5 Transforming Prayers to Help You Win Your War With Anxiety - ROSILIND JUKIC CHARISMA NEWS

God never intended for us to live in anxiety and drama. (Unsplash/Christopher Windus)

5 Transforming Prayers to Help You Win Your War With Anxiety

3/31/2018 ROSILIND JUKIC  CHARISMA NEWS

I don't know about you, but as a woman, I struggle a lot with anxiety.

We're told as moms that it is normal to worry about our kids, and that we'll worry about them the rest of our lives. But does it really have to be this way?

I think that as women, we are more prone to anxiety because everything in our lives is tied together.

Our thought processes and emotions combine to drive us to constantly think of "what if...." while we envision every scenario—each one more horrifying than the one before.

Combine that with hormonal changes and undernourishment, often led by calorie-restricted dieting (which can lead to even greater hormone disregulation), and we have a recipe for chronic anxiety and depression.

God never intended for us to live in anxiety and drama.

There multitude of verses in the Bible that tell us not to fear, to trust in the Lord, to release our anxiety; and this is as much an area of obedience in our lives as forgiveness or morality.

One thing I have found tremendously helpful in my own battle against chronic anxiety is praying Scripture.

As I pray Scripture and personalize it for my life, it reinforces the truth of God's Word in my heart, and I find that my mind and emotions begin molding to it.

5 Transforming War Room Prayers for Anxiety

Psalm 55:22: "Cast your burden on the LORD, And He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be moved."

Heavenly Father, I know that You are for me and not against me. You will not allow me to fall or slip, as long as I allow You to sustain me in this trial. Today, right now, I take this burden (name the burden) and I throw it off of me and onto You. I refuse to carry it one moment longer. Thank you for being a God who cares for me and nurtures me; who carries my burdens, and who protects Me. Amen.

Related Articles

• This Prophetic Promise Banishes Fear and Anxiety
• 10 Ways to Beat Anxiety Naturally

2 Timothy 1:7: "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (2 Tim. 1:7, NKJV).

Heavenly Father, I know this fear isn't from you. You only give good gifts like power, love and a sound mind—a mind that is disciplined and controlled. Please help me to empty my heart of this fear and open my heart to your Spirit so I have room to receive the good gifts you have for me. Amen.

Psalm 56:3: "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You."

Heavenly Father, I know your faithfulness has no end, that your thoughts and plans for me are only good and that you work all things out for good for those who love you and are called according to your purpose. So, I commit to you today that anytime I feel afraid, I will use it as a signal to intentionally trust You for whatever it is that is causing me fear. Please help my faith in You to grow each and every day. Amen.

John 14:27 – "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

Heavenly Father, Your Word instructs me to now allow my heart to grow troubled or become afraid. Today I choose to live in obedience to your Word and receive the divine peace that You have already given to me. Please help me to daily walk in Your supernatural peace that goes above and beyond my understanding. Amen

Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is in your midst, a Mighty One, who will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will renew you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

Heavenly Father, my heart is troubled right now. I need you to quiet my heart with your love. Right now I proclaim to my heart: "There is no need to fear, God is with you! He is a mighty warrior and champion, He will save you. He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet your with His supernatural love, and He will rejoice over you with singing" 

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together, they live with their two active boys, and she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call, where she shares her passion for local and global missions. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest and Google +.

This article originally appeared at rosilindjukic.com.

7 Powerful Ways to Revive Your Time With God - ROSILIND JUKIC CHARISMA NEWS

(Unsplash/Aaron Burden)

7 Powerful Ways to Revive Your Time With God

1/7/2018 ROSILIND JUKIC  CHARISMA NEWS

Let me start out by saying that you're not the only one.

Maybe you're reading this right now thinking that you're the only Christian who has let their quiet time slip for so long. But you're not.

