Compare your thoughts from yesterday to your Purpose Statement, (if you didn't create one for yourself, see the blog on Stewardship - Monday December 7 2009) and see if it elicits any further thoughts. Again, we are using our Purpose Statement to help keep us focused as we examine ourselves from different perspectives - specifically the areas of our lives where change has occurred.
Prayer: Pray that God helps confirm and direct your purpose in life.
Showing posts with label va. Show all posts
Showing posts with label va. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
The Path Forward - Day 1
James 1:9-11 talks about the difference between those in humble circumstances vs those who are rich. Although James alludes to a financial state he is speaking more to the spiritual state of the person. It was common of his audience to speak about the poor in reference to those in difficulty and hardship and the rich as those who are arrogant and exploitative.
As we look at our path forward through a time of change, we need to be honest about the place we currently are and the needs we must address. In order to be effective in this self assessment we need humility. If we are guarded, high-minded or unrealistic about our issues, we will not be able to see ourselves for who we really are in order to find where we need to go.
Are we willing to look past the successes and triumphs in our lives to address areas where we may harbor shame or fear? Are we willing to ask people close to us where we could improve ourselves or our relationships with them? Are we willing to sacrifice something that makes us comfortable to achieve a higher purpose? Are we willing to accept humility in order to be spiritually rich?
Deeply and prayerfully ask yourself these questions today as we prepare our spirits to look honestly at ourselves as we move forward.
Prayer: Ask God for true and honest humility in your life.
As we look at our path forward through a time of change, we need to be honest about the place we currently are and the needs we must address. In order to be effective in this self assessment we need humility. If we are guarded, high-minded or unrealistic about our issues, we will not be able to see ourselves for who we really are in order to find where we need to go.
Are we willing to look past the successes and triumphs in our lives to address areas where we may harbor shame or fear? Are we willing to ask people close to us where we could improve ourselves or our relationships with them? Are we willing to sacrifice something that makes us comfortable to achieve a higher purpose? Are we willing to accept humility in order to be spiritually rich?
Deeply and prayerfully ask yourself these questions today as we prepare our spirits to look honestly at ourselves as we move forward.
Prayer: Ask God for true and honest humility in your life.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Safety - Day 12
Take today to reflect on the the week, or maybe the month, and see how your mind may have changed and grown from the beginning to now. Maybe skimming over the blogs will help you remember your journey.
Go over the change you have experienced and revisit and process the time. See if something else stands out to you this time. If you have experienced change, think about how much transformation you will experience in the future as you work on these issues. Sometimes taking some time and looking back on your growth can be an enormous encourager.
Prayer: Take this day to thank God for the work he is doing in you and the work he has planned for your future.
Go over the change you have experienced and revisit and process the time. See if something else stands out to you this time. If you have experienced change, think about how much transformation you will experience in the future as you work on these issues. Sometimes taking some time and looking back on your growth can be an enormous encourager.
Prayer: Take this day to thank God for the work he is doing in you and the work he has planned for your future.
Safety - Day 11
Considering your thoughts from yesterday, let's start planning and placing emotional boundaries.
As we did with physical boundaries, look for the smallest and most impending emotional boundaries that you need to protect. Start easy and with situations that will be relevant soon, then use that momentum to start setting larger boundaries as you are ready.
While you are processing these things, think of your emotions as if you were given responsibility over them from your future self who is depending on you for their protection. In reality that future self is relying on you to protect them and make them a healthy, able person. You have a responsibility to work on these areas and own yourself and your emotions.
Prayer: Don't let failure frustrate you. Pray again for grace from God as you work through these difficult and confusing areas.
As we did with physical boundaries, look for the smallest and most impending emotional boundaries that you need to protect. Start easy and with situations that will be relevant soon, then use that momentum to start setting larger boundaries as you are ready.
While you are processing these things, think of your emotions as if you were given responsibility over them from your future self who is depending on you for their protection. In reality that future self is relying on you to protect them and make them a healthy, able person. You have a responsibility to work on these areas and own yourself and your emotions.
Prayer: Don't let failure frustrate you. Pray again for grace from God as you work through these difficult and confusing areas.
Safety - Day 10
Now let's look at emotional boundaries.
Our feelings are our own and we are responsible for them. Other people are not allowed to make us feel ways we shouldn't. We also aren't responsible for others feelings, but often we damage ourselves trying to be responsible for the happiness of others. If we try to make everyone happy then we can never move forward in transformation or anything else. In the end when we stand up and put our foot down, people may not like it, but they usually respect us in the end. Also, we are empowered and freed to movement in our lives.
