Humility Day 2: Pride

Today's reading in Character Makeover is about pride. I began today thinking: I am not prideful. I am just the opposite. But now I realize that there are areas in my life that I am prideful. Ways that I didn't realize or failed to acknowledge.

I really like the things that Katie talks about in this chapter about pride.

"Pride at it's essence is a problem of being me-centered. Pride sets us up against God and attempts to seize his lordship for ourselves." pg. 31

Katie then goes on to describe the four areas of pride along with scripture reference:

Exalting myself: "It's all about me."

• Exalting pride occurs when we overvalue ourselves by trying to build ourselves up.
• "You're hopeless, you Pharisees! Frauds! You love sitting at the head table at church dinners, love preening yourselves in the radiance of public flattery." Luke 11:43

Belittling myself: "Woe is me."

• Worthlessness is the most deceptive form of pride. This type of pride masquerades as humility, but it's really a reverse method of attracting attention. Women who belittle themselves are masters at undervaluing their worth.
• "And when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, who try to look pale and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I assure you, that is the only reward they will ever get." Matthew 6:16

Attacking others: "You're not as good as me."

• Pride that attacks others is a judgmental spirit, one which devalues others by tearing them down.
• For scripture reference on attacking others, see Matthew 7:1-5

Ignoring others: "You're not the boss of me."

• This type of ignoring others obviously undervalues their input.
• "Israel's pride will cause their defeat; they will not turn back to the Lord their God or look to him for help in all this." Hosea 7:10

After discussing these different types of pride, there is a self-evaluating test on which kind of pride you deal with most often. I took the test and was surprised by the results. It was a very revealing test. My area of pride that I struggle with most is belittling myself.

Here are Katie's suggestions for dealing with each type of pride:

• Do you exalt yourself? You can decide to die to self and stop attempting to steal God's glory. This is a conscious choice; it is a daily decision.
• Do you belittle yourself? You can learn who you are in Christ as his precious daughter and stop lying to yourself about your lack of value.
• Do you attack others? You can declare that God is God and stop trying to be president of the world.
• Do you ignore others? You can start seeing people as God' instruments and stop resisting their input.

Today, examine these different types of pride and how you see them in your own life. Ask God to show you. Pray to God for help in trying to be more humble and less prideful.

Humility Day 1: Seeing God

Humility is the foundation of all other character traits. Without it, we become boastful, prideful, and self-righteousness.

"The only sure path to humility is through gaining the right perspective. Humility is a natural result of having an accurate view of who God is and having the right perspective of who you are in relation to him. Truly humble people compare themselves not with other people, but only with Christ. They realize their sinfulness and understand their limitations. On the other hand, they also recognize their gifts and strengths and are willing to use them as Christ directs. A truly humble person will surve God in any capacity, even if she doesn't feel particularly gifted in that area." pg. 24

Some people think that humility means being a doormat and letting others walk all over you. But that is humiliation, not humility. God loves you and chose you. He wants you to know your strengths and weaknesses and not compare yourself to anyone but Christ. God wants you to use your gifts for Him and be willing to do things He calls you to do. Do not consider yourself more than you are, but don't consider yourself less than you are.

Katie ends day one with a journal activity that I will share here and answer truthfully.

Psalm 103:1-5
Who is God? God is a healer, forgiver of sins, redeemer, mercy giver, renewer.
Who am I in relation to him? I am forgiven, healed, renewed, and redeemed.
How can this understanding help me become humble? I am healed, redeemed, renewed, and forgiven because of Him. I recognize that God has given me a new life and I want to serve Him with it. I am blessed.

Psalm 103: 6-10
Who is God? God is merciful and gracious. He does not hold grudges. He does not punish us for our sins or reward us for our sins.
Who am I in relation to him? I am forgiven for ever! He has poured his mercy and grace upon me. He knows me in love not in anger.
How can this understanding help me become humble? I have done nothing to deserve his forgiveness, yet still he gladly forgives me.

Psalm 103:11-14
Who is God? His mercy is great. He has removed our sins far from us. He pities us and knows us. He remembers that we are only human.
Who am I in relation to him? I am truly forgiven and shown mercy.
How can this understanding help me become humble? God knows I am human and make mistakes, and he won't hold those mistakes against me.

Psalm 103:15-18
Who is God? God is eternal and merciful. He keeps his word to His children.
Who am I in relation to him? I am loved and chosen.
How can this understanding help me become humble? God will always keep His word to us, so we should keep our word to him.

Psalm 103:19-22
Who is God? God is ruler of all. His angels do His work.
Who am I in relation to him? God sends His angles to help me.
How can this understanding help me become humble? God sends his love and help to me. He is my helper and I will do his good works with His help.

