Faith – Page 6 – Chad Stutzman

July 28, 2016

COMMITMENT

Some Thoughts on Commitment

We are all committed to something or someone. For those of you who are married I hope you are committed to one another. Some are committed to their careers, their families, their religion, their politics. Some are also committed to Jesus Christ.

All of us are at different levels or degrees of commitment in each of these areas. You could also call this maturity.

Some examples of people that were committed:

Christopher Columbus – Was told his mission or dream was “Quite impossible”, then discovered America
Orrville and Wilbur Wright – Were told it is impossible to fly, then found a way to fly
Thomas Edison – Took nearly 1,000 experiments to develop filament for Light Bulb
Abraham Lincoln – Failed in 12 out of 15 elections in his life
John Wesley – He averaged 5,000 miles a year mostly on horseback and 15 sermons a week
Lebron James – Was told you can’t win a championship in Cleveland, then did it
Billy Graham – Was committed to Sharing the Good News about Jesus Christ and thousands of people did

What are you committed to? Is it something that will last beyond you? Is it going to make the world a better place? Is it something you want to be remembered for?

I believe that we are all spiritual beings and that our spirit will live forever, long after our bodies die. We spend forever somewhere either in the presence of God or separated from him forever. Because of that belief, I am committed to helping people grow in Faith, Character and Leadership. Faith in Jesus Christ, developing the character of Christ and leading like Christ. That is what will change the world and bring hope to the hopeless. That is what will change a person, a family, a workplace, an organization, a city, a state, a country and the world.

Here are some guiding principles when it comes to commitment:

Lasting commitment is making a decision before the solution is found, knowing the principle is right.
Commitment is the motivator that keeps me moving toward my goal.
Commitment lets other people know where I stand
Commitment gets me started while others stand, and keeps me going while others quit.

SO WHAT ARE SOME THINGS THAT DIFFERENCE MAKERS ARE COMMITTED TO?

WHAT ARE YOU COMMITTED TO?

July 6, 2016

The Heart of God

This past week I spent 6 days working with Hope Reigns doing disaster flood relief in West Virginia. This is the third trip I have done with Hope Reigns. They are a division of Eight Days of Hope a non-profit organization that helps communities rebuild after a disaster.

Every morning the volunteers gather and someone shares a message or devotional and we pray together before heading out to the projects. In the evening after we eat together we have a time of worship and a message and more prayer.

On Monday July 4th I shared a devotional with the volunteers in the morning. We had been talking about the heart of God and understanding how amazing his heart is. Here is what I shared:

As I think about the heart of God I have to think about my own heart. My heart is not perfect like God’s, I have stuff in there that is not good. Things like anger, greed, envy, lust and pride just to name a few.

Of course Jesus changed everything when it comes to our spirit and our heart. He made is possible once again to be at one with God. To be reconciled to Him and a part of God’s family. God’s heart is for us and His desire is for all to be reconciled to Him.

When we make the decision to have a relationship with Jesus. When we believe Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, that he took the sins of the world on himself and died on a cross for those sins and then three days later rose from the dead overcoming sin and death, our spirit is changed. We now have a part of God in us, the Holy Spirit resided in us. That is when our hearts start to change.

We begin to see the world differently, we see people differently, we have a new perspective on life. We are no longer slaves to sin because Jesus is now our Master.

Romans 8:26-28 says: “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them”

So since we have the Holy Spirit with us and for us and in us, we have a great advantage in life. Over time as we mature in our faith and relationship with Christ. Our heart changes, those things that were in there begin to become less and less and we have more of the Spirit in us. In Galatians Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit and below is a listing of those fruits and a definition, the opposite and the counterfeit.

Be filled by the Spirit:

Love

Definition – To serve a person for their good and intrinsic value, not for what the person brings you.

Opposite – Fear: self-protection and abusing people.

Counterfeit – Selfish affection. Rescuing someone but really rescuing self. Attracted not to a person, but to how this person’s love makes you feel about yourself.

– Joy

Definition – Delight in God and his salvation

Opposite – Hopelessness, despair.

Counterfeit – Happiness that come because of the gift, not the giver. Mood swings based on circumstances.