I think one of the greatest struggles Christians have in their walk with Jesus is consistency in their quiet time. We live in such a busy, fast-paced society that the moment our eyes open our minds are racing with all of the things we have to do, and pressure is on, before our feet hit the floor, to get started.

One of the most profound quotes I've ever read on prayer is by Martin Luther, father of the Reformation. "I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

His keen understanding that the strength he needed to get through his day was in direct proportion to how much time he spent in prayer is something that is profoundly missing today.

What would our churches be like if Christians everywhere truly lived by this philosophy?

What would our places of business be like if the Christians who worked there first woke up and spent only one hour in prayer each morning in preparation for a busy workday, knowing that their ability to handle the pressure was directly linked to how much time they spent on their knees before they ever went about their day?

I, for one, am heavily convicted when reading this quote (which now hangs on the wall above my computer).

As I pondered my one word for 2018, the first thing that came to my mind was that I needed a revival in my quiet time. I don't know about you, but my quiet times have grown stale. They need an infusion of life, a freshness that is lacking.

7 Ways to Revive Your Quiet Time

1. Ask God to Grant You a Personal Revival

It's not a coincidence that I began my list with prayer. Everything we do should begin with prayer. If we try to accomplish the other six things on this list without prayer, two things will happen: 1. We will find our efforts short-lived and 2. We will be tempted to pat ourselves on the back for a job well done.

Revival can only happen as a work of the Holy Spirit. Any revival that doesn't originate with the Holy Spirit is fake and a simple conjuring up of emotion. And as women we know how fickle our emotions can be.

We may "feel" a revival today, or even this whole week, but soon our emotions will move in a different direction and we'll lose that feeling.

Revival isn't a feeling. Revival is a work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that is independent of our emotions. For that revival to happen, we must seek God's face and cry out for it.

2. Make a Plan

No one embarks on a journey without a map, without a destination in mind, without a goal. Our journey with Jesus should include a plan. It should involve goals.

If as believers, we live our Christian lives without having personal plans and goals for our spiritual walk—this week, this month, this year—then we should never be surprised if we see very little spiritual maturity take place.

Nothing significant happens when our life motto is que sera sera.

If we wouldn't set out on a family vacation without a destination and our journey mapped out, why would we set out on our spiritual journey without a plan and a goal? A journey of far greater significance than any family vacation.

This is precisely why I choose a word each year.

It serves as my goal for that year. And then I sit down and map out a journey for that year, as a way to map out how I plan to reach that goal.

3. Make a Change

Great things can happen when we change things up a bit: a new spot where we have our devotions, a new Bible or maybe even a new translation.

Don't be afraid to change things up a bit.

Sometimes change can be vital to our daily quiet times. If you find you're tempted to get online and check social media before having devotions, you need to make a change.

• Stop using an app to read your Bible.
• Stop having devotions at the desk where your laptop sits.
• Check into your online accountability group later in the day.

All of these things can have a profound effect on our quiet times.

Related Articles

• Let This Early Christian Prayer Guide Your Next Quiet Time
• 10 Small Steps to Deeper Intimacy With Holy Spirit in Your Quiet Times

4. Get Accountable

If you haven't joined an accountability group to help keep you consistent in your daily quiet times, I urge you strongly to do that. There is tremendous power in accountability.

While some may argue that our spiritual walk should be important enough to keep us consistent, the truth is that by ourselves we just aren't strong enough sometimes.

That's why God created us for community.

And one purpose for community is accountability. None of us is an island to ourselves and none of us has ever succeeded by our own strength alone.

If you don't know where to find an accountability group, I encourage you to check out Good Morning Girls, or even start your own. Read my post 10 Ways to Lead an Online Bible Study Group for ideas on places where you can create an accountability group.

5. Change Your Method of Bible Study

Have you been using the same Bible study method for years? Maybe you just need to try a new method.

Oftentimes we get into a rut, and then grow religious about our rut, thinking that our rut is the only place to be. And Bible study methods can very quickly become ruts.

