Treasured Ministries

Offering women a biblical solution for inner healing

Live Treasured Podcast and Blog

Declaring Victory Over Depression -My Podcast with Michelle Bengston

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Full disclosure. I have struggled with depression, and I know I am not alone. Eighteen point eight million Americans have wrestled with this issue too. Dr. Michelle Bengston, the author of Hope Prevails, is a board-certified neuropsychologist who believed she was prescribing the most effective treatments for her depressed patients until she walked into depression herself. In Hope Prevails, she writes, “Once I became aware of the spiritual aspects of depression, the curtain was pulled back and I found new ammunition to fight the battle.” (pg 37). BAM! Michelle’s message is impactful and important. I am just crazy about her book and corresponding Bible Study Hope Prevails. In this Treasured Ministries Podcast today find hope to battle depression God’s way. You can dive into Michelle’s Book Hope Prevails and other resources by clicking on the links below.

Michelle’s Blog and other resources: http://drmichellebengtson.com

Order Hope Prevails (book and corresponding Bible Study) on Amazon. Click Here

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Friends Giving

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She began to practice friendship again. And practicing friendship meant that although she did not do it perfectly every time, she continued putting herself out there, taking proactive steps to the beat of God’s principles. And with every step she found others who were looking for this kind of connection.

Sharing her life with people in this way brought her heart great joy.

Hiding in her safe harbor had only hindered her heart. Carrying God’s love to others out in the great expanse of the ocean with her sails lifted high is what she had been created for. Confident in God’s direction for authentic friendships, she knew she could trust the Holy Spirit to navigate her through stormy seas.

She would no longer seclude herself and hide her heart.

She believed she was worthy of love, and when she lived this way she invited others to feel the same. Authentic friendship pushed her to be vulnerable and real with others, but this was an adventure worth taking.

The Joy in Practicing Authentic Friendship

I hope you have enjoyed this Authentic Friendship series from Treasured Ministries. Deep connections bring life to our social media saturated world. Practicing authentic friendship is a beautiful gift to share!

This is the truth: You can have deep connections ordained by God himself! You are worthy to be loved. To belong. But you must practice . . . you must put yourself out there . . . and you must do it God’s way.

As we close out this series today, I pray you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I definitely learned so much in writing these devotions! Our advent series starts next week. Going with the flow of the Authentic Friendship series, I asked friends to help me write this next one—and can’t wait to share it with you.

Also, the videos for the Nourish Bible Study Series are now online. YAHOO! We are so excited to share these with you and hope you will consider starting one of our studies in the New Year.

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Taking Baby Steps Back Into Friendship

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In this podcast find courage you need to step back into friendship again. Every woman has two deep soul needs: to love and be loved. Opening up your heart after you have been hurt takes COURAGE. I know this. I’ve been there and here is what I found: hiding did not heal my heart, actively taking baby steps back into friendship did.  God is a redeemer. If you have been hurt –  I get that pain and understand the need to protect your heart – but doing it God’s way is so much better.

You are wired for love – NOT fear!  It’s the enemies scheme to shut down your heart and to take you out of the game. Fight back with love!

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Chasing the Chosen Few

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There is a sense of safety that comes from having a large spanning group of friends, and while it feels good in the moment at a large party or loud meal, I personally have found them to always leave me wanting more.

I believe there is a risk we run when collecting acquaintances rather than seeking out and pursuing true relationships.

And that is not to say that big groups of friends are a bad thing, but rather to suggest that we take the time to truly seek knowing the people that are around us and tighten up our inner circles.

Large Groups Are a Safety Net

Large groups feel a lot like a safety net. When I first got to school I found myself running around desperately seeking people to put on a mental list of meal time loneliness deterrents, and how selfish that was of me to do.

People are not collectibles, they are not simply the means by which to avoid isolation, they are souls and stories, and they should be cherished as such. Rather than give only the small shallow parts of ourselves to many, why not share the deepest extents of our dreams and passions to a chosen few?

And who are these chosen few?

  • They are the small groups of unlikely friendships made possible only by the love of the father.
  • They are the circles of women finding strength in vulnerability and peace in the honesty of others.

These are groups made of women you seek out, and women that seem to find you somewhere along the way. And these are the groups to cherish.

These groups take work, they take hard moments of honesty and intentionality beyond any other friend group.

The word “Foster” is defined as to “encourage or promote the development of something, typically regarded as good.” If we are to foster these small groups, it takes intentionality in chasing after those in it. It takes going out of our ways to love them more than we love ourselves. And what you sow into these friendships you will reap tenfold.

And that is the beauty of the small group, when you chose a select few to love properly and receive love from in return, you have more love to give and deeper bonds to make.

