What Kind of Faith?

February 4, 2016February 4, 2016 The Not-So Newlywed LefebvresLeave a comment

“What good is it, dear brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but don’t show it by your actions? Can that kind of faith save anyone? Suppose you see a brother or sister who has no food or clothing, and you say, “Good-bye and have a good day; stay warm and eat well”—but then you don’t give that person any food or clothing. What good does that do? So you see, faith by itself isn’t enough. Unless it produces good deeds, it is dead and useless.” James 2:14-17 NLT

For a long while, I felt like the passage above from the book of James rivaled this one from Ephesians…and it bothered me:

“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.” Ephesians 2:8-9

In fact, these passages don’t rival each other in the least. They are simply written for different audiences, and are both speaking about true faith.

So what kind of faith do you need exactly?

One that is real.

James isn’t saying here that grace is negated. No, the grace of God, Jesus’ death on the cross is what saves us from our sin and brings us to eternal life. No, James is saying that if you truly know Jesus your life will be a reflection of that.

This is not to say we aren’t human and make ~~a ton of~~ mistakes (Romans 3:23), but once you encounter the Lord, you cannot help but be changed! Having true faith is more than just believing in God…It is more than believing Jesus was truly the Son of God. Faith is defined in Hebrews as “…faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)

The Second letter to the Corinthians tells us, “For we live by faith, not by sight.” (2 Corinthians 5:7). If you are living by faith [the assurance of things hoped for; the conviction of things not seen], you are putting your trust and reliance solely on Him – or at least striving to do so.

And how would a lifestyle like that look?

You would be kind to others, no matter how they treated you.

You would give anything you had to help someone else.

You would pray for those around you – whether you liked them or not.

You would never be worried about how your basic needs would be met, so you wouldn’t live in a constant stress about finances.

Your life would emanate the Light of Christ.

So then, plain faith, alone, isn’t enough. True faith – the kind with the Holy Spirit living inside of you – guiding your life.

59 James - 1985 — Click Here For An Entire Series On The Book of James By Skip Heitzig

If your life isn’t completely surrendered to Him, and He isn’t knocking on the door of your heart about it…

What kind of faith do you have?

We would love to pray with you! Comment below or send us an e-mail! We would love to hear your heart.

Thirsty For Christ Thursday

Relief

June 19, 2014 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres8 Comments

Aaaah…I can honestly say that one of my favorite parts of the week is going to the chiropractor. Each week I go, during lunch, and have an adjustment and then an hour-long massage. All the tense muscles from the stresses of daily life become relaxed, and I feel like a brand new girl.

Seriously. Hands-down. Best. Lunch. Ever. 🙂

But as I was lying there today, my muscles relaxing, my tension releasing, I heard the familiar PING of a text message come from my phone.

When my massage was complete, I checked my messages and saw the one that had arrived during my moment of relaxation. It was from my dad:

Ma is doing much better now. They moved her to a regular room; sodium levels are up and white count is down…Prayer does work. I’ll keep y’all updated.

Love, Dad

Wow.

The relief of that message took more tension out of my neck than the massage I just had had. And then, it hit me – The relaxation. The release. The awesome feeling of having a massage. That’s what God wants us to get from prayer.

Being in His Presence should be a wave of warmth and comfort and peace over us. Our faith in Him should lead us to healing. Out reliance on Him should cause tension to leave us because we don’t have any reason to worry when we are following the Lord with all that we are.

Matthew 11:28 (AMP)

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.]

Do you truly realize that we serve the God of the Universe who wants to hold us tight and make us feel like a million bucks?!

Just as I laid on the massage table this afternoon and my tired muscles found relief, so is the feeling for your whole body, soul, mind and spirit when you lift your heart up to God in prayer and worship. He wants to have a “Daddy” relationship with you!

Let him be your relief from this world.

P.S. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, to all of you who lifted up my grandmother in prayer! He listens. He answers. He is The Healer. He is The Sustainer. We are blessed with your prayers, your love and your friendship!

TTC Tuesday

In Mourning

February 25, 2014 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres2 Comments

Someone pointed out to me the other day, the real trouble with infertility is you are walking around with a broken heart. No matter how much you are dying inside for the precious blessing of a child, you cannot make one appear.

And the more I thought about it, the more I realized we are in mourning.

Mourning for the life you planned out for yourself…and don’t have.

Mourning for the child you want to hold…and can’t.

Mourning for someone to be calling you “Mommy” or “Daddy”… who isn’t there.

Isaiah 61:3

3 To all who mourn in Israel,[a]

he will give a crown of beauty for ashes,
a joyous blessing instead of mourning,
festive praise instead of despair.
In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks
that the Lord has planted for his own glory.

Psalm 30:11

11 You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.

You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy

The beautiful news is that our mourning can be replaced with the joy of the Lord! We aren’t equipped to “get through this” on our own, and we aren’t supposed to! Call on Him to help you through your mourning, your grief, your pity, your sadness.

Luke 11:9-10

“And so I tell you, keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.

For, as Hillsong sings in the song above:

When I call on Jesus, mountains are gonna fall, ’cause He’ll move Heaven and Earth to come rescue me when I call.

God is good, folks. He will pull you through. We just have to let Him.

Prayers for tomorrow, please.

We love you.

Food For Thought Friday

Friday Finds

February 21, 2014 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres4 Comments

Happy Happy Happy Friday!

