What does a life dedicated to God look like? | Stacy Hudson | Better Than Newlyweds

Posted on April 18, 2016 by Mrs. Hudson

My husband and I had the honor of dedicating our baby girl to the Lord this past weekend. We acknowledged that Sarah belongs to God first and foremost and out of His goodness He blessed us with her.

It got us thinking what does a life dedicated to God look like? It seems like a simple question but I had to stop and think.

so, being the word geek that I am I looked up the definition:

Because I am a word geek I always pay special attention to the synonyms. In this case they helped answer our question.

A “life dedicated to God” looks like:

• Devotion
• Commitment/A Pledge
• Giving
• Surrendering
• Sacrifice 

DEVOTION: In order to dedicate something you must “devote (it) to a purpose”… in this case… God’s purpose.  By dedicating Sarah, Dwight and I, gave up what we purpose for her life and trust God that His ways are higher. A life dedicated to God is being devoted to His purposes.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might show you my power and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth” (Exodus 9:16)

COMMITMENT/PLEDGE: It takes commitment in order for a person to live out a “life dedicated to God”. Not once, or twice, but daily saying to God… “I commit my ways to you!”

5 Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,
your vindication like the noonday sun.

Psalm 37:5-6

GIVING: A “life dedicated to God” is one with open hands. Giving of their time for the advancement of the Kingdom. Giving of their resources so people can be touched by God. Giving of their gifts/talents to the body of Christ so that it can operate at it’s full potential.

Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10

---

Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully. Romans 12:4-8

SURRENDERING: A “life dedicated to God” must operate in surrender. Surrender to God’s timing, His plan, and His will. This might mean letting go of things or relationships that distract from the devotion and commitment to God.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Proverbs 3:5-6

SACRIFICE: A “life dedicated to God” will be no stranger to sacrifice. Scripture calls us to be a “living sacrifice” that is “holy and pleasing to God.” This might mean we sacrifice the comforts of life in order to be pleasing to God. If you are not spending time with God because you watch too much tv… lay it down and get rid of cable.

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2

If you dedicate a song or book to someone it brings joy to the person it is dedicated to, right? When we dedicate our children or our lives to God… it brings God joy! And God is so good that in return …we get JOY too! In the long run… with eternity in mind… it isn’t that much of a sacrifice after all. 

13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

---

6 Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at his sacred tent I will sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD. Psalm 27:6

Our Baby’s First Steps Challenged Me To Step Out | Better Than Newlyweds | Stacy Hudson

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Mrs. Hudson

Our baby took her first steps last night! (Does that mean she is a toddler now? I am not ready for that!) It was an amazing thing to watch. I am so excited that Dwight and I were both there to see it AND that he also was right there to catch her after 4 steps was her max! Oh AND I was recording at the moment!!!! (For those who know me this is huge and I am so thankful we can watch it over and over!!!!) The video is posted a bit further down in this post! (so you can watch it over and over again too if you like!  )

There are so many things that happened in the 20 seconds or so it took her to walk and for us to celebrate!

• She stepped out and took the first steps!
• Her daddy was amazed as he watched her!
• She saw herself in the mirror and smiled as she stepped out!
• She took 4 steps and was going to fall buuut….
• Her daddy caught her before she fell!
• Her daddy exclaimed “SHE DID IT!!!!” as he ran down the hall celebrating!

After walking up and down the hall using her walker several times… back and forth from momma to daddy… our little one got brave…let go…stepped out… and took 4 steps!!!! All of the sudden she walked! It happened so fast that it didn’t really click until I watched the video over and over! I will forever be thankful that I just happened to be recording this once in her lifetime moment and that the 3 of us experienced it together!!!

She stepped out and took the first steps yall! She is my example right now and not the other way around. Her first steps challenged me to step out! In my walk with God I tend to want to hold on… to stay comfortable… to continue using my “walker”! Well… I think I need to be more like Sarah. I think she was able to take these first steps because she knew her daddy was right there! Did you get that? Do we know our daddy (our heavenly Father, our Abba) is right there? No one made her do it… she did it willingly and with a smile on her face!  Oh, that we would trust that our heavenly Father is right there and step out with a smile! 

Ok … here is the video so you can watch it too!

Did you notice Dwight’s face? If not… watch it again…. it’s worth it! Her daddy was amazed as he watched her! I can’t help but compare the joy of her earthly father watching her take her first steps to that of our heavenly Father and the joy it must bring Him as we step out as well!

Did you notice Sarah’s face? She saw herself in the mirror and smiled as she stepped out! She smiled yall!!! 

 Strength and dignity are her clothing, And she smiles at the [a]future. Proverbs 31:25-31

I think so often we pout and fear change… fear stepping out… that we delay trusting God and therefore delay and deny ourselves a chance to smile! 

I know she was in her PJ’s but she was also wearing strength and dignity! I’m pretty sure she stood up straighter as she started to walk! Either way she was definitely smiling at the future!  … Momma was too! 

