We did it! We made is through the last class and I am so grateful for each and every one of you. I honestly can’t believe how much my understanding of “where to go from here” has changed over the years. Time and experience gave some insight that I didn’t have when I began the journey. I spoke from the heart in this class and shared the realities and the treasure of recovery. This class has no notes, it was sort of a chit-chat format of some things I have discovered about moving forward. I did cut off testimonies as I didn’t have formal permission to share and don’t want to violate anyone’s privacy.
I pray that you continue to connect with us or another group. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if we can assist you in the future! With much grace and love, Stephanie
Hello everyone! I apologize for the delay for those who are following along. We had a great class on boundaries last Tuesday, and I want to remind you that next week is our final session. You are welcome to move over to our Thursday class based on A House that Grace Built as we deal “room” by “room” on the different relationship issues. It begins at 9;30 am as opposed to 10:30. Also, a reminder that I will be offering a training seminar on Saturday, February 21st for anyone who wants to learn how to run a group. You can join this session for free for educational purposes. It’s $40 if you want to get a certificate (test required), and that cost includes either a digital or hard copy book.
Getting back on subject, boundaries was intense! It always is! We had to re-think and look at the concept of boundaries with biblical insight, but then practically apply to our lives. It’s a little crazy when you start to embrace the realities! Boundaries is tricky business! I encourage you to watch this as I couldn’t possibly explain the concepts we covered. I think you will really enjoy the way we can maneuver through this with solid biblical principles that draw us back into our real life situations.
in this class we began by discussing the important subject of “systems.” The goal of recovery isn’t so much that we fix the external behaviors and circumstances, but rather that we learn to move away from a system of shame, and take hold of a system of grace.
As grace is activated and real in our lives, God desires to form Himself in us and then set us back into alignment to our design. This isn’t something that we should feel is foreign or strange. Rather, it should be a holy relief to finally be given the right and permission to be who God created us to be. There is no ability to measure the extent of this gift. Authentic identity is about being in unity with God’s heart, and having access to His point of view, His purposes, His calling. It’s about walking out a destiny that was created specially and uniquely for us.
If you haven’t yet met yourself and find yourself still in the condition of “identity theft”, simply press ahead. Don’t give up on the miracle of your God-given identity and purpose. It will come.
This class highlighted important truths not just about forgiving others, but about the nature of authentic healing. In recovery, we don’t simply “forgive” people in an obligatory manner. Rather, we must learn to forgive by dealing with the violations for the damage they imposed, and being given permission to both hate and hurt over it. Then, we must learn to forgive in the manner that Jesus forgave us. This process isn’t easy, but I can assure you it’s worth it. I believe this is where Jesus can meet us more than any other. To learn the heart of Jesus is to understand that He doesn’t call us to forgive from afar, but He walks with us in our pain, and teaches us to forgive because it will in fact lead to our own freedom. I pray this will bless you.
Prepare for Chapter 10, however I will extend this class over two weeks as I want to recap on the redemption class because of the many distractions that have occurred.
Learning how to walk in forgiveness is at the heart of all forms of redemption. Forgiveness is the doorway, the access point to all true freedom. This class was pre-recorded and then played to a live class/webinar two weeks ago. It is in YouTube format as opposed to our normal webinar. We are testing this new system and will continue to upgrade and improve the quality before launching it in the future! After this week, we will return to the webinar format.
For those of you praying for my husband’s heart surgery. Thank you so much! He’s been completely restored, he’s home, active and feeling better than ever!
There was a certain show I used to love to watch that had a modern-day Jesus as the theme. It showed how Jesus would talk, interact and deal with people. They tried to illustrate His heart and how He in general viewed people. He was filled with the language of grace, had compassionate affection and never judged people to condemn their behavior. Rather He interacted to reach, restore and heal. I found it to be so accurate to my own understanding of Jesus today. How often He is misrepresented in our head and heart! How often we mistake the voice of the enemy as the voice of God!
Our discussion on shame could seem negative in topic, but actually this class focused on the real nature of God’s redemptive language. The enemy is a liar. He comes to create false messaging and hold into bondage to our sense of being “not good enough.” There are many reasons for being recipients of shame, but no matter its origin God’s goal is eradication. God wants to re-message our lives with life, hope and peace. He wants to become the great “I Am” for our every need, so we are reliant not on ourselves, but on His grace.
