Category Archives: Spiritual Growth

Who is helping you grow? (27)

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The godly people in the land are my true heroes! I take pleasure in them!

Psalms 16:3 NLT

https://bible.com/bible/116/psa.16.3.NLT

I came across this the other day and it was a great reminder. Who are the godly people you look up to? I’m not talking about just surrounding yourself with godly friends but actually having people around that help you grow. Do you have a Christian mentor? Do you go to Sunday school or attend a bible study? Who is helping you in your spiritual growth? Do you read books or listen to podcasts that help in your growth?

No person is an island and we all need help. The small group I am in, has changed my life for the better. These women have challenged me, inspired, informed me. They have made me a strong prayer warrior and Christian women. They have encouraged me when I didn’t think I could go forward.

If you are the smartest person you know, then you need a new circle. If you are the only person praying over your life, then you may want to get some new friends.

Easier said than done (25)

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Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Romans 12:12 NIV

This is the header on my website. I believe in this scripture but it’s quite another thing to actually do it. I can do some if these things and probably do them all separately but all at the same time? No sir. We need all three. You can’t get through any real trial or test without doing all of them.

I certainly have hope but I’m not always joyful. Joyful means you are always content regardless of circumstances. Psalm 63.

Is there one that is easier than another? Probably faithful in prayer. The bible says pray without ceasing. That I can typically do with no problem.

Which ever one you are still working on don’t fret. God will help you work on each one of them since he gave us the instructions in the first place.

 

Quick and dirty (24)

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I am reading this book right now called The Gifts of Imperfections, by Brene’ Brown. In the book she has 10 guideposts to life. Her whole approach is not how to but why you make the decisions you make. They were so many nuggets in her book. It has been a long time since I connected with a book in the way I connected with hers. I saw myself in those chapters. I was really surprised.

The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You're Supposed to Be and Embrace Who You Are by [Brown, Brené]

One of the many things she said that stood out to me was when she said there is no fast way to do the work. She couldn’t give people a how to because it was a quick list of steps is not going to help you with long lasting change. A blogger that I follow, Aqua,  brought up this same topic in her post. She talked about why blogs with headlines like 10 Ways to Happiness got more likes than Christian blog posts that basically said the same thing.

I get it. Putting in the work is hard. I talked about in a previous post as well. I would much rather get a top ten things to do, or avoid instead of doing soul searching work that is difficult and takes a long time to show results. Most people don’t run marathons for a reason. We want Microwave Growth. I know at times I do. Brene’ talks about in her book, how that just doesn’t work, even when we want it to. I will be talking more about her book because it was so life changing to me. I think its great that other people are starting to get this concept as well. The more of us that talk about it, maybe more people will be willing to put in the work to change themselves and not go for the quick fix.

Doing the work (23)

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This summer is going by fast. I don’t feel like I have done as much partying as I did last summer. I had quite a breakthrough last summer in focusing on my self care and really doing the work to be a better person. I came out of that experience refreshed. I just start writing for my blog. I had good the goals or things I wanted to accomplish. God did all of them but one. You could probably guess which one that was. I was very pleased. I must admit though that list was pretty surfacey, superficial. It was mostly about partying and hanging out, having fun with my husband and my friends. I knew this year I would do the same thing. Make this list to God and ask him to help me do things that I wanted to accomplish. It was much harder for me to write it this time though.

I started this list in April, but every time I would sit down to write it, I just couldn’t do it. I would stumble and stutter and end up talking to God about random stuff, not what I really what I wanted to do. I couldn’t understand what was taking me so long why i just couldn’t spit it out. Part of that was because if I really asked God for something and worked on it and he didn’t do it I would be faced with disappointment yet again.

I just didn’t think that I could do that again. God’s track record is proven. So I decided to go for it. Knowing that I need to put the work in. I always thought that if I put the work in that I would be trying to help God.

That just isn’t true. He doesn’t need my help, he needs effort. Effort can be difficult when you aren’t seeing results, but that is where true perseverance comes in.

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I gave God my list and I started putting the work in. It has certainly been harder but also more rewarding. I am making long lasting changes. Changes that aren’t just a change in action but a change in thought process, with action to back it up. Its been a challenge but I feel good. I have definitely grown this summer and taken some steps back. Change is not a linear process. I couldn’t always say that.  Growth is also recognizing that things take time.

What-success-looks-like

Free write(19)

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I did my first free write today. I see why people say dance like nobody’s watching. I never really understood that phrase until now. It is so much easier to sit down and write when I am doing it like I expect no one to read it. I see why everyone says don’t be so worried about perfect and get it on the page. I see why there is something to accomplish, something to be said about someone that finishes a book even if it isn’t good. Writing takes courage, hard work and discipline. I understand now why some people don’t believe in it. Others would say that its an excuse when people say they have writers block. Or you can’t get started writing because you don’t know how. I am making excuses about not writing this book.

I gave my self a writing goal for the end of the year. Its progress. I am so excited for this first step. Its a tangible step. I did a lot research, read a lot of books but I hadn’t seriously  written anything. Setting a goal is a big deal for me because I am very goal oriented. It will push me which is what I need.

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Thank you so much for your support.

 

Dominique

Keeping my tongue from sin(18)

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I love the language in Psalms. The writer describes things in a totally different way than you would intially think. When I saw this verse this morning, it made me pull up short. I have been known to talk a lot, especially at work. We do a lot sitting at our desks, so its easy to fall down the rabbit hole of random conversation. Sometimes, I know I could be engaged in more productive activities, such as work. I know, I know. I should know better.

