kingman – Grow Anyway

You Can Experience God Now!

September 21, 2022September 20, 2022by Liz Goss1 Comment

Could it be that God needs to grow us into people who can handle having a deeply personal relationship with Him? It is always easy to point our faces to the sky in exasperation and wonder where God is. After all, we are trying to find Him. We are seeking. Isn’t that our job? To seek?

This my friends is limbo land and we’ve probably all taken up residence here at some point in our lives. Feeling like we are holding up our end of the bargain and begging God to just show up. Seeking. Knocking. Very focused on getting right before God and trying to manage our inevitable disappointment because we just can’t feel Him.

But while we are focused on feeling God’s presence, finding God’s will and knowing what He wants us to do, God is just… here. I know it sounds too good to be true after all our trouble and effort but it’s actually (sorry) not required. Our striving doesn’t earn His notice. He is noticing you right now.

And that’s why I say God may need to grow us to a place where we are able to have a beautiful relationship with Him. Because He is always with us. Jesus’ parting words to His disciples were: “and be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew‬ ‭28:20‬)

God is always calling you to see more true reality. He is always looking for your gaze. Never doubt His perpetual protection or wonderful nature. We just need to get better at understanding Him. We need to learn who He is so we recognize Him. Keep our spirits open and sensitive by thinking on holy things. And most of all, we need to believe that God is with us because all too often we find exactly what we are looking for.

Experiencing God isn’t just about doing more – it’s about seeing more clearly.

VERSES TO PONDER:

“He will cover you with his feathers. He will shelter you with his wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection.” (Psalms 91:4)

“Why do you ask my name?” the angel of the Lord replied. “It is too wonderful for you to understand.” (Judges 13:18)

“Dear brothers and sisters, when I was with you I couldn’t talk to you as I would to spiritual people. I had to talk as though you belonged to this world or as though you were infants in Christ. I had to feed you with milk, not with solid food, because you weren’t ready for anything stronger. And you still aren’t ready,” (1 Corinthians 3:1-2)

“I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.” (Philippians 3:12-14)

liz goss

Flip the Narrative

July 21, 2021by Liz Goss2 Comments

I am very ugly
so don’t try to convince me that
I’m a very beautiful person
because at the end of the day
I hate myself in every single way
And I’m not going to lie to myself by saying
There’s beauty inside of me that matters
So rest assured I will always remind myself
That I am a worthless, terrible person
And nothing you say will make me believe
I still deserve love
Because no matter what
I am not good enough to be loved
And I am in no position to believe that
Beauty does exist within me
Because whenever I look in the mirror I always think
Am I as ugly as people say?

👉🏻 NOW, read from the bottom to the top! 👈🏻

It’s all about perspective! What story are you telling yourself in the mirror every single day? Flip the narrative and change the story, it will change your life. I get it, you are saying Liz… if it was that easy we’d all be problem free. And I know changing your perspective is hard. We are usually pretty committed to our perspectives. We have invested a lot in them.

Kind of like Jonah. He was a prophet and committed to telling people to repent and be saved. He did it well. So well, that when God told him to go preach repentance to Nineveh Jonah said “no way”! When he preached people changed and Jonah didn’t want Nineveh to be saved. They were BAD NEWS. So God had to give Jonah a new perspective, being swallowed by a whale.

Inside the whale Jonah finally got the idea that God was in control and God was the one who could save. He got the narrative straightened out. And once he was seeing clearly God could use Jonah again.

Is there a narrative that you need to flip? What are you telling yourself that isn’t true. Maybe you think you are in control when you need to trust. Maybe you are calling ugly what God has called beautiful. Maybe you are running from what you know God has called you to.

Flip the narrative by praying like Jonah! (chapter 2)

Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish, saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God. When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.

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The Anchor Holds though the Ship is Battered

July 14, 2021by Susan Collins2 Comments

Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Hebrews 12:2

The Run Free series of sermons has REALLY been powerful. I have been encouraged, convicted, and challenged through every sermon.

