2023 Mother’s Day Message
Shana Hilton
1. How did Shana’s story resonate with your own? Where did you find comfort in her message?
2. Read Psalms 42:5 “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?” Can you share a time when you felt like what David is describing here?
God Sees You
3. In a culture that often prioritizes external validation, it is important to remember that God sees and values us, providing true worth, identity, and purpose. How can we cultivate a deeper sense of worth, identity, and purpose by embracing the belief that God sees and values us?
4. Read I Peter 2:9. We are chosen by God, we are His possession, we belong to him, and He called us even in our darkness and brought us into the light. Reflecting on the phrase "called out of darkness into His marvelous light," how has your personal journey of faith and salvation transformed your life? How can we encourage and support one another as we continue to walk in the light of God's truth?
5. Read John 1:12 - “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God,”
-I Peter 3:12 – “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer”
-2 Chronicles 16:9a – “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him.”
-Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Shana shared these verses to state that those who receive and believe in Jesus are given the right to become children of God. And that the Lord's eyes are on the righteous, and He listens to their prayers, strengthening those who are fully committed to Him. How does the knowledge that the Lord's eyes are on the righteous and He attentively listens to their prayers provide comfort and encouragement? How does the fact that God sees us affect our prayer life and our trust in His guidance and provision?
Let Down Your Expectations.
6. Read Galatians 2:20. We must stop putting false expectations on ourselves looking for others to love us and validate us. Our worth and our identity can’t come from others. Our worth, our value, the core of who we are, can only come from one place. From one person. What does it mean that Christ is living in you?
7. Read Psalm 139:14 - “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” You are not an accident. You were purposely designed. Every aspect of who you are was intricately thought out by your Heavenly Father, and everything he makes is wonderful. Reflecting on the statement that "everything He makes is wonderful," How can this understanding shape our attitude toward ourselves and others?
8. Read Ephesians 2:4-5 You are alive. You are no longer dead in your past, you are loved by God, and you have been saved by His grace. If God loves us so much, why do we struggle with living up to expectations, whether from others or ourselves? What steps can we take to make sure that our value does not come from any other place aside from God?
You Have To Learn To Forgive Yourself.
9. Read Galatians 4:7 - “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” When we are forgiven, it is paid in full. All of it. All the sin, all the brokenness, AND all of the shame. We have been bought with a price, the debt has been paid, and there is nothing left owing. Why is it sometimes easier to forgive others and not ourselves?
10. We have to learn the importance of forgiveness: acknowledging our own complete forgiveness from God, recognizing the need to forgive others, and understanding the necessity of forgiving ourselves. How can we find healing and freedom through the truth of the gospel?
11. Read Galatians 4:7 - “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.” When we are forgiven, it is paid in full. All of it. All the sin, all the brokenness, AND all of the shame. We have been bought with a price, the debt has been paid, and there is nothing left owed. How can we overcome feelings of guilt and shame and fully accept the forgiveness and freedom that comes from recognizing the debt has been paid?
12. What are some practical steps or strategies that can help individuals learn to let go of self-condemnation and embrace the truth that they have been bought with a price and all debts have been cleared? How can we cultivate a mindset of self-forgiveness and experience the fullness of grace and redemption in our lives?
13. Read 1 John 1:9 - “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we acknowledge the wrong he tells us he is faithful to forgive us from it all. If Jesus died to wash our sins away, what right do we have not to forgive the sins of anyone else, or even ourselves?
14. Read Micah 7:19 - “He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” About this verse, Shana said “The Lord is literally walking over our sins. They don’t matter to him anymore. He has tossed them into the depth of the sea.” What comfort do you find in this word picture?
15. Read Hebrews 8:12 - “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” He lavishes mercy upon us. It is all forgiven. Every part of it. What comfort do you find in the fact that as a believer, God has chosen to no longer remember your sins?
16. Read Psalm 66:20 - “Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld His love from me!” God is not withholding anything from us. He does not hold back his love, his comfort, his grace, his provision, his blessings. He holds nothing back from us, not because of what we do or don’t do but only because of who He is. Reflecting on your personal experiences, can you share a time when you felt that God did not reject your prayers or withdraw His steadfast love from you? How did that experience deepen your faith and relationship with God?
We Press In
17. Psalms 42:11 - “Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” When you press in you are inviting God into the broken places. The more you invite him into the broken and sometimes scary places of your heart, he comes in with a healing power like nothing else. He brings the restoration and the healing into all of your sorrows, into all of your hurting places. What role does praise play in putting our hope in God?