Who Are You?

I've noticed over the past year, this blog is becoming less about my life under construction, and much more about me under construction. God has slowly been working on revealing my identity.

Just over a year ago, God taught both Josiah and I powerful lessons on how He wanted us to communicate and what our roles were in our marriage. We wrote a whole series on it last November called Marriage Renovations.

Then, God did the unthinkable and asked me to be more purposefully feminine, partially by changing my entire wardrobe. You can read about that here. I'm still a little salty about that one. It was smack dab in the middle of hoodie season!! I'm adjusting...slowly.

In recent months, God has exposed me to some people, particularly some women, who are powerful prayer warriors.

When they pray, you can tell they aren't just speaking casually with God or speaking for the benefit of the people in the room; they have a powerful connection with Him. They are speaking TO Him...and He is speaking THROUGH them.

I want that. I want to connect with God like that! But somehow, I can't quite connect....

However, God has also been revealing to me that my spiritual disconnect is probably directly related to my lack of one-on-one time with Him. I read my Bible every day (or just about every day) and I pray, but it's hardly without distraction. It normally looks something like this:

But if Jesus is supposed to be our example, then his prayer time looked like this:

But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

Luke 5:16

Jesus OFTEN WITHDREW to LONELY PLACES and PRAYED.

I try to make excuses about my prayer life because of my "season" and the little people who wake up really early and follow me around. But let's face it: if Jesus can get away from the throngs of thousands who followed him and hung on his every word, I can probably find a few minutes away from my six. Just saying.

Last Sunday night I had an opportunity to be alone and just pray. Just me and God and a good bit of silence.

I poured my heart out to Him. I told Him I wanted to know Him more. I told Him I wanted a more intimate relationship with Him.

Then, I told Him I was going to be quiet and wait. I was going to just shut up and listen for a while.

And God spoke.

He said, "How are you supposed to get to know Me more when you won't even acknowledge who YOU are? Who I made you to be?"

Touche, God. Touche.

So, I thought about that. Who am I?

Called. Child of God. Daughter of the One True King. Adopted. Loved. Conqueror. 

But that's what He calls every Christian. I wanted God to tell me who He wanted ME to be. Who does God say Alissa is?

He answered:

1. Feminine
2. Joy
3. Light
4. Bold
5. Confident
6. Perseverant 

Interesting. 

Then, I was reminded of  a conversation earlier in the week where a friend told me God was calling her to be more like her name. In the Bible, she said, God was very specific about names. He knows our names. He has always known them.

So, I thought about my name.

Alissa is derived from Alice. Alice means "noble." I've known that forever. It isn't a surprise, and didn't mean much to me...at the time. 

Until I decided to look up my middle name: Shea. Then, a picture started forming.

Depending upon the source you look at, Shea means "majestic" or "stately."

      Noble: having or showing fine personal qualities or high moral principles and ideals.

      Majestic: having or showing impressive beauty or dignity

      Stately: having a dignified, unhurried, and grand manner; majestic in manner or appearance

Uh oh, I thought. This sounds scary.

As I looked into the synonyms for each of these descriptions, certain words stood out to me: 

      Noble: righteous, virtuous, good, honorable, moral, ethical...

      Majestic: dignified, distinguished, august, statuesque...

      Stately: regal, slow-moving, measured, deliberate...

*deep breath*

These words painted a beautiful picture for me. A picture of a princess...one who has been groomed to assume the king's power. 

She is humble, but powerful; righteous, yet merciful; dignified, but kind.

She is me...well, the me I want to be: the me God wants me to be.

She is clothed in strength and dignity;

she can laugh at the days to come

Proverbs 31:25

Up until now, I've considered myself to be far more the court jester than royalty. I bumble and fumble and apologize all the time.

I disqualify myself, forgetting that He who sent me is IN me, and He is more than qualified.

My name is a derivative of Alice. If you have seen the more recent Alice in Wonderland, she spends much of the movie being the wrong Alice. Or not hardly Alice. Or almost Alice. She has to discover who Alice is before she can go on to slay the jabberwocky.

She has to know who she is before she can go on to fulfill her purpose.

I've been praying for God to tell me what He wants me to do, but I couldn't get there.

I lost my muchness.

I was the wrong Alissa. And then not hardly Alissa. And now...I'm almost Alissa.

I won't be many of these wonderful things overnight, and I'm sure I'll fail quite often. I pray those of you witnessing the transition will offer me both accountability and grace.

