Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Re-Cap from October 13 "Wisdom Protects"

We had a wonderful time of worship lead by Heather Mangum and her hubby, Matt. I hope you'll take some time to check out her website at http://www.heathermangum.com/ You can also download her CD at iTunes to listen to whenever you are in the mood to hear some great music that will touch your heart in a powerful way.



We're almost half-way through our study of Wisdom~A Girl's Best Friend, and if you've missed any of the teachings, you'll soon be able to hear them via a new podcast coming, and we'll also have CD's available of the series as well. Stay tuned...



Last night we talked about how being women of wisdom will place a guard around our hearts as we learn to set appropriate, healthy boundaries which enable us to live balanced life, leading to what we were created for: FREEDOM!



We discussed the importance of understanding that part of setting healthy boundaries is learning to FOCUS & PRIORITIZE.



It is vital to our physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual health that we understand what GOD desires for us to focus on and then prioritize them so that we will have a "compass" to help us as we navigate through life, rather than simply allowing life to happen to us.



(See Proverbs 2:1-15; Proverbs 4:23; Proverbs 25:16-17; Proverbs 30:7-9; and James 1:5-8)



One very important reality to setting boundaries, focusing on what God is calling and enabling us to do, and discovering how to prioritize our lives to find balance leading to freedom, is to understand the principle of making sure we are taking care of ourselves before we try to go into the world to help others. (Read that again before moving on...)



That can sound so wrong, can't it? To make sure we're taking care of ourselves first? But as we looked at what God's Word teaches, in passages that talk about loving others as we love ourselves (not instead of ourselves), and taking care of any "logs" in our own eyes before trying to help others with the "speck" in theirs, we see that it is a life lived upside-down to think we are going to be able to help others when our own lives are being so poorly taken care of.



Take a look at this illustration we used to make the point:
When on an airplane, we always hear the safety instructions in case of an emergency. And we're told, should the oxygen mask above us drop, we need to place the mask over our own faces first before trying to help anyone around us--including our own child/ren! Doesn't THAT seem selfish? To take oxygen before helping our own child get theirs?

Do you see through this illustration the point I'm making? We must be in a healthy position ourselves before we are going to be able to help others. Far too many "wounded healers" are in the world today trying to help everyone else, but they're typically doing more harm than good because they aren't ready or willing to humble themselves enough to realize they need to spend some time getting the help they need so they'll be in a position to do some good to those around them.

Take some time to write down what boundaries you see that you need to put up in your own life. Ask the question, before making a decision, "Is it the wise thing to do?" Ask God to show you where you need to say "yes" and where you need to say "no." Realize that if you're saying "yes" when God says "no" you're going to be the main one to suffer, but you won't be the only one.

And, finally, I promised those of you who were there that I'd post the "funny" video we didn't get to see here on the blog. Need a laugh today? Enjoy!

See you next Tuesday when we talk about how Wisdom Guides. Do you know that your heart is very important to God? Do you know that His thoughts about you daily can't be numbered because He thinks of you continually? Do you need some encouragement through corporate worship, fun times with girlfriends, and applicable teaching of Scripture? I hope you'll make Tuesday's Church 4 Chicks a priority on your schedule! I promise, we will not waste your time!

Have a great week!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Hey!! We LOVE hearing from our readers and fellow Church Chicks! Please leave a comment to let us know you stopped by!