Author: Tatum Berry

Welcome back to Tatum’s Truth. In this post, I want to share my favorite chapter from my favorite book of the bible, Romans 12. To me, Romans is like a guidebook on how God has designed us to live. For the next few posts I will be breaking down Romans 12, while pulling out applications that will help us in our everyday lives as Christ followers. The apostle Paul wrote “Romans”as a letter to prepare the church in Rome for his upcoming visit. His purpose for the letter was to confirm that their church understood the message of the gospel and how it applied to jews and gentiles. I think you will love this chapter as much as I do once you read it for yourself. Romans 12 is a testament to the fact that all of the Bible is God breathed; meaning God speaks the messages through the authors. God gave Paul these words to be expressed in a such a way that it is straightforward and easy to understand, yet poetic and beautiful at the same time.

Here it is, my favorite chapter out of my favorite book, Romans 12.

Therefore, I urge you, brothers in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God– this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer 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. 

For by the grace given me I say to everyone of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 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.

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one anther above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. On the contrary:

If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty give him something to drink. In doing this you will heap burning coals on his head.

Do not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So…What did you think? Do you love this chapter as much as I do? Scroll down just a bit to the button that says leave a comment and let me know your thoughts on Romans 12. Over the next few weeks we will basically be fellowshipping in an online Bible study as we break this chapter down verse by verse. I am looking forward to not only what I can share with you, but what the Holy Spirit reveals to me as we work together to soak in the meaning of God’s word.

Be blessed my friends,

Tatum

I’m addicted to my phone.

Mostly social media.

Instagram being my first app of choice and Facebook a close second.

I’m spending hours, yes HOURS, meaning more than one…closer to 4 or 5 a day staring into this perfectly pixilated screen. Scrolling through picture after picture, post after post, losing myself into a world of OOTDs, workout tips, beauty must haves and an endless supply of things I totally need to buy. It’s insane.

This is my first time admitting this, and I know my husband is going to have a complete “I told you so” hay-day tomorrow when this post pops up in his inbox and he reads the first line. Oh well, this situation is becoming a problem, and we all know the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have one.

Ever since this new little Iphone tool called the “Screen Time Weekly Report” bombarded my life with the fact that I was wasting hours of my life in iPhone land, I have been thinking of a way to get a hold of this.

Why am I spending so much time on my phone? Lord knows I’m not bored. The hours that I’m not scrolling mindlessly are spent chasing two little girls, folding never ending loads of laundry, cleaning up messes, wiping bottoms, looking for lost sippy cup lids, and the list goes on. There is no shortage of tasks in this season of life. So what is so enthralling about social media that can steal me away in little 15 to 20 minute intervals adding up to multiple hours every single day?

I think it’s connection. I’m looking for some social interaction to pull me out of my “mom role” and into a community that makes me feel like I haven’t completely lost myself. I’m trying to escape cartoons and crayons for something that feels a little more adult and interesting.

The problem is, social media isn’t really social. It’s actually isolating. While I’m scrolling my newsfeed trying to connect with potential mom friends, I start realizing how put together and accomplished these ladies are. I start comparing myself as I am, still in my jammies at 3pm with peanut butter in my hair, to these perfectly done up mom influencers who apparently are so gorgeous they have photographers following them around as they wander the isles of Target, or sip their Starbucks on a bench. For real though?!? How do they do daily photo shoots in multiple outfits with kids in casually coordinated colors? I don’t get it?!?

Ok rant over. The point to my story is social media isn’t real. I need to get back to real life socializing. I need to make friends that are fun to hang out with in person. Friends that don’t mind my mess, that appreciate the unfiltered me.

I actually had a play date at my house this week and it was so refreshing. I should probably text her and apologize for talking her ear off, but the adult conversation felt so good. Instead of feeling insecure and insignificant like I sometimes do after wasting time on social media, I felt understood and encouraged after spending time with my real life mom friend.

So the only strategy I have so far is to do more “real life” social time. I’m going to be intentional about scheduling weekly play dates. I’m going to leave my phone on the charger and be more present with my family. I’m going to remind myself that social media is not a fix, when what I really need is a friend.

That is all for now, thank you for reading and have a blessed week.

Tatum

It’s been a rough couple of weeks. Nothing horrible. I know there are people who are going through life stuff that is way harder than the culmination of a virus from hell hitting our household with a vengeance and a spiritual funk hitting me in the face. Nevertheless I’m on a struggle bus that I’m having a hard time getting off and I think talking about it here might help me sort it out.

