No Pain No Gain - I have to do what?!?

I often forget that I don't suffer and go through hardship and challenges to make me weak and worthless. I go through to make me strong, wise and useful to God. God didn't allow me to be rejected and abandoned to hurt me. He allowed it to heal my soul from dependency on people's approval and validation.

I learned major life lessons in my struggle...God is able to do more than I could imagine..."God is my refuge and strength in time of trouble"...."God's strength is made perfect in my weakness"...."God's love endures all things"...God taught me to love those who use me (side note: He also made me wise enough to keep them at arms length too)....I learned it is not always about me. I learned to be less concerned about my image and more about what each experience is developing/strengthening in my soul.  I learned I cannot be effective and not be affected (go through something). "Life is like a photograph, we develop from negatives." Whatever we "yield" ourselves to is what we become.

I learned to stop blaming, daddy, mommy, my choices of no good men (no disrespect, if any of you are reading this..there was "no good" in staying in each other's life), my fears, my sickness.  All of it was a part of my training/preparation. "It was good that I was afflicted....My troubles turned out all for the best—they forced me to learn from your textbook." Ps 119:71 

                                          Romans 12:1-2

Why is so easy for us to believe natural principles over spiritual ones...same concepts. When we workout we beleive "no pain no gain" and we will push ourselves until our muscles tremble because we know that's what it takes to get results...we believe "we have to dress for where we are going/success/promotion." But at the same time it is difficult to apply spiritual princles like "faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen"...."we are clothed in His righteousness"....we are asked to "workout (committment/dedication) our salvation with fear and trembling (reverence/respect)."..."His strength is made perfect in our weakness." Why are we not willing to push ourselves to get results/strengthened in our soul? Are we more concerned out our image than who God says we are? What image is being developed in the dark?

We have to be willing to work hard/ endure pain/struggle/press to be strengthened....be willing to give up something to gain more....be willing to "go through" to get through. Our results will be worth it.

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Belief Effects Behavior - Today's Message

Flawed but Favored
King David was not a perfect man. He was a man full of "unresolved issues in his soul."  These issues caused him to be a murderer, adulterer, liar, thief, manipulator, insecure, prideful, abuser of power/position and selfish. I'm not being dramatic. Read your bible.

God loved and esteemed David despite his choices because David knew how to repent and his heart was always seeking God. We may be weak in our mind and in our flesh but we have to be willing to let go of our mess/bad behavior/unhealthy mindsets.

Can We Afford What We Want?
God's grace doesn't give us an excuse to do whatever we want to do.  Repentance means humbling ourselves and changing (one issue at a time), not abusing God's mercy. You will be shocked by how one change can impact three issues.

Our relationship with God is strengthened through the view He has of our heart not our bad behavior. David suffered the consequences of his actions. Look at how his relationships and children suffered/hated him. David had to quit his job and battled through fear and depression. I'm not lying! You better read the bible and stop trying to be religious. But David also gained strength and wisdom and peace in the process. He wrote some of the most beautiful/powerful psalms that thousands of years later are helping/ encouraging us. His life has become a witness for hundreds of generations.

Second Hand Wisdom
I don't know about you but I don't need to go through things myself to learn my lessons. I will take the lessons I see learned by other's choices as enough evidence. I believe what my grandmother told me "if you make your bed hard, you are going to have lay in it.....a hard head makes a soft behind." :D

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It's Me Not You :/

How many times have we spoken, “IT'S ME, NOT YOU” and honestly meant it?

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Know... Be... Do...

Knowing is half a third of the battle :):
Once I discovered "I am a spirit, I have a soul and I dwell in a body", my journey began with seeking the source of my spiritual existence.  My daily exploration of getting to "know" God has been life changing and empowering.  Despite the experiences (trauma, heart break, disappointments, fear, insecurities...) that have taken root in my soul or the weakness in my body, I am strengthened and propelled forward by the Spirit of God in me. I understand so much more about myself and am excited about future discoveries. There is nothing more liberating than discovering self! I may not get answers from God on all the whys to what happens in my life but I have learned that "God always pays for what He orders".  My confidence and focus increases as I learn who I am in all of my difference/uniqueness, quirkiness,gifting and strong yet introverted personality. Knowing there is a purpose in the "craziness" of Me, allows me to exhale and just be.

Being creates direction:
There is an inner satisfaction and effortlessness in just "being" who you were created to "be".  Being comes after knowing.  I have accepted there is only one me and no one is a better version of me than Me.  I don't need to desire to "be like" anyone else but I do need to surround myself with people who inspire me to "be the best me" I can be.

I used to be hard on myself and consider my inability to stay angry/hold grudges against those who hurt or did me wrong, a weakness. I don't mean, let it go in a few days...by the end of the week/few months, I mean in a few hours/by the next morning, most of my anger would be diminished.  I now know that God gave me the gift to encourage others and help strengthen them. Bitterness (unresolved anger) and depression (anger turned inward) are huge deterrents of encouragement.  It is difficult to stay positive and to see the best in people when there is a cloud of bitterness/depression over you.  I also learned the valuable lesson that "the measure in which we judge others will be the measure in which we will be judged". We all have done wrong and need mercy extended to us so we must extend it to others. Don't get me wrong, we cannot be foolish in how we walk in forgiveness but we must all take that walk (forgiveness is about freeing self, not the other person).  My Being and Gifts create opportunities for me to Do what I was created to for (teach, encourage/strengthen others to start the journey of purpose).

Purpose is manifested in Doing:
There has been a ton of things written/published.....preached/taught on a "purpose driven life" over the past ten years or so.  For me, there has been no better driving force in my life than each level of discovery I have made on .....Knowing who God is and who He created me to be...Being each new depth of what/who that is..... Doing what is instinctive of all of that. The peace, joy, confidence and strength that accompany me through my challenges today are far better than what used to keep me company (fear, insecurity, doubt, pain, disappointment). Purpose driven by knowing is empowerment partnered with perseverance.

Knowing, Being, Doing is a process....a life-long process.  Be patient with yourself but also P.R.E.S.S. (Pray for guidance, Resist the temptation to quit, Embrace who you are, Seek understanding, Stand confident in knowing)

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Familiar Isn't Always Effective

Romans 12:1-2The Message (MSG)

Place Your Life Before God

"So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you."

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Buried Treasure

Shovel (Questions for digging up your treasure)

• What do you have buried deep within you....under fear, doubt, insecurity?

• What is it you would do or accomplish if you had more time, resources, support, talent?

• What is it that keeps coming back to your mind....lingering in your spirit, that you keep pushing away?

• Is the seed of "purpose"..what you were created and destined to do, buried under all of the voices of your past (yourself, family, friends, society...) telling you it is not possible...you are not smart or talented enough,,,no one will support you?

• How many layers of crap (life) have you dumped on top of your treasure....contaminating and soiling its content?  Is it still valuable no matter how much mess (excuses, disappointments) you pile on top of it to hide it?

• Has the container for your treasure (You) been broken by life and had it contents (hope, dreams) scattered throughout your soul so that you barely remember them....or know how to put the pieces back together?

Pick up the shovel and start digging.  Let me know what you find.

Resource:  The Holy Spirit

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