{"id":9625,"date":"2013-02-21T00:01:25","date_gmt":"2013-02-21T05:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=9625"},"modified":"2016-01-04T14:53:06","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T19:53:06","slug":"lifes-healing-choices-chapter-7-maintaining-the-momentum-pgs-220-239","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2013\/02\/21\/lifes-healing-choices-chapter-7-maintaining-the-momentum-pgs-220-239\/","title":{"rendered":"Life’s Healing Choices: Chapter 7 – Maintaining the Momentum (pp 220-239)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Choice7_LHC\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong>
\nPRAY <\/strong>\u2013
\nJohn Baker provides so much amazing information in this week\u2019s Make the Choice section. He begins by giving examples on how we can pray using Scriptures, and how a prayer familiar to most of us (The Lord\u2019s Prayer) relates to the choices we\u2019ve been learning. I will be using portions of Baker\u2019s examples for you today.<\/p>\n

Scripture: Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Your name\u2026
\nChoice 1: Realize I am not God
\nChoice 2: Earnestly believe that God exists<\/p>\n

Scripture: Your Kingdom come\u2026
\nChoice 8: Yield myself to God to be used<\/p>\n

Scripture: Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven\u2026
\nChoice 5: Voluntarily submit to God\u2019s changes<\/p>\n

Scripture: Give us our daily bread\u2026
\nChoice 3: Consciously choose to commit\u2026to Christ\u2019s care<\/p>\n

Scripture: Forgive us our debts\u2026
\nChoice 4: Openly examine and confess my faults<\/p>\n

Scripture: As we have also forgiven our debtors\u2026
\nChoice 6: Evaluate all my relationships<\/p>\n

Scripture: And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one\u2026
\nChoice 7: Reserve a daily time with God<\/p>\n

WRITE \u2013<\/strong>
\nThrough the week\u2019s study we have looked at ways to prevent relapse of our bad habits by creating a new habit of evaluation. This week\u2019s \u201cWrite\u201d choice is about evaluating four areas: physical, emotional, relational and spiritual.<\/p>\n

Physical: What is your body telling you?<\/p>\n

Emotional: What are you feeling? Use HEART to help you express what you are feeling.<\/p>\n

H \u2013 am I hurting?
\nE \u2013 am I exhausted?
\nA \u2013 am I angry?
\nR \u2013 do I resent anyone?
\nT \u2013 am I tense?<\/p>\n

Relational: Am I at peace with everyone?<\/p>\n

Spiritual: Am I relying on God?<\/p>\n

SHARE \u2013<\/strong>
\nShare what you\u2019ve written with your accountability partner. Work to develop a plan to recognize and resolve problems more quickly, to be aware of them sooner and take appropriate action.<\/p>\n

Over the years, I\u2019ve become more aware of how I tend to react emotionally, based on the feelings that a situation brings rather than the facts before me. Instead of looking rationally at a situation, I have the knee-jerk reaction and most often spout out something I later regret. And, when I\u2019m tired, it\u2019s even worse. On good days, I can recognize this before I open my mouth and I pause to consider the other person and what might be prompting them to act as they are. I try to remember that those around me are not \u201cout to get me\u201d and may just be having a bad day. It\u2019s the basic lesson—it\u2019s not about me!
\nBut on my bad days , I am feeling unappreciated or taken for granted in an area of my life, and anything someone says that may bump against my views for the day will result in a conflict. How dare they say that to me…act that way towards me…assume that about me, and so on. In a flash, I resort to the negative thoughts, the relational strongholds that I\u2019ve been working to rid myself of. And, it\u2019s during those moments that turning to a trusted friend helps keep me grounded in the here and now. When you have the right person alongside you, they will point you back to God through Scriptural reminders and truths. They will help you focus on your identity as a child of God. They will call you out when you\u2019re stuck in negativity and hold you to a higher standard. Sure, it can be uncomfortable because we want to feel what we feel just because we want to! But life has so much more to offer us. God wants so much more for us than to be ruled by our emotions.<\/em><\/p>\n

Take time to reflect on the pattern of relapse with your partner: complacency, confusion, compromise, and catastrophe. Where do you get trapped most often?<\/p>\n

For me, it is complacency; and Baker couldn\u2019t have explained it any better, \u201cWe get comfortable. We\u2019ve confessed our problem, we\u2019ve started dealing with it, and we\u2019ve made some progress. Then we get comfortable, and one day we stop praying about it and then we stop working at it\u201d (page 207).<\/p>\n

When the immediate need to fix something has been addressed, the urgency to continue working on it dissipates. It\u2019s no longer urgent, and slowly the comfort settles in. But Jesus reminded us, \u201cKeep watch and pray, so that you will not give into temptation. For the spirit is willing, but the body is weak\u201d (Mark 14:38 NLT).<\/p>\n

Even Paul tells us, \u201cIf you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12 NLT). So it\u2019s not a situation that wasn\u2019t expected to happen, but it is a situation that can be prevented.<\/p>\n

\n

Let\u2019s Pray<\/strong> \u2013
\nLord, we thank You for loving us so much that You gave the greatest example of forgiveness through Your Son, Jesus. As we focus on creating dedicated time alone with You, let us remember to be still and know You. Timothy tells us that Your Word is \u201cuseful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.\u201d Allow us to keep this focus and to develop a desire to know You even more. This journey to recovery from our habits, hang-ups, and hurts has not been easy, but we feel Your grace, love, and gentleness more each day. Amen.<\/p>\n

Power Verses for Chapter 7:<\/strong>
\n1 Corinthians 10:12
\nMatthew 22:37-40
\nJames 1:22
\nColossians 3:16
\nPsalm 46:10
\nPsalm 107:15
\n2 Timothy 3:16
\nHebrews 12:1<\/p>\n

\n
\n

If you would like to send Amy a private email in regards to this blog, please email her at: Amy@GirlfriendsCoffeeHour.com<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PRAY \u2013 John Baker provides so much amazing information in this week\u2019s Make the Choice section. He begins by giving examples on how we can pray using Scriptures, and how a prayer familiar to most of us (The Lord\u2019s Prayer) relates to the choices we\u2019ve been learning. I will be using portions of Baker\u2019s examples […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":9669,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22],"tags":[1802,1525,90,1830,425,493,1829,570,608,1799,1831,845,9298,1135],"class_list":["post-9625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-victorious-healing","tag-1-corinthians-1012","tag-2-timothy-316","tag-amy-butterfield","tag-colossians-316","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-hebrews-121","tag-james-122","tag-john-baker","tag-lifes-healing-choices","tag-mark-1438","tag-psalm-10715","tag-psalm-4610","tag-victorious-healing","tag-womens-bible-studies","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/Choice7_LHC.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-2vf","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9625"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29383,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9625\/revisions\/29383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}