Leadership

"It's maturity when someone is attacking you and you look at their perspective and don't act out in anger." Thinking of them and not of yourself. It is so hard to not lash back when someone attacks our character and who we are. But it takes humility to come towards them in love and to realize that it's not about you and to look at things through the other person's eyes.
This came from class today, along with discussing the attitudes of a leader. Being a leader takes humbleness, initiative, being strong, courageous, and God focused. We discussed David and his leadership ability when he stepped forth to take on the mighty Goliath. He was humble in his ability, always giving glory to God. It took initiative for him to step up and say, "I will face Goliath." It took strength and courage to go before someone who was twice his size. What else did it take for this young man to go before the Philistine army? David had to know himself. He knew what his strengths were and he trusted God to give him protection. David stepped forth with five smooth stones, because he knew Goliath had four brothers, so once he had taken down Goliath, he would have enough ammo to take down Goliath's brothers. David was not going to miss, and he knew it. He had developed the skills that God has given him and took confidence in his ability.
God has blessed us all with certain abilities. No matter what those skills are, we are given opportunities to lead and to shepherd those around us. How many times do we take initiative to step forward in these situations? Do we have confidence in our abilities? Have we developed the abilities that God has given us? It is important to know what are strengths are and to develop these strengths so that we can use them to the best of our ability. It is not our role to be competent in every strength, for that is the beauty of community. We don't all have the same exact strengths, and God made us that way on purpose. He wants us to develop the skills we have and rely on those around us to help fill our weaknesses. Community is something glorious and it takes some humility to say, "I don't know it all and I'm not the greatest in this area, but I know those around me can do better in this area." It's using our talents and using the talents of those around us, combining these forces, when we become most effective. So I challenge all of you to discover your strengths, and develop those skills. Use what God has blessed you with.

My Top 5 Strengths: 1. Includer 2. Harmony 3. Empathy 4. Achiever 5. Positivity

Interesting

Interesting. That is how I would label the past week or so. It has been extremely busy as I have completed mid-terms finished a couple of books with extra reading on top of that, and have had really awesome classes. Meanwhile the spiritual warfare has heated up to go on top of this. It has been a week of battle for me spiritually and mentally. But I will start with classes first.
Monday we started the leadership part of my Gender and Leadership Class and it was incredible. Prof. Thomason told us the story of Ernest Shackelton who led an expedition to Antarctica and faced many trials but refused to leave a man behind. Such a great example of courage and tremendous leadership. Today's class in Marriage and Family was on sex. Interesting enough to stop right there. It is a little intimidating looking at marriage and how even an issue of sex has so many sub-issues within it. It was still a great class, but I become a little overwhelmed with all the issues that must be addressed in marriage. The reading has been really good, but it is a lot of reading. It's great to get such a great spectrum of knowledge from all the books we read.
But more than anything, the spiritual battle has been at the forefront of the past week. God has laid upon my heart to really pray for several different people over the past week. I have tried to dedicate more time and more concentration on this area, and since then Satan has been coming at me stronger. It's encouraging to know he is attacking more, because that must mean I'm becoming a bigger threat. It's great to win each little battle saying, "God is stronger! If God is with me, who can stop me!" Telling Satan he has no power over my God. But it is tiring, exhausting, and painful at times. Satan knows where to attack me, and I battle with these thoughts. Each time I have won the battle, but it does not go away. It returns time and time again, and it wears on me. Sometimes I believe the lies for a minute or two. I regret a lot of things I have done, I'm not even close to being perfect and I have made so many mistakes that have hurt those closest to me, but God has redeemed me. I no longer have to live in the past. I'm determined to learn from the past, but I make sure not to dwell on those mistakes. I wish dearly I could change some of the ways I have acted, some of the the actions I have done, but I'm a sinful man and I make mistakes and I can become stronger as a result of these mistakes.
It's been a learning process. In my Wordle Blog I listed the things that I am... from the start of the semester. The biggest one that I placed in there is "Being Healed" and this process is continuing. God has blessed me with so much healing, but it's a continual battle for me. Those scars are still there and scabbed over and Satan keeps rubbing them to try to open them back up. But God places His band-aid over them, protecting them from Satan's evil hand. God is doing incredible things in my life. He is and will continue to show me so much more over the next six weeks that I am here. I ask for your continued prayers in my life and those that are here with me. In a program like this where the spiritual world is discussed so much and so much revolves around this Institution that is proclaiming the Truth of God, we face heavy spiritual warfare. Your prayers mean so much. Thank you all so much. I love each of you dearly, and I can't wait to connect with you all again!