Because she stepped out a whole new world has opened up to her! It has always been there but she just didn’t have access to it…yet. She had to grow and gain strength… and practice…. and fall down… and get back up… A LOT! But now she can reach things she couldn’t before. She can go places on her own now! (note to self: we need to put up more baby gates!)

Isn’t that just like our walk with God? We need to grow and gain strength… and practice… and fall down… and get back up… A LOT! This prepares us for what God has in store for us to do! It prepares us for a whole new world of blessings and opportunities that we otherwise wouldn’t be able to reach! 

Sure she only took 4 steps and almost fell down… but how many of us don’t even take the first step because we are afraid of falling? I know for me… the fear of falling is usually worse than the actual fall. IF I even ended up falling. And don’t forget that her daddy caught her! Won’t our heavenly Father do the same?!

We have to trust Him. We have to believe Him. We have to believe His word and that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do! Otherwise…. what is the point? 

We have to trust Him. We have to believe Him. We have to believe His word and that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He says He will do! Otherwise…. what is the point?

Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

Tweet This

After she took those 4 steps and Dwight picked her up… he didn’t complain because she only took 4 steps… he tossed her in the air as he exclaimed “SHE DID IT!!!!” and then he ran down the hall to me celebrating! (side note – Cutest dad moment ever!)

Don’t you think God reacts like that when we step out in faith doing what He has called us to do? I would venture to say that He does that after every step! He runs down the streets of gold yelling “She DID IT!!!” while getting all the angels to look! 

So, don’t let the enemy scare you out of your calling! Don’t let him rob you of smiles! Don’t let him deny you all the things God has in store for you to reach! Don’t let him guilt you in to stopping because “you aren’t making any progress”… The devil is a liar and if you weren’t making any progress he wouldn’t be trying to stop you. 

This week… step out… trust God… and see what wonderful new worlds He will give you access to… and how He will rejoice over you! 

The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”  ZEPHANIAH 3:17

BE FREE part 3: Trade in Your Fear for Trust | Better Than Newlyweds | Stacy Hudson

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Mrs. Hudson

Celebrating our daughter’s first birthday came quicker than I thought it would! I know I know…. it was a year on the calendar BUT it still snuck up on us! This past year, time went by slowly and quickly all at the same time.  While we were decorating for the party my mom said “just think about what you were doing this time a year ago!” and I said “naaaaah” …. See… This time last year I spent 6 uncomfortable,painful, exhausting, and honestly…. traumatizing days in the hospital. 70 hours of labor. 3 hours of pushing. I plan on sharing my birth story soon. Once I can gather the words together.

During our stay I had several… ummm…. unpleasant procedures done. Unpleasant is putting it very lightly. I won’t go into those details here… I’ll save that for my birth story post.  One of the procedures was so painful that I told all the nurses and doctors that I was not having anymore kids. The procedure was supposed to happen every 6 hours and from the moment it happened I started dreading the next time! After about 3 hours I got a new doctor (because our stay was so long we had a new one each day) and I explained to her how painful it was and how it made me not want to have anymore kids and she said “well, we can’t have that!” and she changed my orders and the procedure was not done again! I am pretty sure I said “Thank You Jesus!” when she did that!

However, that moment had planted a seed of fear. The pain from a few more procedures to come would water that seed. The coming days, weeks, and months of motherhood and all the challenges that brought would also feed the seed of fear. Motherhood was not what I had imagined. It was a shock to my system I didn’t know how to control. And the truth is I couldn’t control it but I was trying to anyways and I wore myself out.  I did not know fear had been planted until I got a text from a friend that she had had a dream that I was pregnant and was due in September! At the time that would have meant I was pregnant…. right then! The text made fear show its ugly head and I finally recognized that I was scared of being pregnant again.

The Lord used my friends dream to reveal to me that I was living in fear of one of His gifts. I did not want to fear a gift from the Lord. I wanted to be a grateful daughter. If I was pregnant I wanted to praise the Lord instead of allow the enemy to shackle me with fear. I wanted to be free enough to accept this gift if it was being given.

 Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

See… since my friend shared her dream with me it made a big part of me think I was pregnant and just didn’t know it yet.  That thought made me face the possibility and I had to deal with it. I shared all of this with my Bible Study ladies when we met one week and of course they reminded me how God had already used my experiences for good. They helped me talk it out a bit… I usually don’t even know I need to “talk something out” until I go to group! (PLUG: Find a Bible Study group and start going this week!  )

They also prayed for me and reminded me that God is the redeemer of all things. And that if I had been pregnant God would use it to redeem my last experience.

You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. Lamentations 3:57-58

Over the next couple of weeks God did a work in me. One of the moments where things really started to shift in my heart as well as my mind was at church one Sunday. Our Pastor’s wife was sharing and was about to pray for people with fear. She listed several things …. but the one that hit me was when she said I want to pray for “anyone with fear of a baby”… I thought to myself “what did she just say? who says that? fear… of a baby?!” BUT then it hit me that that was for me…that that was me. Sitting next to my sweet hubby holding our almost one year old baby girl I was reminded of God’s faithfulness over the last year… I wanted to trust God. So I laid down that fear in order to be able to pick up trust instead. I purposefully traded in my fear for trust. Trust that God’s timing would be best. Trust that He would always work things out for my good. Trust that He would deliver me from all my fears and be with me if I ever had to deliver a baby again.