There is no perfect Bible study method. There is no verse in the Bible that tells us we should only do Inductive Bible studies or that SOAP is the best way to study God's Word.

God has chosen to leave our method of Bible study to our personal discretion, and sometimes the simple choice of learning a new method is just what we need to breathe new life into our quiet times. Getting out of our rut will help us to move forward and deeper in our understanding of God's Word.

6. Choose a Book You've Been Wanting to Study

A lot of people start the new year with the goal of reading the Bible through from Genesis to Revelation.

That's not necessarily bad. Especially if you have already developed a strong consistency in reading God's Word each day. I know many very strong, mature believers who read through the entire Bible each year, and have for many years.

It's also not necessarily good. Especially if you have the tendency to get hung up in Numbers or the prophetic books and then lose interest and stop reading. The Bible isn't just one book.

It is a collection of books, and while some books build on the books around them, not all of them do. It is perfectly fine to jump around the Bible from book to book. You won't lose perspective that way.

There is no rule stating that you have to read the Bible in order of its books.

One great way to revive your quiet time is to pick a book you've been longing to study for a while, gather resources around you—study materials and YouTube videos by your favorite teachers—and make a fresh start with something exciting and new.

I offer a number of online Bibles studies to choose from: including Galatians, Ephesians and 1 Corinthians 13. In 2018, I will be adding Hebrews and Philippians.

7. Start Journaling

There is tremendous power in journaling. I think one of the most powerful aspects of journaling is that it forces us to slow down and examine our thoughts. So often we are tempted to rush through our quiet times, we see it as another task to tick off our long list of things to do each day.

But a relationship isn't a task to tick off. A relationship is something we invest in, and that investment takes time. It takes introspection and a back-and-forth exchange on a consistent basis.

There are many ways you can journal. Here are a few ideas I've had: writing, art journaling, recording videos or voice messages for your private use.

If your quiet time has grown tale or inconsistent, I hope this list helps you get started in reviving it and making it fresh and new for 2018! 

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her hero. Together they live with their two little boys in the country, where she enjoys fruity candles and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. She holds an associate degree in practical theology and is passionate about discipling and encouraging women. Her passion for writing led her to author a number of books. She is the author of "A Little R & R," where she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. She can also be found at these other places on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.

This article originally appeared at rosilindjukic.com.

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Discern If Your Dream Is From God With These 5 Strategies - ROSILIND JUKIC CHARISMA NEWS

Discern If Your Dream Is From God With These 5 Strategies

 8/20/2016 ROSILIND JUKIC  charisma news

If your heart aches while you're waiting on God, take these five lessons to heart. (Sylvain Reygaerts)

Discern If Your Dream Is From God With These 5 Strategies

 8/20/2016 ROSILIND JUKIC  CHARISMA NEWS

Do you have a dream? Are you growing discouraged as year after year passes and it lays dormant and unaccomplished? Are you about to give up on it altogether?

In an earlier post 4 Thing You Need to Know About Dreams I shared in a video about my dream of coming to Croatia.

But that isn't the only dream I've had. Oh, I've had many dreams.

There was one in particular that I never thought would come to life, and yet it wasn't one I felt I must accomplish.

There is a quote from Anne of Green Gables that I love:

"No wonder [Aunt Josephine] has so little imagination. That's one consolation about being poor–you have to dream all this up."

Imagine how boring life would be if everything we ever dreamed of having or doing came true? What would be left to dream about?

In 2012, my husband and I went to look at a little yellow country house and a yard big enough for our kids to run around and play in.

I had always wanted such a house, although I never really believed it would be a possibility for me. But the moment I laid eyes on this house, I was in love. That was in June, by the end of September we put the key in the lock, opened the door and began moving our things in.

The process of birthing a dream can be both exhilarating and excruciating. But through it I learned a few things about dreams.

