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Last week I was talking to a friend who is dealing with some health issues. She was telling me she felt anxious, depressed, angry and worried about financial pressures, conflict with her teenage daughters, issues with aging parents and more. It’s a lot.
Although she began to write it out in her journal, she realized the only time she writes in it is when she’s anxious, worried and depressed. She said “it’s always the same thing”. So this week she made a commitment to start a Gratitude Journal. On one page she’s  writing Things I’m Grateful For and on the other People I’m Grateful For. 
But as she was telling me this, she began to cry. She told me that even though she’s trying to be grateful and have #GOZO! in her life, she feels quite the opposite. She’s struggling with perfectionism, blaming herself for not being a good enough mom, a good enough wife, a good enough this, a good enough that.
I wonder how many of us deal with similar thoughts.
That the reason why things aren’t going our way, the reason our business is not succeeding, the reason we’re not losing weight, the reason our church is not growing is because we’re not perfect, because of past mistakes, because we’re not good enough. We struggle showing ourselves grace and then showing grace to those around us.
I am convinced perfectionism, guilt, judgement and shame is the #1 Lie From Hell.
Let me tell you one thing: GOD LOVES YOU AS YOU ARE RIGHT NOW! NOT AS YOU SHOULD BE! NO QUESTIONS ASKED. THE ANSWER TO PERFECTIONISM IS NOT DOING MORE, IT’S THE GRACE OF GOD.
Verse: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain”
More on this next time…
Discussion Points:
1. What causes you to feel imperfect? What are the buttons in your life that cause you to feel not good enough?
2. What truth do you tell yourself in those moments?
3. Have you ever started a Gratitude Journal? What have you learned in the process?
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Thank you for being here!
Trig