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Lesson 1

Welcome to Grace and Truth in your Story.

Introduction of the Team.

You will have 2 Guides at your tables. Each has walked this journey of spiritual and emotional health and growth at least once. They are here to walk out this journey with you free of judgement and full of grace.

I am so so excited for each of you as you start this spiritual journey of health and growth.

We are committed to be here for you! It’s hard to set aside 2 hours a week for yourself but I encourage you to do just that. Make your relationship with God & community a priority.

I know you face crying children, car troubles, sickness, fatigue, feeling overwhelmed by housework, laundry and our endless to do lists for school and work and church, the struggle is real. I will encourage you to push through the things that would hold you back from coming to be filled up, loved on, encouraged & heard. We want a chance to point you back to Jesus’ arms every week. Even though we will be battling with you to be here please don’t ever feel embarrassed or ashamed that you couldn’t make it. Go to war against shame, fear and doubt and keep coming. Think of it as a battle when you wake up Wednesday morning and fight your way here.

(Consider looking ahead at your schedule and change appointments or commitments that interfere.)

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST OBSTACLE?

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I also know it’s hard to be vulnerable. You are safe here.

It’s a honor and a privilege to know your story. We do not take that lightly. We are very aware of the power given to things we hide or cover over and we are confident God wants your story in the light where He can help you process it and heal and grow.

The leaders in this room pledge to protect your story and your heart. Through the trust we will build and the sharing of our stories we will develop real relationships, real community. My friend always says we bond over our weaknesses not our strengths. That has proven itself true in this room and my life.

Nothing is too small or to insignificant so don't feel like you have had to have some trauma to be hurt or have pain it all matters. I also don’t want you to feel like you have to overshare if you aren’t comfortable with it. We have many more weeks to get to know each other.

HAVE YOU EVER ANYONE MISUSE YOUR STORY AND HURT YOU?

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During GTYS you will uncover lie based beliefs that have been fed by your wounds and life experiences and replace them with truth.

These lies drive your emotions and your emotions drive your destructive thoughts and behaviors.

Thought: I am a bad christian

Emotion: Shame and sadness

Behavior: Hide my sin

WHAT IS ONE UNHEALTHY THOUGHT YOU STRUGGLE WITH?

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Your journey is also intended to awaken in you God’s grace allowing you the opportunity to experience life to it’s fullest.

The journey will help you find your blind spots, to find the lies you have accepted as truth, to understand who God really is and how he feels about you.

Our hope in this room comes from the belief that the damage done to us can be healed by God. That God loves us and wants us to live out the freedom of operating as we were made to.

DO YOU BELIEVE YOU HAVE AREAS TO HEAL OR GROW?

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How we are healed is revealed in processes or directions laid out for us by God in the Bible. As I have studied these biblical processes it has become apparent to me that God has also revealed these truths in the science of psychology, psychiatry, human behavior studies and alcohol anonymous’s 12 steps.

While we will spend a significant time learning what these Biblical processes are but we will spend the majority of the time in this course actually walking these processes out.

I want you to feel confident the work you are doing here is prescribed by God but we can’t just study it we have to do it.

Grace and Truth in your story will give you tools to start the work.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN INVOLVED IN A RECOVERY OR HEALING GROUP?

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN TO A COUNSELOR OR PSYCHOLOGIST?

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Genesis 1:26 “Then God said, “Let us make human beings* in our image, to be like us.”

If we are created in the image of God, then our design must closely resemble the design of Jesus. Jesus is God as man in his perfect form, free from damage or baggage. If we were created to resemble Jesus then it doesn’t take much to realize something in us has been obscured or broken. Something went wrong.

Grace and Truth in your story is based off the assumption that every single one of us have experienced events in our lives that have been damaging to our design. Some events felt small and others felt more like a train wreck.

Hearts Teaching

Our heart tells the story of who we are and where we've been. When God first formed us, he gave us a heart that was new and untouched. He made this the center of where our gifts and personality came from. Each person's heart is unique and special, just as God intended.

To represent this heart, we have construction paper and scissors to make a heart that is whole.

Shortly after we were born, the world started impacting us and our heart. Every hurt we suffered affected our heart, think of each one as creating a hole in our heart. Take time now and think about the story of your life. It doesn't matter if the "world" thinks the hurt was big or small, it only matters how you felt when you were hurt. There is no judgement of the hurt. If it hurt you, it matters. Were you ever told you weren't good enough either verbal or nonverbally, put down, felt insignificant, did someone close to you pass away, were you left or abandoned, not allowed to have your own thoughts or feelings, physically abused, neglected, sexually abused, did you witness violence in your home, were you touched in a way you didn't want to be touched, treated unfairly, passed over, humiliated, not given love.

To represent the times in your life when you were hurt, take a pen or scissors to poke or cut out holes in the heart. These holes can be any size you want to make them to represent the hurt.

