Lisa notes

On the Blog – January 2020

By LisaNotes January 31, 2020 Archives 1 Comment

Here are brief summaries and links to blog posts from January 2020.

On the Blog 2020-01

Your Personality Is the Gift, Not the Box {Enneagram Series Coming}

By LisaNotes January 29, 2020 Enneagram 36 Comments

Is Your Personality Limiting?

It’s not that I don’t want to.

It’s just that I can’t.

Do you ever feel that way?

We all have limitations. Some physical, some emotional, some mental. We can strength train and practice free throws and scrimmage with the best basketball players, but it’s highly unlikely any of us will ever play in the NBA, for instance.

Our personalities can feel like a limitation at times, too. As an introvert, I periodically need a break from people. I need to recharge in solitude, in time alone with God, if I want to function in optimal ways.

But does my personality lock me into a box?

Step Out of the Box

We’re different from each other. Every one of us. No two are exactly alike.

Some of our friends are homebodies. Some are constantly on the go. Some want their outsides to look perfect. Some want to go deeper instead.

There’s no perfect system for categorizing our circle of friends or ourselves. Nor would we want one.

But there are healthy ways to examine behaviors, motives, and spiritual paths. Specifically our own.

When we know ourselves better, we are more open to God at work in our lives. And we interact with more grace toward those around us.

Anne Bogel puts it this way in Reading People:

“Understanding our personalities makes it significantly easier to change the things within our grasp. . . . I’ve found that understanding my personality helps me step out of the box I’m trapped in. When I understand myself, I can get out of my own way.”

Learning to understand myself and others is one reason I like the Enneagram.

The Enneagram (pronounced ANY-a-gram) is one tool among many to open previously-closed windows to our souls. It allows space for the Holy Spirit to breathe fresh air into our relationships with God, with our loved ones, and with ourselves.

It unlocks the box and lets our personalities come home.

Daily Series on the Enneagram

Enneagram soon

If you want to learn more about yourself through the Enneagram, too, join me daily in February. We’ll examine twenty ways to practice the Enneagram for spiritual growth. (I’m participating with Anita Ojeda’s blogging challenge, #Write28Days.)

Whether you’re already familiar with the Enneagram or if this is your first time hearing about it, we’ll walk step-by-step through nine basic personality types, honing our understanding of ourselves, and preparing room for God to continue transforming us into his image of love and goodness.

I’m not a professional, but I will share what I’ve learned from the professionals and what I’ve seen and experienced. God can fill in the gaps. He designed each of us uniquely, so he knows best how to guide us.

The series will include:

  • How to identify your type
  • Spiritual practices for each type
  • Online resources
  • Subtypes and wings
  • Relationships between types
  • Heart, head, and gut triads
  • Stress and health directions
  • and much more

Our personality type doesn’t have to be a binding limitation. We can learn to work with it, not against it. It can be a gift, if we use it as God designed it for us.

“Learning to see ourselves for who we truly are is a gift of grace. The Enneagram helps us do just that.”
– Christopher Heuertz, The Sacred Enneagram

Practice the Enneagram Together

Here are four ways to follow the Enneagram series. I hope you’ll add your comments, questions, and experiences along the way.

1. Sign up here to get the Enneagram series via email.
Each post comes to your inbox. (If you already subscribe to the blog, do nothing. It’ll come to you.)

2. Bookmark the index page. (not active until Saturday, February 1)
This link will take you to the index page for the series, beginning February 1.

3. Subscribe in your favorite news reader.
Feedly is my favorite. I do all my blog reading there.

4. Join me on Facebook.
I’ll link the daily post on my LisaNotes FB page.

* * *

What’s your Enneagram type? Do you have a favorite personality system—Myers-Briggs, five love languages, Keirsey Temperaments, DISC, etc.?  Please share in the comments.

How to Read More Than One Book at a Time + 6 Books I Recommend {January 2020}

By LisaNotes January 27, 2020 Books I Recommend, Reading, Video Book Reviews 91 Comments

“No book is for everybody, but every book is for somebody.“
– Al Hsu

More Than One Book at a Time

Do you read more than one book at a time? Or do you think that’s crazy?

