I was to choose two words that I struggled with, was weak in, or that I wanted to learn to grow in a particular area. One was to be an internal weakness, and one was to be an external weakness.
I took the last few months of 2013 to plan and prepare for what materials I would use to accomplish this. Podcasts, books, and scriptures that all applied to the words I chose. So that all of 2014 could be dedicated to study time. And for once in my life, I actually finished something I started!
So to reflect on 2014 I will somehow scrunch some of the most impactful things I learned last year, into todays blog! These are all my favorite things from the resources I studied. I hope they can be beneficial to you as you start this New Year!
January: Trust
& Rest
(Studied from Graham Cooke & Andy Stanley)
“You can CHOOSE to place trust in gap between what you SEE
& what you EXPERIENCE. “
“When you fill the gap with anything other than trust, it
erodes.”
“ You cannot have TRUST without REST, or REST, without TRUST.“
“You can’t trust in the Lord and be anxious, one of them has
to go.”
“Rest is a major part of renewal.”
“Rest allows you to see the provision of God through the
problem that is present.”
“God always has an agenda in your rest. So that you can
overcome, or believe Him for something.”
February: Expectations & Control
“ I have a RESPONSIBILITY & that’s the ABILITY TO
RESPOND.“
“It is fallacy to believe that by studying our past we can
prevent it. Looking at our past does not guarantee our future…it prevents it.”
(Lisa Bevere)
“Even when we think we have figured out the plan, God never
does what we expect. In reality, He always does more.”
“It’s now your choice to believe or remain bound.”
“Expectation leads to INVITATION, PREPERATION, &
PERSPIRATION.”
“Between what you EXPECT & what you EXPERIENCE is the
frustration gap, place trust there and let God fill the gap.”
“Don’t lower your expectations, raise them up to what GOD
can do. Doubt and fear in your heart, but still digging because you trust God.”
“When parts of my heart or life don’t tend to measure up to
my EXPECTATIONS, I tend to hide them. But what if someone would be blessed by
what I have to share and they miss out because I hide it?”
March: Identity & Authenticity
“There is a difference between GROWTH & PERFECTION.“
PERFECTION is all or nothing.
GROWTH is little by little.
PERFECTION is all about the goal.
GROWTH is more about the journey.
PERFECTION is about outward appearances.
GROWTH is about what happens on the inside.
PERFECTION is about what we do,
GROWTH is about who we’re becoming.
“True confidence leads to service, insecurity turns inward.”
“Accountability to one another is healthy and helpful. When
we are regularly accountable, we’re less likely to stumble, more likely to see
truth accurately, and less likely to get away with sinful and unwise actions.”
“Qualities to look for in accountability: VULNERABILITY,
TEACHABILITY, AVAILABILITY, AND HONESTY.
“Being authentic in your relationship with Christ, helps you
to be authentic in your relationships with people.”
“What is your aim in life? AUTHENTICITY? Or ACCEPTANCE?”
“If we only change our habits and not our hearts, we will
find ourselves living unauthentically and it’s not sustainable.”
“Be faithful. Stay focused. Trust in the Lord.”
April: Love & Selflessness
“Suffering is having to endure what we very much don’t want
to have to endure… rejoice in it.”
“Love suffers long, but your natural inclination is to cut
it short.“
“God loves people that He KNOWS will never love Him.”
“It is not my place to judge, but to LOVE with what He has
given me. & When I love others, I love Him.”
“He does everything in love, even the tough stuff. He has my
best interest at heart and His heart doesn’t expect anything in return when He
loves me.”
“He is committed to me, passionate about me and
shares in the same intimate details of my life-even when I am not focused on
him.”
“Love without
reservation, Love without expectation, Love with passion and intimacy. “
“When we push for our own rights rather than lay them down,
it becomes a competition and battle ground rather than a place of peace and
healing.”
“Love others in obedience to Christ, not because they
deserve it.”
“When you are looking at someone else to meet your needs,
you are self-focused, which always leads to dissatisfaction.”
“Agape love is born of divine strength. It has the power to
be creatively weak. It is not driven by need so it has the power to wait.”
“Agape love finds goodness in living while we are victims of
situations we despise.”
“No circumstance, past, present, future, can rob you of your
joy or control your life. Unless you give it the power to.”
“There is one thing that can rob you of your joy:
Selfishness.”
“Guard your heart does not mean guard it from being hurt and
to protect it from all outside sources. It means guard it from doubt, unbelief
and what responses come out of it. Because that will ultimately guide your
steps.”
“Any struggle is designed to show your heart. What you
really are, what you really love, and what you really want.”
May: Worth & Leadership
“Self accepting people do not base their worth on the
opinions and moods of those around them.“
Making a good impression shrinks compared to making a
difference for someone else.”
“While you are UNWORTHY to receive His grace & mercy,
you are certainly not worthless.”
“Low self esteem is a form of self centeredness”
“Low self esteem is a place of pain and when you are in pain
you are too focused on yourself to adequately give to others.”
“Self
acceptance is viewing yourself the way God views you.”
“Never say someone’s ‘NO’ for them.”
“The more confidently you do it, the better off everyone will
be.”
“You are a hand or a foot- part of the body. You cant be
more than one or both… you were designed to fulfill the purpose of being one
and being that to the best of your ability.“
June: Fear & Emotions
“TAKE YOUR THOUGHTS CAPTIVE.”
“Choose FAITH instead of FEAR.”
“Filter any thought through Gods filter- Philippians 4:8-9”
“Because my fears were familiar, I trusted them more than I
trusted God.”
“Trust Gods plan.”