– Peace

Definition – Confidence and rest in the wisdom and sovereignty of God more than your own.

Opposite – Anxiety and worry

Counterfeit – Indifference, apathy, not caring about something. “I don’t care.”

– Patience

Definition – Ability to take trouble (from others or life) without blowing up. To suffer joyfully.

Opposite – Resentment toward God and others.

Counterfeit – Cynicism. Self-righteousness. “This is too small to be bothered about.”

– Kindness

Definition – Practical kindness with vulnerability out of deep inner security.

Opposite – Envy. Unable to rejoice others joy.

Counterfeit – Manipulative good deeds. “Right hand knowing what left hand is doing.” Self-congratulation and self-righteousness

– Goodness. (Integrity)

Definition – Honesty, transparency. Being the same in one situation as another.

Opposite – Phoniness; hypocrisy.

Counterfeit – Truth without love. “Getting it off the chest” for your sake.

– Faithfulness.

Definition – Loyalty. Courage. To be principle-driven, committed, utterly reliable. True to one’s word.

Opposite – Opportunist. Fair-weather friend.

Counterfeit – Love without truth. Being loyal when you should be willing to confront or challenge.

– gentleness. (humility)

Definition – Self-forgetfulness.

Opposite – Superiority: self-absorbed

Counterfeit – Inferiority: self-absorbed, self-consciousness.

– Self-control

Definition – Ability to choose the important thing over the urgent.

Opposite – A driven, impulsive, uncontrolled person.

Counterfeit – Willpower through pride

So we have the heart of God in us and The Holy Spirit is active every day in our lives. We have everything we need to live life to the fullest and to deal with anything that comes our way.

June 13, 2016

Local Missions At NewPointe Millersburg

This past Sunday I spoke briefly about some of the local organizations that we support. Here is some information on those organizations.

Each campus at NewPointe has a local missions budget that allows us to support and partner with local organizations and help people in our community. Here in Millersburg we have a partner relationship with several organizations. Some we support monthly with a financial contribution and some we work with by providing volunteers, promotion of their services and fundraisers.

We work with organizations that are well run, that help people in need and that are Christ centered.

The three organizations we support financially on a monthly basis are:

Love INC (In the Name of Christ) is a non-profit organization that works with all other non profits, churches, government agencies and individuals to help people in need. Basically they try to match people in need with churches, organizations and individuals that can help them best. They also identify services that are not being offered and help churches get those ministries started.
For more information about how to volunteer or send support, contact: Vicki Conn Executive Director of
Love INC of Greater Holmes County, Director
PO Box 144
Millersburg, OH 44654
330.473.6017 (office) or email loveincofghc@gmail.com
Young Life of Holmes & Tuscarawas County – Their vision is that, Every adolescent will have the opportunity to meet Jesus Christ and follow Him. Young Life is active at West Holmes they also are active at Garaway. For more information about how to get involved contact Libby Pacula at mlpacula@gmail.com.
Here are some of the things that the volunteers at Young Life do:
- Praying for young people.
- Going where kids are.
- Building personal relationships with them.
- Winning the right to be heard.
- Providing experiences that are fun, adventurous and life-changing.
- Sharing their lives and the Good News of Jesus Christ with adolescents.
- Inviting them to personally respond to this Good News.
- Loving them regardless of their response.
- Nurturing kids so they might grow in their love for Christ and the knowledge of God’s Word and become people who can share their faith with others.
- Helping young people develop the skills, assets and attitudes to reach their full God-given potential.
CRU at Ohio State University – Quin Strouse– to contact Quin about how you can help, email him at qstrouse.9@gmail.com
- Cru at Ohio State (formerly known as Campus Crusade for Christ).
- Quin is a graduate of Ohio State, he got involved in Cru there, it changed his life and he felt called to continue in the footsteps of staff that changed his life and do the same for future students .
- Quin Provides leadership to a ministry called GreekCru specifically for Greeks/men in fraternities, 40 young men are involved.
- He has worked with Cru for 2 years.
- Cru at Ohio State has 700 students involved.
- Quin is passionate about this ministry and is pouring his life into these students every day. I’m so encouraged with his ministry because he shares stories of life change and keeps us up to date on what is happening in the ministry.
- Students are realizing and reaching their full potential in Jesus Christ through the work of Quin and others at OSU.

