You have 0 items in your cart
Can you believe 2017 is finally here and Christmas is officially over? The radio stations are back to playing their normal tunes, and retail stores are displaying Valentines candy and Easter bunnies. And, if you’re anything like me, your clothes are a little snug from the holiday pounds we all packed on. (No joke, I heard yesterday that the average person gains 12 pounds over the holidays! 12 POUNDS!! P.S. That is how much my newborn daughter weighs. That is a whole lot of eggnog if you ask me.)
About this time each year, the world begins talking about New Year’s resolutions. If you’ve tuned into the morning news outlets such as The Today Show, then you know that this week’s segments revolve around the theme of transformation in 2017. Whether change takes the shape of physical, spiritual, or financial, it seems that most people look to the New Year as an opportunity for a fresh start. Folks want to lose weight, stop smoking, save money, and achieve big goals this year.
Trust me; I feel the same way. Since I’m not a resolution person, I ask the Lord to give me a keyword for the upcoming year. A word that defines what He wants to do in and through my life. In previous years, the Lord spoke words such as prayer, rest, and faith. This year, I sensed the Lord speak into my heart the word “wisdom.”
Wisdom is one of the deepest and richest words in the Bible. It is personified as a path that leads to God’s highest and best and it also is depicted as the greatest treasure one can seek. As I think about the quest for wisdom, I know the Lord is inviting me to a deeper knowledge of Him and His ways. How exciting! After all, knowing God is the heart’s deepest desire. The Lord invites us to discover more of Who He is and in this discovery, we are transformed to be more like Him.
Just the other day, I was chatting with one of our boys, and he asked about my life before Jesus. I’m honest with them about my past, and they know the radical change that occurred in me when I surrendered my life to Jesus. Without going into specifics about my sinful choices, I shared with him of the emptiness, destruction, and regret that a life apart from Christ holds. Summing up my story in one word, I told him, “I lived in utter foolishness …doing what was right in my own eyes. Once Jesus redeemed me, I began to walk in His truth, and He gave me a heart to seek His wisdom and that has been the biggest game changer! Living in God’s favor and blessings are light years away from living in the folly of my own foolishness.”
Throughout scripture, most specifically in the book of Proverbs, we see over and over again that God praises the person who is wise and admonishes the fool. Wisdom is more than just knowledge or intelligence; it is illustrated as a path that leads to favor with God. Wisdom has nothing to do with a grade point average or credentials. True godly wisdom is something altogether richer and deeper. The fool is the one who lives according to their sinful desires and does what is right in their own eyes. Before Jesus, because I did not walk in wisdom, I reaped the folly of foolishness: emptiness, destruction, and regret.
In another place in Scripture, God addresses King Solomon and tells him to ask for anything, and He would grant it. King Solomon could have asked for wealth, power, health or love, but instead, Solomon asked for wisdom and this request pleased God. As a result, God blessed him with all the other things because he asked for the best thing.
Since wisdom is so highly praised in God’s word, then I know it is something we as redeemed girls should aspire for and seek. Therefore, when the Lord put this word on my heart, I thought, “Yes, Lord! I want wisdom! But what does it mean to become a woman of wisdom?”
In 2017, Redeemed Girl will dive into God’s word and explore what it means to be women of wisdom. We would love for you to join us! Don’t we all need it! Wisdom for our relationships. Wisdom for our finances. Wisdom for our health. Wisdom for our future. Scripture teaches us that wisdom is something we should continually seek and if we ask the Lord, He will give it to us.
But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all men generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him
(James 1:5)
Becoming a Woman of Wisdom Challenge
Step 1: Follow @redeemedgirls on Instagram.
Each Monday we will post the verse of the week so you can join us in becoming a woman of wisdom.
Step 2: Recruit a friend to memorize the wisdom verses with you and tag them in the post.
Step 3: Set aside time each week to meditate on the truth and memorize it. (I have the cutest chalkboard in my kitchen where I will post the verse each week so I can see it as I cook dinner and wash dishes.) I’ve set aside that hour each day to memorizing God’s Word.
If you are joining us on this journey this year, please comment below. We will choose one of the comments to receive a new Redeemed t-shirt. Ya gotta love free gear!
Girls, let’s seek God’s wisdom together!
Marian Jordan Ellis
