In my true identity I am a seeker and giver of freedom. But honestly, how do I become free?
I have been embracing the word disorientation. Which often translates to discomfort or disruption for me. But when I embrace it in situations where I am working to change old patterns and walking towards health it lets me know I am making progress.
The following model of transition has helped me move forward. There are three parts to a transition. When we go through a transition there is a necessary ending, a saying goodbye to a part of my old self that is formed apart from Christ, but is familiar and is part of how you see yourself and make sense of the world. It is my current orientation. Next comes the offering or the disorientation that I feel when I let go of the familiar. Accepting the disorientation will be the real test, as we want to go back to familiar and comfortable. The new beginning is something more powerful than what ended. It is my new self and helps me make sense of the world based on who God says I am. It is a reorientation.
How do I use this model to become more free? I started by thinking about, imagining, listening to what keeps me from being free. One (of a few) things that immediately comes to mind is people pleasing. Ok, I have identified a necessary ending In order to be motivated to leave this behavior behind, I needed to see the goal of my “new beginning.” My new beginning was to have God be my audience. In order to do that I need to end letting others be my audience. My disorientation is/will be the uncomfortable feeling of not always meeting others expectations of me, of saying yes without checking in with myself, of not saying what I think people want to hear, of becoming comfortable with my own voice, of not letting the little signs of disapproval be my guide.
Practically this looks like catching the many times I find myself making decisions on what I think others expect, then stopping. I imagine God smiling as I stumble to learn this new way of living, and imagine myself living in the freedom of not worrying about others approval. Then I welcome the disorientation/discomfort,- understanding it to be part of the process.
I have been working toward this goal for years now in little steps forward and back. But the combination of seeing my new beginning, God’s smiling at me, and the knowledge that it will be disorienting, and that is to be expected have been exciting for me. I deeply want to become healthy, not appear healthy, and this model helps.
-Anne Lider
Take some time to think about the following:
Necessary ending: What types of labels, beliefs, attitudes and ways of living need to come to an end because they contradict an identity truth?
Offering: How will these endings disorient you? If you aren’t sure, ask yourself what would it be like to navigate life without that label, belief, attitude or way of living?
New Beginning: What is beginning in your beliefs, attitudes and ways of living that reorient how you see yourself and make sense of the world?
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