5 Things I've Learned About Dreams

1. When God gives a dream He will make it happen.
I had no idea my little yellow country house was a dream from God's heart. I thought it was dreamed up by me. But every step of the way the doors have miraculously opened, as if on their own.

Every step of the way we were prepared for the whole thing to fall through. In fact, we thought the idea that we could be homeowners was just too good to be true.

But here we are in our own home, newly renovated, and even more lovely than it was four years ago when I first laid eyes on it! And what more could we conclude other than God made this happen?

2. Hold your dreams lightly.
It is easy to clutch our dreams in a death grip, thinking that they are our and that it is up to us to make it happen. Doing this only causes deep dissatisfaction to grow in our hearts. We envision how fulfilled we will be if only our dream would come true, yet we fail to realize that fulfillment and satisfaction do not lie in our dreams, but in our decision to be content in every situation.

This is something I have made great effort to cultivate in my heart. I even blogged about it in a series called 5 Keys to Contentment. I haven't arrived yet, and I still fail in these areas, but I am finding that I am growing in contentment. When we first began inquiring about house—and all through this journey we've been on in buying it—I told my husband, "No matter what happens, I am content. I love living here in our apartment. I have friends here and everything is nearby."

I held my dream lightly by focusing on the good things we have now. I had a long list of "pros" on both sides, which helped in case the house fell through. I knew I would still be happy. I would just keep on dreaming!

3. You need to know when to fight for your dream and when to let go.

One thing that stood out to us was that we didn't have to fight for the house. It has been the easiest and most painless process we've ever encountered! There are dreams that seemingly come true on their own. And yet there are those that require us to have courage and stamina in fighting to make them happen.

But we have to be discerning. Sometimes we fight to make dreams come true that were not meant to come true. Sometimes the dreams we are fighting for are self-serving dreams that we think will elevate us, make us feel better about ourselves, promote us, and stroke our egos. Such dreams are never of God.

It takes great humility to recognize this and let those dreams go. But when we do, we will find great freedom because dreams like this will only hold hostage the ones that God has for us. Learn to fight for God's dreams, while letting go of our own selfish ones so we are free to accomplish the ones God has truly given!

4. You may have to let your dream die so it can live
Does that statement sound confusing to you? Like an oxymoron? It's not. Jesus described a seed that, when planted in the ground, dies so that it can live. Sometimes God plants a dream in our heart. We cultivate it, water it and even pray about it. And then we watch it die. This can be very disillusioning!

Do not lose heart or grow angry. Sometimes God lets a dream die, so that we cease being possessive of it. It's not our dream, after all. It's God's dream! It's His plan. Sometimes God will let it die so that we pry our fingers off of it and let it go. In doing so, we give God the freedom to let that dream live as it should live. Quite possibly the path we were taking to make that dream come true was a wrong path, or maybe it was wrong timing. Maybe we need to include others in that dream, or a different set of "others."

Has your dream from God died? Don't give up. Keep praying about it. In the meantime, let God help you make it His and not yours; and let Him renew that vision in your heart the way He created that dream to be.

5. Never stop dreaming
Never stop dreaming. Ever. Even those dreams that may seem silly and insignificant. Even the ridiculous ones you know will never come true. Dreams fuel passion and drive. Sometimes the ridiculous dreams are what give foundation to the "real" ones down the road. Never stop dreaming. Never let your imagination die. Never starve creativity. Allow God to use it, hone it and cause it to grow.

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.

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3 Things to Not Say to Someone in Depression - ROSILIND JUKIC CHARISMA NEWS

Say this instead to someone fighting depression. (iStockPhoto)

3 Things to Not Say to Someone in Depression

1/24/2016 ROSILIND JUKIC   CHARISMA NEWS

Sometimes it's hard to be a Christian.

Christianity is a balancing act of being an example of Christ's life in us and honesty. It's not easy to balance these two things, because it's not sincere to act like we don't have real problems, but it is not a good testimony when the world doesn't see joy in our lives.

