Speaking of coming to the table...I am in Revelstoke right now with my family. My husband and son LOVE to snowboard and we were invited by friends of ours to join them here at their parents house. The grandparents are currently enjoying warmer weather somewhere else so the eight of us (two families of four) fit quite comfortably in their sweet house only 1o minutes from the mountain.
Last night was a wonderful experience for me, as family tradition did not stop just because the grandparents were out of town and we were here. Every Sunday night in this house is "Family Dinner". Around 5:30...the door started opening and family started walking in....each one with a dish to share. The kitchen table was moved over, another table was added to it and over 20 people gathered around to laugh, share and eat together. It was beautiful. We felt totally blessed because we didn't know any of these people when we came here but were completely welcomed...and seriously, treated like family. I loved it.
Last night's dinner was a beautiful picture of what it means for me to come to the table here at Soul Kitchen. We don't all know each other but we can come together in a common bond and share life. It's good, and I love it.
Soooo....about life....I love the book. I keep reading ahead and then coming back. I've been more aware of my insecurities lately because I guess I'm studying myself. In a way, it reminds me of something a friend of mine used to say when she was about to share something that made her feel vulnerable. It sort of feels like standing naked on the coffee table. And I have kind of felt like that lately. I wouldn't say I like it...but I believe God is allowing me to see things in my life that haven't been healthy. Things I haven't even really noticed before, but are there. The fact that I'm actually noticing my insecurities for what they are though...shows me that I'm moving forward and that's awesome!
Here are Beth's questions from So Long, Insecurity Discussion Group Two.
"Read or thoroughly review CHAPTERS THREE and FOUR then answer the questions that follow this paragraph. Remember to add your basic bio information every time you comment: First name, age decade, married or single, city, state. If at any time, your answer is too vulnerable for you to want to identify yourself, just go with age decade and married or single status. Those facts themselves bring insight to your answers."
1. Based on Chapter Three, what tends to be your own "Prominent False Positive"?
2. What is the challenge stated at the very end of Chapter Three? (I want us to see this restated in our comments hundreds of times so it breaks into our belief systems. It is critical to our journey. SO, I don't care how many times you've seen it written on this post, write it again for yourself. That's your mama talking.)
3. Based on Chapter Four, what Biblical figure (or statement about him/her) resonated with you most and why?
1. Based on Chapter Three, what tends to be your own "Prominent False Positive"?
2. What is the challenge stated at the very end of Chapter Three? (I want us to see this restated in our comments hundreds of times so it breaks into our belief systems. It is critical to our journey. SO, I don't care how many times you've seen it written on this post, write it again for yourself. That's your mama talking.)
3. Based on Chapter Four, what Biblical figure (or statement about him/her) resonated with you most and why?
If you don't have the book yet...the definition of a prominent false positive is this: one thing that we think would make us more secure in all things. (Page 36)
My writing time is running out so I will have to answer the questions myself a little later. I love you sisters...each one. Praying for you this week as we all grow together.
Julie
Oh Julie, I read your first post just before heading to work tonight and am just reading your second post now that I am back home - very early in the morning! I really appreciate your honesty in your posts. I do not have the book yet, but am still learning a lot about insecurity. As I'm going back to work part time in the maternity ward after being a stay-at-home mom for almost a year on maternity leave, I'm facing some challenges. Not in remembering my job, but in how I'm viewed, as I feel that I'm not always looked on as highly as before when I worked full time. Like I lost some value when I became a mom or something like that! I know the opposite is true and I'm so happy to be living in the center of God's will for my life. But as a people pleaser I really find it hard to make some people less happy. So God is teaching me to rest in the knowledge of his grace and truth and to leave the rest up to Him. And to let other people's feelings of me rest on His heart and not mine!
ReplyDeleteCheryl
This post didn't work the first time so I'm trying it on a new day!
Cheryl...Bless your heart. I hear you girl. I would say, being a mom and being in the work place are two major areas in a woman's life that tend to stir up insecurity. Lauren wrote today about it as well, and girls...listen to me...we've got Jesus, we've got His truth, we've got each other and everytime we recognize our insecurity and take it to the cross to stand before truth, we are hammering another nail in the coffin of insecurity and the power that it has had to control our thoughts and our actions. And I don't know about you girls but for me, I am finding that just voicing it out loud, as insecure as even that, makes me feel sometimes, helps to loosen some of its grip on me. Thank you sisters for that encouragement today. I love your last sentence Cheryl..."to let other people's feelings of me rest on His heart and not mine!" I'm gonna remember that.
ReplyDeleteWell girls...I'm sitting in the adorable Trestle Coffee House in Anacortes, WA. I just had the most wonderful homemade Chai Latte...was it ever good. Stacey...if you see this, I would totally love to meet you. I will be coming back here tomorrow morning around 11am. How fun would that be?!
ReplyDeleteMy most prominent false positive would probably have to be credentials. I can't help but think of Angela's wedding when she asked me to take pictures of her reception. All I could think about was the fact that I'm not a professional and I've never had any photography courses and someone else could do it better than me. I have allowed thoughts like that to intimidate me for years, in all kinds of areas of my life. Jesus wants to free me from that. He wants me to have joy in my gifts and in the things I love to do.
2. Our Challenge: To let the healthy, utterly whole, and completely secure part of us increasingly overtake our earthen vessels until it drives our every emotion, reaction, and relationship. When we allow God's truth to eclipse every false positive and let our eyes spring open to the treasure we have, there in His glorious reflection we'll also see the treasure we are. And the beauty of the Lord our God will be upon us. (Psalm 90:17) Page 43.
3. Okay...I obviously see myself in Moses. Page 52...But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it."....and how many people never fulfill their destinies simply because of their own insecurities..."Lord...you know I don't want that to be me." And well...I love what Beth said about Paul on page 57....To Paul, the essence of the crucified life was daily dying to the part of himself that would deny, destroy, or distract from the great work of God in him. The great work of God through him.
Julie
40's
Married
Abbotsford, BC