My girls got sick first. I like most mothers of small kids hit the panic button when my babies are sick. It’s the worst thing watching your little ones in pain and not being able to take it way. Well JoJo had it for about 10 days and Ella is still in the last stages with a lingering cough. I managed to make it to about day 11 and thought I was going to get past this nasty thing when I woke up with the worst sore throat of my life and a headache that wouldn’t quit. So I’ve been down for the count the last 4 or 5 days too. If you’re rolling your eyes and thinking…Big deal. We all get sick. It’s that time of year….I’m totally with you. I’d be doing the same if I was reading this somewhere else, but there is something else.

1 Peter 5:8 says, “Be alert and of sober mind, your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

Satan saw that I was having an off week. He saw me up with kids all night and consequently not up early in the morning spending time with God and studying my Bible. He noticed the time I usually spend listening to sermons online I spent rocking sick babies. He caught me at a moment when I wasn’t fully armored. I wasn’t fully connected to my source of power. He tried to devour me. But….

My God saw me too. He saw me mothering the babies that needed me to help them feel better. He saw me frustrated when I got sick and couldn’t get all my daily tasks done like I wanted. He saw my guilt when I slept past my alarm instead of getting up and spending time with Him. He heard me praying for help. He stepped in.

I got a text from a dear friend Saturday afternoon. The timing couldn’t have been much better.

And just like that I knew He had this. I knew everything was going to be ok. My God was working on my behalf. He saw me, and He came running to my rescue. He used a simple text from a friend that was tuned in close enough to Him to know He was asking her to send it to me. He is Good. His timing is perfect.

The next evening I was still muddling through the lingering sore throat and headache. We were sitting on the couch watching the American Rodeo. One of my favorite barrel racers, Hailey Kinsel, won the barrel racing and walked up on stage to receive her $100,000 dollar check. The interviewer asked her a couple questions and she graciously answered. Then she said something that wrecked me. As she stood up on stage in a moment where she easily could of taken the praise and the accomplishment of another big win she instead said, “This is just proof that I’m an imperfect person serving a Perfect God.” I lost it. Jeff might not want to admit it but he lost it too. That’s all that this is about. Hailey said it just right. We are imperfect people serving a PERFECT GOD.

God is so perfect. He is so big, so powerful, so loving and kind. He cares so deeply for a little imperfect human like me. He makes sure I know He is with me, even in moments where my faith is on short supply. He gives me examples of His power and authority when I’m feeling weak. He is my rescuer, when the enemy thinks He has caught me off guard. God is my everything. I will proclaim His Glory forever.

Amen.

Hello dear friends, 

Today I am going to share a key take away the Lord gave me when I studied the book “Forgotten God,” by Francis Chan. I was blessed to study this book with some incredible women who have since become close friends and mentors in my life. I have read a few of Francis Chan’s books and will say although they are not easy reads, they are sure to make you take a look at the way you are living your life and direct you to full obedience to God. 

“Forgotten God”, was a challenging yet life-impacting book. I highly suggest this book to anyone wanting to better understand the relationship we are meant to have with the Holy Spirit.

I think it is amazing how God can use a bible study as a tool to impact individual readers in so many ways. My husband and I can read the same exact book and come out with two completely different messages. My take away from “The Forgotten God” was so perfectly crafted for me that I feel I must share it. It answered many questions I have had as a new Christian. One thing in particular, has completely changed my concept on what living for God actually means.

Let me give you some background information. Ever since my breakthrough moment of realizing I couldn’t live this life without Jesus, in 2011, I have been searching for my God given purpose. I have come close to the point of obsession trying to discover the exact plan God has for my life. I have read many books and listened to many Youtube sermons all in the effort to find out what my God given destiny is. When I learned we would be studying “Forgotten God,” one of the first thoughts was, “great, I’m sure the Holy Spirit will help me make my God given purpose more clear!” Reflecting now on these thoughts and the lengths I have gone through to try to figure out my purpose, just seems silly. How could I have gotten so off track? How could I have such a selfish motivation? It is surprising how quickly we can get off track when we try to work from our flesh instead of depending on the Spirit.

Ok, back to the message, I managed to make it about half-way through “Forgotten God” still waiting for that “ah ha” moment when Holy Spirit would give me a vision, a prophecy, a breakthrough of the exact plan and steps I should follow to live out the purpose God has for me. Boy, was I in for a news flash when I hit chapter 6!

The title of chapter 6 is, “Forget about His will for your Life.” Wait, what? Did I read that right? Come again? You can imagine my confusion, which quickly evolved to sheer disappointment as I read on through the chapter and realized the error of my ways. I am now going to list some direct quotes from this chapter that I have underlined.

“I think a lot of us need to forget about God’s will for my life. God cares more about our response to His Spirit’s leading today, in this moment, than about what we intend to do next year. In fact, the decisions we make next year will be profoundly affected by the degree to which we submit to the Spirit right now, in today’s decisions.”

