22. What Does Church Mean to You?

I have grown up and lived my whole life in the Christian culture. I have known God. I have loved God. But when it comes to Trust and Surrender, I begin to struggle to truly release things to Him.Join me as I share a recent journey I have been walking with God and what I am learning about trusting Him.

You are not obligated to Transform. There will be a lot of opportunities in your life to back out of a season of transformation. Maybe people around you not being on board with the transformation God is asking of you, not understanding your own transformation, the transformation taking too long, etc.You always have a choice. Are you going to lean into God's invitation for transformation in your life?

What are some thoughts/doubts/fears that come up for you when God asks you to do something that you feel like you aren't ready to do?Do you believe God would ask you to do something for the only end result to be that you fall on your face, embarrass yourself, make a huge mistake etc?There is so much to learn from our struggles. I think it is important to dig deep, lean into trust and unveil the true meaning of our struggles.

"You will find any excuse to not do what I have asked you to do."Wow. I felt called out when I felt like God was speaking these words to me. And these exact words stick with me to this day. Are you going to say yes to God when he asks you to do something, no matter how inconvenient of a time it is?

Oh getting confused in this life. I've done it, not once, but several times in my life. I feel like there are times where our path isn't clear or straightforward. Maybe we know where we are headed, but no we have no idea what we are supposed to be doing each day to get there.How do we obtain clarity in regards to the purpose God has placed on our lives? I believe there are two forms of clarity that we need to be aware of to get us back on track when that confusion hits.

What comes up for you when you hear the word church?This is where I go on Sunday morningsThis is my spiritual community I see once a weekIt's a building that I worship atNow join me as we explore the true meaning of church and what it actually looks like to be living church.

Has your determination ever actually kind of ended up putting you in a messy situation? Like paint spilled all over your house kind of messy situation?We know that we will always face problems and struggles. You are probably facing one today. But how important is our determination and how can it help us through a mess when we need it to?

There is the version of you that others sees.There is the version of you that you see.There is the true version of you that God created.People who know us well will speak words over who we are that aren't always accurate, no matter how well they know us. We will also do this to ourselves. We must check in to make sure we aren't holding onto all the words people speak about who we are, including what we believe about ourselves at times.

There is no doubt we all have our own struggles. We have unique struggles that are specific to who we are and where our story is going.In all honesty, there are some struggles that we will face for the majority of our lives. Events in our lives make us face it over and over again. Are you going to trust God's truth through your struggle or are you going to give up?

People around us will always have their opinions. They will sometimes even say hurtful things about how we look, who they think we are and the plans that we have for our life. So how do we find the truth about ourselves through the hurtful things being said to us?We have to surrender to the truth God has placed on us. If we decide that everything people say about us is truth, we will not only feel lost about who we truly are, but we may also become exactly what that lie spoken over us says. Are you willing to surrender to the truth?