I believe Christians battle depression just as unbelievers do. The problem is when a Christian gives in to depression and stops trying to find God's strength to rise above it.

There are Christians who don't believe that Christians should fall into depression, and when they find a brother or sister in depression they pass judgement on them.

But last week in our Good Morning Girls' study we found Job in a depression. In the seventh chapter he says this, "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul."

During the day he was in unbelievable pain and at night he couldn't sleep because of his nightmares. He had lost all his children, all his wealth, and now his health is gone. How wouldn't someone in a situation like his not fall into depression?

Depression, in these circumstances, is a normal thing. What isn't normal is when we surrender to it.

And Job didn't surrender. He fought. He prayed. And in the end the Lord rewarded him.

How should we respond when a brother or sister is in a depression?

Here are three things you shouldn't say to someone in depression

1. "Get over it." I am convinced that if it were possible to just "get over" depression, most people would immediately get up and get out of it. The problem is that it's not that easy, and that is why so many people are taking dangerous psychosomatic drugs. Because they can't get over it. And it's an insult to them to insinuate that their pain isn't legitimate.

2. "You are in a depression because you've sinned." This is, in fact, what Job's friends were saying to him. But we see in the end that God told Eliphaz in chapter 42, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." Despite Job's depression, he remained righteous while his friends spoke wrongly of him and to him.

Even when it is clear that the depression is because of sin, we should always wait until the proper time to confront it because saying the right thing at the wrong time can close the door on an opportunity to help lead someone to a place of repentance.

3. "You don't have faith, and that is why you're depressed." There is a tendency in some circles to embrace the errant theology that if you are not rich, happy and successful you don't have faith; because these things indicate God's blessing.

I don't know, but I have seen a lot of unbelievers who live blasphemous lives and are rich, happy and successful, while many very dedicated Christians are poor, unsuccessful by the world's standards and are sometimes not very happy.

We see in the seventh chapter that Eliphaz had this belief system: Bad things = God's judgment, good things = God's blessing.

If only life were that simple!

But it's not.

When we face difficult circumstances our faith reminds us that God hasn't abandoned us, and He never will. Our faith reminds us that God will always turn things around for our good.

That is true faith!

So, what should we say to someone who is depressed?

1. "I am praying for you." Prayer is a powerful tool and these three words can mean everything! Our prayers can do one hundred times more for someone in a depression than anything we could ever say. And it is a comfort to them to know that you take their situation seriously enough to pray for them.

2. "Call me if you need someone to talk to." I am an external processor. Actually, there have been many times that I've solved my own problems just by talking about them out loud. One of the greatest comforts is knowing that we have someone we can talk to....who won't judge us.

We see that there were times when even Job realized that he had exaggerated or gone too far with what he said. And rather than his friends looking past that — knowing that he didn't always mean everything he said (such as in Job 6:26), they used his words against him. They were not trustworthy friends.

3. "God is with you, even if you don't feel Him right now." We all probably know this to be true, but there are some times when we need to be reminded that God hasn't abandoned us.

Have you ever had times when your brain knew that God was there, but your heart doubted it because you couldn't feel Him? Not in prayer, not in worship, not even when you read your Bible. It was like the heavens had turned to brass and God had turned His back on you.

But He hadn't turned His back on you. The heavens were not brass. This is why we don't listen to our hearts, but instead make a conscious choice to believe what His Word says. And a true friend will comfort us with those promises!

Depression isn't God's will, just as it wasn't God's will for Job to remain in his difficult circumstances. But sometimes depression is a normal reaction to hard times, and how we respond to a person in depression is very important!

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter,Pinterest and Google +.

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Be Free to Disappoint People ROSILIND JUKIC Charisma Magazine/Spiritled Woman

Pleasing people at the cost of pleasing God is stressful. (Charisma archives)

Be Free to Disappoint People

12/25/2015 ROSILIND JUKIC Charisma Magazine Spiritled Woman

Pleasing people at the cost of pleasing God is stressful. (Charisma archives)

I knew I had some really tough choices to make.

