by donyadunlap | Aug 4, 2012 | Making a Difference, Modern Day Slavery, The Spiritual Life
Everyone is afraid of something—and not usually just one something, but a lot of somethings. The list of common phobias is extensive.
Attribution: KickAss Pics (Forgive the name please. I didn’t choose it!)
Reactions to fear
Avoidance
Fear can be paralyzing or motivating depending on how you handle it. Personally, I am afraid of spiders. I don’t care if they aren’t poisonous, there is something just inherently evil about something with that many legs creeping about my house. My common reaction to spiders is avoidance and delegation. In college, my friend Naomi was my designated spider killer (and I kept her quite busy). After college, my roommate and I had a deal. She killed the eight legged creatures and I disposed of the lesser legged intruders. It was a great partnership.
Procrastination
There is also a great deal of fear wrapped up in my writing. This manifests as procrastination. What if I say the wrong thing? What if someone disagrees with me? Will people expect me to have all of my life together and be disappointed when they find out I have a basketful of faults that I struggle with every day? If I let it, these fears will keep me from writing. They cause me to delay posts my heart is begging me to share and they turn every chapter that I write for publishing into a spiritual battleground.
Motivation
My greatest and most personal fear is personal harm. I believe a lot of people share this fear or something like it and that it is paralyzing us in our efforts to reach the needy of this world with the power of Christ. However, I believe that my fear of being raped is part of what motivates me to fight on behalf of the thousands of women and children that face that reality every day in the multi-billion dollar sex industry. The Lord has given me an enormous burden and passion to help these souls, in part, because I am so afraid of becoming a victim myself.
Control
When Jesus visited the Gadarenes in Mark chapter 5, he had just performed an amazing miracle. He had cast out a legion of demons from a man that had been so tormented by them that he was forever crying out and cutting himself. Any attempt to restrain him had failed. So the people of the town avoided him as he roamed the graveyard and mountains near the city. Jesus came along and had compassion on the man. He cast out the demons who then entered a herd of pigs causing them to run into the sea to their deaths.
You would expect the people to be angry at their loss of livestock and income at such a turn of events, but that isn’t what the Bible says happened. It says that when the witnesses to what happened told the other townspeople, they were afraid and begged Jesus to leave their region. I’ve always wondered at that. It would seem that if they weren’t angry at him for the loss of the pigs that they would be grateful that a legion of demons had been sent away from this neighbor of theirs, and by nature of his proximity to their families and homes, had been afflicting them as well. But instead of offering their thanks and praise, they ran Jesus out of town.
Results of letting fear rule
Recently have I started to see this story in a new light. I realized people are afraid of what they can’t control and what they don’t understand. Things like homelessness, human trafficking, divorcees, single moms, low income families. These problems don’t have easy answers. Dealing with people in difficult circumstances can be draining, costly and even dangerous. So instead of showing them the love of Jesus and letting loose the power of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we minister to them, we turn away, avert our eyes, come up with excuses not to help, turn the channel on the news broadcast, or even blame them for being in such a mess. We do what the people of the Gadarenes did—we ask Jesus to leave us alone.
What are you afraid of?
So I wonder—what are you afraid of? What is it that you feel motivated by the Holy Spirit to do, but that you aren’t sure what might happen if you try? Is there something you’ve always wanted to attempt, but never felt like you were qualified or the time was right? Jesus wants to do amazing things through us to change our lives and those in our communities. We have to let Him work through our fear. We have to invite Him into the mess and let His Spirit cast out the inner demons keeping us trapped in complacency.
Face your fears with Jesus
Let Jesus bring life and healing into your fears. Can you imagine what other miracles the people of that town missed out on because they were afraid? Don’t be like them. Face your fears and let Jesus have His way with them.
by donyadunlap | Aug 3, 2012 | Guest Posts, Making a Difference
Susie Finney is a full time missionary with Youth With A Mission in Tyler, TX, working with the School of the Bible. When she’s not busy teaching or hanging out with her Bible students, she blogs, reads, and goes to as many Christian concerts as possible. I am thrilled to have her share her story of how God changed her heart and life with us today as part of our release week party for Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into Your Comfortable Life. You can follow Susie on her blog or on Twitter:
Twitter: @missionsgirl
Nepal – Photo by Karna Deshar
It was July 2009, and I was very, very far from home.
