Integrity

Honor your inner rhythms. "Rhythm has to do with timing-when it is time to engage or disengage, to remain or to transition, to be with people or be apart, to work or to rest, to play or to be serious. Jesus paid attention and honored His rhythms. He knew when it was time to move on to another town. He knew when he needed to be alone...needed to be with three people or five thousand. He knew when it was time to preach and when it was time to pray."

"Honoring our different rhythms involves respecting and negotiating our needs and preferences." God is teaching me one of the hardest lessons right now...learning to ask for what I need. Learning to honor my needs, preferences, inner rhythms, and integrity. It seems so simple, but when you've grown up honoring everyone else's needs and putting yours last, it can be quite hard to undo this habit. It takes courage to ask for what we need. To use our voice and speak up...it takes GOD. This lesson is really strengthening my dependence on God. I know that HE says I am good enough to ask for what I need, that I am worth it...now I am moving that from my head to my heart. Knowing it and actually taking action is the hard part. This is where integrity comes in. The dissonance or distance between our value and the action we take base on our value is what determines our INTEGRITY. Recently God had me define two things that I value...-truly, deeply, at my core- value. After prayerfully searching my heart and inner rhythms I found that space and safety were my answers. Integrity would be to use safety and space as my vantage point when making decisions. What is my integrity calling me to do?

"The journey of living your life instead of someone else's begins when you discover your integrity. This requires recognizing and defining what is important to you. Inegrity-as is used here, is alwasy aligned with God's values...If you do not take the time to answer that question, other people's fears, expectations, and agendas (or even your own fears) will drive you. You will end up defining yourself by what you are against rather than what is most significant to you."

This is all part of the journey to finding our true self hidden in God. It is a journey we all should take...it is a gift from God, take it!!! This is just the beginning.

Be who YOU truly are, authentically YOU. "Be YOU, everyone else is already taken" : ) I recently heard this in a Fireflight song "Who I am is all I've got. I can't be who I am not anymore." Who we are is all we've got. Who God has uniquely created us to be-quirky, weird by the standards of this world, maybe gregarious loners...it's OK...don't be afraid...still be YOU. Stay true to who HE says you are in HIS eyes. You are good enough to be 100% quirky YOU! Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world-Romans 12:1

Don't try to be like everyone else or anyone else for that matter. There is sooo much more within you dying to shine forth. Bursting at the seams of your heart!

"It is often easier to do what others want and be who they want, but the question is: what is best in the long run? What is best in the long run is for you and me to set boundaries in order to be faithful to our God-given lives. Otherwise we end up fused to others. Fusion is a term from physics that describes what happens when metals are melted together and lose their distinctive qualities. Emotional fusion happens when we lose our distinctiveness and lose ourselves in someone else's life." Boundaries are crucial if you are to avoid detours and follow God's path for you.