Chapter 5 - Living Beyond the Shadows of My Doubt
First off here is the video for this week! Check it out and let everyone know what you think! Did anything in the video speak to your heart? Can you relate to anything Renee is talking about?
Here are the questions for this week! As usual please do not feel tied to just these questions please feel free to tell us whatever speaks to your heart this week!
1. Do you have any limitations or weaknesses that make you doubt God can use you, or would want to? If so describe them and why they make you doubt God can use you.
2. The angel of the Lord told Gideon, "Go in the strength you have... am I not sending you?... I will be with you" (Judges 6:14-16) With that promise in mind, what doubts are you currently facing that you sense God wants you to conquer with Him and depend on His strength to overcome?
3. What are some triggers that cause you to doubt yourself (e.g., failure, fear, conflict, comparison, worry, etc)
4. What is the one thing from this week's reading that you will carry with you throughout the next week?
1. Do you have any limitations or weaknesses that make you doubt God can use you, or would want to? If so describe them and why they make you doubt God can use you.
ReplyDeleteMy limitations that make me doubt God can use me or would want to use me, are probably the same as a lot of you. I am filled with doubt about my abilities and myself. When I first started thinking about doing this Bible/book study my first thought was “what have you gotten yourself into? Get out of it quick, you can’t do this” Just yesterday I was thinking that I needed to get the Chapter 6 post ready and scheduled to post on Monday and my first thought was “There’s no rush, most the of the girls are playing catch up, or maybe they have lost interest because I’m boring” I almost didn’t write the Chapter 6 post because I doubted it was needed right now. I am glad that I was obedient to God and not to my doubts (and the chapter 6 post is already done and scheduled to post on Monday). I know everyone is busy and God has laid it on my heart that I need to keep posting on time because you all will get here eventually and when He is ready for you to arrive.
2. The angel of the Lord told Gideon, "Go in the strength you have... am I not sending you?... I will be with you" (Judges 6:14-16) With that promise in mind, what doubts are you currently facing that you sense God wants you to conquer with Him and depend on His strength to overcome?
I have been dealing with serious doubts in my job for the last couple years. 2 years ago the district made some big changes to the way we are evaluated and to the way we are supposed to be teaching. It has made me seriously doubt my teaching abilities. I have felt like a failure in teaching over the last couple years. It just made no sense to me and the more I tried to figure it out the more confused I got. When you are confused and frustrated it makes it even more difficult to figure something out too so that didn’t help. I was resistant to the changes because they made me feel inadequate. When I first started teaching I was always drawn to the newest, latest, and greatest research but I found myself griping and complaining about this new stuff instead of embracing it and learning all I could about it (like I would have done in my early years) and because I felt inadequate I could find nothing positive about it. I have always believed God called me to be a teacher and that through Him I became a good teacher, but with this new stuff I found myself doubting I ever should have become a teacher. I am happy to say though that since I began turning to Him more often and since starting this Bible/book study I have felt more confident in myself and I realized that God’s calling for me had not changed, I was the one who had changed. I had become stagnant so I did what I used to do, I went online and ordered every book I could find on the subject, watched videos, and asked friends who seemed to understand what I was not able to understand. Through God’s strength I was able to admit to myself, and my friends that I needed guidance in this area and I received it. I am beginning to understand it and I know that God has opened my eyes and my mind to this new way so that I can continue on in confidence doing what He has lead me to do.
3. What are some triggers that cause you to doubt yourself (e.g., failure, fear, conflict, comparison, worry, etc)
ReplyDeleteWorry I believe is my biggest trigger. I worry all the time! If I’m not worried about something then I wonder why I’m not worried about things. I have myself convinced that if I worry about something then maybe the worst won’t happen, but if I don’t worry about it tragedy is sure to follow. I know its crazy! The crazy thing is I worry the most over things I have ZERO control over. Maybe that is typical because if I had control over them there would be no reason to worry. I’m working so hard on trusting and waiting for God and not worrying. I’ve been reading Luke in my daily reading plan and it talks about how God takes care of the birds and the plants and if He takes care of these things, how much more will He take care of me. Right now I believe He is giving me a lesson in this area. I hate waiting for answers, and I hate uncertainty and right now I am dealing with both. I have no control over it, I have made my wishes known, and I have prayed that God’s will prevail so there really is nothing for me to worry about because no matter the outcome I’m fine and I will know that it is God’s will, yet I find myself worrying about it several times a day.
4. What is the one thing from this week's reading that you will carry with you throughout the next week?
The one thing that I will carry with me this week is actually from the video more so than the reading. It is the verse Hebrews 10:35-36 I will not throw away my confidence; it will be richly rewarded. I will persevere so that when I have done the will of God, I will receive what He has promised.
The chart that the author shared in the video is printed out and placed in my purse where I can pull it out this week if I feel myself starting to throw away my confidence and instead I will throw away my doubt and my worry
You can find the chart here - http://reneeswope.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/DontThrowAwayYourConfidence.pdf