Today’s post is a random assortment of great places to visit around the web or in your city.

Pray The Rosary Online (or just discover what this beautiful prayer is all about!)

Click The Image To Be Directed To The Page

Run/Walk/Enjoy The Color Fun Fest In Your City

Click The Image To Find Out When The Color Fun Fest Is In Your City

A Great Deal On A Great (hint hint) Date In Atlanta

For Those With Kids: GraceMats!!

Click The Image To Find Out How YOU Can Purchase A GraceMat

We hope your weekend is wonderful!! Don’t forget to tune-in SATURDAY (tomorrow) to Footprints On My Heart where we are guest posting!!

492d6-ourfriendsthesaints — Click The Image To Visit Footprints On My Heart

And one FINAL reminder, today is the LAST DAY TO REGISTER FOR OUR GIVEAWAY!! Trust me, you’re going to want this precious little book!! Enter to win before it’s too late!

TTC Tuesday

All It Takes Is One

December 17, 2013 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres7 Comments

Good Morning Everyone!

Remember how I told y’all last week the Metformin is really helping my insulin resistance?! Well, it continues! Probably the most common ‘symptom’ of insulin resistance (which is the root cause and/or side effect – depending on how you view the situation – of PCOS), is fatigue, and not only has the medication greatly improved my morning commute to work, but this morning, I was able to leave the house at 4:45AM and make a Pure Barre class near my office that began at 6AM! I even made it through the 55 minute class, and arrived at work with 10 minutes to spare! Winning! 😉

Yay for Metformin and for exhilarating morning exercise!

In other TTC news, our doctor’s office called late last week to:

Let me know that after looking over my sonogram results, it appears I did have one mature follicle. (That’s improvement over NONE and means the Letrazole and Metformin are doing their duties!) ALL IT TAKES IS ONE!!! {Praying. Praying. Praying.}
Inform me the doctor had written “PCOS” on my sonogram results. “Ma’am, were you aware you have PCOS?” REALLY?!?!?!? Oh my goodness. This practice…

Craig & I both read an AMAZING daily blog you too can read here. Basically, it is a daily devotional based upon one of our favorite books (as you well know), Jesus Calling, and today’s devotion gave me chills as I read it – thinking in conjunction with our journey of hope, disappointment and sadness as we have tried to conceive to no avail.

Today’s Jesus Calling contains these words:

“Come to Me with your gaping emptiness… Facing the emptiness inside you is simply the prelude to being filled with My fullness… If you persevere in this dependence as you go through the day, you will discover at bedtime that Joy and Peace have become your companions. You may not realize at what point they joined you on your journey, but you will feel the beneficial effects of their presence.”

God is so good. Thank you, Lord, for the hope you give for tomorrow, and the joy and peace you provide for today.

Keep us in your prayers, please.

All Our Love,

Thirsty For Christ Thursday

December 12, 2013 The Not-So Newlywed Lefebvres16 Comments

Good Morning!

Waking up at 4AM for work has its good and bad points. I think actually seeing the clock read 4:00 and realizing I have to put my feet on the floor is the worst part. After that, it’s actually not too awful. It’s still dark outside, peaceful, quiet.

When I am on the road at 6AM, my struggle has been trying to keep that sense of early morning peace about me along the way. One thing I cannot stand is a morning radio show, trying to be funny and discussing all of last night’s reality television. Gag me with a spoon. So, I have mainly listened to a News/Talk station, but after awhile that gets depressing, and depending on how long the commute is, repetitive – and who wants to hear bad news twice?!

I have tried some of the Christian radio stations, but have always felt like they were trying to sell themselves as “inspirational” and “safe for the whole family”, rather than saying we are a CHRISTIAN RADIO STATION and this is CHRISTIAN MUSIC meant to be used to WORSHIP AND GLORIFY THE LORD. And then, I found Victory 91.5 . What a wonderful way to drive to work: prayer – deep prayer, devotion, profound Bible verses, and a blend of Christian music weaved throughout. So refreshing! Such a great way to put on Christ for the day.

Which brings me to my whole point for this post: being unapologetic about our faith. We are all guilty of toning it down – buying any kind of Christian book via Kindle so we don’t have to walk around with the title showing; when someone asks us ‘what we did this weekend’ we never mention going to church and that amazing message we heard; we shy away from our faith and our beliefs and our love for Christ – but is that really love? You love your spouse, your parents, your children – Do you disavow any of them? Aren’t you proud of those you love? Do you have pictures of your family on your desk at work? Probably so.

But do you have a cross?

This brings me to the book, “In His Steps” by Charles Sheldon (clicking the picture above will direct you to where to purchase this book). Craig and I found it, completely by chance, at the Edward McKay Used Bookstore on our trip to Fayetteville, NC (it was one of my all-time favorite places to go as a child!) for $1.30, used. And well-read. And for good reason.

Actually written in the late 1800’s, this book (still quite relevant today) is the story of a group of self-proclaimed Christians, as many of us are today. They attended church on Sundays, and they called themselves Christians. But did they really live for Him unapologetically?? When they took on the challenge of living for an entire year by asking themselves “What Would Jesus Do?” in every situation, they found out how lives can be radically changed by being absolutely unapologetic about following Christ, and making Him Lord of your life.

Pray for us, as we pray for you, to live for Christ and ask ourselves “What would Jesus Do?” in every situation.

All Our Love,