Finding the Chosen Few

How do you find these special women?

It begins with reaching out and opening yourself up to finding friends. But sometimes this not easy.

Insecurity can keep us silent. Slipping in and out of church doors without saying a word to those around we might shy away from what could be life-changing friendships. However, we cannot live our lives blaming our loneliness on others not coming directly to us and reading our minds. You find things by seeking them out, so do that, pursue what you know your heart needs!

Chase after those few that God has chosen to grow you alongside, and when you find them, be filled with the wisdom and love they have to offer, and pour right back into them.

Abandon the insecurities that tell you to chase endless shallow friendships and rather prayerfully seek the deep connections and accountability that can be found in a small group.

Leading the Chosen Few in a Small Group

Where do I begin?

One way to begin is by starting a Nourish Together Group.

Nourish Together Groups are women coming together weekly to pray, share a meal, and discover truth using the weekly Nourish Scripture.

If you are interested, we have a  free online resource called the Nourish Together Leader’s Guide.  Find all the tools you need for your journey, including our step-by-step plan to get you started.  Even if you are not ready to commit – but you just want to find out a little more – this is a great way to just learn more before stepping out. Click here to learn more about Nourish Together.

Nourish Scripture: Acts 2:42-47

Blog written by Millicent Phillips. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

Dealing with Fear by Embracing Your Core Authentic Idenity

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When we feel like what we have to offer is not enough – we hide and this hinders our purpose. But when God is the source our identity this changes. Drawing our value from Him, frees my heart to love others. Embracing our authentic core identity is one of the greatest keys to becoming the woman that God created us to be.

In today’s podcast, we are looking at the book of Jeremiah and finding truth to kick fear to the curb! BAM!

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The Courage to be Vulnerable

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Without authenticity, there is no vulnerability.

Without vulnerability, there is no intimacy.

Without courage to be authentic, the connections God created for you cannot happen.

Everything you are—your authentic self, your story, your imperfections, your fears, your dreams, your past,—all God has created you to be is a beautiful pearl to treasure and share with those who value your whole heart.

The Extraordinary Results of Anchoring Together

Formed by adversity of sand and surf, true pearls are imperfect, yet they carry great value to those who understand, appreciate, and respect the journey of this jewel.  When a pearl comes out of its shell to connect with other treasures, something special happens.

A pearl alone is a beautiful treasure, but when anchored with other treasures on a strong strand, the results are extraordinary.

Similarly, when we are authentic with one another and held together by God’s agape love, we find the true connection God created us for.

But great courage is required for this true connection. Experience has taught us to fear bringing our real selves to the table.  Perhaps that deep desire for connection deceived our hearts and we made bad decisions to share our treasure with those who had no empathy or because of their own pain could not value our journey.

  • We shared our story but felt shame from others.
  • We put ourselves out there and failed.
  • We loved greatly only to be rejected.
  • We trusted and were betrayed.
  • We lived and we were labeled.

And so we falsely believed we were not enough. We stopped really living. We hid. We shut down. We made perfection our goal to shield rejection. We stayed on the surface and had many acquaintances but nothing deep.

In our shame, we pulled others down to prop ourselves up. We swung between the two extremes of hiding or trying to hot-wire connection by giving our pearls away to those who trampled on them.

Opening Your Heart Takes Courage to Be Vulnerable

Opening your heart again to community after you have been hurt or betrayed takes a tremendous amount of courage. I know this from personal experience. I know how the fear of rejection can paralyze your heart.

And I also know from experience that stepping back into a healthy biblical community one baby step at a time is a vital part of healing.

Part of that journey for me was walking in close fellowship with a small group of women in my Nourish Together Group. They carried trust and had the courage to be vulnerable with me. When this happened, my soul relaxed, and ever so slowly my shell opened and my true self . . . my story of failure . . . my fears . . . my imperfections fell inside the safety net of their trust and agape love.

The courage to share your pearls wisely and find true connection comes from embracing your core authentic God-given identity and inviting others to do the same.

Why is this a solution?

Join me for Facebook Live on Wednesday to unpack this truth deeper so you can become brave with your heart and carry trust to help others open their shells and share their pearls.

Nourish Scripture: Jeremiah 1

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.

7 Reasons Why We Choose UnHealthy Relationships

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When we see people as the way to find life instead of to love, we are vulnerable to unhealthy relationship patterns that will continue to play out. Moving Jesus to the center of our heart gives the right perspective to create healthy relationships patterns and love others as God intended.

In this podcast, find out seven reasons why we get involved in unhealthy relationships and what we can do to stop that cycle! For more on this topic read our Weekly Word series Authentic Friendship.

