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There is a profound difference between feeling as though "you are not enough" and believing that you are underserving.This week we go toe to toe with our inner critic and discuss ways to find the root cause of our inner critic.Not Enough = feeling of inadequacy -  Questioning if you have what it takes - you ask yourself “What if I’m not good enough?” Not Worthy Of = feeling of undeserving -  Questioning if you deserve anything good or better -  you ask yourself “Am I loveable?”---

1 CHRONICLES 19:13 “Be courageous! Let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. May the LORD’s will be done.”   Where does true courage come from?God, but do we truly believe it?  Side effects of courage - Trouble & Contagion Do you prefer trouble with others or trouble with God? How do you respond to someone else's courage? DEUTERONOMY 20:8 “Is anyone here afraid or worried? If you are, you may go home before you frighten anyone else.”  How do I find the courage to stand up for what I believe in? Caring more about what God says over anyone else’s opinion.   

"but even after all He did, you refuse to trust the Lord your God." Deut. 1:32 In what ways am I not trusting God? What are you tight fisting?Are you willing to deep deeper?What is the root of the problem? Are you willing to stop the spin cycle?Who or what are you putting your trust in?      

Have you ever felt like "quiet quitting" motherhood?You are not alone!Join us today, we are sharing five parenting lessons learned in the Afghan Knit of the Month club.(Can you guess which one of us would have joined this club?!)

Taking a closer look at our own motives and the motives of others while asking ourselves as Paul did, "How will I respond?"The best ways are 1) with questions and 2) prayerPhilippians 1:15-21 (MSG)15-17 It’s true that some here preach Christ because with me out of the way, they think they’ll step right into the spotlight. But the others do it with the best heart in the world. One group is motivated by pure love, knowing that I am here defending the Message, wanting to help. The others, now that I’m out of the picture, are merely greedy, hoping to get something out of it for themselves. Their motives are bad. They see me as their competition, and so the worse it goes for me, the better—they think—for them. 18-21 So how am I to respond? I’ve decided that I really don’t care about their motives, whether mixed, bad, or indifferent. Every time one of them opens his mouth, Christ is proclaimed, so I just cheer them on! And I’m going to keep that celebration going because I know how it’s going to turn out. Through your faithful prayers and the generous response of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, everything he wants to do in and through me will be done. I can hardly wait to continue on my course. I don’t expect to be embarrassed in the least. On the contrary, everything happening to me in this jail only serves to make Christ more accurately known, regardless of whether I live or die. They didn’t shut me up; they gave me a platform! Alive, I’m Christ’s messenger; dead, I’m his prize. Life versus even more life! I can’t lose.

When do you feel the pressure to water down your faith or step away from the truth of scripture? What strategies do you use to resist falling into the trap of following deceptive teachings/the world?Colossians 2:8-10 (MSG)8-10 Watch out for people who try to dazzle you with big words and intellectual double-talk. They want to drag you off into endless arguments that never amount to anything. They spread their ideas through the empty traditions of human beings and the empty superstitions of spirit beings. But that’s not the way of Christ. Everything of God gets expressed in him, so you can see and hear him clearly. You don’t need a telescope, a microscope, or a horoscope to realize the fullness of Christ, and the emptiness of the universe without him. When you come to him, that fullness comes together for you, too. His power extends over everything.

Many of us are walking around all prettied up on the inside but a total disaster on the inside.How do we know if we are truly following God in our lives or just checking off the "Saved Soul" box? And why does it matter? We can't earn our way into Heaven!Ezekiel 36:26-28I’ll pour pure water over you and scrub you clean. I’ll give you a new heart, put a new spirit in you. I’ll remove the stone heart from your body and replace it with a heart that’s God-willed, not self-willed. I’ll put my Spirit in you and make it possible for you to do what I tell you and live by my commands. You’ll once again live in the land I gave your ancestors. You’ll be my people! I’ll be your God!

Are you running away from something or to something?We all have different coping mechanisms and they often keep us hiding from the HARD stuff.1 Chronicles 28:9-10“And you, Solomon my son, get to know well your father’s God; serve him with a whole heart and eager mind, for God examines every heart and sees through every motive. If you seek him, he’ll make sure you find him, but if you abandon him, he’ll leave you for good. Look sharp now! God has chosen you to build his holy house. Be brave, determined! And do it!” 

The truth will set you free but first, it might tick you off!WHY? The truth can be less comforting than lies. If we are honest, most people are more concerned about feeling good than healing good. The truth makes us question the narrative/story we may have believed for a lifetime.  Truth forces action. The action may be to cover up the truth and ignore it or it may require a heart change that will require hard work to manage and sift through the truth.

Jesus says to love others as we love ourselves, but we don’t often love ourselves well.  Self-Compassion is NOT self-esteemSelf-Compassion is NOT self-pitySelf-Compassion is NOT self-indulgence Self-compassion goes a long way if done correctly and without us allowing the world to warp the definition of what it truly means. When we learn to love ourselves as Jesus does we can truly love others the way He has called us to. How are you loving yourself?

