As ministers, we can so easily shift into frustration and despair when church attendance is not growing, we’ve made a mistake in implementing a “program,” lost a valuable staff member or volunteer family, or shame ourselves for our human failures.
The pain comes because we are not ALLOWING and PROCESSING THROUGH all the EMOTIONS that come with that experience.
When a church, ministry, or business is not growing, it will stem back to our OWN THOUGHTS about it.
Because it’s our THOUGHTS that will produce our EMOTIONS and our EMOTIONS will drive our ACTIONS every single time.
It is our ACTIONS that give us the results we either want or don’t want.
We cannot keep blaming people, geography, or circumstances if we don’t see CHANGE.
We so want to build something and co-create with and partner with God in HIS plan and we often fall into two ditches.
The first is to just pray and leave it all up to God! Thinking if He blesses it, it will grow! But even things in the world grow, cancers grow too, but it’s not necessarily a sign of health, right?
The second is to try to push through and grind and do it in our own effort which will only cause burnout and resentment. If we’re in this for the long haul, in a race that is more of a marathon than a sprint, we need to embrace all the complexities that God created us with. Balancing the caring of our physical bodies, our spirits, and our souls (our mind, will, and emotions).
Too often we fall into the belief that to be “IN FAITH” means we are to ignore our feelings. Feeling does not equal FAILING! It’s just what you’re feeling. Should we stay in a place of negative emotions? No! But we must ALLOW them and make space for them and release them. Release the disappointment, the shame, the blame, the judgment, and the resentment in order to move forward into more empowered emotions that will then propel forward what YOU & GOD are building TOGETHER!
We often over-spiritualize things and then become of no earthly good.
It’s not EITHER/OR but rather BOTH/AND.
God didn’t create us to compartmentalize our lives. He designed us so that spirit/soul/body flow together in perfect harmony creating our HIGHEST POTENTIAL!
We are taught to renew our minds with the Word, which is true because if our thinking is not right and in line with God’s Word we will not walk in His highest and best flow for our lives, but if we try to jump right to change our thoughts, without processing through the emotions, we will remain STUCK and neither WE nor our ministries will GROW!
Sometimes we don’t know what we don’t know, because we are so familiar with our go-to actions and not as familiar with our thoughts and allowing the feelings those thoughts have created.
It helps to have someone on the outside as a compassionate witness to what’s going on in your brain. That’s the job of a coach. To hold a sacred, non-judgmental space and help you discover those hidden thoughts that are causing a result that you truly do not want.
Ready for the faith mindset shift that you need to get the train moving in the direction you desire? Reach out today to set up a call and let’s chat about how I can help! Because the desire to do something great with God came FROM God and He wants you to succeed in EVERYTHING you put your hand to! ~Be Blessed, Jenny xoxo
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~JENNY RIEFLIN MINISTRIES~ 