We support and promote these organizations as we are able, through one-time donations, volunteers, promotion and participation with events they organize:

Local Food Pantries
- Millersburg Church of God Food Pantry – We are currently partnering with them to distribute food to elementary school students in West Holmes School District that are on the lunch program. We package food and send it home with them on Friday so they have food for the weekend during the school year.
- The Love Center – Food pantry and free medical clinic
- Glenmont Food Pantry
H15 Teen Center in Millersburg – still being organized: for more information email the director at director@h15ministries.com
OneEighty formerly known as Every Woman’s House
Share-A-Christmas – We participate every year
Blessing Design Team a ministry of Barb Chalmers
The Christian Children’s Home of Ohio located in Wooster.

I want to encourage you to be generous and give to NewPointe so that we can continue to support these organizations or give directly to them. If you have any questions you can contact me at cstutzman@newpointe.org

March 31, 2016

Twenty “I Cans” of Success

Twenty “I Cans” of Success

Why should I say I can’t when the Bible says I can do all things though Christ who gives me strength (Phil. 4:13)?
Why should I lack when I know that God shall supply all my needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19)?
What should I fear when the Bible says God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love and sound mind (2 Tim 1:7)?
What should I lack faith to fulfill my calling knowing that God has allotted to me a measure of faith (Rom. 12:3)?
Why should I be weak when the Bible says that the Lord is the strength of my life and that I will display strength and take action because I know God (Psa.27:1; Dan. 11:32)?
Why should I allow Satan supremacy over my life when He that is in me is greater than he that is in the world (1 John 4:4)?
Why should I accept defeat when the Bible says that God always leads me in triumph (2 Cor. 2:14)?
Why should I lack wisdom when Christ became wisdom to me from God and God gives wisdom to me generously when I ask Him for it (1 Cor. 1:30; Jas. 1:5)?
Why should I be depressed when I recall to mind God’s loving kindness, compassion and faithfulness and have hope (Lam.3:21-23)?
Why should I worry and fret when I can cast all my anxiety on Christ who cares for me (1 Pet. 5:7)?
Why should I ever be in bondage knowing that there is liberty when the Spirit of the Lord is with me (Gal. 5:1)?
Why should I feel condemned when the Bible says I am not condemned because I am in Christ (rom. 8:1)?
Why should I feel alone when Jesus said He is with me always and He will never leave me nor forsake me (Matt. 28:20; Heb.13:5)?
Why should I feel accursed of that I am the victim of bad luck when the Bible says that Christ redeemed me from the curse of the law that I might receive His Spirit (Gal. 3:13, 14)?
Why should I be discontented when I, like Paul, can learn to be content in all my circumstances (Phil 4:11)?
Why should I feel worthless when Christ became sin on my behalf that I might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21)

Why should I have a persecution complex knowing that nobody can be against me when God is for me (Rom 8:31)?
Why should I be confused when God is the author of peace and He gives me knowledge through His indwelling Spirit (1 Cor. 14:33: 2:12)?
Why should I feel like a failure when I am a conqueror in all things though Christ (Rom. 8:37)?
Why should I let the pressure of life bother me when I can take courage knowing that Jesus has overcome the world and its tribulations (John 16:33

February 22, 2016

Our Identity

This past Sunday our Lead Pastor Dwight Mason shared a great message about our identity as believers and followers of Jesus Christ. We are Also Known As Saints – You can watch the full message here – NewPointe Community Church

When you confess with your mouth that Jesus in Lord and you believe in him and put your trust in him you are changed, and become new person spiritually. At that point God sees you as a Saint. In part of that message Dwight shared some very helpful info on the fruit of the Spirit. As we mature into our identity these things should become more evident in our lives.

Be filled by the Spirit:

Love

Definition – To serve a person for their good and intrinsic value, not for what the person brings you.

Opposite – Fear: self-protection and abusing people.

Counterfeit – Selfish affection. Rescuing someone but really rescuing self. Attracted not to a person, but to how this person’s love makes you feel about yourself.

