian walk is to let God have control and do nothing but trust. Samuel gave a wonderful farewell speech toward the end of his life, and in 1 Samuel 12:16 we read he said: stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes. Standing still seems to...

Why is it so difficult to do nothing? I’m considering the admonition given by Samuel in his farewell speech when he said, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes (1 Samuel 12:16). I like the last part of that verse: see this great thing the Lord is about to do . But I’m not real wild about the standing still part, how about you? I have trouble stan...

Do you know what is probably the most difficult command for me to obey? It’s stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes (1 Samuel 12:16). Come on, Lord; why stand still? Why not get busy and do this and that and then you’ll see the great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes? That would be so much easier for me. I don’t like standing st...

Most of us would consider it a dream come true if every time we faced a tough decision, a hand from heaven would come and write on our wall, pointing us to the right choice. But frankly, that wouldn’t work too well when you think about it. If God gave us a decision we didn’t like, then we’d be faced with whether we would choose to follow God’s choice. The first question I have to ask you is this:...

I’ve been sharing some thoughts about getting out of the boxes we put ourselves in. Boxes that keep us from the abundant life Jesus came to give us. Boxes that keep us from doing the good works he put us here to do. I’ve urged you to ask God to give you a vision of what he wants you to do and then stop making excuses. Break out of your boxes! I want to share some of the things I’ve learned and am...

Have you ever had a passion to do something for God that was so big, the very thought of it just overwhelmed you? I’m talking about breaking out of our boxes. I believe far too many of us Christ-followers miss the good things God has for us to do because we see ourselves as unqualified and inadequate for the job. Here’s the amazing, good news: You are unqualified to do what God wants you to do. Th...

Would you like to break out of your box? I’m encouraging—yes, even urging you—to break free from whatever boxes you’ve built around yourself or whatever boxes you’ve allowed someone else to put you in and move into the freedom of doing what God has planned for you to do. Once you break out of the boxes keeping you from moving forward with God, it begs the question: How do you know if your passion...

Are you in a box? I’m talking about breaking out of our boxes so we can be all God created us to be. This is from my book Get Over It: Letting Go and Moving Forward with God . In the parable of the talents Jesus taught us if we don’t use what he gives us, not only will he not give us more, we will lose what we have! (See Matthew 25:14-30.) As I look back on how God led me to this ministry, I reali...

What boxes have you put yourself in? I want to talk about our tendency to limit what God wants to do through us and for us because we put ourselves in boxes. I’ve been involved in ministry to women for many years, and I’m a woman myself, and I’ve seen too many of us build boxes around ourselves and draw lines in the sand that keep us from being all God designed us to be, and keep us from doing som...

When I think of a very self-confident person, I think of the Apostle Peter. He was confident in himself. He was the only disciple who was confident he could walk on water. He was confident in his fishing abilities and knowledge. He was confident Jesus was wrong to say he was going to die and rebuked him for it. He was totally confident that he, Peter, would never deny Jesus, even if everyone else...

Presented by Lauren Stibgen When I think of a servant leader, I think of someone who always places others before themselves—giving to others perhaps when they may not even seem like they can give anything more. Giving without any expectation of something in return. This self-sacrificing giving was embodied by our Lord and Savior Jesus. I think all of us have likely been on the other end of this—so...