“..dwelling on God’s plan for the future often excuses us from faithful and sacrificial living now.”

“Thinking, questioning, and talking can take the place of letting the Spirit affect our immediate actions in radical ways. God wants to see His children stake everything on His power and presence in their lives.”

Major reality check… but isn’t this so true? God wants us to follow him right now, not in 5 years when it makes more sense, or once we have found the step-by-step guide to our entire plan and feel prepared. I have unknowingly been using my quest of finding God’s will and purpose for my life as a cop out in my day-to-day living. How many opportunities have I missed, how many needs have I overlooked because I was too busy trying to figure out my ultimate purpose? Well…Not anymore. I pray Holy Spirit will help me forget about accomplishing a life purpose. I pray that Holy Spirit will come into my daily life, that He will wake me up, draw near to me and lead me on a daily basis. I pray that I will be bold and fearless in following him, even though I don’t have a clue as to where He is leading me or where I will end up in 5 years. That doesn’t really matter. It actually makes me feel more free, more light and ready to move!

After proof reading this post, it occurred to me that some of my readers might be confused about the way I am referencing Holy Spirit. That was another thing I learned from reading “Forgotten God.” Francis Chan states that we should speak to “Holy Spirit” not address Him as “The Holy Spirit”. Just like we wouldn’t pray to “the God” or “the Jesus.” I will dive into this in a near future post. I know as a new christian the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) was something that really confused me. Until then, I pray this post is relatable and that you gained something from reading it. I know I feel blessed just to be able to write it and reflect on such an important piece of wisdom that the Lord has been given to me.

God Bless you all,

Tatum

Hello, I’m hoping that super catchy post title had you coming in hot!

This is the second of a two-part post that breaks down Matthew 10:37-39. For today’s discussion we will be going over the following verses:

“and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

Let’s start on “take his cross.” What does that mean? I had an idea, but wasn’t sure, so I went on a google search. I landed on a great article by renowned Christian author, Lisa Bevere. Here is the link if you would like to read her take on what it means to take up your cross: https://messengerinternational.org/blog/devotional/what-does-it-mean-to-carry-your-cross/

Lisa states:

“The cross I carry is all that Jesus has done for me, just as the cross you carry is your gospel, or witness, of what He has done for you.”

So basically, our cross is our testimony. It is the story of what God has done in your life. The cross is your past. It is where you were at before you knew Jesus, and it is the journey of where He has taken you, what obstacles He has helped you overcome, and what chains of bondage He has helped you break. How incredible is that? Writing this post has opened my eyes to something I did not understand God was asking me to do. I am supposed to pick up my baggage, my failures, and my brokenness and follow Jesus. I just have to carry my story. He will make it all matter. He will make it all worth it.

Whoa! How crazy big is our God, that He can take our past, no matter how terrible, or boring, or great, or sinful it was and He can use that for His glory. Our cross is — our story for God’s glory! That blows my mind.

We could end right there, but let’s tackle that last part while we are on a roll.

“Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

This is where the loser part comes in. This verse confused me when I first read it. I had to do some research and ended up finding some cool stuff. The summary of my finding is this; if we cling to our picture of life the way we imagine it should be, we will lose it. If we are so focused on accumulating wealth, or fame, or success, or whatever thing we think is most important to achieve, we will lose the very life that matters.

Mark 8:36 says “What will it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

Instead we should strive to lose ourselves in Christ. We should make our sole purpose in this life to know God more. The more we work to get closer to Him, the less we will try to become whatever it was that we thought was so important in the first place.

God can’t use us until we have surrendered control. He can do amazing things through us when we have agreed to leave our idea of what our life should be behind. That is the sacrifice he asks us to make.

For the longest time I thought in order for my life to mean something I had to become the best at what I did. In my younger years, that was playing basketball and pushing that love and talent I had for the game to a state of total burn out. Then in my early twenties I decided that for my life to matter I had to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo. I put all my energy and effort into that for a few years and ended up feeling like a complete and total failure when my short lived professional rodeo career didn’t take me to the top.

It’s so obvious now, but I was blind to all of this back then. I was clinging on for dear life to things God never asked me to do, and I was completely lost. I was praying to win basketball games and barrel races, when all He wanted was for me to just draw near to Him.

Giving up control and letting go of doing it “my way” has brought me such freedom. I still have times where I get caught up in trying to achieve something that God isn’t asking me to achieve. I recognize this when I begin feeling my stress and anxiety levels rise. I ask the Lord to help me let go of those things and all the worry is washed away. I hope this post has helped you understand what it means to take up your cross and lose your life for the Lord.

I think I got more out of this blog post than any of the previous posts. God’s way is so much better than my way. Following him brings me true peace and true joy.

Praying for those things for each of you as well,

Tatum