The Grace Narrative

Usually on the show I talk about life experiences where I can look back and see the lesson learned, the victory that was won, or the new practice that has come about through God's gracious intervention. But today I want to share from the messy middle of something where the breakthrough hasn't happened yet and explore the role of grace in meeting me in this place of disappointment and discouragement before the miracle.

All over we see posts, slogans, books, articles telling us that the best life is a balanced life. But for me, the balanced life target is kind of like the perfection target...I can't ever hit it, and so there's been a lot of self-condemnation around it. I want to share what I think is a much more freeing, realistic, and grace-filled approach in accounting for how and where we invest our time and energy and that's through the lens of wholeness.

Although multitasking has been lauded as a highly desirable skill, living that as a way of life has had devastating side effects that have taken me further away from what I value and hope to achieve. In this episode, we dive into the paradigm shift of "the one thing" mentality instead of multitasking and explore the clarifying question that leads to traction in moving us closer to what we have decided is the most important.

A paradigm shift is a radical change of personal perspective. It's like a light switch being turned on in our souls and flooding us with brightness when understanding dawns in a new way in our lives! This episode is an introduction to a series I want to do on some paradigm shifts that have had a serious impact in my own grace narrative.

Today's episode focuses on becoming more aware of our strongest character traits called signature strengths. By embracing what God has put inside us and developing these traits we can not only expect to fulfill our purpose, but also experience joy as we move toward our potential while we intentionally exercise our signature strengths.

In this episode, we discuss having compassion for someone that can be very challenging at times, but that person needs your compassion to heal. And that person is you. We're going to talk about why and how we can show compassion to ourselves because in doing so, we are cultivating wholeness and participating in abundant living.

Today's episode is the conclusion of a talk recorded last year when I shared about an especially challenging time for our family, so if you missed Part 1 last week, you'll want to go back and listen to Episode 36 first. If you did listen to it, you're all caught up. We'll pick up where we left off. So, without further ado, here's the rest of the story!

This episode is Part 1 of a talk I did for my church last year. You'll hear some of my family's story that I don't share a lot, but I felt led to speak on what happens when we let our expectations become idols. I hope you will enjoy being introduced to my family and relate to some of the challenges we have faced in our journey. Today will end in the middle of the story, but next week, you'll hear the conclusion of faith over my fears!

Reflecting on progress is encouraging and empowering. Sometimes it looks like a completed goal and I can celebrate the finish. More often than not, I am thinking about the baby steps I am taking toward that goal. Guess what? Small steps get celebrated, too!

As Christ followers we are encouraged to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. When you think about how mentally weighed down we can become and how negative our thoughts can be, it makes sense that the renewal of our minds is very important. Today we are going to talk specifics about the process itself.