Repost from Facebook; written March 13, 2023

1) Your fear of following God is sourced from the enemy.

• Whether the fear be giving Him complete control, becoming someone that is too heavenly minded that they’re no earthly good or whatever else - that is a lie that is keeping you from the best life ever. I'm constantly reminded - He has the best in mind!

2) Earthly things will not fill a heavenly void

• If you aren’t allowing God to fulfill you, you will search for earthly things to do it, and those things will exhaust you. No earthly thing, person, or place can fill a God-sized cavity - only He can.

3) Consistency is better than perfection

• Perfection requires no growth or effort - consistency does. We are not designed to be perfect - we are designed to become consistent, otherwise known as habitual. If we habitually work out, we become healthier. If we habitually save %20 of our paycheck, we become a little more secure. If we habitually make time for God, we will become more consistent. Growth is not linear - that's why it's called growth!

4) Boundaries are important

• Boundaries don't mean you don’t love that person or thing - boundaries is a form of love to make sure that situation stays healthy. You are not a bad person for boundaries - in fact, you’re wiser for them.

5) You are not fighting against people, but instead against the spirit within them

• I didn’t know how to phrase this without sounding scary, but the truth is we’re not fighting “against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers…” - if you find yourself battling to get along with another believer, realize you’re on the same side and your fighting something deeper. Pray for that person’s peace and freedom from any strongholds.

6) God speaks in so many different ways

• I used to think He only spoke in the one consistent way I was used to, but I’ve been learning He speaks in so many different ways. To be honest, I was nervous when I learned that He sometimes speaks through my daily thoughts. I didn't want to mistake my own direction as His. Eventually I learned that I can make good choices and have wisdom, but those things are sourced from the Lord. So if it is anything significant and right, it's probably Him speaking.

7) Keep your eyes above the waves

• Peter was walking on water until he looked around and saw everything but Jesus. We can acknowledge the things happening around us, but we can’t focus on them else we’ll drown in the muck. We’re humans - we can really only focus on one thing at a time. That thing always needs to be Jesus. Once you focus on Him, you’ll see things more clearly.

8 ) Stop bringing up your past

• In trying to relate to others, it’s easy to bring up your past to show how different you are now. There’s a time and place for that! But if you keep talking about who you were in the past, that becomes your current identity. I'm not the same person I was a year ago - it’s important I leave that past me in the past until God tells me otherwise. It may feel like you're doing a disservice not sharing your testimony, but allow the Lord to lead you to place and time to share what He deems necessary for that time.

9) Community matters

• I love people but I also love my alone time. I love living alone - I can invade my fridge at 3am and no one can tell me otherwise  But for real, alone time is necessary for a lot of people. While that isn’t a bad thing, be careful your alone time doesn’t turn into isolation. It’s easy to start staying home and not going anywhere when it’s scary or inconvenient. The enemy will use anything he can to distract you from making an impact - don’t let rest turn into withdrawal.

10) Your time with God in the Word is important.

• I wrote this lesson in my 10 Things I Learned From Summer 2023 post, and apparently I'm still learning it lol This is the thing that most Christians battle with, and I think that’s because the enemy knows how much stronger we would be if we consistently spent time with God. Your time with God doesn’t have to look a certain way either. Some people can read chapter upon chapter of Isaiah and be totally immersed. Other people need a devotional or a video to help them grasp what Jesus is saying (that’s my style btw!) All that matters, is that you find Jesus in whatever verses you read.

11) GIVE YOURSELF GRACE!

• Any fellow recovering perfectionist reading this? This should be number 1 in the list but I forgot until I got all the way down here. You are a human - you weren’t meant to be perfect. God gives so much grace every moment of every day - give yourself some grace because He believes you’re worthy of an unending supply of it.

Until next season,

Joel