– Joy

Definition – Delight in God and his salvation

Opposite – Hopelessness, despair.

Counterfeit – Happiness that come because of the gift, not the giver. Mood swings based on circumstances.

– Peace

Definition – Confidence and rest in the wisdom and sovereignty of God more than your own.

Opposite – Anxiety and worry

Counterfeit – Indifference, apathy, not caring about something. “I don’t care.”

– Patience

Definition – Ability to take trouble (from others or life) without blowing up. To suffer joyfully.

Opposite – Resentment toward God and others.

Counterfeit – Cynicism. Self-righteousness. “This is too small to be bothered about.”

– Kindness

Definition – Practical kindness with vulnerability out of deep inner security.

Opposite – Envy. Unable to rejoice other’s joy.

Counterfeit – Manipulative good deeds. “Right hand knowing what left hand is doing.” Self-congratulation and self-righteousness

– Goodness. (Integrity)

Definition – Honesty, transparency. Being the same in one situation as another.

Opposite – Phoniness; hypocrisy.

Counterfeit – Truth without love. “Getting it off the chest” for your sake.

– Faithfulness.

Definition – Loyalty. Courage. To be principle-driven, committed, utterly reliable. True to one’s word.

Opposite – Opportunist. Fair-weather friend.

Counterfeit – Love without truth. Being loyal when you should be willing to confront or challenge.

– gentleness. (humility)

Definition – Self-forgetfulness.

Opposite – Superiority: self-absorbed

Counterfeit – Inferiority: self-absorbed, self-consciousness.

– Self-control

Definition – Ability to choose the important thing over the urgent.

Opposite – A driven, impulsive, uncontrolled person.

Counterfeit – Willpower through pride

February 19, 2016

God’s Will

What is God’s will for my life? That’s a question that a lot of people ask including me. We can question every decision we make and wonder if this is God’s will for my life or not. Yet as I look at God’s Word this is what I found for God’s will:

That none perish but all believe – 1 Timothy 2:4 and 2 Peter 3:9
That salvation come to the Jews and Gentiles – Ephesians 1:5 & 2:22
That we present our bodies to him daily – Romans 12:1-2
That we bear much fruit – John 15:8 & Colossians 1:9-12
That we pray throughout our lives – 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

God’s will is that we believe in Jesus Christ and then He will live in us and work through us. God is not going to make decisions for us, but he is with us through all the decisions we make, both good and bad. God is doing the work inside of us, we just need to focus on Jesus Christ, loving him and other people.

December 19, 2015

Lessons Learned This Past Year

As we approach the end of another year I can’t help but reflect on this past year. It was filled with good times, bad times, positive emotions and negative emotions. I cried and I laughed. I opened up and I shut down. I made some good decisions and I made some bad decisions. I got angry and had a negative attitude and I was filled with joy and had a positive attitude. I also learned a lot this past year about leadership, my relationship with God and the baggage that I still tend to carry.

If you’re like me this can describe almost every year. However every year I like to ask myself if I have grown in my faith, character and leadership in this past year. For me it’s a big yes this year. Probably more than many other years because of the amount of change I experienced at work. Here are some of the lessons I learned or went deeper in understanding.

