So Long Insecurity - Week 8

Forgive us, dear sisters for taking so much extra time to finish this study. We know you understand, for when we look at your faces, we see that your lives are proceeding at an impossibly frantic pace too.

God willing, we will have the final installment of this study posted by week's end. Once again, if you have not had the opportunity to journey with us, I urge you to pick up a copy of the book and spend some time this summer refreshing the insecure woman inside.

Week 8 Answers:

1) As you surely noticed, Chapter 14 is more of a testimony than a teaching but it concludes with a charge to deal with our female insecurities for the sake of young girls coming up behind us. Annabeth was my big inspiration for the journey. Briefly describe someone who is worth doing what it takes to you to live abundantly and effectively in Christ. Help us picture her so that she inspires us, too. Needless to say, don’t share more than she’d want you to.

Answer: Our daughters, all of them, are my inspiration for living abundantly and effectively. I see my girls living out insecurities that I fear they've learned from their mother. I see OUR daughters falling prey to the insecurities pressed upon them by this viciously selfish, materialistic society that overwhelms our time and our senses.

2) I wish we could discuss all of Chapter 15 in person but this is the next best thing. Name a couple of ways pertinent to your sphere of life and influence that you could look out for your own gender in our battle with insecurities. In other words, how can you (not others but you in particular) start becoming part of the solution in your female relationships rather than default into part of the problem. No condemnation here. Goodness knows, we’ve all been both. Our challenge is to learn to be deliberate. How are you prepared to do that?

Answer: This is so tough to answer. Women are SO wired, so pressured to present themselves in the best possible light! I want to be deliberately humble, forthcoming with my fears, my faults, my insecurities when it is helpful to another. I wish to be more open and receptive, to smile more readily at my sisters, to STOP being the self-conscious overweight awkward girl from my youth. And finally, to SPEAK UP in encouragement and love to the women around me.

3) I can’t wait to see your answers to this one. Based on Chapter 16 and the challenge to look past ourselves, what is your passion? If you don’t have one presently, don’t feel pressured or unnerved. You might be too deep in toddlers or school work to think past the urgent. Those things are priority and need to be your passion right now. If, however, you long for something that makes you feel fully alive and part of something specific God is doing for the greater good, ask Him to nurture that vision in you. It will be ultimately be the key to life on the outskirts of self-absorption. Keep in mind, your passion may not be anything you’re currently engaged in. Maybe you don’t have the opportunity to participate right now. Maybe it’s just in dream-form. Or maybe it’s just a place God has tendered your heart. Try to give it a name. What is something outside of yourself that you feel passionate about?

Answer: The written word is and always has been my passion. I love stories that teach underlying truth. I love to seek out the embedded principles in the WORD and in good writing. I love to share; to help others with what I've gleaned from the words that I've read woven through the fabric of the life I've lived.

Sisters, I wish you a peace-filled week...