Clothed with Grace: The Armor of God

I mentioned I was attending a women's Bible study at my church, which is something I haven't been able to do previously as most of them occur during the day while I'm working. Since I'm on maternity leave, I'm take advantage of getting to go. We are studying using this book, The Armor of God by Pricilla Shirer. There are five daily devotions that go along with it and then a video and discussion the Thursday mornings.

If you're not familiar, here are the verses on the armor of God:

"Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people."

This is the first week, so I'm just getting into the content, but what Pricilla wrote on the first day really stuck out to me. She asked us to write down the biggest challenge we're facing right now. Honestly, I feel like mine is a lack of control with our "new normal" at home. Hannah seems to be so much more "touchy" than Grant was and seems to be so overstimulated so quickly. Putting her down for a nap can either be really easily or really hard. It's the hardest in the evening and although I want Grant and Brian to be able to play and have fun, noise makes me a long angrier than it should. I just honestly want to control everything, and that's not possible.

After I wrote down "control" as my issue, Pricilla wrote something that totally caught me off guard: "Everything you wrote is not your real problem" The real culprit is the one working behind the scenes to try to take away all the joy and peace we are given though a relationship with God, and you guessed it, it's Satan. This is a pretty bold statement, but I believe it is entirely true. She goes on to reassure us that once we are God's we can't be taken from Him, but Satan will do what he can to get us off track and make our lives as free from peace as he can.

My anger at lack of control shouldn't be directed towards any one person, but I need to understand the real source of the problem, then take up the full armor of God to defend myself and my family in the midst of trials.

I'm really excited to see where this study goes and what it really looks like to take up the full armor of God. I plan to share what I'm learning with you all in the coming weeks, but I hope you'll begin to consider your life and struggles too. Consider what you think your issue is, and then work with God to do something about it.

I've shared thredUp with all a bunch of times on here, and I'm doing it again today. I recently got this top and cardigan-both from J.Crew with credits from thredUP. I mentioned last week a need I had for tee shirts to wear while I'm at home with Hannah, so I love this polka dot one! This cardigan was new with tags and only $10! I actually wore this last week for a women's bible study at church, but it was definitely cozy for time at home too. Use this link for $20 off your first purchase from thredup, which, by the way, would have gotten you both these pieces for free!