God opposed the proud but supports the humble – Every time I allow pride to creep into my life I get knocked down a few notches. This often happens to me when things are going well and I start comparing myself to others. It can happen when I’m meeting with someone that is going through a hardship and I think I can fix it with three simple steps. Or when I don’t think a certain strategy or decision is the best and my way is better. Or if I don’t pay attention to my wife and just do what I want. I keep learning and understanding more deeply to humble myself and in due time the Lord will lift me up, but it’s his decision not mine. I need to remain faithful, work hard and focus on doing what is right and good and submit to God and other people.
Value your relationships because life can change in an instant – I was reminded through several tragic events that life is precious and things can change very quickly. I was reminded to spend time with the people I love and to work on those relationship by practicing forgiveness, communicating clearly and often and by loving well. The Bible says to love extravagantly and that we are bankrupt without love. Learning to love or how to express love is one of the best things we can do to improve our lives and value the people around us.
Having the hard conversations is a game changer – Conflict is not fun and many people tend to avoid it. However if you want to grow, make progress, change for the better or have less stress, then you must deal directly with conflict. Learning to admit when your wrong and confronting issues quickly when they come up does not allow things to fester and get infected. I had many hard conversations this past year and most of them ended well and improved the relationship or the situation. Resolving conflict is hard but it leads to relational, emotional and physical health.
Vulnerability and openness are strengths not weakness – I studied and read a lot about vulnerability, shame and courage this past year. It takes great courage to be vulnerable and be honest, but when you do it, you experience great freedom, creativity and strength. I became more vulnerable in some of my relationships and took some risks by sharing more of me with others. I grew in confidence and courage by facing the junk in my life head on and sharing that with some trusted people in my life. Everyone knows your not perfect so stop trying to be, take off the mask and be real, that’s when things start to change.
Emotional health is one of the most import things a leader can have – Being healthy emotionally allows you to lead at a high level and take on enormous responsibility. However staying healthy emotionally takes constant work just like staying physically healthy takes constant work. Caring for your soul and understanding your emotions is a sign of maturity and leadership. Sometimes you have to go to a professional counselor in order to break through some of the emotional walls that come up in your life. It’s always worth the time and energy and money to get healthy emotionally.
When you keep God first and submit to Him other things fall into place – My relationship with God has grown and deepened over the years, but this did not just happen, I had to be intentional. I have found that the more time I spend with God the more I can accomplish, the healthier I am and and the lower my stress tends to be. Having a spiritual rhythm in life is vital. What I mean by rhythm is having a thriving prayer life, feeding on God’s word regularly, being silent and being with God and living a life of worship. That is staying focused on the most important thing in life, your relationship with Jesus Christ. When that is growing the rest of life tends to be healthier as well.

Keep growing in Faith, Character and Leadership.

September 10, 2015

My Life Focus

At some point in everyone’s life they ask themselves the question “Why am I here? What’s the purpose for my life?” Those are great questions and we should all wrestle with those to discover the answers. As I’ve worked through those very questions I keep coming back to these three things: Faith – Character – Leadership

My Life Focus: Sincere Faith, Humble Character & Servant Leadership

The first area of focus or purpose in my life is my faith. We all have faith in something. I have chosen to put my faith in Jesus Christ. He is the most important relationship that I have in my life. Because of my faith, my perspective on life, the world around me and the people around me is much different. I believe that everyone is more spiritual that physical. Our spirit is who we really are and it lives in a temporary body. I also believe that our spirit will live forever, so even after our body stops working our spirit goes on. We will live forever somewhere, either in the presence of God or separated from him. That is why I put my faith in Jesus Christ, because he paid my debt, forgave all my sins and stands in my place before God. Because I have a relationship with Christ I know where I am going to spend forever.

The second area of focus for my life is humble character. To me character is about the qualities that a person is known for. When someone says your name what are the things that come to their mind? These qualities can be both good and bad. When you think about what people will talk about at your funeral, that is a good indication of what kind of character you have. For me, I want those things to reflect these qualities: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. Our character is always under construction because no one is perfect. In my life I make mistakes, fail, sin, have bad thoughts and do or say things I regret. I sometimes have a bad attitude or respond to stressful situations in inappropriate ways. What I try to do though is learn from those setbacks and bad moments. Developing our character takes work, pain and struggle but it is totally worth it in the long run.

The last area of focus in my life is servant leadership. Leadership has been a hot topic for a long time, yet servant leadership is not nearly as popular. Most leaders would agree with the idea of serving the people around them, yet most people prefer to be served instead of serve others. As a leader my main focus needs to be on setting the people around me up to win. Creating space for them to learn and grow by allowing them to do what they are good at and coaching them on what they are not good at. Servant leadership is about doing what is best for the organization, family or church rather than what is best for me. Again this is easy to say and hard to do because we all have selfishness in us. Our tendency is to look out for ourselves, make sure our needs and wants are met before we think about meeting the needs and wants of other people. Changing that mindset takes work, focus and failure. The question I try to ask myself is what would the people around me say if they were asked is Chad a servant leader?