They sometimes walked for miles to come to our seminar. Men and women who had experienced the challenges of living in a predominantly Hindu country, where the Christian population was very small. I met men and women in Nepal who had done jail time for the “crime” of being Christians. People who had been beaten and exiled from their village for their faith. And here I was, an American girl in her late twenties, looking and feeling very out of place in Nepal. I’d never experienced persecution beyond maybe someone rolling their eyes at me. I’d certainly never been kicked out of town for my beliefs.
The one statement that has always stuck with me from my Nepal outreach was during the last day of our second Bible seminar, held in the city of Pokhera. They asked some of the seminar participants to share feedback from the week-long seminar. One man stood up and started to speak through an interpreter. “I became a believer five years ago, but always wondered whether or not I was following the true God, and now I know.”
The theme verse of our seminar was John 17:3 “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”, but his statement was significant not only for that, but because he came from a Hindu background and culture of millions of gods and goddesses. Why should someone choose to follow Jesus and Jesus alone? What made him unique and to be worshiped rather than all the other options available at the shrines we saw at virtually every corner?
The thing that cemented this man’s faith was digging in to the scriptures and seeing what they said about what God is like-His nature and character, always trustworthy and true. It wasn’t based on feelings or an arbitrary view of an unstable god who could change on a whim.
Three years have come and gone since my trip to Nepal. I haven’t been out of the U.S. since then, and have spent most of my time at the YWAM base here in Tyler, TX. But I will never forget the people I met during my month in Nepal. My perspective changed after meeting people who had suffered for their faith, and people who came from a very different perspective than my own, yet we were bound together by love of the same Lord.
At the moment I don’t get out and travel much, but I am still a missionary. My time in Nepal was simply another confirmation of the power of God’s Word, and the privilege of getting to teach it and watch as people’s lives change never gets old, whether here in the States or halfway across the world. It is so vital to understand what scripture says about God, about Who He really is. I guess you could say that that trip reoriented my perspective on the world in that way.
How about you? What is one experience you’ve had that has changed the way you view the world around you and what is most important to you?
If you buy Wrecked by tomorrow, August 4, you’ll get over $158 worth of free resources when you scan and email your receipt to
wrecked@goinswriter.com. Click here to purchase your copy on
Amazon. (Disregard the notice that the book is out of stock. There is an error with the page.) The book is currently being offered at $9.90 and is worth every penny and more. What additional awesomeness will $9.90 get you? Here are the resources you will receive:
- All electronic versions of the book, including Nook, Kindle, and PDF for you to read on the device of your choosing (a $31.47 collection).
- Advance download of the unabridged audiobook — three months before anyone else will be able to buy it ($29.99 value).
- The 10-week “action guide” for group or individual study (an exclusive guide valued at $12.99).
- A complimentary copy of Jeff’s latest eBook, You Are a Writer, an Amazon bestseller — in Nook, Kindle, and PDF formats (a $14.97 value).
- Free download of my hour-long audio program, The Writer’s Studio, plus a companion worksheet (a $19.98 value) .
- 50% off Jeff’s upcoming online writing course, Tribe Writers (a value of $49.50).
That’s over $158.00 in free stuff for a book that retails at $13.99. So even if you don’t like it (which I can’t even imagine), you’re going to get a great deal.
by donyadunlap | Aug 1, 2012 | Making a Difference
I am so excited to announce that Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into your Comfortable Life is finally available for purchase!
If you buy the book between now and August 4, you’ll get over $158 worth of free resources when you scan and email your receipt to wrecked@goinswriter.com. Click here to purchase your copy on Amazon. (Disregard the notice that the book is out of stock. There is an error with the page.) The book is currently being offered at $9.90 and is worth every penny and more. What additional awesomeness will $9.90 get you? Here are the resources you will receive:
- All electronic versions of the book, including Nook, Kindle, and PDF for you to read on the device of your choosing (a $31.47 collection).
- Advance download of the unabridged audiobook — three months before anyone else will be able to buy it ($29.99 value).
- The 10-week “action guide” for group or individual study (an exclusive guide valued at $12.99).
- A complimentary copy of Jeff’s latest eBook, You Are a Writer, an Amazon bestseller — in Nook, Kindle, and PDF formats (a $14.97 value).