This past Sunday, Pastor Rick Blickenstaff took on the monuments topic of doubt and unbelief. Two of the metaphors he used really struck a strong chord within me were: the Anchor and the Post of Honor.

THE ANCHOR

In my last post, I talked about facing the empty nest as a single parent. This is my story of how the life I had planned and the life that I have do not match up. I have wrestled with many ideas connected to this incongruity in my life. The one constant that I have never wavered on is that God is in control.

Pastor Rick told us that the physics behind the rope and anchor is that the load it can bear should be five times more than the load it carries. WOW! That’s a lot of strength. More strength that I have ever had at any point in my life. I know that as I have trudged through the quicksand of depression, confusion, and despair the load that I carried was ALL that I could bear. Fortunately, I am not the anchor in my life. Jesus is my anchor, and that load is way less than 1/5 of the load He can bear.

THE POST OF HONOR

My post of honor is multi-faceted.

I am living as a single person in a world that promotes a sinful lifestyle for singles.
I have raised two children by myself.
I am a prodigal parent.

That is the race marked out for me at this time in my life. We all have difficulty in our personal races. It’s easy to look at other people’s social media feed and think that they have the perfect life. Remember that is the highlight reel. Most of us do not share our struggles publicly. They are reserved for the people who have earned the right to share our vulnerability.

If you’re trudging through quick sand, reach out. There is someone who has been down a similar path or paid the dues to join that awful club before you. If you don’t know anyone, contact Amy. She’ll be gentle, compassionate, and discreet. Just don’t struggle alone.

liz goss

Easter Resolutions

April 14, 2021April 13, 2021by Liz Goss2 Comments

When 2021 came around it was universally accepted that we were out with the old and in with the new. Of course we hoped to be “out” with masks, social distancing & eating outside and “in” with hugs, parties & traveling. We made personal resolutions to stop eating so much and spend more time at the gym. And whether any of the outs really out-ed or ins really in-ed was never exactly the point, it’s the ferver with which we HOPE things will change when the calendar does that wins our hearts every year.

Easter is the Christian new year. Lent begins the holiday season and by Easter we are always primed to make our spiritual resolutions. This year I will stop taking Jesus for granted and have a relationship with God. This year I will trust God with my finances and start to tithe. This year I will put down the idol that I’m so drawn towards (drinking, food, shopping, relationships, money, etc.) and focus on letting God fill my emptiness. In the final Easter sermons we are primed for repentance.

But as Paul says to the Galatians, who cut in on you? I’m guessing that already (April 14th) you’ve messed up your resolution. I know I have! Galatians 5:7-8 says, “You were running the race so well. Who has held you back from following the truth? It certainly isn’t God, for he is the one who called you to freedom.” See, like pastor Matt on Easter, Paul made it clear to the Galatians that in Christ they were truly free. Free from the power of sin and free to live under God’s grace. Just like us.

So why would we ever want to give up the freedom we found in Christ that refreshed our hearts on Easter? Bondage is subtle. Our New Years resolutions and our Easter resolutions often fall to a slow dependence on behaviors, substances and attitudes that give us security. But… as we turn our lives over to God, he will graciously give us the power we need to overcome.

Last Sunday Pastor Kyle at Journey Church, reminded us that we don’t need a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night to guide us. While it seems super helpful, we actually have something better as Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:16-17: “So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions.”

Resolutions aren’t bad. They are usually the prompting of the Holy Spirit, showing us where we could be living better for God and his kingdom. But in our own power we are usually unable to keep them. So let me encourage you in this… God desires a relationship with you. He didn’t die to make you better behaved. He didn’t die so that you’d finally follow the rules. He died because he loves you. He wants to know you, do life with you and spend forever enjoying you. Because he made you.