How many times have you regretted not taking a stand where you knew you needed to? Many times we yield to someone else's will though we know that doing something different is the right thing. When we end up being part of the blame because we didn't do the right thing, we feel like we betrayed ourselves and we lose trust in our own decisions.
Where in your life do you allow people to effect your emotions or actions? Why is this? Is it because you respect the other person so much? Is it because you feel inferior to them? Is it because you want to avoid conflict? Really think about these things today. These are some of the most prevalent boundary violations in many people's lives and it often comes down to the strength of our identity.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you to be honest with yourself about the confronting the people and situations that effect your emotional boundaries.
Our feelings are our own and we are responsible for them. Other people are not allowed to make us feel ways we shouldn't. We also aren't responsible for others feelings, but often we damage ourselves trying to be responsible for the happiness of others. If we try to make everyone happy then we can never move forward in transformation or anything else. In the end when we stand up and put our foot down, people may not like it, but they usually respect us in the end. Also, we are empowered and freed to movement in our lives.
How many times have you regretted not taking a stand where you knew you needed to? Many times we yield to someone else's will though we know that doing something different is the right thing. When we end up being part of the blame because we didn't do the right thing, we feel like we betrayed ourselves and we lose trust in our own decisions.
Where in your life do you allow people to effect your emotions or actions? Why is this? Is it because you respect the other person so much? Is it because you feel inferior to them? Is it because you want to avoid conflict? Really think about these things today. These are some of the most prevalent boundary violations in many people's lives and it often comes down to the strength of our identity.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you to be honest with yourself about the confronting the people and situations that effect your emotional boundaries.
Safety - Day 9
Revisit the physical boundaries that you processed yesterday and spend today thinking about where you need to put your boundaries to protect and free yourself. If you know that you are going to face a boundary soon, start with that one, especially if it is a small one. Maybe there is someone at work that you know you are going to have to deal with first thing in the morning. Starting with the small issues will help to build the confidence to deal with the larger issues.
Through out the week start expanding your physical boundaries to the larger issues. Some of them may take some forethought before you deal with them, so that you have realistic expectations, or are ready to deal with surprises that may present themselves.
Our physicality is our most obvious boundary, so it is good to start here as we begin to learn how to deal with boundaries, especially if we haven't really been good with this in the past.
Prayer: Pray that God with give you the strength and wisdom to place boundaries in areas where you have not had them.
Through out the week start expanding your physical boundaries to the larger issues. Some of them may take some forethought before you deal with them, so that you have realistic expectations, or are ready to deal with surprises that may present themselves.
Our physicality is our most obvious boundary, so it is good to start here as we begin to learn how to deal with boundaries, especially if we haven't really been good with this in the past.
Prayer: Pray that God with give you the strength and wisdom to place boundaries in areas where you have not had them.
Safety - Day 8
Spend today processing the physical boundaries that are currently being crossed in your life. You may not even know that boundaries are being crossed if you haven't learned too much about setting them. Even though you may feel the effects of them being crossed, sometimes we grow used to destructive forces and let them become a part of our lives and sometimes our foundations.
Our bodies are our own and are the first and most important boundary to protect. Think about people , things or situations that physically violate your space. Anything that happens to our bodies creating discomfort is probably crossing a boundary of some sort. The variety of these kinds of encroachments could span anything from, variations of physical abuse, to a crowding roommate, or a neighbor making too much noise at night, to a bad smell in your house.
Spend today identifying these crossed physical boundaries. Think of all parts of your life, large and small.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you to see where you need to learn to protect yourself.
Our bodies are our own and are the first and most important boundary to protect. Think about people , things or situations that physically violate your space. Anything that happens to our bodies creating discomfort is probably crossing a boundary of some sort. The variety of these kinds of encroachments could span anything from, variations of physical abuse, to a crowding roommate, or a neighbor making too much noise at night, to a bad smell in your house.
Spend today identifying these crossed physical boundaries. Think of all parts of your life, large and small.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you to see where you need to learn to protect yourself.
Safety - Day 7
Last week we looked at negative presences in our lives and thought about how our lives would look replacing those with positives. This week we will learn a little about setting up boundaries to to help us interact between the two. Developing boundaries is essential to give ourselves a safe personal space to have movement, whether that movement is change, progress or just the freedom to be ourselves.
Can you think of places in your life where your boundaries, large or small were crossed? These could be small daily situations like someone talking our ear off and not respecting our time, or someone dictating to us how to raise our child, or dictating how we should function as an artist. On the opposite scale many of us have experienced physical, verbal or sexual abuse. How have these broken boundaries in your life effected you? How have they effected your beliefs, identity, attitude or abilities?