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Discerning Unhealthy Friendships (Part Two)

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Last week we began our discussion on discerning unhealthy friendships and how we are called to be in community but not every relationship is healthy for us.

Love and respect is for everyone; but our close personal friendships are those that we should be wise about because “bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33).

(Click here to read last week’s blog)

 “Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble.” Proverbs 13:20

We also talked about how sometimes discerning healthy and unhealthy is not easy but why walking closest to the Holy Spirit we can be wise about our close connections. Here are  two reasons we discussed why this is true.

  •  When I am walking closely with the Holy Spirit I can trust his discernment for our close connections.
  • When I walk closest with the Holy Spirit, I will be a woman of decision confidently directed by the Lord not vulnerable to the control of others.

(Click here to read last week’s blog)

Today, we move on to explore two additional reasons:

  • When I walk close to the Holy Spirit, my identity is rooted in my relationship with Christ – not my relationship with others and therefore I can see rejection from God’s perspective.

Facing Rejection and Understanding the Truth

There is nothing I hate more than being rejected – can you relate?

Now don’t get me wrong, rejection will always sting on some level because we are human, but when we allow the way others treat us to determine our identity that is when we get into trouble.

I lived this way for years – and to be honest I still have to remind myself of this truth:

We are not defined by how others treat us. We are defined by the truth in God’s Word.

Your worth and value is not defined by having everyone like you. In fact that is an unrealistic goal, and one God is not asking you to pursue. He is asking you to pursue him and love others – not please everyone around you. There is a big difference.

I faced rejection this week – and it still hurt. I am not going to lie. I cried in my pillow before I went to sleep. But this morning I brought all this to the Lord and gained his perspective on the situation. This is the key – it’s not that rejection won’t hurt – but that you can have God’s perspective.

In the past I would have gotten really mad at this person and unforgiveness could easily creep in. Or I would have tired extra hard for that person to like me to prove them wrong. This was a great recipe for unhealthy relationships.

But that was when my identity was rooted in my relationships with people rather than my relationship with Jesus. Now it is much easier to lovingly let go of others who have let go of me.

Here is what I have found: Often rejection is a form of God’s protection and redirection to a more healthy relationship. God does not want you to be close to everyone! So forgive others and gain God’s perspective on the situation. If you need to say you are sorry for something – do it. And if others have let go and you – let them go.

  • When I am walking closely with the Holy Spirit, my desire to be loved and secure can be entirely met in Him and from that place of abundance I find freedom to say no to unhealthy friendships, and open my heart to healthy relationships.

Loneliness and Insecurity Can Make Us Vulnerable

When we are lonely or insecure we can be vulnerable to become involved in unhealthy friendship.

Our hearts deceive us. We might perceive worldly strength, worldly influence, popularity or another character trait in someone we think we need and surrender our free will to that person to try to gain what they have. But often people who put on a good show of having it all together on the outside are a mess on the inside!

However, perfect love from Jesus casts out insecurity and means I am never alone. From this place of abundance, I look to people not to give me something – but to love. This frees my heart to let go in love those that are unhealthy and pray for them. It allows me to guard my heart so I can give it first fully to God and then to others as he directs in a healthy way.

God given boundaries are good and healthy. If you have trouble setting boundaries you are not alone. In a recent Treasured Ministries Podcast, I interviewed Michelle Nietert a Licensed Professional Counselor about HOW to set boundaries.

Saying no is sometimes one of the most loving things you can do. Your free will was given to you by God so that you could give it back to Him.

Free will is a precious treasure. Don’t ever surrender that to somebody who wants control over you.  Guard your close friendships so that you can give your heart entirely to God.

Let’s review how walking closely with the Holy Spirit is the key to not getting involved with an unhealthy friendship.

  • I will have God’s discernment for my close connections.
  • I will be a woman of decision confidently directed by the Lord not vulnerable to the control of others.
  • My identity is rooted in my relationship with Christ – not my relationship with others and therefore I can see rejection with God’s perspective.
  • My desire to be loved and secure can be entirely met in Jesus and from that place of abundance, I find freedom to say no to unhealthy friendships, and open my heart to healthy relationships.

So how do you walk closely with the Holy Spirit?

One of the primary ways we do this is by, making room for the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart personally through God’s Word. The Nourish Bible Study Method can help you with that. Take our 21-Day Challenge and discover more.

Listening to his discernment, direction and divine love he will guide you to those healthy biblical close friendships -not with perfect people (they don’t exist)– but those with hearts for the Lord and for you!

Nourish Scripture: John 10:1-18

Blog written by Aliene Thompson. Aliene Thompson is the founder of Treasured Ministries and the Author of the Nourish Bible Study Series. © 2019 Treasured Ministries.