If you felt God stirring your heart this Easter I hope you resolve to be HIS this next year. Spend time with the one who knows you best and loves you most. Everything else you could possibly resolve to do will come in his timing, if you let the Holy Spirit guide you into doing life with God.

liz goss

Tiptoeing into 2021

January 20, 2021January 19, 2021by Liz Goss3 Comments

I’ve seen so many quotes about 2020 vs 2021 and the sense I get is this… please don’t cause more trouble!! It’s like we have all reached a limit where we just don’t want anything harder. And I get that. So many difficult and life changing things have happened. For some 2020 was a big inconvenience. For others businesses and loved ones were lost. And lots and lots of people got sick. So here we find ourselves sticking just a baby toe into the waters of 2021.

Usually this time of year is fraught with strong resolutions. We are feeling empowered to change something or start something new. And I’m here on your screen to encourage you to keep going after being the best you can be. Keep trying, keep pressing, keep asking God for what you need. Don’t let the disappointments and frustrations of last year cause this year to pass you by. And here is why…

Matthew 7:7 says “ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.”

I know. It’s so easy to look at these verses and snort. I can literally hear some of you saying, “That’s bunk. God didn’t answer any of my prayers last year. The whole year was a flop.” And I sympathize with you because if you take this verse to mean God will follow up your requests with a big YES you have every right to feel really wronged. But unfortunately that’s not how Matthew intended us to understand this verse.

See pronouns can be tricky and as a person with a degree in English Literature, I want to tell you something important. Pronouns are words like I, you, he, this, it, who and what and they replace the noun in a sentence. However, in so doing pronouns can create ambiguity. Like in the verse above. I’ll show you:

ask, and it will be given to you = what does it refer to?
seek, and you will find = find what?
knock, and it will be opened to you = again with the it, what will be opened?

Usually, when a pronoun is ambiguous the listener personalizes the sentence in the best way they think it should go. In this case it is perfectly natural to assume that Matthew means:

ask, and what you asked for will be given to you
seek, and what you seek for you will find
knock, and the door you knocked on will open

But that’s just not the case. God is not pretending to be our secret Santa in these verses. Instead, God is giving us the secret to a better relationship with… Himself. Because these verses actually mean:

ask for a savior and he will be given to you
seek a relationship with Christ and you will find it
knock on the gates of Heaven and they will be opened to you

This beautiful verse points out that prayer is not so much to influence God, but to change the one praying. Isaiah 65:24 says “before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear” and that is not because he is waiting to be our genie with 3 wishes. It is because he loves us and wants to give us the riches of heaven.

You don’t need to tiptoe into 2021. I can’t promise anything about what this year will actually manifest but I do know that Hebrews 13:8 says “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” This means that even in 2021 you can ask, seek and knock and have the wonders and riches of God come alive in your heart and mind. So in closing I will leave you with (what I believe) is the best mantra to keep on repeat in our heads throughout this year.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9

P.S. In case you’re curious about the sculpture at the top of this article, it is called Toe In The Water and was created by Bob Quinn. To see more of his interesting work check out his website: http://bobquinn.ie/

amy oberg

Kingman Women

December 28, 2020December 29, 2020by amyoberg1 Comment

Every women matters!

We are heading into a new year! We are all grateful 2020 is over and we will not say hindsight is 20/20 any longer. 🙂

Why would we have a blog?

Because our connection with each other matters.
Because we need each other to speak into the heart of our lives.

We have many women who have learned the value of walking with each other while walking with God!

Our lives represent Christ. Karen Ehman would say we re-present God to everyone we come into contact with…so we should share our stories, our victories and our lives with each other.

We desire to encourage one another.
We desire to see God in our lives.
We desire to invite others.
We desire to have a community of women throughout all of Kingman and in every church.

This blog connection is a way to bridge the gap between our monthly event called The Grove. The Grove is an incredible gathering of women in discover her heart and soul in Jesus, worship and enjoy our community.

We would love to hear from you each week! This is a place for you interact with us and your community. We have a few ways to connect daily on Instagram, weekly on this blog and monthly at the Grove.

Please introduce yourself… How long have you been in Kingman? What is your favorite thing about your church? Why is your best friend your best friend?