Step 6 

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Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  Matthew 6:8

GTYS Step 6:  I choose to live out what has been revealed to me through these steps with grace, truth, community, and patience.

GRACE + TRUTH + COMMUNITY + PATIENCE =

HEALTH, SANCTIFICATION, RECOVERY 

"You're blessed when you get your inside world, your mind, your heart, and put right. Then you can see God in the outside world. MSG

"I have thought much about your words and stored them in my heart so that they would hold me back from my destructive responses (sin)." Ps. 115:11 (GTYS version)

We are coming towards the end of this class, but it is NOT the end of this journey. This lifestyle is prescribed and lived out by Jesus and described in the Sermon on the Mount.  

Step 6 is when we choose to commit to daily living a life that supports this lifestyle. We commit to following the path laid out by Jesus with grace, truth, patience (time), and community. 

We have all spent a lifetime trying to live without one of these ingredients in our life. It will be a new way to live, a new habit to make. We will need to live this out with intention.  

I want us to be aware of the possibility of relapsing into our old thinking. We have spent years living in our old ways. Now we are choosing to walk with intention, carry on in the grace and truth that has been revealed to you. 

Relapsing into our old selves usually happens when we stop working our steps. When I feel my life spinning out of control, I know that I have gotten comfortable and stopped doing what God has asked me to do. 

Relapsing is falling back into a self-defeating pattern, the old way.

How it happens?

1.   Complacency Gal. 5:7 "You were doing so well. Who made you stop obeying the truth?" 

2.   Isolation "Two are better off than one because if one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad because there is no one to help him." Eccl. 4:9–10 (TLB)

3.   Shame & Secrecy

4.   Busyness 2 John 1:8 "Watch out that you do not lose what you've worked for, but that you may be rewarded fully." 

5.   Catastrophic event or multiple stressful events

When One of Your Alarms Goes Off… Go digging

So have I admitted need? 

Do I remember I am powerless?

Have I mourned my sin and accepted God's comfort? 

Have I let go of control and set aside my free will and followed God's direction? 

Have I sought a pure heart through confessing my faults and removing my masks? 

Am I looking for the lies I have believed? 

Have I submitted to all the changes God wants in my life the things He has already pointed out?

Have I evaluated my relationships, 

Do I need to offer forgiveness or amends? 

Have I been a peacemaker?

Am I spending time with God by reading the Word, worshipping and praying? 

Have I used the pain in my past to serve others? 

Do I see the good in my bad? 

I am human. God still loves me. 

You are going to make mistakes, you are going to fail. It’s OK.

But I can not expect to live in peace and freedom apart from the following walking in my design and the lifestyle of Christ.

"I am sure that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on that day when Christ Jesus comes back again."

Phil. 1:6 (NLT) 

This is about continuing the work of sanctification and recovery through reflection and taking responsibility for your actions and reactions as you need to. God promises a blessing when you commit to your new healthy attitude and reactions even when they are not met with a healthy response and are even persecuted. To continue our new relationship with God and see his will for our life, we need to find time to study the Word, meditate on it, and pray for the power to continue. It takes intention.

We use this check-in sheet to get us into the daily habit of living this out. Click below for a printer friendly version.

 Weekly Heart Check

 Remember back to one of the first teachings of class when we talked about the heart. 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 our gifts and personality. Each person's heart is unique and special (one in a billion), and capable of endless love.

Shortly after we were born, the world started impacting us and our heart. Every hurt we suffered affected our heart, each one created a hole. Over time, each of us has accumulated a heart full of holes. No wonder we ended up needing something or someone to fill these holes. We tried to fill them will our programs for happiness so we would forget about the pain. We tried to fill them will our additions or our sins because we could only see our limited view of the world and ourselves. We did whatever we could to survive. As our holes grew bigger and/ or grew in number, our capacity and ability to love like Jesus diminished, and so did we. We couldn’t see other people or ourselves clearly anymore - we could only see hurt and pain. What we actually needed was a Savior. 

As we went through the steps we slowly started to invite God into these holes. He very tenderly held our pain and loss for us. He comforted us, He held us, He opened our eyes to different ways of seeing ourselves, our holes, and our lives. We handed Him ash and He made a beautiful work of art. He gave us pathways to connection with other sisters in our class. He revealed His truth, and the reality of who we are. What was once a source of pain and death, was now given new purpose - resurrection. 

God took the hole that was dark and cold, and filled it with love and light. The holes which we once may have denied, dismissed, and even hated were now the very pathway to connection with God. These holes led us to experience resurrection instead of just reading about it. These holes lead us to experience the miracles of Jesus. I am the woman at the well and I brought him “my husband” - my destructive responses. I am one of the 5,000 He fed because I was spiritually bankrupt and He fed me. I am the paralyzed man - I was paralyzed by shame for so long. I was the storm that Jesus calmed when I turned my will over to Him- I no longer had to figure how to weather this life on my own - I surrendered it to Him. I was the blind man in my relationships - I couldn’t see myself or the other person as a child of God. Jesus invited me into a way of living my life full of peace and mercy instead of comparison, jealousy, anger, and judgement.  

When we meet Him in the holes of our heart, He brings an infinite love that comes from His abundant grace and truth. 

The story of our life is so important. These stories deserve such reverence, and deserve to be honored and spoken. Do you know what a true miracle you are?! Do you understand how special and loved you truly are?! 

Step 6 is about reflection and momentum. 

This Step requires reflection over the previous 5 steps. Those were:

Step 1: I admit I am powerless to control my destructive responses to life (sin, addiction, idols, coping skills, programs for happiness) and the damage done by them APART from God.

Step 2: I believe God loves me and will comfort and transform me as I explore and grieve the reality of my sin (destructive responses) and its effect on my life.

Step 3: I choose to surrender my free will and follow Christ's example as my guide.

Step 4: I choose to join God in my transformation by doing the heart work required of me.

Step 5: I choose peace and mercy in my relationships.

What has been revealed to you through these steps? 

What have you learned? 

Can you see truth and grace in your story?

Now that we have reflected on what has been revealed, we want to maintain that momentum. How can we do that when we don't have class every week? Turning daily to God is an integral part of this Step. 

What would it look like for you to reserve a daily time with God for self-examination, scripture reading, meditation, and prayer? It doesn't have to be an hour to two hours (although sometimes that might be what you need for self-care). How could you do a little every day?

Here are some examples:

Read a daily verse through the Bible app on my phone before I get out of bed in the morning. 

Reflect on that verse as I get ready for the day. 

Sit for 3 mins at during a morning break to pray and be silent before God. 

Examine any recent behavior or thoughts that seem like old patterns or character defects and non-judgmentally journal about those to see if I can figure out what was triggered in me / where they came from. 

Make time for coffee or a meal every few weeks with someone who is safe and lifts me up when I am around them.

As you move forward in your life story without class, ask yourself these questions:

How will I choose to live this out?

Character flaws I would like to replace?

What relationships would I like to heal?

Who do I need to forgive?

Who do I need to make amends to?

What emotions would I like to understand?

What habit would I like to quit?

What habits or hangups do I want to heal?