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Psalm 34:4

BE FREE Part 2: Leave “it” in the tomb and “Come out!”| Better Than Newlyweds | Stacy Hudson

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Mrs. Hudson

Imagine the tomb… on the 3rd day… Jesus is no longer inside…but there are people inside the tomb…Jesus has left his shroud on the table and walked out… but there are Christians still inside. People who believe Christ died for them but have yet to follow Him out of the tomb and start living in the freedom of His resurrection power.

These people exist. They are holding on to their sin, shame, hatred, depression, disappointment, rejection, fear, control, doubt, pride, greed, lust,  _____ (fill in the blank with your own)… they are holding on to “it”.  I have been one of these people. More than once in my life.

8 This is what the Lord says: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,9 to say to the captives, ‘Come out,’ and to those in darkness, ‘Be free!’ “They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. 10 They will neither hunger nor thirst,nor will the desert heat or the sun beat down on them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. 11 I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up.  Isaiah 49:8-16

In order to be free we must leave “it” in the tomb and “come out!” Jesus did not allow Himself to be beaten and killed on a cross for us to remain in the darkness of the tomb. He rose on the 3rd day to give us eternal life but also the freedom that comes with His resurrection power. The same power that rose Jesus from the dead lives in all believers. Yet, we are afraid to leave it and come out.

Why do you think Jesus left His shroud behind? What bound Him in the past… held Him no more! The same is true for you. The Bible says that you are a new creation.

Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 2 Corinthians 5:17

Why do we hold on to the “old things” instead of doing what is proper with “things passed away” and leave them in the tomb? I think it boils down to fear. Fear of not having control. Fear of the unknown. Fear of the past being better than the future. Fear of being alone. The list could go on and on. If we are truly “in Christ” and have trusted Him with our souls and eternity… shouldn’t we trust Him and “come out” of the tomb?

We can’t truly BE FREE until we leave the “old things” behind and take hold of the “new things”. Jesus did His part. He died and rose again for our salvation and the same resurrection power that lives in Him lives in each of us. We do our part when we reach the point of Fully Releasing Everything… Everything…. and step out of the tomb with Christ FREE. 

Leave “it” on the table in the tomb with Jesus’ shroud  & walk out of the darkness and into the light and “BE FREE!”

Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

Tweet This

BE FREE Part 1: How do we remain free? | Better Than Newlyweds | Stacy Hudson

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Mrs. Hudson

If you have been in a church for any length time you have probably heard some of these sayings: (If you haven’t, I might suggest looking into a new church but I’ll save that for another blog post.)

“The truth will set you free!”

“Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom.”

“If the son has set you free you are free indeed!”

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free!”

These sayings/phrases come up in sermons and in worship songs so often that I wonder if some even realize they are straight of out Scripture? We use them in conversations… sometimes to only fill the silence. While we mean well… these words are powerful. We should be careful to recognize the power in these words and speak them with the authority God has given us thru Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, and resurrection from the grave!

“So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, ‘If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine: and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.’” John 8:32

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” 2 Corinthians 3:17

“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:36

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Galatians 5:1

I want you to notice that 2 Corinthians 3:17 and John 8:36 deal with the supernatural side of freedom. It is a guarantee…a done deal…when the Lord, the Holy Spirit, or the Son sets us free. It is up to us to remain free! In order to remain free we must “continue” in His word according toJohn 8:31. We must also “stand firm” and not “let” ourselves “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” as listed in Galatians 5:1.

“Slavery” (bondage, oppression, depression, shame, fear, ETC) is not just for the unbeliever. Note the word “again” in Galatians 5:1. We have been set free in Christ but that doesn’t mean the devil lowers his weapons and stops attacking us. In order to remain free in Christ we must learn to use the Sword of The Spirit (His Word) against the devil. 

In order to remain free in Christ we must learn to use the Sword of The Spirit (His Word) against the devil.

Powered By the Tweet This Plugin

Tweet This

The next thing we must do is “stand firm” and not “let” ourselves “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” as listed in Galatians 5:1.  How do we stand firm? The Bible tells us to “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground” and to “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist.”

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 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.13 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. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place,15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 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.

How do we not “let” ourselves “be burdened again by a yoke of slavery”? I don’t know about you but it helps me to know that I am not alone and that people are praying for me like it says in verse 18! This is why it is a priority in my life to go to a ladies Bible study every week. It is also something my husband makes a priority because he sees how much it helps our marriage as well. Is it always easy? No! Is it always worth it? YES!

If I am carrying a burden my Sisters in Christ are quick to help me carry it.

“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

They are also quick to help me stand my ground by literally standing with me in prayer. Each week we stand together and put the devil back under our feet where he belongs! After all, it is only by our permission that he ever got above our ankles!