It's a frightening endeavor, but most things worth accomplishing are.

Who has God called YOU to be? He knows you; He knows your name. You are not an accident, and you have a purpose, but you might need to figure out who you are before you move on to what you should do.

Who...are...you?

Corinthians 3 Thursday: Scoring Goals

Today's Corinthians 3 Thursday post is going to cut straight to the point. Aren't you excited?

So far in the series, we've talked about who and where we are and where we want to go...but today we talk about HOW to get there.

Goals.

I feel like, for a lot of us, goals are these unattainable things that we all talk about and want to accomplish, but rarely ever actually achieve. 

Then there are some people - those high-minded individuals who are somehow able to take these abstract plans and make them into something MORE. They achieve.

Blech - those people.

I'm just teasing. There have been goals I have achieved, and many I haven't, but there a couple ways to move goal achievement from possibility to probability.

First, ya gotta get it in writing. According to The Leadership Training Workshop, studies show that you're 95% more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down. Are you kidding me?! 95%?! I always heard that writing your goals down helped you achieve them, but I think this little statistic escaped me.

Think of it like this: you would never enter into a contract with someone without getting it in writing because, without it, there's no promise of delivery, right? Same concept.

Next, you have to construct your goals in ways that make them more achievable. They need to be specific, have time constraints, and you have to have a plan.

It's not enough to say that you want to lose weight, or even that you want to lose 50 lbs. It's not even good enough to say that you want to lose 50 lbs in the next year. There's gotta be a plan. HOW are you going to achieve this goal? What are you going to do or change that will take this goal from an abstract thought to a reality? That's a game-changer.

Finally, you need to be held accountable by someone other than you. This is really hard for some of us (namely, me). We don't really like someone else keeping tabs on us. It's not their business right? If I want seconds at dinner or another piece of cake, why is that anyone's business? Because, just like I wrote in yesterday's post, I'm not the Lone Ranger. 

I need help. We all do sometimes, and an accountability partner who is both firm and encouraging can do wonders in helping you achieve your goals.

One real word of encouragement here: don't let perfect be the enemy of good. My awesome sister-in-love, Jamie, taught me that. I have no idea where she got it, but it's an awesome phrase.

So often I drop the ball on a goal in a small way, and because I haven't performed perfectly, I just, plain give up.

It looks something like this:

I did SO well with my eating all day, and then I had to go and blow it by eating those french fries. Well, I've already blown it, I might as well just eat a bowl of ice cream while I'm at it. 

 Here's the dangerous part though: that second statement, the one in bold print, is often not a conscious thought. It happens somewhere back in the recesses of our minds, and before we know it, feelings of guilt, shame, and internal ridicule push us over the edge into defeat. 

This is when renewing your mind becomes important. Take every thought captive and make sure you're thinking is right and grounded in truth. Don't let perfect become the enemy of good.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world,

but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 

Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--

his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:2

We demolish arguments and every pretension

that sets itself up against the knowledge of God,

and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

2 Corinthians 10:5

So, with all that having said. What are my plans? What are my goals? There are many. However, today, I'll go over the ones for this blog.

1. I have to start writing more regularly, and I have to start networking. It's a big deal, and I've keep talking about it, but I definitely haven't followed all the steps above.
2. I will start blogging at least three times per week. I will accomplish this by getting up early, doing my quiet time, and then writing before everyone gets up. I will also keep a journal of blogging ideas so I don't just "come up dry" when it's time to write.
3. I will faithfully share all posts on the blogs over to the left. I will also dedicate myself to reading and commenting on at least two of the other posts that are linked-up to those blogs.
4. By the end of the summer (August 31st), I will ask some of the other bloggers I know if they will allow me to "guest post" for them. This is the hardest for me because it makes me leave my comfort zone, swallow my pride, and subject myself to possible rejection. Nevertheless, it has to be done.
5. Finally, I will ask...um...someone to make me accountable to these things. Who? Crud. I could ask Josiah, but he's so busy working, I'm not sure he's going to have the time to really be responsible for holding me accountable. Um...Jamie? Esther? One or both of you want the job?  Either way, by next week I will have an accountability partner and I'll let you know who that is. 

That's all for me!  What are YOU going to do? What big, huge goals has God put on your heart to accomplish? I can't wait to hear about them...and HOW you're going to get 'em done!

Now it's time to link up!!

An InLinkz Link-up