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***This is part 1 of a 3-part series on how we can learn lessons in this season so we can move forward to the next in freedom.***

Journal Questions For Part 1:

God is relentless in preparing us for what He’s prepared for us. 

It takes trust to believe that His ideas are best; a setting down of our own agendas and pride. It takes surrender and a willingness to endure- in hopes that a harvest is coming. It’s a challenge to let go of something when we don’t even know what we’re reaching for yet. It takes faith to move forward in something, when we don’t know what’s ahead. 

Can we partner with what God is doing even though it may not be what we would prefer? Could our greatest growth be upon us? Might this be an uncomfortable season that leads to our greatest freedom?    

·      What feels like fertilizer in your life right now?

·      What seeds of faith are you planting right now? 

·      What are you hoping will come from this strange and bewildering season of life? Is it more faith, more trust, hope, strength, or help in letting go? See if you can identify an area you’d like to grow in. 

Sometimes God allows things to die, shut down, or to change, so that something within us can come alive.  

The old way dying so that a new way can come alive. Joe and Suzanne Stabile calls this transformation. And transformation occurs when something falls away from us that’s usually beyond our control. According to that definition, I think it’s safe to say that we are all being transformed. And, as an apprentice of Christ, transformation is what we’ve signed up for.

Sometimes the things that God allows to be removed from our lives are just as important as the things He allows to be brought into our lives. 

·      As you think back over the past two months, what are somethings that been taken away that have led to a greater sense of life?

·      What things do you find yourself appreciating more, now that they are gone? Think about what you have left instead of looking at all that you’ve lost, and list them out.

·      What things are you finding to be difficult to allow to fall away, and how have you responded to that? Have you noticed more anger, more numbing, more denying, more negative thinking, more judgmental attitudes? 

 We cannot hold onto the old way of doing things and move forward into the new way that’s a head of us. 

·      What old way, old habit, old tapes or familiar things do you want to let go of in this season?

·      What is God doing in this season that is trying to set me free from the things I never needed to begin with? 

Conform vs transform

The world pushes for us to conform and puts outside pressure on us to accomplish its work. But God has a very different way in approaching our growth. He’s always after our hearts and invites us to be transformed. And, the work of transformation always occurs from the inside out. 

 Romans 12:2 speaks to this, “ Do not allow this world to mold (or conform) you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete.”

 We are to look different than this world. This world is not our home, it’s not our hope- but we have a Divine purpose while we are here to point the people back to a God that loves them. He’s given you an individual and unique light to shine and God can use this season to show us what He’s put in us. We are a part of His story, He’s not a part of ours. This is His world, and He will use us if we let Him.

·      Ask God to show you what He wants to come alive within you. 

·      Write a prayer consenting to the deep and inner work of transformation. Commit to learning the lessons of this season with Him, so we can move into the next one in freedom.