My plate wasn't just full, it was overflowing. It was cracking under the sheer volume of stuff I'd continued to pile on top of it.

I was a hoarder; a chronic "yes" sayer.

It wasn't so much that I wasn't in tune with how much I could do, it was more of a fear that I'd disappoint someone by saying no, or I'd let them down.

I am, by nature, a pleaser. If you want to utterly break my heart, just say these words, "I am disappointed in you." I almost will never get over hearing that.

I can't stand to disappoint!

And yet, I knew that something had to give.

Either I would disappoint someone now by letting go of the majority of the responsibilities I was carrying, or I'd disappoint everyone when I had a nervous breakdown and couldn't do anything at all.

It had truly come down to that!

My sanity now or my health later on.

It was a tipping point.

I sat down and made a list of every single responsibility I had in my life: from being a wife and mom to being a blogger and Bible study leader, to being a volunteer at my local church ... I listed it all.

Then I took some time to reflect on what I felt the Lord had called my family to do. Not just me — yes, that was included — but my family.

Where are we going?

What's our mission?

What's our goal as a family?

We plan our summer vacations better than we plan our families.

When we go on a summer vacation, we mark our route, we plan our hotels and meals, we plan our stops to sight see and our destination.

But what about our family's journey?

What is your destination? Where do you want to be as a family when your children are grown? What are you doing to get there? Are the choices you are making now helping you reach that destination, or are you just driving aimlessly down an unknown street hoping you will somehow arrive at your destination by pure chance?

Once I had a clear vision for our destination, I looked at my list of responsibilities and asked myself this question about each one: "Does this responsibility actively help me reach that destination or is it dead weight?"

If it was dead weight, it had to go.

But before I let it go, I had to do this one thing.

I had to give myself permission to disappoint myself and others.

In an attempt to please everyone around me, my plate was overflowing with other people's visions and other people's destinations. But where was mine?

Lost and forgotten down at the very bottom of the pile!

In essence, I was willing to disappoint God to please others.

"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ" (Galatians 1:10, NKJV).

There are two kinds of expectations we meet in life:

Expectations of ourselves. If you are type-A, you likely have very high or impossible expectations of yourself. When you set a goal, you set it higher for yourself than you would ever set it for anyone else. We have to succeed ... every time. No failure. And we have to succeed better than anyone ever succeeded.

This is a trap. It keeps us in a constant state of stress because of our zero-tolerance policy for ourselves.

When it comes to letting go of extra responsibilities, we often have to give ourselves permission to "fail" at pleasing others first. This is a very freeing activity. Once you realize that you are simply incapable of succeeding every time, you are free! You are free to disappoint others. You are free to walk away and not allow that disappointment to eat at you for days and weeks.

---

Does it bother you a little that someone was disappointed? Yes, and it should. We can't walk through life calloused; but by bothering us, it doesn't have to eat at us.

Expectations from others. It is natural that people have expectations of others. There are those who have a vision to fulfill a certain task and then there are those whose mission in life is to help others fulfill that task. These helpers derive incredible joy from doing what they do to help others. Their vision is similar and they have the capability to help others succeed.

The problem is when we don't have the same mission or vision as the one who has placed an expectation on us. We don't necessarily have the capability to help them reach their desired destination and we don't derive any joy from helping them reach their goal. But we take on the task because we feel pressure.

Not only is their expectation dead weight on us, we're dead weight on them, too. We are unsatisfied in doing a task we were never meant to do, and they are frustrated because we lack the capability and drive to do what is expected of us.

The kindest thing we can do is to free ourselves to do what we've been called to do and free them to find the one who has been called to fill the role that will help them reach their goal!

When we look at expectations from this perspective, we realize that we're not really disappointing someone by saying no to them, we're freeing them to find the one who will serve them best!