- Free download of my hour-long audio program, The Writer’s Studio, plus a companion worksheet (a $19.98 value) .
- 50% off Jeff’s upcoming online writing course, Tribe Writers (a value of $49.50).
That’s over $158.00 in free stuff for a book that retails at $13.99. So even if you don’t like it (which I can’t even imagine), you’re going to get a great deal.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes from Wrecked:
“Our brokenheartedness at the injustices we witness is what gives us compassion. So when we rush past these messy and uncomfortable moments, we take away the experiences that teach us mercy.”
“We’ve believed a lie. We’ve been told life is about us. That if we work hard enough, save enough money, and buy enough stuff, we will eventually be happy. Many of us have done just that and we are anything but happy…we are left wondering what to believe. We know something is missing; we just don’t know what it is.”
“We find our vocations not by focusing on ourselves, but by focusing on others.”
Click here to read my review on the You Are Project.
Click here to read my review on Amazon.
by donyadunlap | Jul 24, 2012 | Guest Posts, The Spiritual Life
This is a guest post by author and speaker, Sundi Jo Graham. I’m so thankful that she agreed to share her heart today as a powerful testimony of a single girl that loves her Savior and has learned to let Him love her in return.
I’m pathetic. I’m a loser. I’m completely unlovable. No one will ever love me. I’m ugly. I’m stupid.
I heard these words most of my life. Who said them? Me. I believed they were true and my actions showed just how much I believed them. When others would say kind things to me, I’d roll my eyes, pop off some kind of snarky comment, and walk away. Who were they to lie to me? I could handle that myself.
Three years ago my life was wrecked. God took my negative ship, threw the captain overboard, and there I sat on the deserted island of what I would soon come to know as truth. It was a messy shipwreck.
I remember lying in the floor one afternoon at the Table Rock Freedom Center, sobbing my eyes out. “Why am I here God? What do you want from me?” I’ll never forget that day as I long as I live. God didn’t come down in the form of a pancake. I didn’t hear his audible voice. But I heard Him clear as day ask me, “Sundi Jo, when are you going to let me love you?”
I had no idea. Through that time He showed me that if I don’t allow others to love me, then it’s impossible to let God love me.
I picked myself up off the floor, wiped my swollen eyes, blew my nose and walked out of the room bound and determined to let Him love me. I didn’t know how I was going to do it, but I was going to let it happen. Slowly but surely I allowed God to love me through others.
Someone would compliment my weight loss and though it took everything in me, I would smile, do my best to make eye contact, and say thank you. Others would tell me I was beautiful and through clinched fists and gritted teeth, I made myself receive the compliment. It got easier with time.
I began to speak Scripture out loud, even looking in the mirror at times. Yes, I felt like a goof, but I was willing to do what I needed to do to believe the truth about who I was in Christ. I’d remind myself on a daily basis that I am God’s princess. I am His friend. I am not condemned. I am the bride of Christ. The King is enthralled with my beauty.
Some studies show that it takes 21 days of repeated patterns to make a habit stick. I don’t know how many days it took me, but I do know it took a dozen times throughout the day of me repeating these things to myself before the truth finally started to sink in.
I’m so thankful for God wrecking me. I’m thankful for His patience and willingness to love me through the mess. I don’t always get it right. There’s a situation in my life right now where I’m struggling to accept His love for me. But the important thing is, I’m doing it afraid, taking it one step at a time, and trusting that God’s hand is in it.
Can you name an area in your life you need to be wrecked?
Sundi Jo
Sundi Jo is an author, speaker, and small business owner, making her home in Branson, Missouri. She blogs at sundijo.com. Her first book, Dear Dad, Did You Know I Was a Princess?, comes out next year. You can read her free eBook, Becoming God’s Best now. You’ll find her engulfed in the social media world, spending time with friends and family, hanging out in a pair of jeans, t-shirt, and flip fops, or writing. Find Sundi Jo on Facebook or Twitter (@sundijo).
by donyadunlap | Jul 21, 2012 | Making a Difference, The Spiritual Life
I’m angry. In fact, I’ve been angry so much lately that I’m beginning to worry if I’m becoming one of those old, single, angry, cat ladies minus the cats. I have an almost constant knot in my stomach, I’m having a hard time sleeping and I’ve seriously considered quitting my job and living out of my car so that I can do something profitable with all of these emotions I’m experiencing. In a word, I’m a wreck.