My hope is that these three things will inspire you to pursue your life purpose and focus. Never stop growing.

Lead On

July 30, 2015

Do You Have A Life Purpose Statement?

For the last 15 years I’ve been working on living out my life purpose statement of “Growing myself and others in Faith, Character and Leadership.” This has been the driving force for me getting into full time ministry and the reason I get up every morning. I’ve studied, written about and spoken about those three topics a lot over those 15 years. Today I want to share why this is so important to me.

I grew up in a religious, conservative community. We went to church, prayed and talked about the Bible. I got a good dose of that as I grew up and it influenced me greatly. I remember praying together as a family, kneeling at our couch praying for people in our extended family. I remember coming home from High School or seeing my girlfriend and kneeling by my bed and praying before I went to bed.

I remember making a personal commitment to Christ with a friend at his church and then going through a discipleship class with my pastor before being baptized. I remember having to give my testimony in front of the entire church before my baptism, talk about nervous.

As I got older I continued to follow and believe in God, but I also did a lot of my own thing and many things I should not have been doing. I drifted away from God, but never gave up on God. Church became more of an obligation and a social thing for me and I stopped growing spiritually in my mid to late 20’s. I remember being involved in leadership at the church my wife and I attended, trying to lead change, search for a new pastor and then renovate a house for the new pastor. I remember being confused about some of the teaching I was hearing and frustrated with the lack of leadership within the church. I remember having conflict with the pastor and his wife and wondering why do I even try? So when my term was up as Deacon, we stopped going to church.

For over a year we did not go to church and just did whatever we wanted without thinking much about church or religious stuff. The church was not relevant to me, but I still believed in God and had a relationship with Jesus even though it was weak. I was growing as leader in the business community and was getting recognition for that. So that is where I was getting my purpose and meaning and not my identity as a Christian.

Then things changed, God never gave up on me and kept slowly drawing me back to him. It started with people that had a relationship with me inviting me to church. We finally gave in and went and it really jolted us. I remember saying to my wife, are they allowed to do that in church? The music was upbeat and louder than I was used to. They had fun and the message really made sense. We weren’t sure about everything but we decided to come back again.

Then the pastor contacted me and we met for lunch. That led to more lunches and breakfast meetings and then to one-on-one discipleship. I remember meeting with the pastor early before I went to work at the bank. I started volunteering and we got into a group. My wife and I started growing spiritually again and I quickly got involved in leadership. I ended up on the leadership team and was leading a group and involved in other ministry activities.

As I grew in my faith, my character also started growing and I got better as a leader. Then God rocked my world by calling me to be in ministry. I remember the moment at a leadership conference at Willow Creek Church in Chicago. I surrendered every part of my life and clearly heard God telling me to pursue full time ministry.

That pursuit took over two years, lots of prayer, journaling, studying and conversations with mentors and friends. It was during that time of self-discovering, searching and seeking God with my whole heart that I found my purpose statement and wrote a description of the man I want to be. This is what I wrote and this is what drives me to help other people experience what I have experienced in faith, character and leadership. This is why I love to develop, coach, encourage and challenge other people in those areas as well. I believe a lot of people are on a similar journey, looking for purpose and meaning and wanting to make a difference in the world. I want to help people avoid some of the mistakes I made and starting growing.

Purpose Statement:

Growing myself & others in Faith, Character & Leadership:

A man devoted to improving his personal relationship with God through consistent prayer and study. A faithful, loving husband. A leader in the community, the church and the workplace. A man of good character and integrity. A life long learner. A servant to God and others. A loyal, caring friend and confidant. A positive proactive person that is willing to learn and grow. A man concerned about having a heart more like Jesus. A life that reflects the fruits of the spirit: Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-control. A man above reproach, who is respectable, hospitable, sincere and honest. A good steward of what God has entrusted him. A mentor and a protege. A teacher and a student. An encourager and a builder. A speaker and a writer. Dependent on God Inspired to serve Devoted to glorifying Jesus Christ.

I am not perfect and I still am working on areas of my life that are not good. I still have bad days, make mistakes and bad decisions. But even with all those blemishes in my life I know that I am a child of God that is deeply loved and accepted. It allows me to lead with my heart, love others, forgive people and press on.

