A girlfriend’s busy schedule can make it difficult to find time to spend in God’s word.  This page provides an excellent resource to get your day going!

Devotionals & More
Text Box: Girlfriend to Girlfriend by christy childers Many sermons have covered Matthew 7:24-27, the parable of a wise man who built his house on the rock. Jesus tells us the only things that last are things built on a firm foundation. For Christians it is vital that our faith is built on a firm foundation. This past weekend, while traveling with my family to Barren River, I was convicted to deliver this message. Once we know we are to build on a firm foundation, how do we achieve it? For me, the day I became I Christian, I believed the only thing that counted in my life was from that day on. However, I soon realized my faith was not built on a firm foundation. I had a lot of past hurts and hang ups that continued to loom over me. I couldn’t move beyond an enormous amount of guilt I carried with me over past sins and poor decisions. I didn’t understand why God didn’t just remove all of that anguish from me. My foundation was crumbling. As I began to share my feelings with other Christian women at Northside, I slowly started understanding how to seek true forgiveness and how to work through my past. We will not have faith built on solid rock if we simply set the rock on top of a trash pile. The day we become a Christian is the start of a new life. We are born again! But to be rock solid, we have to work through our trash pile. As women, we can work through these things together. We have to be real and be real intentional about creating relationships with one another that will develop genuine understanding of one another. From understanding comes healing. The Mission Statement of Girlfriends Unlimited, a new Women’s Ministry here at Northside is to befriend women, give them a place to belong so they will believe in Jesus and become more like Him. Along with having great fun and great times, the primary focus of Girlfriends Unlimited is to create an environment for women to grow to understand each other while participating in bible studies, devotionals, missions and, yes, even girls night out! To each woman reading this, know that you have been prayed for and your participation in Girlfriends Unlimited desired! I love you all! ~Christy

at Northside Baptist Church
Text Box: If you would like to submit a devotional or testimony for our website, please click here. Text Box: I have often heard it said that the most difficult part of ministry is the people. People have a tendency to behave in ways that we do not want them to. This week I have encountered a situation in which Christian people acted like spoiled children. Their attitudes seemed to say “If you don’t play the way I want to, I’ll take my toys and go home.” This was because of a disagreement with other believers. Christians need to be able to work together even if they disagree. I found this situation very frustrating! I was so busy thinking about it that I missed my exit on I-65 one day. Thankfully, the Lord was watching over me and kept me safe as my mind wandered while I was driving! As I pondered these circumstances, the Lord brought to my mind the fact that I just might be on someone’s list of frustrating people. After all, I am not perfect! The Lord has already been using some verses from Romans 12 in my life that seem to go well with this situation. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. (Rom. 12:9a NLT). And Rom. 12:10 (NLT) says “love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” Rom. 12:16a(NLT) tells us “live in harmony with each other.” Sisters, as we go about our lives this week let us remember to apply these verses to our lives. In Christ, Anita B. Text Box: Be Bitter or Be Blessed How do you begin to forgive someone who has hurt you? Do you begin sifting through your pain to find the one grain of rationale that could excuse the other person’s behavior? The truth is that forgiveness has nothing to do with who is right or wrong. Forgiveness is a free agent. It is not attached to reason or agreement or even understanding. It is, however, attached to wholeness and to your healing and liberation. Unforgiveness is a prison. It slams the door on new beginnings and entrenches you in your present pain. It chains the heart and stops it from beating. It suffocates joy and paralyzes your ability to move on. Unforgiveness is the cancer of the soul. It slowly eats away the marrow of your existence and impairs your judgment, your personality, and your ability to love again. The desire to want the other person who hurt us to also be hurting can be overwhelming. We become jealous of their joy, wanting them to feel the torture we think they deserve. How can he act as though nothing ever happened? we ask ourselves. It’s not fair! Where is God in all this? Is there no justice? Yes there is justice. But justice comes only after we have released the offender into the hands of the One who is solely in the position to judge. Only God knows the deficiencies of both parties. The fears, the past wounds, the generational conditioning, the weaknesses, the insufficiencies of character and integrity. He knows the things that we in the glow of love failed to notice. The things that should have warned us to guard our hearts. Only God knows the hidden motives and the unspoken regrets of the one who hurt you. The assumptions we make usually do more damage than the truth. “He never cared about me.” “He doesn’t even notice how much he hurt me!” “How could he be so cold?” Yes, our imaginations can be unmerciful. Trust me, it’s never what you think. Your guesses will always be more cruel than the reality of what really transpired, adding unnecessary injury to insult. You need to let it go. You need to forgive. Not for his sake– for yours. It’s time to redirect your focus and move on. And you won’t be able to do that if you continue to nurse and rehearse your anger, the many wrongs done against you, all the reasons why. If you can’t forgive for your sake, forgive for God’s sake. He needs your hands open in order to bless you. Cooperate. No one who wronged you that much deserves so much of your attention. Your fixation is standing in the gap between that person and God, shielding him from conviction. Move out of the way. Free him to receive the proper correction from God. Forgive because you need to be forgiven. How can you expect what you are unable to give yourself? Forgive, girlfriend, because you are not alone. We have all been there. So come and join us on the other side. ~ Michelle McKinney from Release the Pain, Embrace the Joy

Need girlfriends?

Life can be stressful. We live in a fallen world filled with lost people. Peace can not be found here. The Bible tells us “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from Him” (Psalm 62:1 NIV).

God cares about our days down to the very detail.

His word tells us “O, Lord you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar” (Psalm 139:1-2 NIV).

Many people believe the basics teachings of the church - “God loves me, God created me” but our relationship with God and our knowledge of Him should go much deeper. We want to help you achieve a deeper relationship with God. And when things are going bad or we feel like we aren’t being Godly women, we need to be humble enough to pick up the phone and call our girlfriends. Girlfriends understand girlfriends. All women need girlfriends!

~Christy C.