Prayer: Let God guide you in his grace to help you process potentially difficult memories in your life.
Can you think of places in your life where your boundaries, large or small were crossed? These could be small daily situations like someone talking our ear off and not respecting our time, or someone dictating to us how to raise our child, or dictating how we should function as an artist. On the opposite scale many of us have experienced physical, verbal or sexual abuse. How have these broken boundaries in your life effected you? How have they effected your beliefs, identity, attitude or abilities?
Prayer: Let God guide you in his grace to help you process potentially difficult memories in your life.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Safety - Day 6
Now that we have processed our negative presences and envisioned a healthy place, think about the good, strong or healthy things that you do have in your life. Can you spend more time on these things to help displace the negative? Are there relationships that you know are good, but have not made a priority for one reason or another? Are there places you have wanted to go or things you have wanted to do but have let other, less important ventures, obstruct you from what you know is best?
As we have mentioned before, it is often healthier to focus more on replacing negativity with something good than to only focus on stopping the negative issues.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you identify and embrace healthy things in your life.
As we have mentioned before, it is often healthier to focus more on replacing negativity with something good than to only focus on stopping the negative issues.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you identify and embrace healthy things in your life.
Safety - Day 5
Try to picture your life without the negative presences that you identified yesterday. Really try to visualize what your life would look like if all of your relationships were safe and affirming. What if you had the time you needed to reflect on yourself, journal, pray, or be alone doing something you enjoy. What if you felt comfortable in your own head without thinking about things you regret or things that you fear or hate.
The point here is to try and give ourselves an image of the place where we need to be, in order to deal with change, so that we can strive to be in that place. If we don't know what it looks like, then it can be harder to get there.
Prayer: Pray that God helps you to visualize his next step for you.
The point here is to try and give ourselves an image of the place where we need to be, in order to deal with change, so that we can strive to be in that place. If we don't know what it looks like, then it can be harder to get there.
Prayer: Pray that God helps you to visualize his next step for you.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Nourishment 8
Today, think about the things that you believe in your life. What do you believe about politics, religion, human nature? What about yourself? What do you believe about your abilities, your intelligence, your personality, your social abilities, your limitations and strengths? What do you believe about the most important things happening in your life right now?
As you think about these things, follow them back as far as you can to the places where these beliefs were born. Were they from things people told you? Where they from the environment that you lived in? Were they things you just assumed about yourself? Question the sources that founded your beliefs. Test their motivations, reliability and legitimacy. When you can reprocess the beliefs that you have typically accepted without question, you will gain ownership over them and your confidence and identity will grow much more strong. You can speak with confidence as to why you hold the beliefs that govern your life.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you search through the murky waters of memory to help you reach the source of your beliefs as you try and process them.
As you think about these things, follow them back as far as you can to the places where these beliefs were born. Were they from things people told you? Where they from the environment that you lived in? Were they things you just assumed about yourself? Question the sources that founded your beliefs. Test their motivations, reliability and legitimacy. When you can reprocess the beliefs that you have typically accepted without question, you will gain ownership over them and your confidence and identity will grow much more strong. You can speak with confidence as to why you hold the beliefs that govern your life.
Prayer: Pray that God would help you search through the murky waters of memory to help you reach the source of your beliefs as you try and process them.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Nourishment 7
This week we want to look at some core attibutes that define who we are. Most, if not all of our actions are a result of a predetermined factor or something we have learned. This week we want to start taking these things apart, see where they came from and test whether they match up with our life direction.
By now we have already experienced some amount of change in our lives and grown comfortable with some tools we have learned. We may already feel more confident in some areas where we didn't a couple months ago. This is a good time to look back over our purpose statement. At this point we can refresh ourselves on what we wrote in December, or we might want to edit it based on some areas we have recently grown.
Remember, this is your reference which we will continually use to measure your direction.
Prayer: Pray for wisdom and direction for your future.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Nourishment 6
Saturday
Look back on your log for the week. See what kinds of patterns you find in how you live. You might want to separate them into categories to see how much energy you give to certain things.
What did you learn about yourself? Are you encouraged by anything that you have learned? Do you see some areas where you can improve? Comparing your findings to your purpose statement. Do the findings look like you are on track and headed the right direction for yourself?
Prayer: Pray that God would show you the path you are on in your life compared to the path you want to be on.
Look back on your log for the week. See what kinds of patterns you find in how you live. You might want to separate them into categories to see how much energy you give to certain things.