Here’s how I do it.

I keep a running list of books I’m currently reading, preferably around 5 books. The book that needs to be finished first is always #1. Maybe it’s a library book almost due or a book I need to review soon.

The other books are in order of highest interest and/or need to be finished next. I try to read from a variety of genres at any given time, so no two books are too similar in topic. Most are nonfiction plus one novel.

When I have a minute to read, book #1 is the book I pick up first. If no other books get read during the day, at least this one did. I usually aim for around 10 pages a day in this main book. 

I read the other books sequentially, working my way down the list as time allows. My optimal goal is to read at least 2-3 pages in every book on the list at some point during the day. But I rarely succeed. That’s okay.

I usually read down the list in the same order, although I’m not rigid about it. When I’m low on time, the books lowest on the list don’t get read for a few days. They’ll get their turn more frequently once I finish books higher on the list.

That is how it works for me. It’s rarely as regimented as it sounds. But eventually all books get finished this way, and the wide variety keeps me interested.

How do you like to read?

6 Books I Recommend

Every month I share the best of what I’ve finished reading. Here are books I recommend from January. See all my recommended books here.

Books I Recommend January 2020

Nonfiction

1. Introverts in the Church
Finding Our Place in an Extroverted Culture
by Adam S. McHugh

Introverts in the church

If you’ve ever felt uncomfortable as an introvert in extroverted spaces, this book reminds you that you’re fine as you are, and also shows you ways to contribute as you are. Especially in church.

[click here if you can’t see the 1-minute book review, Introverts in the Church]

2. Transforming Your Thought Life
Christian Meditation in Focus
by Sarah Geringer

Transforming Your Thought Life

It’s hard to control our thoughts. Sarah’s book shows us how to escape our tangled thoughts, transforming them into God-honoring and healthy thoughts through use of scriptures and prayers.

[see my full review of Transforming Your Thought Life]

3. Outer Order, Inner Calm
Declutter & Organize to Make More Room for Happiness
by Gretchen Rubin

Outer Order Inner Calm

Want inner calm? Create outer order; it helps. Gretchen Rubin gives us lots of practical tidbits for getting control of our stuff.

  • “Every item should have a specific home. NEVER LABEL ANYTHING MISCELLANEOUS.” (Oops, I do.)
  • “If three times the thought has occurred to me, ‘I wonder if I should get rid of that,’ I get rid of it.”
  • “If I didn’t already own this possession, would I buy it? If not, why keep it?”
  • “Remind yourself, If and when I need this, I can buy it. Maybe I’ll never need it, so I’ll store it at the store.”

4. 24/6
The Power of Unplugging One Day a Week
by Tiffany Shlain

24.6

We know this, but it’s good to hear it again: take an occasional sabbath from technology. Specifically, Shlain suggests turning off screens one day every week for your mental, relational, and emotional health. I’m attempting this in a small way this year with my One Word: Linger, but in a more moderate way than Shlain recommends.

5. Enneagram and the Way of Jesus
Integrating Personality Theory with Spiritual Practices and Biblical Narratives
by A.J. Sherrill

Enneagram and the Way of Jesus

This short but powerful book is packed with spiritual lessons on the Enneagram. I’ve used it in preparing for my new series starting February 1 here: “The Enneagram for Spiritual Growth.” Sherrill connects our types with specific practices of discipleship for becoming more like Christ.

Fiction

6. Little Fires Everywhere
by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere

Did Izzy burn the house down? This novel starts off hot with the Richardson family and their individual relationships with Mia and Pearl Warren, drifters who move into town. A lot of topics are built into the storyline along the way, including adoption, abortion, family, and social structures.

Reading Now

  • The Dearly Beloved
    by Cara Wall
  • The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
    How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World
    by John Mark Comer
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow
    by Daniel Kahneman
  • Seven Transforming Gifts of Menopause
    An Unexpected Spiritual Journey
    by Cheryl Bridges Johns
  • Convenience Store Woman
    by Sayaka Murata
  • Upstream
    The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen
    by Dan Heath
  • Stay
    Discovering Grace, Freedom, and Wholeness Where You Never Imagined Looking
    by Anjuli Paschall

* * *

What good book are YOU reading this month? Please share in the comments.

