Good Monday Morning Team!!

And sooo, we have spent the last two weeks examining, reflecting and maybe DARING to begin to RE-Define just what we will ACCEPT and SAY makes us WORTHY…

Yup, we have riffled through the following 6 areas of POTENTIAL Self-WORTH, and they are as follows. Seeking Self-Worth thru:

1. Approval from Others (yeahhh, no one EVER does THAT…ever……lol!)…
2. Outdoing Others in Competition (again, that idea is new to me…..sooo NOT!!..:)
3. Receiving Family LOVE (ohh, ahh, OUCH! Look closely at this one, especially with our KIDS..)
4. Virtuous and MORAL Character (No way!! NO Church-GIRL would EVER use this, would they???…..:)
5. Career, Volunteer or Academic Performance (and I am adding ‘productivity’ to the end of this phrase…just personal experience speaking…again… 🙂
6. Andddddd — the PIECE de Resistance??? SELF WORTH THRU PHYSICAL APPEARANCE!!

Yup, that last one seems to come up ALL THE TIME (aka: in my mind!), but I have reviewed and worked through defining where I get my WORTH…And I have learnt, it is not from ‘SELF’ ANYTHING, but like we chatted about last Friday: from my SOUL…’Cause all those other areas, especially that last one, is NOT an acceptable way to CHOOSE TO define my worth, according to GOD…..And so, over time, and with HIS TRUTHS, I have GROWN up and grown PAST (for the most part 🙂 that as a place of WORTH in my heart…

And what is SO COOL is that today, you will get to hear the first piece of a woman in JOURNEY by CHOOSING to DO just the same. Yes, our own fabulous-from-Cranbrook Mrs. CHLESEA RODGER, is no longer ‘Dodging the dilemma’, but has chosen to face it: one step, one moment, one week at a time …..And the first two days this week, you will get a glimpse into the work she has put into this — as she CHOOSES the hard work of working in her SOUL…

So be prepared today and tomorrow, to be in awe of her AUTHENTICITY….It is a gift to YOU — and a huge gIft to me…plus ps: I think GOD is pretty darn proud of her too ….And so I say? Chelsea, Thank YOU……..Carol 😉

What Do You See?

Have you stopped to truly ask yourself what you see when you look in the mirror? Do you see your face and body? Do you see your hair and eyes? Do you see your outfit? Or maybe you see your successes and accomplishments? Or maybe you see your failures and doubts? Maybe you see your abilities and even maybe your value or lack there of?

For me, I see all these and all the things I wish were different. I wish my body was thinner, fitter. I have always been curvier and I have always wanted (coveted) the waif body type instead, I wish I was 40lb less than I am (and that is me maturting cause it used to be more like 60lb). I wish my hair was any color but the one it is (and I’m not talking about the fun creative ones, but the core base). I wish I didn’t look so tired, I feel like I’ve had bags under my eyes since I was a teen. I wish I had nicer skin (without blemishes, spots, more tanned, oh and acne…. I am 40+ and I still have acne problems). I wish my smile was straighter and that my eyes were the same shape and size. I have spent hours (days, months, years) of my life looking in a mirror and wishing I was different, other, anything but what I see, and who I am. 

When I look at the above statement, I realize that I am saying I don’t like what I see, it’s flawed, wrong, and dissatisfying. I want to look and be like the images that are plastered all over our media. I even realized that I want to look different because people have told me that it would be better if I did (I have been told that I’d be pretty enough if I only lost weight; that I was too tall; too pale; that I look tired – even when I’m not). I realize that I have also come to believe that how I look directly affects my abilities and value. I have accepted the opinion and callous words of a few people in my life as my TRUTH. Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot more people have said good and kind things about how I look and what I am capable of, (and not because I was asking for a compliment), but I struggle with those compliments, they feel abrasive, I want to say, ”do you see the same thing I see?” 

I have come to believe that my health is indicative of how I look and I have been telling myself for years that God wants me to be healthy, so then He must want me to look different…RIGHT??? The problem is I have to invest ALL my time and energy as well as significant finances to accomplish this “look of health” that I want. If all my time, energy, and finances is spent on changing how I look, how and when do I have time for the things God created me for? No where in His Word does it say that compete and total focus on my health glorifies or serves HIM, I’ve looked! Since I can’t find this in His Word, I am forced to conclude that a lie has taken root (one no amount of kind words can change) and ONLY the Word of God can unroot the lie and fill it in with TRUTH  — BUT (yes there is a BUT), I have to let it! I have to accept the TRUTH and make it what I see and believe. I have to constantly remove the lie when it tries to grow again and fill it with God’s TRUTH. It’s not a one time shot when a lie is this deep. This lie has been growing deep roots for years and years and years, removing it is work, those roots have wrapped themselves around so much of who I think I am, that removing them means changing EVERYTHING! Everything I believe about myself. It means totally changing my thoughts on WHAT I think is important, WHO I think is important, it means redefining HEALTH, BEAUTY, VALUE, and ABILITY. This is like staring into a black abyss of the unknown and jumping in. A huge part of me is screaming inside.. I CAN’T! I’m scared, I’m too old, this can’t be what God wants from me… it hurts! I think that is why I am writing this. Maybe someone will read it and they will see the lie sooner and start making the changes before that lie is wrapped around everything. You see, it’s like ripping up all the pine trees in a forest and planting a tropical paradise instead… everything old must go in order for the new to survive, you don’t just cut the old trees down, you bring in a bulldozer and tear them out at the root, you till the earth, fertilize it to make the soil healthy, you make sure there is a good clean spring to feed the new roots, and then you plant.

Let’s go back to the basics of what we see and compare it to what God says about what we should see. Just because we see something in front of us, just because we think something, doesn’t actually make it true. The TRUTH is in God’s Word alone. We must take our thoughts captive and turn them to His truths (2 Corinthians 10: 4-5). This means if what we think and believe isn’t what God’s Word says is the truth, then we are believing lies and it’s our vision and thoughts that need to change. You can easily Google tons of scripture about your identity, BUT if you don’t take that scripture and make it your thought and belief, the lies won’t say gone. God’s Word needs to have deeper, stronger, and vaster roots then the lies… it goes beyond reading or even just memorizing scripture… It’s TOTALLY ACCEPTING it as your new thoughts and beliefs; it’s looking at yourself and the world through the eyes of God with His Word as the filter.

Ephesians 2:10 ~ For we are HIS creation, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we may walk in them.

If you feel up to it read MATTHEW 5 (the whole chapter)