I’m not saying that idle chit chat at work is wicked. I’m just saying that idle talk can walk you into trouble. Sometimes just sitting back and observing or focusing on what you need to do can be advantageous.

You notice more when you are talking less and listening more.Talking too much can have you saying things you dont mean.Be aware of your surroundings and who you are conversing with, it could make a big difference. Remember your words matter.

Proven track record (16)

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For the word of God will never fail. ”

Luke 1:37 NLT
https://bible.com/bible/116/luk.1.37.nlt

Another one of my favorite verses. I love a promise from God. He always keeps them. No matter how long it takes. I was wrestling with some decisions I was making and God sent this as a reminder for me. I’m so thankful that God cannot fail. You should remember that as well in your day to day happenings. You may not see but God is always working on your behalf.

Faith over fear (15)

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What are you afraid of? I just realized that I am afraid of change. I never really thought I was a person afraid of change but one of the ladies in my caregroup asked me yesterday if I was of change and after thinking about it I had to say yes. We are doing a bible study on faith in a larger study on the fruit of the spirit by Beth Moore. Beth asks when you are afraid to have faith what is holding you back. Everyone said fear of disappoint, myself included but after we started talking about prayer requests, I realized I am afraid of change. I haven’t had many changes in my life. I worked in the same department at the same company for eight years. I also worked their in Undergrad, so there was no true change for me there. I lived in the same apartment for 3 years before I got married. I hate moving. As I look back over my life, I realized that I don’t take the opportunity to change very often.

fearofchange

My fear of change could potentially be blocking me from my blessings. An opportunity came up at work and I was thinking of all the reasons that it could be bad. I never thought for a moment of the positives that could come from the change. There is growth in change. I realized that if I let my fear of change hold me back, then I am telling God he can’t be with me wherever I go or whatever situation I face. Its a control issue. The longer you stay in a situation, the more you have control over, you can anticipate the variables. I say God is in control of my life, but if I let fear rule me then truly, I am saying I control my life and not God. That’s not the life I am trying to lead.

Image result for fear of change

One of the girls in the group said that I was just creating a lot of this in my mind. I created a story. It doesn’t have to end that way. I am projecting my feelings onto a situation that had not happened yet. What if it was good? I have never even considered that. I chose to focus only on the negative. What if I chose to focus on the positive instead? I also made a pros and cons list. After looking at the list, the pros were definitely outweighing the cons.

Change is something that is inevitable. I am working hard to embrace change and not run from it. I don’t want to block any blessings because I am afraid. I trust God to work everything out for my good.

Dream on (12)

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I have always believed in the Lord sending me messages in dreams. Often there is lesson or something practical I can take away. I once had a dream that when I use mean tones in conversation with my husband, it hurts his manhood. I knew that in my head but seeing the visual of him crumbled over in my dream after I said something to him really gave me the visual I needed to change what I was doing. Since then I have been working on how I speak to him. A dream inspired this 31 posts in 31 days (1) God told me if I stop treating my writing/blog as a hobby and started treating it like a job I could really start to grow.

I had a terrible dream this weekend but it definitely helped me. My husband was out of town over the weekend and I went out with some friends. I had a good time with them, came back home, got in the bed went to sleep. I had a dream that seemed so real that I was afraid to get out of bed after. I dreamed that I woke up because a man slid in my bed and he wasn’t my husband. He clearly was there harm me. In my dream I immediately started praying please Lord let this be a dream. Then I woke up. I was shook! I needed to check and see if anybody was in my house and thank God it wasn’t but I couldn’t sleep for a long time after that. When I finally went downstairs and checked my house. I realized, I had left my front door unlocked. Not good! That was certainly a warning from God. You better believe I will be checking my doors twice before I go to bed at night from now on.

God uses dreams all the time to speak people in the bible. I used to worry if a dream was from God or just my own subconscious. I believe it can be from both. I recognize God in my dreams because I know his voice.

I saw some really interesting articles online about dream interpretation. I know people who go to dream books and try to see what their dreams meant. I have done it on occasion myself, but I don’t do that anymore. The article I read online says that, the symbols in a dreams are primarily ours. Nobody can interpret them for us except God. There are common dreams that everyone has like falling or being embarrassed in front of a crowd but typically God knows us and uses symbols we will understand. If I have a dream that I feel needs further explaining I will write it down and ask God to explain it me. Lord was there something in the dream I needed to know? Was it a warning? Was it prophecy? Writing them down has been great because I can see things come together later on.

Horoscopes and astrology (11)

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When I was looking for writing prompts for my 31 posts in 31 days (1) one of the prompts was, is your astrological sign accurate, why or why not? I was instantly intrigued because astrology is not something that Christians typically talk about.

Do you believe or practice astrology? Do you read your horoscope in the paper or online? I have never been one to really get into astrology but I do look at my birth sign and try to see if the traits attributed to me are accurate or not. I hate to admit they are pretty accurate. I am a Virgo. My birthday is September 13. When I look up characteristics of my sign, I am not surprised by what I find.

Virgo Strength Keywords:

– Analytical
– Observant
– Helpful
– Reliable
– Precise

Virgo Weakness Keywords:

– Skeptical
– Fussy
– Inflexible
– Cold
– Interfering

I am definitely 90% of these things.

These traits go well together and fairly accurate in their position. The bible is not a big fan of astrologers however. God is not into it at all. There are several verses that speak openly about astrologers, diviners, etc.

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” data-hasqtip=”4″ aria-describedby=”qtip-4″>Leviticus 19:26

‘You shall not eat anything with the blood, nor practice divination or soothsaying.

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