July 1, 2015

Six Guideposts for an Emotionally Healthy Life

Living an emotionally healthy life is incredibly freeing. Yet it is very difficult to do because we all grow up learning unhealthy behaviors and unhealthy emotions. Think of it like pieces of armor that we put on growing up, defense mechanisms, ways of handling conflict, how to treat other people, what we think about ourselves, others and God.

In order to get healthy here are a six guideposts that can help us all get healthier emotionally and live with freedom and joy. Many of these guideposts come from researcher, author and speaker Brene’ Brown.

Cultivate authenticity and let go of what other people think – Authenticity is a choice and must be practiced every day. It’s letting ourselves been seen for who we really are and also setting healthy boundaries in our lives. It’s being able to say no in a kind way yet stay firm when pressured. It’s choosing to have a hard conversation instead of stuffing it and letting resentment fill us up. It’s paying attention to what we are feeling and why and dealing with the truth. It’s speaking up instead of holding it in. It’s taking our mask off and being our true self, imperfections and all.
Cultivate self-compassion and let go of perfectionism – Perfectionism leads to frustration, anger and a host of other unhealthy emotions. It also leads to negative self-talk and keeps you from moving forward in relationships and projects. It can feed fear and keep us paralyzed. To let go of perfectionism we need to be able to practice self-compassion or being kind to ourselves. It’s allowing ourselves to deeply feel what we are currently going through and understanding that we are not alone in our struggles. Others have gone through similar things and survived. We must be able to love ourselves before we can love others. It’s giving ourselves a break from having to be perfect and always doing the right thing.
Cultivate a resilient spirit and let go of numbing behaviors – This involves knowing who we are and how we are wired. It is the self-awareness to know what our numbing behaviors are and a willingness to get help to avoid going there. It’s understanding our purpose in life and God’s plan for our lives. When we grow spiritually it strengthens our spirit and allows us to bounce back much faster when troubles come. It’s having a healthy outlet for venting frustrations and pain. Allowing people close to us to know us and be vulnerable with them about what is happening. numbing behaviors include things like spending hours on Facebook or social media, watching TV, video games, working. It can be drinking alcohol, taking drugs, smoking or watching porn. It can also be focusing on our phone and not being fully present with the people around us.
Cultivate gratitude & joy and let go of scarcity & fear – It’s not just having an attitude of gratitude, but actually practicing gratitude. Keeping a gratitude journal and actually telling others how grateful we are for them and the things we are grateful for. It’s living with an eternal perspective and knowing we have a higher purpose in life. It’s noticing the little things in life and being able to live in the moment and just be. It is being comfortable in our own skin and not trying to be somebody we are not. It’s having an abundance mentality, and not a scarcity mentality. It’s being generous with our time, our money and possessions and our abilities by helping and serving others.
Cultivate intuition and trusting faith and let go of the need for certainty – Certainty is not real but uncertainty is. Our intuition comes from the experiences we have had in life. To cultivate intuition we need to think about and learn from our experiences. It’s also important to grow in our faith and keep searching for answers to life’s questions. Yet it’s also being OK with not having all the answers. Many people would rather be miserable and certain than emotionally healthy and uncertain. One way to cultivate intuition and trusting faith to create time for silence and solitude. Building time into our schedules to connect with God, feed our soul and nourish our minds.
Cultivate creativity and let go of comparison – Every human being is creative, some people practice using it more than others. Unused creativity turns into unhealthy emotions like anger, judgement, rage and depression. When we start comparing ourselves to others our creativity goes down because of fear. Often because of something someone said or did to us as a child we avoid being creative because we fear not being good enough. When children get to be in the 4th and 5th grade their level of creativity goes way down because that is when their art begins to get graded and compared to others. To cultivate creativity we need to start doing something we gave up or thought we were no good at. Start drawing, painting, sculpting, writing, taking pictures, making videos. Finding our creative side and exercising it will bring joy, freedom and energy into our lives. Do something creative today.

Start pursuing an emotionally healthy life by cultivating the good and letting go of the bad.