What did you learn about yourself? Are you encouraged by anything that you have learned? Do you see some areas where you can improve? Comparing your findings to your purpose statement. Do the findings look like you are on track and headed the right direction for yourself?
Prayer: Pray that God would show you the path you are on in your life compared to the path you want to be on.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Nourishment 3
Think about your finances. It's a really good idea to look at your bank account and add up what you spend your money on. Sometimes we spend way more than we expect on things that we might think are trivial or unimportant. Our money is often a sensitive conversation, but it's something that we as responsible stewards need to master in a healthy way.
What we buy isn't just a statement about us, it is important because we are financially supporting everything we buy whether we agree with it or not. If we are buying things that we don't believe in, then we are directly contributing to the building of a world that is contrary to our values.
Prayer: Pray that God will help you to be honest with yourself about your spending and give you wisdom in this sensitive area.
Monday, February 15, 2010
Nourishment 2
Think about what kinds of media you let into your life? What kinds of books, magazines and newspapers do you read? What do you spend time doing on the web? What kinds of TV or movies do you watch?
After you think of these things compare them to your purpose statement (Blog: Stewardship – December 7) and see if they are lining up with the things you believe in and the direction you want to go in your life. If you were your own boss evaluating your life performance vs what is stated as in your purpose statement how would you rate yourself?
Prayer: Pray that God would help you sort out these things and show you how they relate to your life.
Nourishment 1
As we have mentioned in the past, we only have a limited amount of time per day, per year, per life. We want take this week to inventory our days hour by hour the best we can. Don't be a perfectionist about it. Just keep a list by your bed and jot down what you did during the day.
Prayer: Pray that God would start to show you the patterns of importance in your life.
Prayer: Pray that God would start to show you the patterns of importance in your life.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Patience: Monday January 18
1 Peter 1:3-7
"In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
This passage describes what we talked about on Sunday as "Redemptive Time". Peter calls our current state a "living hope" where, even though we experience many trials, our persistence in pursuit of our hope results in praise, glory and honor from God.
Do you view your life day to day as a living hope? Why or why not? If not, how would you sum up your view of your life and what makes that so?
Prayer: Pray that God tunes your view of life to a healthy and accurate view of your reality.
"In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."
This passage describes what we talked about on Sunday as "Redemptive Time". Peter calls our current state a "living hope" where, even though we experience many trials, our persistence in pursuit of our hope results in praise, glory and honor from God.
Do you view your life day to day as a living hope? Why or why not? If not, how would you sum up your view of your life and what makes that so?
Prayer: Pray that God tunes your view of life to a healthy and accurate view of your reality.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Patience: Friday January 15
Think about growth that has happened in your life without you even knowing. Sometimes we look back after working a certain job or being around certain people and realize that we have picked up habits or skills with out knowing it. This can be for better or for worse. What skills, talents or knowledge have you acquired that you barely noticed as they happened?
It is important to understand this principal as this is the way growth usually takes place. Move away from the idea of making or forcing change to happen and learn to allow change to happen in a healthy way by creating good habits. We will learn more about creating these habits later in the year.
Prayer: Offer your life to God as a vessel open to change.
Patience: Thursday January 14
Have you ever reved yourself up with excitement for the begining of something new and then been disappointed, allowing a door leading in that direction to be closed for ever? Maybe it happened with a job interview, or with an important discussion you wanted to have with someone.
There is nothing special about a "first time" attempt. We should understand that sometimes we have to try something over and over before it can become a success.
Prayer: Pray that God will give you bravery where you may lack it.
There is nothing special about a "first time" attempt. We should understand that sometimes we have to try something over and over before it can become a success.
Prayer: Pray that God will give you bravery where you may lack it.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Patience: Wednesday January 13
Often, in Christian circles, hiding imperfections makes us appear righteous. In recovery groups, hiding imperfections is considered denial. It is frowned upon as it hinders progress. If we don't admit our issues then we can't move forward with them and our process of growth is hindered. This in turn affects our relationships with ourselves, God and each other as well as all progress related to that issue.
Where in your life are you denying issues you know you should be facing. Are there people that you feel would not accept you in some way or another if you were to talk to them about it? Do you feel that way about the church you attend? Could you accept yourself for admitting the issues?
Prayer: Pray that God's grace would allow you to move forward past these obstacles. Pray that there would be people in your life that you can talk to about these things.
Where in your life are you denying issues you know you should be facing. Are there people that you feel would not accept you in some way or another if you were to talk to them about it? Do you feel that way about the church you attend? Could you accept yourself for admitting the issues?
Prayer: Pray that God's grace would allow you to move forward past these obstacles. Pray that there would be people in your life that you can talk to about these things.
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