Love/ Spiritual

Shining: How I Stop Making Negative Agreements

I went on a church retreat when I was in high school.  During a mixer, we were challenged to think of a name, ending in the word “-one” that we wanted to be known by.  A name to claim who we were and who God was making us more and more in to.  
I chose the name “Shining-One”

I so desired to be one who shines the light of hope and love to a hurting world.  I so wanted God to use little me to make a difference in this world.  Now that I am an adult, I am learning that the hardest times to shine is in the mundane, little, everyday annoyances; and also in the larger, familiar moments that reveal patterns of unhealthy beliefs.
An example of an unhealthy beliefs that I am working on breaking is “I have to be perfect to be affirmed and loved.”  To anyone who would call themselves a perfectionist, I would challenge you to look deeper into that and think about why you are.  I was challenged to do this and boy, was it revealing.  It revealed some deep rooted beliefs that I claimed a stake in years ago, that triggers negative reactions when imperfect life happens, when I choose to act imperfectly, or when I simply have made a mistake. 
This morning something happened that immediately triggered thoughts of “I will never get it.” “there is no hope for  me in this area.” ” I suck.”  Can you just hear the perfectionism oozing out of each of those agreements I made with myself?  I am learning to watch for these negative agreements that I make.  I am learning I can exchange them for truth agreements.  God helped me to that this morning.  He helped me to choose to continue to shine for Him, instead of waste a day feeling like a total loser.  I exchanged the nasty agreements above for these:

“I am completely whole and new in Christ, lacking nothing”
“I can do all things through Him who gives me strength”
“He will bless the desires of my heart and my efforts. He will help me”
“God has washed me pure, despite of my imperfections”
“Only God is perfect, I will not be until I get to Heaven”
“He is making me more and more like Himself everyday”

With these new agreements on my brain, I will continue on with my day and shine.
______________________________________

This Little Light Of Mine–Addison Road

There’s a little flame inside us all
Some shine bright
Some shine small
The rains will come
And the waters rise
But don’t you ever lose your light

In this life you will know
Love and pain
Joy and sorrow
So when it hurts
When times get hard
Don’t forget whose child you are

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Gonna let it shine

May you live each day
With no regret
Make the most of every chance you get
Let your eyes get wide
When you look at the stars
With the same sense of wonder as a child’s heart

With the ones you love-
Treasure the time
And for those who are gone
Keep the memories alive

Hold on to your dreams
Don’t you ever let go
There’s a fire inside you
Burning with hope

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Gonna let it shine

There will be days when you wanna give up
When the clouds settle in
But after the rain comes the sun
Don’t you ever forget
Don’t forget
Don’t, don’t forget

One day there will be no more pain
And we will finally see Jesus’ face
So until then I’m gonna try
To brave the dark
And let my little light shine

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Gonna let it shine

This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine
I’m gonna let it shine
Gonna let it shine
Oh, shine
Gonna let it shine
There’s a little light inside us all

5

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  • Rochelle
    August 9, 2011 at 3:18 pm

    I love this! And I agree- these are beautiful thoughts. This is something I have been thinking about and occasionally struggling with. I think I will take notes on your “agreements” if you don’t mind and adopt them for myself when I have negative feelings. Thanks for sharing!

  • Tanya Anurag
    August 5, 2011 at 12:39 am

    Good to read this. Beautiful thoughts!

    I am hosting my first Link-up party – Tea Time Thursdays. Would be glad to see you there 🙂

    http://tanyaanurag.blogspot.com/2011/08/celebrating-one-party-time.html

  • Steve
    August 4, 2011 at 2:12 pm

    These are beautiful new “affirmations/agreements”, Amy. Thanks for sharing them.

    Often, it’s just a matter of being aware of what we’re agreeing to and recognizing that God always has infinite grace for us and we just need to extend that to ourselves. Sad how we can extend God’s grace to everyone else, but we are so critical of ourselves sometimes.

  • Lacey
    August 4, 2011 at 12:36 am

    I love this! After being a Christian for 16 years, a beautiful lady took me through a process that involved identifying those unhealthy beliefs (she called them ungodly beliefs). It was a really powerful time in my life. We wrote out my top 10 ungodly beliefs, and then wrote new Godly ones, and I would speak them to myself every day. It really made a difference in my own thoughts and heart. Thanks for reminding me of this – I probably need to dust them off again.

  • Stacey
    August 3, 2011 at 7:15 pm

    THANK YOU SOOOOOO much for posting this song. I so wanted to pass it on to my daughter yesterday but could not for the life of me remember what it was called or who it was by…ask and you shall receive!!!
    And thank you for talking about this topic…this is something I struggle with daily…abusing myself. It’s hard to rise above when you tell yourself such horrible things…easy to lose focus on all the good when you are busy tearing down yourself. Not something I want for myself or anyone else!!!
    Have a beautiful day!

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