On another note, please pray for my husband as he will undergo heart surgery on Tuesday, January 13th. We will have class as usual (I will obviously not be there), and if you are registered you will receive details! Thank you in advanced for your prayers!
This past week we stopped for a moment from the material and received some tools to be equipped to pray! While some of us don’t feel “spiritual enough” to pray “right”, we must understand that if we simply pour ourselves before the Lord in such a manner that welcomes Him into our situations, He will move heaven and earth on our behalf. Plugging into prayer isn’t a “how to” list. It is actually plugging into His Person – and being aligned with His character first and foremost. In other words, we don’t receive from a God that is distant and detached – we receive from a God who holds our hand tightly and walks directly into our personal circumstances. A God who is intimately acquainted with our pain and needs. That’s the kind of Jesus we want to get to know and pursue.
I pray that God will bless and keep you as you move through the holidays. I look forward to seeing you again on January 6!
We looked at the principle of denial this week – and above anything I want to encourage each of you in the journey. This stuff isn’t easy, but it’s worth it. I want to share some of the thoughts I had on facebook regarding denial and the reason why we need to face the past. God wants to recreate our future, but not without facing the things that had hurt us in the first place. The reason for this is massive. The past is the present if we don’t have the opportunity to cleanse away the residue the past created.
Here’s my thoughts I shared earlier this week:
Typically, this seems to be a difficult conversation for us to have. It sounds like a dreaded pathway of pain and torment. At least that’s what the enemy of our soul would like us to believe. In reality, it can be the place that brings the most relief as we learn to stop believing LIES as TRUTH. In some ways, we are asking God to part our own “Red Seas” – the massive and deep waters of our life experiences that seem impossible to sift, sort and walk through! We are asking God to perform our own miracle – to reveal the difference between the false beliefs we have acquired and the reality of His perspective.Just as the Red Sea was parted to allow the Israelites to trade bondage for freedom, so this enormous “sea” of beliefs in front of us can also begin to part and clear the pathway to our personal freedom. If we choose to begin to walk through the things that God reveals, we get to learn to press forward – to move ahead – to find the place of God’s calling, personal destiny, purpose and significance WITHOUT THE PAST HOLDING US CAPTIVE. It may not happen immediately, but it can happen. That is a biblical fact! Can I encourage anyone who is struggling to not give up before the miracle? Don’t look at the “sea” as though its power can somehow outdo God’s power. EVERYTHING that’s brought under His authority will be forced to experience His intervention – the past, present and future.
Prayer! We will be taking time off the book process and resume this after the holidays. When we come back we will dive into what I like to refer as “deliverance”. This is the access tool to eventual freedom. For right now, I feel it’s imperative to learn how to pray through this season in your life. So we will be doing a prayer workshop – where I don’t just pray with you, I want to teach you to how to have powerful and effective prayers.
The topic of surrender came to us on a cold and rainy day in Southern California! Yes, we are spoiled rotten and rain practically shuts us down completely! Still, alot of people managed to show up and display the commitment to work through this. I have been amazed to witness the faithfulness! For those of you who couldn’t make it – no shame here! Just for the record, I too cancelled an afternoon appointment and I completely understand.
Still, I want to impress on you the importance of this class. There is no subject more needful or difficult to comprehend than surrender. In this single principle EVERYTHING is laid on the line. Surrender will determine the outcome from here on out.
Rather than explain what we discussed today, I encourage you to listen or watch the webinar recording. If you are reading this in the blog post, be sure to click inside to access the audio (it doesn’t show up on the e-mail). I pray that you will find, as we did, that God truly did show up today.
Today’s class is also preparing us for the courageous journey of self-examination that will be dealt with in Chapter 6. This is where faith will need to take over and we will need to believe that God can deal with the hurts that we have carried. It’s also where some give up and go back to a lifestyle they feel unable to change. Can I encourage you to press into the character of God and call Him out on the basis of His Word RIGHT NOW? Can I challenge you to bring to Him your need and ask Him to do for you what you can’t do for Yourself? Can I just implore to NOT GIVE UP! God is real, He does care for You, and He has a plan in everything right now. His only requirement? Give it to Him.
Read and complete Chapter 6 – begin to work on inventories! Please note: you will have several weeks to continue through this!
To download electric version, click here. You can print out each sheet as needed! Please note: click the individual tabs to access the different sheets!
Restoration | Healing | New Beginnings 