Red is Out

For those of you who attend Crossroads or are going through the Free* series with a church, I am a Red person.

For those of you who are not: A stronghold in my life is anger and bitterness. I always thought of it as rejection issues or abandonment since past men in my life have left me on a whim or went away at crucial or difficult times. Instead of wallowing, I have harvested a mindset of bitterness and a feeling of being wronged, leading to being unable to forgive easily or at all. This mostly manifests in not being able to forgive myself for some mistakes I've made, but I've noticed I approach unpleasant situations with anger and frustration rather than patience and compassion.

With that, I'm sorry if I've ever been impatient with you when it seemed to be unneccessary. I realize that many of my behaviors have been uncalled for and should have been more carefully considered, more gentle, more compassionate.

Noticing that I immediately react in frustration rather than understanding, my plan of action is to be slow to anger and abounding in love. Now that I can identify the source of my stronghold, I'll be better in controlling it and eventually getting rid of it. This will take so much dependence on God, something that I'm really excited about.

I have a feeling that this will lead to a transformation in the way I handle myself and in the way I view myself. I will come to a more full understanding of what grace is, which will then allow me to offer grace more abundantly. Then someday, I can forgive myself and those around me, even the people who have hurt me the most.

I'm ready to be free.

The Resilient Life

I checked out an update on my recovering paralyzed friend's CaringBridge page and his family has been reading The Resilient Life by Gordan MacDonald. People who are truly resilient to what life throws at them find success and push through challenges by possessing 5 characteristics:

1. They are committed to finishing strong
2. They run inspired by the big picture view of life
3. They run free of the weight of the past
4. They run confidently, trained to go the distance
5. They run in the company of a happy few

My friend's parents posed the question:

Do you face your life challenges with a sense of anger, disdain, and resentment at the world?

Or do you look straight ahead, decide not to deviate from your game plan and look at this as a challenge to shape the rest of your life?