The Story of the Two Sons - Matt 21:25-31 - Lip Service ²⁸ “Tell me what you think of this story: A man had two sons. He went up to the first and said, ‘Son, go out for the day and work in the vineyard.’ ²⁹ “The son answered, ‘I don’t want to.’ Later on he thought better of it and went. ³⁰ “The father gave the same command to the second son. He answered, ‘Sure, glad to.’ But he never went. ³¹⁻³² “Which of the two sons did what the father asked?” They said, “The first.” Jesus said, “Yes, and I tell you that crooks and whores are going to precede you into God’s kingdom. John came to you showing you the right road. You turned up your noses at him, but the crooks and whores believed him. Even when you saw their changed lives, you didn’t care enough to change and believe him.  

We are what we consume! From the media we watch to the words we play on repeat in our subconscious, everything we consume impacts our lives...for better or worse."We are what we consume physically, mentally, and emotionally. To have a healthier life, take responsibility for what you consume. Things will get better if you change just one of the the above three factors, and they will get immensely better if you remodel all three." - Greg BellMark 7:14-20 MSG - Jesus called the crowd together again and said, “Listen now, all of you—take this to heart. It’s not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it’s what you vomit—that’s the real pollution.” ¹⁷ When he was back home after being with the crowd, his disciples said, “We don’t get it. Put it in plain language.” ¹⁸⁻¹⁹ Jesus said, “Are you being willfully stupid? Don’t you see that what you swallow can’t contaminate you? It doesn’t enter your heart but your stomach, works its way through the intestines, and is finally flushed.” (That took care of dietary quibbling; Jesus was saying that all foods are fit to eat.) ²⁰⁻²³ He went on: “It’s what comes out of a person that pollutes: obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness—all these are vomit from the heart. There is the source of your pollution.”  Words can: - 1-be SPOKEN  -  2-WRITTEN - 3-SAID IN OUR MINDS  Matthew 12:33-34 MSG - If you grow a healthy tree, you’ll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you’ll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree. ³⁴⁻³⁷ “You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It’s your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation.”

Luke 18:9-13 MSG - He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’ ¹³ “Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”  Pride vs. humility  Humility is not thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less - CS Lewis  There are three characteristics that illustrate humility: Recognizing & accepting your own shortcomings and limitations Appreciating others' strengths, giving credit where it's due, and highlighting the success of others over your own.  Being open to learning from others.

Matthew 7:1-5 MSG - “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults—unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. When we judge others - we are making assumptions about them.  This topic doesn’t mean we don’t offer constructive criticism, but what’s the difference? 

Put down Your weapons! - words, actions, negative thoughts, and past sins Against others & YOURSELF 

“When we are silent, we come face to face with our addiction to being in control & always trying to fix things.” Peter Scazzero  Zechariah 4:5 MSG - You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ - Not by your power or might - but God’s   Some Tips on Combatting Perfectionism and Control focus on God - Not Self, so basically our character - not our accomplishments Instead of comparing yourself to others - know your worth in Christ Allow yourself to do things imperfectly (i.e. my painting class) Shift focus from pleasing others - to pleasing God (He is already pleased with you, but this simple mindset change can help a lot) Combat your negative thoughts with TRUTH through scripture

Jesus had all kinds of emotions. He felt hope (John 14:12). He felt anxious about the cross (Luke 22:44). He felt warm love (Mark 10:21). He felt tired (John 4:6). He felt joyful (John 15:11). He experienced pain (Mark 15:15). He was peaceful, even during a storm (Mark 4:38-40). He felt tempted to sin (

Our 2nd episode in our Release Me 2023 SeriesLetting go of OUR AGENDAS and assumptions to make room for God. After all, when we assume... Maybe it's time to plan life like we do our vacations - slow down, a balance of some structure and some free time  And we identify 3 places agendas really get in the way: Daily life, Life on mission/calling, Relationships  

We're kicking off our new series  "Release Me 2023" 3 Types of Guilt - Tangible, Emotional, Transcendental MARK 3:28-29 “I tell you the truth, all sin . . . can be forgiven.” PSALM 103:3, 10 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. . . . He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.

Do you make resolutions? We don't! (Shocker:)This week we're talking about how we tackle the new year and all of the pressure that comes with that "magic moment" the clock strikes 12! NEW YEAR tips From Paul - Romans 12:11-19   Stay in the word Be attuned & expect His voice - Follow it! Pray and don’t give up or give in  Help others & be inventive in hospitality Love your enemies & don’t fake it - strive to forgive  Laugh & Cry with your friends Don’t be arrogant & stuck up - love God’s people  Look for the beauty in everybody & seek peace w/ them God’s job is judging & revenge - not ours, leave it to himPS: Don't burn your soup!