We're free to give our best yes to the task that God called us to, and they're free to find the one whose best yes is meant for them!

This truth has set me free!

And as we are closing the chapter on 2015, I am amazed at what a difference one year can make. Only 365 days ago I sat here with clenched teeth, tensed shoulders, pulsating veins and giant cup of coffee to make it through my day.

Now I sit here with my feet up, a smile on my face, a heart at peace as I am satisfied because I am right where God wants me to be.

I am still serving others, but in the very role God cut out for me!

Where do you want to be on December 31, 2016?

What steps do you need to take to get there?

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +. 

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW from CHARISMA: Do you want to encounter the Holy Spirit and hear God speak to you? Increase your faith, discover freedom, and draw near to God! Click Here

LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE FEATURED BOOK

In 2010 the Lord God of Israel, my Savior Jesus Christ (Yeshua HaMashiach), led me to start the ministry we call Love For His People. Its primary purpose is to share the love of the Lord with the nation of Israel, Jews around the world, and the people in all the nations as we can. 

For that end, through social media, writing and distributing books, and in person ministry, we are seeing the love of Jesus spread. We are grateful that He has given us much love in order to do just that. We often hear the word “love” spoken out loud, and written about, in many ways. It has contrasting meanings to the wide range of people that exist, as it is expressed in different methods through people. 

When it has all been said and done, there is an eternal love that will stand the test of fire. Because the biblical expression of love, laying down one’s life for his friends, has eternal value, this love from God the Father to His creation is the type that I most seek after and try to share. 

In these short chapters of Arms of Love, which is also the title of a song Laurie and I sang while leading various church worship meetings, and as the lead singers in our Ahava Love Band, I share some aspects of how I believe the Bible speaks of love. For you who are about to read this, my prayer is that your heart will be enlarged with His, and you too will become one, even more, to give love for His people, both Jew and Gentile, both saved and unsaved. 

I hope that as you read these chapters, you will become more inspired to spend time with the Lord, experience His heart of love, and share it with our fellow man. The world needs to know the love of God. 

Steve Martin 

Love For His People

Charlotte, NC 

Dec. 2015

Check here: Arms of Love Paperback $5.95 KIndle $1.99

Things to Remember When You've Failed - ROSILIND JUKIC CHARISMA MAGAZINE

Have you failed or done something that you regret? Remember this. (iStockPhoto | Chepko)

4 Things to Remember When You've Failed

 12/3/2015 ROSILIND JUKIC  charisma magazine

I'm sitting here typing with a heavy heart.

I've been carrying it around for a day and a half now ... it's kind of a heavy load to bear.

You see, yesterday I messed up.

I'm in a tough place momentarily because I need an operation that I have to wait for(please don't worry too much, I'll be OK. Really. I promise). 

I thought I was going to have the operation Monday, but instead I spent the day having tests and getting medicated. My type-A personality was getting stomped all over because I wanted to get it done.

Don't waste time.

Just do what needs to be done and let me recover, because I have super-important things to do and this is just in the way.

Get me?

I am a doer. I am a get-'er-done-er type person. I don't saunter. I march.

The problem is that I wanted to march in and take control of a situation over which I have no control.

And that's where I messed up first.

I lost control over my schedule and that made me crazy.

I spent a whole day subjected to someone else's schedule, which to me equated wasting time. I actually laid there in the hospital bed counting how many hours I'd wasted on this "fool's errand." That made me super cray-cray!

And rather than allowing the peace of the Lord to calm my heart (because, let's face it, I was in a situation where someone else was in control. So I should have just sat back and enjoyed a day off.), I allowed the loss of control to not only steal my peace, but my joy and my testimony.

By the time I arrived home, I was not only in physical pain, but I was tired, cranky and bitter.

May I give you a piece of unsolicited advice?

When you are in pain, tired, cranky and bitter do not talk to anyone but Jesus.