Telly the Wrecked Tortoise
Why am I so angry, or more appropriately, “wrecked?” Glad you asked. I’m angry that children are being abused instead of being protected. I’m angry that women are being beaten by men that claim to love them. I’m angry that a person can take something meant for good and use it to terrorize a theatre full of people trying to enjoy time with their friends and family. I’m angry at people that prey on innocent girls and force them to do unspeakable things. I’m angry at the people that spend their money to view such things and even engage in such behavior. I’m angry at the rich that use their money to withhold from the poor and I’m angry at the poor that use their situations as an excuse to manipulate and injure others.
And on top of all of that I’m angry at myself for not doing more to stop it.
For years I turned away from things that upset me, made me sad, or just bad situations that I felt I couldn’t do anything to help. I shut out news feeds that told of crime and hate. I closed my eyes during parts of the movies that I didn’t want to see. I nervously glanced in the other direction when sitting at a stop light near a person in need. I pitied, I judged, I felt a twinge of guilt, but never did I pray for them, open my heart to them, or shed a tear of compassion.
Until one day…
One day I was reading in the Gospels and was convicted by my lack of compassion. Jesus wept for the lost and gave up everything to be near to the hurting. He healed the broken and outcast. He spent time with the social rejects and ate dinner with the blue-collar guys that were doing what they could to feed their families. I didn’t do any of that, but what’s worse is that I didn’t even want to.
By this time I had become so practiced in shutting out uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that I could sit through any missionary presentation without feeling a thing. I admired those that had a desire to leave the comforts of home and closeness to their families to go to the hurting and the lost, but I had no desire to do such a thing myself. Other than occasionally giving more than a tithe to a missions fund or special offering, I never did much of anything out of my comfort zone of ministering in my church or taking part in a local outreach.
But God changed all of that.
It began with a prayer. Nothing fancy. Just a quick request before going to bed that God would give me a heart of compassion. That He would give me eyes to see the hurting as He sees them. That I would be moved by the things that move His heart.
Without even realizing what was happening, God began to answer that prayer. I see things differently now. A prostitute is no longer someone that has no morals, but a woman being forced to walk a road of sin that she never intended to travel and has no idea how to escape from even if she had the means and opportunity to try. A rebellious child in foster care is no longer just a brat in need of discipline, but a soul in need of love and care and protection. The missing posters at Walmart are no longer nameless ghosts of faces that I hurry past without a thought. They are children who, in many cases, are being pimped and beaten for the profit of one that specializes in wielding power over the weak.
Jeff Goins calls this change of heart that I have experienced being “wrecked.” I didn’t even realize the full extent of what had happened to me until I read his book this week and discovered that not only is being “wrecked” a really good thing, but that it is very much a God thing. It is something that needs to happen to a person before they can really be used by God for their full potential. The frustration, passion, anger, sorrow in the pit of my stomach and desire to do something, anything, and everything that God asks of me is exactly where I need to be right now. It is a process that God is working in my heart so that when the time is right and He is ready to ask me to make a difference in the life of someone in a situation totally foreign to me that I am ready to answer His call instead of looking the other way and pretending I didn’t hear Him.
I can’t say that this journey has been fun and I’m not entirely sure where this discomfort is going to lead me, but I wouldn’t turn back from this new direction if you paid me to. Even though it has been painful and caused me to lose more than one or two nights of sleep, I’m so thankful that God is changing my heart.
If you are like I was—wondering what your purpose in life is supposed to be, wondering why you seem empty of emotion, or simply looking to find meaning out of life and a way to make a difference— I encourage you to pick up a copy of Wrecked: When a Broken World Slams into your Comfortable Life by Jeff Goins. It beautifully articulates how God has “wrecked” my life, Jeff’s life and the lives of countless others for a greater purpose. God’s purpose. God can use us to make a difference in this world, to shine a light in this dark place. It might be uncomfortable, but as Jeff says,
Ask people who have radically changed their lives, and they’ll tell you the best decisions they made were when they were uncomfortable.
Wrecked by Jeff Goins
