Where do YOU want Christ to show up in your model
If you are anything like me, when I am faced with a struggle, I want it to be “fixed” right now.
I want to stop feeling uncertain, uncomfortable, or angry.
I want someone to remove the problem so I don’t have to deal with it, or
Just skip to a beautiful ending as quickly as possible…
All because I just want to FEEL BETTER … now!
This is what this looks like in “the model”…
C-I want the Lord to change my circumstance here, or
T-
F-
A-
R- I want the Lord to skip to a wonderful outcome here!
Looks good, right!
I’ve learned through experience, the Lord usually shows up in the Thoughts, Feelings and Actions instead…
Why?
Because our goal is to BECOME like Him, not have Him fix our never ending problems we don’t know how we find ourselves in all the time.
He want’s to teach us how to work through and solve our struggles, so we can grow.
When we learn through our circumstances we feel empowered and more confident.
When we invite Christ to be part of this learning process, we can experience the struggle with more peace and hope, instead of suffering (remember last month I said, “Suffering is optional.”)
What does this learning look like? That’s next…
**
How does the middle of this model work?
Our thoughts create our feelings, and our feelings cause us to take some kind of action.
If our thoughts are “I don’t want to deal with this” or “I wish this would go away”…
Your likely feeling a buffet of negative emotions, like: anger, resentment, overwhelmed, sadness, frustration, (enter your emotion here).
These feelings cause you to shut down, do nothing, avoid the situation, yell, be disconnected, etc.
But if we invite Christ into the middle of the model it might look something like this…
T- Heavenly Father, what are some thoughts that might help me get through this hard time? Is there anything that might help me remember how you helped me another time? Or Thank you for helping me get through hard times in the past, I know you’ll help me get through this to.
F- curious, hopeful, grateful
A-pray with more intent, search the scriptures and other good talks or books, pray some more, spend some times pondering in the mountains or on a walk, turn off the loud music and listen more, eat healthy foods to help you manage the disappointment and frustration you feel (even while feeling hopeful).
Do you see the difference?
Do you see how your thoughts effect, how you feel, and how you feel drives the actions you take?
When we spend more time being hopeful and grateful, we are lead to answers and solutions. We find peace in the adversity. And that peace comes from inviting Christ into your story!
As a BONUS side effect, we grow into more relationship with Christ and we become more like Him!
–It takes practice to change our old model into a new, more productive, model. If you’d like help navigating this switch it really does help tremendously to have a coach to help – I certainly needed one. If you’d like one to, message me, I’d love to help YOU!
