How to throw off that which slows us down <3
If you missed yesterday’s post, (here – https://www.laurareimer.net/end-of-the-month-book-report/ ) I shared about the four books I finished in February.
Granted I started one before February, a Christmas gift from John….but I finished it and three more so wow…that’s a record for me as an adult. Okay and another one was a church study that technically started in January…but still….four books.
I gave a little info on one yesterday and promised to share some about the other three this week.
Today’s feature is
a blurry picture of Unhindered. Sorry about that. I just noticed how bad the picture is and I used it before.
I have shared a couple of posts already encouraging people to join the study so you can read those:
Here – https://www.laurareimer.net/rest-looking-back/
and…
Here – https://www.laurareimer.net/the-landing-is-always-the-hardest-part/
I did want to share a little more about this book and the sermons that went along with it.
The book is co-authored by daughter/father team: Dr. Charity Byers and Dr. John Walker. The entire premise of the book is based on the passage of Hebrews that says we must throw off both the sin that entangles us and “everything that hinders” so we can run with perseverance the race marked out for us. (Hebrews 12: 1-3)
So we know what sin is and how it can mess with a purposeful life lived for God, but what about the stuff that hinders. The heavy extra stuff that slows us down. Often we refer to it as our “baggage.” And you can’t travel light, or actually be a light, if you are toting a big old lunky bag of useless junk around every where.
According the book Unhindered, much of that is a vicious cycle of what the authors call “sore spots” that are made up of our natural wiring (which like all things on earth have been skewed in the fall and can work against us instead of for us), past experiences (both good and bad) and encounters with other humans that have shaped in us lower case “truths”. These “truth” are things we have come to believe that then help formulate our strategies or coping mechanisms or go to methods of operation that keep us in a rut.
By dragging those sore spots out in the open through honest dialogue with the God who made us, we can begin to also expose things we have believed that sound like truth but are in reality not at all what God has said about us and about life.
The book gives examples of each of these stages and as we worked through the book and exercises, we were able to identify places where we have settled for the old fall back…”Well…that’s just the way I am and nothing is ever going to change it.”
I loved that the unhindering is a choice we make and a process. I don’t have to always be upset with myself that I can’t get over the hump. By facing my “sore spots” and seeking healing for things that were either hardwired in or happened along the way, replacing God’s Truth for my idea of what is truth and accepting His methods for dealing instead of my strategies for coping; I can break out of a cycle of defeat.
I can enjoy the freedom for which Christ has set me free..abundant life…those kinds of things.
In a nutshell, as we worked through the material using the book, worksheets provided by the church, sermons and actually talking about this with each other, sore spots were detected that have laid dormant for years.
I discovered some things that I just assumed were true, but I realize I have accepted as true when in reality they are not aligned with what God says is TRUTH.
For me a trigger or red flag for when I am living by own truth instead of God’s Truth is a huge sense of overwhelm.
Since my strategy for overwhelm in my hindered state would be to curl up in a ball and quit everything…I need to employ a new strategy.
We learned in the study that we need a Truth to say to ourselves, it is most likely going to be based on a Scripture. Our little “t” truths are somewhat true. We want to acknowledge that there is a level of truth about how we are wired, what things have happened to us, what things we have done ourselves.
The next part though is to add onto that little “t” truth, the “nevertheless” of God.
Nevertheless shows up in Scripture a lot. Things look a certain way, and then we get a “nevertheless”….and things turn around.
We need a statement that says what we have operated on as a little “t” truth and add a “nevertheless” followed by a TRUTH.
The one I came up with is based on a Psalm 46, but not the Be Still part we usually think of.
For me it was in the beginning verses and helped me form something I can remember to focus on when I start to feel overwhelmed.
“I get easily overwhelmed and want to withdraw, avoid and quit. Nevertheless, God is with me to help me keep going and do want needs to be done.”
We then learned to add a Declaration that we can easily remember and pull up when we feel triggered.
Mine was:
“I am not overwhelmed because God, my refuge and strength, is always with me.” based on Psalm 46:1
This is the Truth I hang on to now when my heart wants to tell me that I am going under. It is also something I say randomly throughout the day before….BEFORE…a sense of overwhelm can set in all sneaky like.
There are other things I learned, but this was one big takeaway I can share.
It is not an easy five minute fix.
You don’t drag up an old mindset or wound and slap a Bible verse on it and head out never to return.
It is a work in progress and a work done in prayer and listening and studying what God says about me and others and life and how am I lining up with that.
And we are all works in progress, all of us working out our faith with fear and trembling…running our race with perseverance. <3