I am excited that Erin Bishop of the Whatever Girls Ministries is joining me today here at Fearless Heart for our first “Fearless Friday” series and blog link up. My heart for this series is to help shed light on some great ministries that are reaching out to serve those around them for the cause of Christ. Join me as we hear from Erin’s heart today and then leave a comment, or if you’re a blogger be sure to link up with us below. ~Victoria
—————————-From Erin’s Heart——————–
The devil has been twisting God’s Word for over 2,000 years.
Deception made its debut in the Garden of Eden, with Eve:
“Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” the serpent asked.
“The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.” (Genesis 3:1-7)
God had a plan for us, a perfect plan. And the enemy knew it, and did everything in his power to destroy it. He caused doubt. He caused fear. He caused pride. He caused shame. He caused regret. Those four words “did God really say” have caused women to doubt God, His plan and their worth for years.
Doubt, fear, pride, shame, and regret are not of God, they are the handiwork of the enemy.
Has the devil ever said “Did God really say…?” to you?
He says it to me. Quite often, actually.
In 2008 God made my path known to me. “Invest in the lives of teen girls. Share your story with them. Teach them about me, and my perfect plan for their lives.”
Between 2008 and 2009 I spent some time considering what that would look like. I had a teen daughter of my own that I wanted to have a better teenage experience than I did. How can I help her and other girls at the same time? I asked myself.
The idea of starting a girls group emerged. It was a win-win. I could be intentional about getting my daughter through her teen years, have a say in who her closest friends and influencers would be, and invest in the lives of her friends at the same time.
We started meeting as a group in our home twice a month. We talked about God’s plan for their lives, studied God’s Word, discussed peer pressure, girl drama, mean girls, bullying, purity, and many more things. We started hosting events in our community, my web presence shifted from that of your run of the mill blogger to blogging about the Whatever Girls ministry. I added team members to help me write. Now we have a team of thirty. We’re still hosting events, and we’re hosting our first conference, Whatever Girls Live in 2014. We’re also hosting a huge (for us) fundraising campaign: $10,000 in three months, our 10:3 Campaign.
As far as God has brought me, still the enemy says to me “Did God really say… you of all people should have a ministry? Who do you think you are? You are far from having it all together. Your husband can’t find his socks because you’re behind on laundry; your daughter has a D in Geometry, your kitchen is cluttered, you haven’t read the whole Bible- do you even know what you’re talking about?” and on and on it goes.
Doubt: that He called me to it. Fear: did God really speak to me? Pride: thinking if I can work hard enough on my own, I can do it. Shame: because the enemy is right, I don’t measure up. And regret: for the things I gave up on because I believed a lie.
In my kitchen I see a quote I wrote down over two years ago. I see it every day.
“Don’t ever let anyone talk you out of what God put in you. If He spoke it, He will fulfill it.” Pastor Steven Furtick.
I love this quote. Sometimes I say this with belief, because He has proven it to me, over and over again. And sometimes I say it because I’ve forgotten, and if I say it enough times, my heart might just remember.
As long as we give the enemy a platform in our minds, there will be doubt, fear, pride, shame and regret.
“Let us demolish strongholds. Let us demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 10:4-6)
What fears are you battling? I’d love it if you would share in the comments so I can pray for you by name.
Victoria, thank you for inviting me to share in your “Fearless Friday” series. I’m praying that you, all your readers and me will step outside the shadow of fear and live in the brightness of His calling for our lives.
New friends, to learn more about the Whatever Girls ministry click here. To learn about our conference, Whatever Girls Live, click here. To learn about our 10:3 Campaign, click here.
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Erin Bishop of Whatever Girls
Erin Bishop is the founder and president of the Whatever Girls Ministry. The Whatever Girls mission is “intentional moms and intentional daughters”. They strive to empower teen girls to choose God’s best for their lives by exemplifying the pillars of Philippians 4:8. Erin lives in Washington State with her husband and their two children. You can find the Whatever Girls on Facebook and on Twitter.
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Now It’s Your Turn….Link Up Your Faith Filled Post Below then I encourage you to visit the other blogs and lend your support. Also, feel free to share the above post and link up information within your sphere of influence. You can use the share buttons below or simply copy and paste the URL above directly to your site or social media platforms. The “Whatever Girls Ministry” is an incredible ministry to teen girls and I would love to spread the message about this life-changing ministry.
~Victoria
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For the next couple of days the Fearless Heart blog is going under construction. So what does that mean? Well, don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere. It simply means a day or two of downtime for any new post….but feel free to browse through the most recent post and archived articles. 
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