There are several things I love about living in community.
Don’t have a hair brush? Someone’s got your back.
Need shampoo? Someone has extra.
Tired of the skirt you’ve worn the last 5 days? Someone else is tired of theirs – trade!
Don’t have a full length mirror to see what you look like? I’ve got 5 sisters who will tell me how my outfit looks.
Need some prayer? Shoot! That’s easy to find.
Need encouragement? We’ve got you!
Wisdom? So easy to come across.
One of my favorite things about doing life with others is when they notice I can be doing better in an area of my life and “call me into greatness.” (World Race term.)
For me recently, it’s been my tone behind what I say. They know my heart doesn’t match my tone. They know I don’t meant things the way they come out of my mouth. So I took that and tried my hardest to work on not saying things wrong. It didn’t work too well. When I thought I was doing well in my flesh I would get a response that indicated it still wasn’t good enough. I didn’t realize I was doing it all wrong until one night when I sat down with my team. I had hit the breaking point. With their help I realized my tone wasn’t necessarily the issue. My tone was a result of my fear. My fear of being forgotten. There were so many conversations I reflected back on where I tried to just get people to notice me because I didn’t want to be forgotten. If I’m honest with myself I would say 90% of the time I acted off of that fear. A cycle that has gone on most of my life.
How does one break a cycle that has repeated for so long? With wisdom from my sweet team mate: Start acting out of love instead of fear. How does that work? By getting the truth I need straight from the only one who matters. Jesus! His truth says I am not forgotten. I won’t be forgotten. I am loved. I am seen. I am noticed. I am beautiful. I am His creation.
Without the help of my team I can honestly say I would still be acting out of fear but wouldn’t know it. I would still be working on my tone and be unaware of the deeper root issue. I would feel forgotten in a situation suppress it and continue the cycle. But my team loves me enough to call me into greatness. I am not perfect at acting out of love yet and I probably won’t ever be, but I am aware of my fear and all I can do is lay it at the feet of Jesus every. single. day.
Hosea 14:4 The Lord says, “Then I will heal you of your faithfulness; my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be gone forever…”
Read the whole chapter if you have time, you won’t regret it.
