Love how Michelle presents this narrative. As I think about we live into our design and we become what we behold, how do we help someone who believes that they are not worthy of it all…how do we help to change their mindsets and encourage them to believe that by design they are worthy and deserving of it all? How do help them to cut the chains of unbelief and lies of the enemy? On the surface, it seems easy to do, just change the mindset, but these mindsets comes from deep rooted experience and traumas and maybe current environment continues to remind them of the lies…for those individuals, it seems temporarily they may believe the design narrative but once circumstance’s occurs, it brings them back to square one. It’s harder than it seems…
Great observations. I especially like the “On the surface” comment. It’s how we’ve dealt with the deeper stuff – lots of behavior modification/management. Unfortunately, the church hasn’t always done a good job of helping us break through to freedom, healing, and restoration. In fact, it’s often perpetuated the problem. That’s not judgment—just a point of reality. Actually, in my mind, we don’t have time to judge or criticize. God will do His part. He always does. We don’t have time to waste while seeking the part that He is inviting us to steward. At the end, when all of this (that is, this side of Heaven) is said and done, I’d like for QHC to be recognized as a church that championed the hurting and brokenhearted.
I love this thoughtful comment. I think the “answer” is layered and not just a “what’s the formula?” Just some quick thoughts as I reflect: I think we have to look at where someone is with a multi-dimensional perspective and while doing so, trust that God will ultimately be the one to move and heal a person towards overcoming lies. Our part will be to ask, “How is God leading me to love, show compassion, patience, kindness, humility, etc. without trying to “fix” the person or enable them?” On a practical level, if individuals comes from traumas or the current condition doesn’t make it conducive towards healthier living, the individual will need a network of support-givers (i.e. pastor, wise friends, therapist, coach, mentors, etc) who can help remind them of their agency and if medication is needed to help one get out of a depressive or anxious state then that needs to be considered as well and there is no shame in that. At the end of the day, people are hungry for love, connection, affirmation, belonging and safety. It’s hard when the focus is on fixing. Loving someone towards health and for someone to believe they are worthy of love and belonging takes time (that’s process) and in the long run, loving, while there is intentional effort, won’t feel like a burden whereas “fixing” may. Christ never tried to “fix” people. He connected, related and loved them. The rest was on the individual to receive. I believe we can do that – connect, relate and love. That individual will remember how well he/she was loved and will begin to internalize their worth. Not when we try to convince them of their worth. xoxo – M.P.
Living in this freedom or by design in Christ is what I look forward to since that’s what we were made for…now how to do we get from default to design?
There are a lot of “components” to moving from default to design. We’ll talk about those “moving parts” soon. In short, the key to this movement from living a life that’s caught up in a cycle of default thinking to a life of design is grace. It’s by God’s grace that we even become aware of the fact that we’re stuck in these vicious cycles and patterns. It’s His grace that we realize that there’s a way out. It’s His grace that allows us to stare down the lies while holding fast to His truth. It’s His grace… you get the picture. Looking forward to unpacking this further with you in the future.
“Living in this freedom or by design in Christ is what I look forward to since that’s what we were made for…” love it and am celebrating together with you for it! Glad we get to journey and excavate the “how,” together! xoxo – M.P.
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Love how Michelle presents this narrative. As I think about we live into our design and we become what we behold, how do we help someone who believes that they are not worthy of it all…how do we help to change their mindsets and encourage them to believe that by design they are worthy and deserving of it all? How do help them to cut the chains of unbelief and lies of the enemy? On the surface, it seems easy to do, just change the mindset, but these mindsets comes from deep rooted experience and traumas and maybe current environment continues to remind them of the lies…for those individuals, it seems temporarily they may believe the design narrative but once circumstance’s occurs, it brings them back to square one. It’s harder than it seems…
Great observations. I especially like the “On the surface” comment. It’s how we’ve dealt with the deeper stuff – lots of behavior modification/management. Unfortunately, the church hasn’t always done a good job of helping us break through to freedom, healing, and restoration. In fact, it’s often perpetuated the problem. That’s not judgment—just a point of reality. Actually, in my mind, we don’t have time to judge or criticize. God will do His part. He always does. We don’t have time to waste while seeking the part that He is inviting us to steward. At the end, when all of this (that is, this side of Heaven) is said and done, I’d like for QHC to be recognized as a church that championed the hurting and brokenhearted.
I love this thoughtful comment. I think the “answer” is layered and not just a “what’s the formula?” Just some quick thoughts as I reflect: I think we have to look at where someone is with a multi-dimensional perspective and while doing so, trust that God will ultimately be the one to move and heal a person towards overcoming lies. Our part will be to ask, “How is God leading me to love, show compassion, patience, kindness, humility, etc. without trying to “fix” the person or enable them?” On a practical level, if individuals comes from traumas or the current condition doesn’t make it conducive towards healthier living, the individual will need a network of support-givers (i.e. pastor, wise friends, therapist, coach, mentors, etc) who can help remind them of their agency and if medication is needed to help one get out of a depressive or anxious state then that needs to be considered as well and there is no shame in that. At the end of the day, people are hungry for love, connection, affirmation, belonging and safety. It’s hard when the focus is on fixing. Loving someone towards health and for someone to believe they are worthy of love and belonging takes time (that’s process) and in the long run, loving, while there is intentional effort, won’t feel like a burden whereas “fixing” may. Christ never tried to “fix” people. He connected, related and loved them. The rest was on the individual to receive. I believe we can do that – connect, relate and love. That individual will remember how well he/she was loved and will begin to internalize their worth. Not when we try to convince them of their worth. xoxo – M.P.
Living in this freedom or by design in Christ is what I look forward to since that’s what we were made for…now how to do we get from default to design?
There are a lot of “components” to moving from default to design. We’ll talk about those “moving parts” soon. In short, the key to this movement from living a life that’s caught up in a cycle of default thinking to a life of design is grace. It’s by God’s grace that we even become aware of the fact that we’re stuck in these vicious cycles and patterns. It’s His grace that we realize that there’s a way out. It’s His grace that allows us to stare down the lies while holding fast to His truth. It’s His grace… you get the picture. Looking forward to unpacking this further with you in the future.
“Living in this freedom or by design in Christ is what I look forward to since that’s what we were made for…” love it and am celebrating together with you for it! Glad we get to journey and excavate the “how,” together! xoxo – M.P.