Tomorrow we will talk about pride, one of the strongholds of humility.

Character Makeover - Introduction

I bought a book this weekend that I would like to discuss here. It is Character Makeover by Katie Brazelton and Shelley Leith.

This book is a 40 day study with a life coach to "create the best you."

Katie Brazelton has been a "Life Purpose Coach" for several years and has written many books. She helps women to discover their purpose in life and create a plan for their life so they leave a legacy. Katie considers herself our "Character Coach" in this book.

"Here are some important things we know up front: God cares more about the character we bring to our life mission than he does about our ministry's strategic plan. He cares more about our Christlike integrity than our kingdom-building productivity. He wants our honesty in all areas of our lives more than our accomplishments for him. In his Holy Book, learning to be holy is the bottom line (1 Peter 1:15-16)." pg.11

Katie has selected eight character traits to discuss in this book: humility, confidence, courage, self-control, patience, contentment, generosity, and perseverance. She chose these traits because they are the exact opposite of what 2 Corinthians 10:4 refers to as strongholds.

"The term strongholds refers to areas where our enemy, Satan, has set up camp and dug in, creating for himself a fortress from which he launches attacks and tries to destroy us. These are the places where we repeatedly experience discouragement, distress, defeat, and damage. These are the monsters that keep us from our God-given dreams." pg. 12

These eight character traits that are discussed in the book are what Katie sees as the "most prevalent strongholds" she sees in women today. Half of the traits are exhibited inwardly and half are exhibited outwardly. They can also fall into five different categories of relationships which effect our life purpose.

Relationship to God

• Humility deals with the inner strongholds of pride, self-centerdness, judgementalism, and worthlessness.

Relationship to Ourselves

• Confidence deals with the inner strongholds of insecurity, poor self-esteem, and perfectionism.
• Courage deals with the outward strongholds of fear, anxiety, and untruthfulness.

Relationship to Others

• Self-control deals with the inner strongholds of impulsiveness, addiction, being undisciplined, being over emotional, and being stress prone.
• Patience deals with the outward strongholds of being intolerant and demanding.

Relationship to Things

• Contentment deals with the inner strongholds of envy, dissatisfaction, and perpetual restlessness.
• Generosity deals with the outward strongholds of greed and an entitlement mentality.

Relationship to the Future

• Perseverance deals with the outward strongholds of quitting, hesitating, avoiding a decision, and not following through.

This book will be quite an adventure for me and I hope for you too.

Tomorrow I will begin out first day of the 40 day study. This week's character quality is humility. Please feel free to join me and read along!

Encouragement During Deployments

I have almost reached the two month mark in this deployment and I could really use some encouragement. I picked up my King James Version bible and started reading. Here are a few of the encouraging verses I found for those of us needing a little boost.

• "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." - Proverbs 3: 5-6

• "When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken." - Proverbs 3: 24-26

• "The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." - Proverbs 18: 10

• "I will turn their mournings into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow." - Jeremiah 31: 13

• "From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that is higher than I." - Psalm 61: 2

Making A Living Without A Job

I am looking into different ideas for making money and I would like to start a scrapbooking business. I made a couple layouts and pre made pages and posted them on ebay and craigslist but I have not got any hits yet. I would like to know how to get this business up and running, because I love to scrapbook and want to do it full time from my home. I wish I had some money to buy some books I am looking into on a scrapbooking business.

Lies We've Been Fed

After reading Eat Fat, Lose Fat, by Dr. Mary Enig and Sally Fallon, I feel like my eyes have been opened. We have all been fed (literally) lies about fat from sources that we are supposed to trust such as the government and doctors. The following are some of the lies we've been told, taken from the book Eat Fat, Lose Fat.

Myth #1: High-Fat Foods Cause Heart Disease

Myth #2: High Cholesterol Causes Heart Disease

Myth #3: High-Fat Foods Increase Blood Cholesterol

Myth #4: Cholesterol Causes Plaque Buildup In Arteries

To read more about these lies, and the truths that have been hidden from us, pick up a copy of Eat Fat, Lose Fat! You won't be sorry!

Book Lovers Can Save

If you are a book lover, like myself, then you have spent hundreds of dollars on books. A great way to save is signing up for Borders Rewards. Go to your local Borders book store and ask to become a Rewards member. It's FREE! They email you coupons weekly that are for at least 20% off of an item of your choice. You also get bigger discounts on best sellers in the store. Every time you buy a book, they will scan your Rewards card and a percentage of your total for that purchase will be put in you holiday money. You can use this money around Christmas time. Last year, I got a whole book for free with my holiday rewards money on my card. Lately my husband and I have been going almost weekly to buy a book or two so I am excited to see how much I have earned this year! Do you know of any other ways to save on books?