Whenever we are these things, our tongue has a way of running away with itself and if the only person we talk to in that unbridled moment is Jesus, we at least still have our testimony and reputation intact.

Unfortunately, I had a moment of temporary amnesia and forgot to only talk to the Lord and I went on ...

wait for it ...

Facebook.

I can hear the collective groan right now.

Fortunately for me, the amnesia wasn't so bad that I posted to my wall. No, but to whom I posted was bad enough. In my anger and bitterness I made a few insulting remarks about the country I live in, shut the laptop and went to bed.

I wish I could erase that moment.

I really do.

It was beneath me to say what I said, and you're probably thinking, "Don't be so hard on yourself. We've all done it. People get over it and move on."

That's true.

But, the one who made the mistake sometimes has trouble moving on.

I'm that type of person.

I'm harder on myself than I am on anyone else I know.

I extend grace liberally to those around me, but I'm very stingy with myself. Everyone else is allowed second, third, fourth, 20th chances, but I have only one chance to get it right.

Zero tolerance for mistakes.

What do you do when you've messed up and you feel like you can't move on from it?

1. Realize that your guilt is probably really pride. My inability to grant myself grace is really pride. I have to be perfect. You know why? Because I have to be the best. I have to be 100 percent on my game all the time because I only want people to see the best of me now.

I know, I'm also very self-deprecating. It's an odd balancing act of sharing my past faults, "but look at me now. Now I'm perfect. I've moved on. Improved."

Not so much. Because yesterday I proved that I still haven't bridled my anger nor my tongue!

2. Realize that fruit takes time to grow. The fruit of the Spirit can't be ordered at a drive thru as you sail through life. "Ummmm ... yes, hello. I'd like an order of self-control, meekness and could you throw in some joy with that too? Thank you!"

Wouldn't that be nice?

But no. When you plant a tree, you don't get fruit on it for several years. And the first year, you may get just a few apples. It takes time, growth, pruning and a lot of care to grow fruit.

So we need to be patient with ourselves, because God is obviously patient with us. Otherwise, He'd have used a different illustration, such as vegetables. You can plant vegetables and have a harvest in just a matter of months, as opposed to fruit that takes years!

3. Forgiveness is extended in two directions. Sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself. Especially when you have high expectations of yourself. Sometimes it's easier to forgive others because you don't expect as much from them as you do yourself. But when you don't allow yourself to fail, you have trouble extending forgiveness to yourself when you do.

But refusal to extend forgiveness to yourself will drive you into a rut of self-condemnation.

As you rehearse your failure, you continue to heap condemnation on yourself until you stumble under the sheer magnitude of its load.

Let. It. Go.

Forgive yourself.

Surely others have forgiven you. And if they haven't, then that's an issue between God and them because God has forgiven you.

I'm writing this to myself tonight and already I feel better.

But the best thing we can do for ourselves when we've failed is:

4. Learn from our mistakes. Don't use your failure as a switch to constantly batter yourself, use your failure as a pointer to teach yourself a lesson.

Same tool, different purpose!

God wants to use our failures as launching pads, if we'll just surrender them into His hands.

I have.

Will you?

Rosilind Jukic, a Pacific Northwest native, is a missionary living in Croatia and married to her Bosnian hero. Together they live with their two active boys where she enjoys fruity candles, good coffee and a hot cup of herbal tea on a blustery fall evening. Her passion for writing led her to author her best-selling book The Missional Handbook. At A Little R & R she encourages women to find contentment in what God created them to be. You can also find her at Missional Call where she shares her passion for local and global missions. She can also be found at on a regular basis. You can follow her on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google +.

For a limited time, we are extending our celebration of the 40th anniversary of Charisma. As a special offer, you can get 40 issues of Charisma magazine for only $40!

NEW - Life in the Spirit is your Spirit-filled teaching guide. Encounter the Holy Spirit, hear God speak to you, and enjoy timeless teachings on love, mercy and forgiveness.LEARN MORE!