By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life. We have received all of this by coming to know him, the one who called us to himself by means of his marvelous glory and excellence.
—2 Peter 1:3

God is a God of excellence. He made that very clear when He gave detailed instructions to the Israelites for building the Tabernacle, exactly according to the plans He showed them (Exodus 29:5). In Exodus 25-31, He gave them a blueprint with specifications for the framework, dimensions, and materials to be used for the Tabernacle and its furnishings. He included detailed plans for the Ark of the Covenant, the table, lamp stand, alters, and the priest’s clothing, right down to the tinkling bells attached to the bottom of the Aaron’s robe (Exodus 25:9). When He was finished with His instructions, He assigned craftsmen and gifted them with wisdom, skill, and intelligence to complete the work (Exodus 36:1). Exodus 35-40 records the actual construction, with Moses inspecting each piece to make sure it was crafted exactly as the Lord commanded (Exodus 39:42).

God sets the bar for excellence. I want to be the best wife, mother, grandmother, author, and pastor I can be. But if I’m not careful, my desire for godly excellence can slip into perfectionism. Perfectionism is a counterfeit of excellence. It is a lie planted by the enemy  that tells me my best is never good enough. It leaves me anxious and worried that I might fail. It causes me to strive for the praise and approval of people instead of God. It deceives me into thinking I am solely responsible for the results of my efforts. Perfectionism causes me to live in fear and frustration, and to never be fully satisfied with my performance, and often, the performance of others.

When I live according to God’s standard of excellence, I put forth my best effort and leave the rest up to Him. Instead of working for the praise and approval of people, I work only for God (Colossians 3:23). I depend on Him for results, because I know I can do nothing apart from Him (John 15:5). I live in peace knowing He is pleased with me because I’m doing my best for His glory, not mine.

Over the years, I’ve learned that God cares much more about perfecting me than perfecting my skills in parenting, grandparenting, writing, pastoring, or anything else I do for Him. The only way I am perfect is in Christ. By His divine power, I have everything I need to complete the work He assigns to me. I am free of the bondage of perfectionism and free from striving to measure up. His power is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). If you are struggling with perfectionism, please repent and renounce the lie that you can never be satisfied with your performance. Release the results of your efforts to God. By His marvelous glory and excellence, your best is always good enough.

Excerpted from Peace For Each Hour by Mary J. Nelson; Copyright © 2012; ISBN 978-1938388170; Published by Comfort Publishers; Unauthorized duplication prohibited.

Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy!
—Luke 2:10

Greetings all!  I pray this post finds you well as you prepare your hearts and homes to celebrate the birth of our Savior. It’s hard to believe we will soon close the chapter on 2014. A trip to Israel walking in the footsteps of Jesus made this year especially memorable for us. Indeed, He is Emmanuel, God With Us! As the year draws to a close, I wanted to express my heartfelt thank you for following my blog and reading my books. Here are a couple of noteworthy things that might interest you.

New Projects

I’m excited to be working on two new projects with Barbour Publishing. Jehovah-Rapha: The God Who Heals is the first in a series of prayer and devotional books based on the names of God. If you are struggling with physical illness, chronic pain, or disability, this book will guide you through a journey of prayer and devotion as you seek God for healing and wholeness. There will be 60 meditations based on healing Scriptures, a prayer for healing following each meditation to help guide you as you pray the Scripture into your personal situations, and compelling true stories of God’s healing power at work today.

The second project is Power Prayers for the Cure, a prayer book for people battling cancer that will be a part of Barbour’s popular Power Prayers series. I am humbled and grateful to God, to my agent Ann Byle of Credo Communications, and to you, my readers, for making these projects possible!

FREE E-Book Edition of Hope for Tough Times

As a gift to all in this season of hope, my book Hope for Tough Times will be available for FREE download for two days only, December 13th and 14th on Amazon. Please keep an eye on Facebook and Twitter, and when you see my announcement, please hit Like and Share. I appreciate any help you can provide to get the word out and share this gift with others!

Here is the link: Hope for Tough Times Kindle Edition

That’s all for now.  As you put out the decorations and wrap your gifts, may you never forget the first Christmas wrapping was swaddling clothes. Wishing you and yours the best Christmas ever! Enjoy the GIFT!

The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.
—John 10:10

Almost everyone knows the significance of pink ribbons. It all started in 1992 when Evelyn Lauder and her husband, an executive for the Estee Lauder cosmetics company, largely financed the distribution of little bows given to women at department store makeup counters to remind them about breast cancer. That effort grew into pink fundraising products, everything from pink Bibles to pink kitchen appliances, congressional designation of October as Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and millions of dollars in donations to breast cancer care and research. Susan G. Komen for the Cure® was formed ten years earlier and has grown into the largest source of nonprofit funds dedicated to the fight against breast cancer in the world, having invested more than $1.9 billion to the cause of saving lives and finding cures. The campaign against breast cancer has expanded to nearly every facet of society. Even professional sports teams and players have collaborated with various fund raising initiatives and shown their support through pink shoes, pink cleats, pink caps, pink jerseys, helmet decals, pink balls, pink gloves, and pink wristbands.

I am profoundly grateful to the pioneers of this movement and to everyone who has organized or participated in any event dedicated to creating awareness and raising money for the fight against breast cancer. These efforts have been extremely important to the lives of all women. As a survivor, I have participated in these events myself many times. But, I have to admit I have mixed emotions when I see pink in virtually every place I shop, and everywhere I look. Sometimes the commercialism bothers me. Every business has figured out how to jump on the pink bandwagon and make a profit off of breast cancer by sharing a small portion of their profit with the good cause of fighting it. I’d feel better buying a pink toaster or a furnace cleaning and knowing that 100 percent of the profit went to the cause. I actually find the color pink to be a bit unsettling. It reminds me of “in the pink” a phrase that originally referred to “in the best possible health.” The bottom line is that breast cancer is not a “pink experience.” In fact, without the Lord carrying me through it, it would have been very much the opposite!

There’s a part of me that wonders if all this pink gives a little more glory to Satan than he deserves. Satan, the author of sickness and disease, is the mastermind behind breast cancer. I wonder if he sits back embracing all the pink and takes pride in the pain and suffering He has caused the women in this world. He attacks them at the very core of their femininity. His goal is to steal from them, kill them, and destroy them. This was never God’s plan for His beloved daughters. In the Garden of Eden, man and woman were created to live forever in paradise with no sickness or disease. But God loved us so much that He gave us free choice to follow Him. Unfortunately, Adam and Eve chose poorly. Sin came into the world with the fall, and along with it, cancer. But Jesus came to restore what Satan stole and give us a life of abundance. He died and conquered death and disease once and for all (Isaiah 53:4-5). He gave us the Holy Spirit as a down payment on our future glory (Romans 8:19-23)!

We can run our races and buy pink products, but let’s make sure to focus our hearts on the healing work of Jesus, and not on the destructive work of the enemy. Instead of telling the world how big our problem is, let’s tell the world how big our Jesus is. We will never find a complete solution exclusively through human efforts. We will never find a complete solution apart from Christ. In Him, we are truly “in the pink.”

Father, thank you for the efforts of countless people who have fought the earthly battle against cancer. Help me to proclaim and celebrate your final victory over Satan and his destructive work. Amen.

Excerpted from Peace For Each Hour by Mary J. Nelson; Copyright © 2013; ISBN 978-1938388170; Published by Comfort Publishers; Unauthorized duplication prohibited.