Confession: For many years, if I’m honest, I was afraid of and dismissed (or rather forfeited) the grace that could be mine. As a hardworking, obedient Christian woman who prided herself on serving everyone else first, I feared grace would make me lazy, entitled, complacent, and allow me to be an excuse maker…all of which I detested.
WOW, was I wrong. All that dismissing grace did was make me anxious, self-righteous, insecure, self-reliant, and trapped by my fears of making mistakes and not being perfect, clearly a futile pursuit.
What I have learned is there is no greater motivator than grace. In fact, that is the very first lesson taught in our prep lessons for joining the LYV community. Participants must understand that they are entering into a “Grace Based Culture”. We teach on it and reteach and remind and practice it ongoingly throughout all our programs, events, trainings, etc.
Living in this world which is a meritocracy ( meaning you earn your way based on merit or good deeds) this takes some doing. So we must constantly remind women…
“Be a student not a judge of yourself.”
“Give yourself permission to make mistakes.”
“Even at your ‘worst’, you are an amazing creation of God’s reflecting out His qualities in your uniqueness.”
The crazy thing we see happening is through this new air they breathe, they relax and I watch women stop just surviving and start to thrive. In this refreshingly different ‘oasis’ and grace-based culture we see beautiful talented women who have given so much to others and have been capped personally for years start taking action. I see them start to overcome things like…
- health obstacles,
- marriage challenges,
- lack of confidence in personal & professional relationships
- disillusionment with God
- financial fears
- and transform in ways that can only be described as divine.
This has opened my eyes. 😳 What began for me as just a desperate escape from the pressure I constantly felt myself under to perform and take care of everyone else has become a sanctuary for my soul. After years of beating myself up and constantly looking at all my shortcomings and weaknesses in an attempt to motivate myself, I came to an end. What started as just taking a ‘breather’ has become an entire way of life and a community of 100s of women being re-invigorated and re-invented. Who knew??
Truly one of my favorite testimonies came recently when one team member & LYV participant visited her home and her parents said to her “We can see your soul has been healed.”
I too can now say that… and thus I am seeing myself overcome things like my own health and weight issues, my own marriage and sex life challenges, my own lack of personal and professional confidence, my own disillusionment and lack of faith with God and my own financial fears through the powerful grace God offers. I have so many more areas of my life I am looking for victories in now. But I am now ready with a clear view of the strengths God has given me and the Grace He provides to tackle even more of the shadowed areas of my life. Pray for me please. 🙏
I am praying for you. Don’t miss the grace that could be yours. If you have more questions about what this looks like and even where to begin, enjoy the replay of our Virtual Encore of Live Your Vision LIVE 2021. This spirit is BIG as LIFE here. Grab your copy now and see for yourself what it feels like.
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