“God says ‘I am going places your fears won’t let you go,
and I want you to come with me.’”
“you will only get stronger by PUSHING through your fear,
not getting it out of your life.”
“The root of fear is REJECTION, LOSS, FAILURE, OR THE
UNKNOWN.”
“The Israelites forsook Gods promises to embrace their
fears. They placed faith in their fears. In doing so they chose the devils lies
over Gods truth. Instead of inheriting the promises, they inherited their
fears.“
“ Fear is only empowered to the degree we yield to its
deception.“
“Fear must be EVICTED.”
“The battle of fear is waged in our minds.”
“Fear questions, distorts, and undermines what God says.”
“when we are confused, we are unstable.”
“God gave me emotions to experience life, not destroy it.”
(Lysa Terkeurst)
“I can face things out of my control and not act out of control.”
“We don’t develop new responses until we develop new
thoughts.”
“Emotions are good INDICATORS but not good DICTATORS.”
“To that which you give your energy EXPANDS.”
"You experience your perspective." (From God to me)
July: Failure & Communication
(Studied from John Maxwell &
Clayton King)
“Fail fast & forget about it.“
“ Linger on the lesson, don’t fixate on the failure.“
“Just because you mess up, doesn’t mean you give up.”
“There is NO achievement without failure.”
“Failure Is not final.”
“With empathy, acknowledge the rights and feelings of others
& listen.”
Messages that we speak have 3 parts:
Verbal 7%
Vocal 38%
Visual 55%
“I am only responsible for me. Use “I” statements, not “you”
statements.”
“Perspectives between men and women are different. Not right
or wrong, just different.”
“Truth defeats the lies we believe.”
“Empty spaces beg to be filled…what are you filling them
with?”
“Communicating your feelings can be tough when you feel
stuck. Stuckness makes you feel incompetent with words.”
“I can make good choices that lead to healthy responses.”
“We can never get so secure in ourselves that we can never
be moved.”
“Confronting someone is hard, and the risk of discovering
something worse than you suspect can be enough to paralyze you until the whole
relationship goes up in smoke. The alternative to practicing what scripture
calls “speaking truth in love” is continuing to communicate a lie in fear.
That’s no way to live.”
August: Acceptance & Voice
“ If we use silence as self-protection, as a way to avoid
confrontation or hard decisions, we do not glorify God.“
“Our silence will only create spiritual defeat within us.“
“Don’t sacrifice yourself in order to maintain a
relationship.”
When we fully understand that God accepts us, we don’t are
seek acceptance from others.
“The act of acceptance is a choice.”
“Identify your trigger responses & warning signs. Irrational
thoughts, fast heart beat, laser focus, fear? Because you can’t have smart,
difficult conversations when you are being “triggered” your brain doesn’t think
logically, you are in your “Responsive” state. So have an emergency response
strategy for when you are caught off guard.”
“You get to choose what you say, does it speak truth &
life? “
“What someone else does is a reflection of THEIR heart, not
yours.”
“Happiness is a symptom of circumstance, Joy is a product of
perspective.” (Steven Furtick)
September: Joy & words
“Joy is an internal state of contentment not matter the
circumstance.“
“Death & life are in the power of the tongue.“
“John 6:53 clearly shows us that if we speak the words that
Jesus spoke then we are speaking life into existence. The words we speak
produce spiritual results.”
“In Isaiah 55:11 it says that are words do not come back to
us void & they accomplish what they set out to do…which means they are
coming back to us and bringing with them what they set out to do… what do you
want them to bring back to you?”
“Your words effect your body…are you bringing health to your
body?”
“What comes out of your mouth is what you believe.”
“Only god can give us joy in the midst of uncertainty. Only
God can give us joy in the midst of defeat. Only God can give us joy in the
midst of sadness.”
“Gracious words are like honey to the body and soul.
Destructive words can ruin your health.”
October: Safety/Security & forgiveness
“By foolishly trying to build security and structure, I had
inadvertently torn it down.“ (Lisa Bevere)
“Do you know what we often do when we don’t feel safe? We
try to construct elaborate systems of law and requirements so that we know what
to expect and so that we feel in control.”
“ Whatever you rehearse in your mind will eventually seep
into your heart as a belief.”
“Respond to God instead of reacting to people.”
“In order for me to really want to GO, something has to
happen to make me want to leave where I am.”
“Your security and safety is in Him, not other people or
certain situations. Learn to trust God even when you don’t see or understand.”
“Trust God to protect you when you choose to lay down your
rights and forgive.”
“Jesus will test you to teach you.”
“Forgiveness is NOT weakness. IT is the ultimate portal to
Christ.”
“Forgiveness is the operating system of Christianity.”
“Overcome evil with good.”
“An un-Christ like response would be to flee the whole mess,
severing relationships and refusing to forgive.”
November: Lust & Confrontation
“Lust is an emotion or feeling of intense desire in the
body.“
“Does not have to be sexual to be lust…could be a lust for
knowledge, a lust for power, a lust for a different life, a lust for food.“
“Confrontation is to speak the truth in love. It is a
spirit-led confrontation where it is vital to tell the truth so others can live
in God’s reality rather than personal illusion.”
“focus on the issue, don’t attack the person.”
“God doesn’t tell you to FIGHT or RESIST sexual temptation
like he tells you with other temptations.
He tells you to FLEE. Flee from anything that will harm your purity.”
“You are giving the person the right to their feelings and
perceptions as their personal realities. When you listen, your support enhances
their dignity, even when you don’t agree.”
“Differences can be opportunities to exercise submission to
one another.”
We ALL need to be heard, loved, understood & accepted.
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