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My heart on friendship

by bornagainbrand | Mar 23, 2018 | Blog

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What voices are leading you? I spent a few years What voices are leading you? I spent a few years believing that I needed make myself small to make sure other people didn’t feel threatened by whatever it was that made them uncomfortable. I let the critical voices take up residence and create a story for my life that Jesus never intended. Critical voices are swirling around us from the time we are born, all throughout our lives. Right now, life is loud. Many of us are carrying around critical voices from our childhood, adolescence or this afternoon. We all internalize some of those voices to some extent, even if just for a moment. We can internalize those negative voices just as we can internalize love. These voices can leave us feeling stuck. I for sure have felt stuck. How about you? So what the heck do we do!? We make a choice. 1. Prayerfully, take some time to find out what voices you have internalized. 2. Figure out where the voices are coming from and if they are positive or negative. 3. Give the negative voices the boot! 4. Get support rediscovering who you are. 5. Seek relationships that breathe life into you. Something has to take up that space. That’s the way we were designed. It’s our job to make sure that we have healthy supportive relationships and that we intentionally and purposefully take in the affirming voices to fill that space. We can’t control that negative voices will come. That isn’t our part. We just control what we do with them. We do need to find the encouraging uplifting voices. They are out there! Don’t give up looking. You may need a new circle to get those voices and that’s okay. Toxic relationships aren’t for you. Don’t be afraid to let go of some things to make room for the best things. Where are people speaking truth, hope and life? Start there! In this space I offer support, tools and encouragement to those who want to evict those critical voices, set boundaries, pursue hope, make healthy changes and hear a positive voice. Together we can find freedom from toxic thoughts, negative noise and the inner criticism✨ #yourstorymatters #businessbydesign #specialneedsmom #adhdparenting #bettertogether #hopedealer #toxicthoughts #encourageher #morethanme
A younger me used to allow being crushed and silen A younger me used to allow being crushed and silenced by suspicion. Recant. Pull that post. Don’t say or do anything at all. Wait to be invited to the table... and at the first little knock at me I was slamming the door shut. Tempted to hide in the back. Sound familiar? What you plant in your heart and then choose to water is what will grow there. I can guarantee you that if you plant suspicion in your heart you will 1000% find it. You will not only find it, you will feed it and grow it; harvest it and share it. I have been a victim of suspicion and I have been the suspicious one. I’m not pretending to be on the other side by any means. But, ya know what, suspicion is like weeds. Noxious weeds that take over beautiful gardens in our own hearts; worse yet, encroach on beautiful gardens in other’s hearts. Also, since I am shooting straight tonight, suspicion is sneaky. It can be neatly packaged and tied with a bow to appear like care or concern for someone’s well being. When the way we present “care and concern” crushes life giving seeds, it ain’t love. When we squash spirits, good intentions or sweet gestures and take others down with our “care and concern” it comes from a suspicious heart. This breeds brokenness, not life. This is not the season to play with suspicion. Quite frankly there is never a time that calls for that business. The world has enough of that to go around. This is the season to break the cultural norm of suspicion to bring love, belief, hope, trust, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, selfcontrol... And it starts with me, and it starts with you. Sometimes it’s the quiet, not so obvious, simple, ordinary shifts we make in our own hearts that create an avalanche of change that flows far beyond where we could ever imagine. It’s risky business, but we were not set free to play it safe. We were not set free to withhold love, trust, hope and all the other life giving things that light brings when it pierces the dark. Have you taken a seat because you have felt the brokenness of suspicion? Are you struggling to choose trust over suspicion?
Anyone else struggle with CHOOSING to be still 🙋🏼‍♀️ Intentionally holding space for silence is a massive weakness in my life. 🙈 Yes, I just said that out loud. If you’ve ever seen me speak, you will have heard me admit to this before. I have a natural tendency to escape by choosing busyness. Doing something, makes me “feel” like I am in control. If I stay distracted I don’t have to face whatever it is that I most likely need to face. I have this conversation with women often. Many times we know what we ought to do but we just don’t choose to do it. Distraction is all around us. Maybe it’s because we are afraid we will have to do hard work? Maybe God will ask us to do uncomfortable things? Maybe God is calling us to change? Shoot, change is hard and scary and uncomfortable. Why in the world would I take a chance to discover what needs to change!? Maybe we are afraid God won’t be there when we do choose to pursue time with Him? Maybe we are afraid we won’t be able to hear Him or experience Him... Wanna know a not so secret secret? Lie: I’ll feel better if I stay distracted. Truth: Only being with God will satisfy me. Choose to be still with God. He is always waiting for us to come back. There is never such a thing as too far gone or too long gone. Friend, I get it. It’s not always easy to choose to be still. But it is worth it. The mind is so incredibly powerful and God knows it! We now know, thanks to the field of neurotheology (what!? I just learned this is an actual thing!) quiet meditation literally changes our brains. We I am loving this devotional and I think you might too. It’s simple. And it’s short and sweet, leaving room for us to breathe and be quiet with God after. Mama’s and friends, in this season of Mr. Toad’s wild ride where uncertainty resides just around every corner, rest assured God is so excited to see you when you show up. Rest assured He is the source of all hope, all peace and all joy. Rest assured He cares more about you making the effort to show up over curating the perfect Jesus time. Rest assured being still is worth it. What is holding you back from choosing to be still?
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