The purpose of this study is to honor your life, your story. Maybe you've never taken the time to sit and really think about your life as a story. Maybe you've always put yourself aside in order to put others first. Maybe you always "plow ahead" and don't take time to acknowledge things that happen to you. Or maybe it's too hard and too sad to look back over things that have happened, and it's easier to pretend like they never happened at all. No matter how you've handled these hurts, this is where you can bring them to give them a place to rest. A place to be seen by sisters who are safe, who don't judge, and who listen. This is the place to uncover these hurts, bring them to God to redeem them, and use them for good. This might sound crazy or impossible. Mary and the disciples probably also thought that it would have been crazy to one day think of the cross as a symbol for hope and love -yet that's what it means to us.

Right now those holes might feel like death, like a black hole. If you decide to trust us and trust God with these holes, you will see resurrection. God can take the black abyss and fill it with light. Those very holes can be the place where God meets you to show you Grace and Truth.

WHAT DOES THE BIGGEST HOLE IN YOUR HEART REPRESENT?

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We have all sustained holes, not a single one of us looks into the mirror and sees the blemish free image of Jesus staring back at us. I might look a little more like him than I did 10 years ago but I know there is work to be done to heal the damage to my design. That damage or holes that hinders us from being the mothers, daughters, friends and disciple makers God created us to be.

WHAT LOOKS THE LEAST LIKE JESUS IN YOUR LIFE?

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Sometimes we are in denial that anything in our lives have effected us.

Looking for unhealthy thoughts, emotions or behaviors can give a clue there is a hole to explore?

Do you feel at peace?

Do any of your relationships feel strained or unhealthy?

Do you lack a feeling of satisfaction with your life?

Is your marriage hard?

Do you distract yourself with social media, shopping?

Do you abuse drugs or alcohol?

Do you struggle to do things you know you should not do?

Are you anxious or depressed?

Are you angry, judgmental or harsh with people in your life?

Do you spend to much money?

Do you feel jealous of others?

Do you feel like you can’t forgive someone?

Do you have a porn addiction?

Have you cheated on your husband?

Do you yell at your children?

Do you lie?

Are you pretending to be someone you aren’t?

Are you afraid of God?

DO YOU SEE SIGNS OF HOLES IN YOUR HEART?

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I am positive that ALL of us see signs.

But don’t feel hopeless. God knows where we are. He was so sure that we would be broken that Jesus died so we would not STAY broken.

In Luke 19:10 Jesus reveals HE came to seek and save that which was lost.

Save actually means to heal.

Lost means broken beyond repair. Meaning you can not fix it.

God came to heal what seems like is broken beyond repair.

That is called healing, sanctification or recovery.

Repairing what has damaged us, that which stops us from living out our God given design.

DOES IT FEEL LIKE THERE IS ANYTHING BROKEN BEYOND REPAIR IN YOUR LIFE?

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One of the most significant scriptures to describe this process of healing or recovery is the Parable of the Fig Tree in Luke 13:1-9 You can print out a fig tree handout below to take notes.

13 About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. 2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. 4 And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? 5 No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

In the first 4 versus Jesus is correcting the idea that He is passing judgement on the sins of the Galileans by killing them or by causing a natural disaster. Jesus asks the question Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than everyone else, do you think that is why they suffered? Then Jesus says NO NOT AT ALL.

He then proceeds to further explain by giving them the parable of the fig tree.

Luke 13:6

Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. 7 Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden. 8 “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention6 and plenty of fertilizer. 9 If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9NLT

WHAT IS JESUS TRYING TO COMMUNICATE TO US?

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There are many layers to every scripture shared. Here is one interpretation for your to explore.

The man = our thoughts.

The fig tree = the condition of our lives causing us to judge ourselves as bad.

The lack of figs = the lack of fruit in our lives.

Cut it down = A legal response, the law or a judgement of right or wrong in our life that deserve punishment.

The Gardner = Our advocate, Jesus.

3 years = The time Jesus uses to heal or recover or sanctify us.

“Sir, give one more chance, leave it…” = Jesus saying stop condemning your life, it’s preventing you from healing.

Special attention & fertilizer = The processes that allow us to heal given by God.

GRACE + TRUTH + TIME = HEALING

When we look at our lives and get stuck in the legal response of judging & condemning ourselves it will lead to destruction. We have to give our brokenness over to our Gardner and advocate Jesus to guide us in doing the work of digging out our stories then we have to continue to fertilize ourselves with grace patiently over time to encourage the fruit in our lives to come again.

Jesus will not cut you down but judging yourself or even others will do a lot of damage.

We see descriptions of this damage in other areas of the bible.

Romans 4:15 says the law brings wrath or anger.

Romans 7:5 says flesh and sinful desires are aroused by the law.

1Cor 15:56 says the power of sin is the LAW.

Jesus died to stop the judgement and to begin this process of growth or recovery or sanctification.

So this is we start we give ourselves special attention, we dig and search for answers as to why we aren’t fully living out our design. We dig deep, we give ourselves and others grace as we see our mistakes and we give our selves time to do the work.

HOW DO YOU HAVE ANY FEARS ABOUT THE WORK TO BE DONE?

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