My books on Goodreads
More books I recommend

sharing with Modern Mrs. Darcy

How Can You Transform Your Thought Life?

By LisaNotes January 24, 2020 Book reviews 11 Comments

Transforming Your Thought Life

Our minds are always thinking. That’s good. But when our brains churn negative thoughts over and over, it leaves us drained and discouraged.

“You have an average of 60,000 thoughts every day, and up to 80 percent of those thoughts are negative. Almost all of today’s negative thoughts are recycled from yesterday’s negative thoughts.”

The apostle Paul advised bringing every thought under control to obey Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). But how can we do that?

“Why don’t we tend to our thought lives? It’s because they aren’t seen by anyone else, same as the junk drawer. We keep hiding messy thoughts away because we think they don’t matter. We undervalue the importance of our thoughts.”

Sarah Geringer’s new book, Transforming Your Thought Life: Christian Meditation in Focus, is here to help us take captive of a wide variety of thoughts.

  • Negative thoughts
  • Anxious thoughts
  • Self-critical thoughts
  • Fearful thoughts
  • Angry thoughts
  • Self-focused thoughts and more

I already knew Sarah was a good writer. I knew she had a godly heart. I read her blog regularly. I also know she reads widely and loves to help people.

I can tell she uses all these gifts in this book. She methodically walks us through the process, step by step, on how to change our thought patterns from negative ones to God-honoring ones using the power of the Spirit through meditation on scripture and prayer.

“The Holy Spirit is the main agent in your thought-life transformation. His roles are perfectly suited for sweeping your mind clear of junk drawer clutter and filling it with ordered truth.”

Each chapter in the book has a key verse, personal and relevant stories from Sarah, a prayer, reflection questions, quotes from other authors, and a list of meditation verses related to the chapter’s topic.

Training our minds to stay focused on truths, not lies, is not an easy road. But as we stay on the path, we will see fruit. I’m grateful for books like Sarah’s that help us along our way.

“Taking control of your thought life takes practice. It may not feel natural or comfortable at first. It may feel painful to let go of deeply entrenched patterns of thought. But with the help of the Holy Spirit, your thought life will be transformed by God’s life and peace.”

* * *

Is it hard for you to control your thoughts, too? Please share in the comments.

Put Your Body in Position

By LisaNotes January 22, 2020 Linger, Worship 18 Comments

I like to use my head. To think. To analyze. To plan.

But sometimes, I need to put my body where my head is.

Put my body in position.

Put the body in position

On Your Knees

It was the first Sunday of the new year. The first Sunday after the latest church shootings. Another one in Texas. Three people died.

Pastor Priscilla had been wrestling with God on Saturday night about it. On Sunday morning, she had an assignment for the rest of us.

Get down on your knees. Bow. Start the year off right by worshiping the Father. Physically, not just mentally or emotionally.

She wanted us to know awe, to exhibit faith, to discard fear. To start this year off right.

So we did. On our knees all across the room, we were prayed over by Pastor Priscilla. She gave us what she’d been given about BOW: Blessed Overcoming Winners (not sinners).

There’s something about putting the body in position.

Raise Your Hand

The service continued on. This time it was Pastor Pat pulling us up for more.

It had been two days since the assassination of Iran’s Qasem Soleimani. International tension was high. Pastor Pat asked for raised hands if you would be deploying overseas or had loved ones deploying. 

He asked those sitting nearby to gather around those with hands raised, to pray for their safety and for our military and for peace.

I looked around. I saw clumps of people spread out over the auditorium, praying, in touch with soul and body.

I saw people putting their bodies in position.

Body in Place

The sermon was delivered. Pastor Pat asked for those with needs to come receive prayer. Lay down their weights.

My friend Sandy, sitting next to me, stood up. She was quick to walk to the front and kneel for prayer.

My mind went into gear. Pray for Sandy. My heart engaged, too: Lord, please.

But my body? It was frozen in place. God could hear my prayers for Sandy from my seat. Why did my body need to follow?

Logically, I was right. God can hear us anywhere. I could hug Sandy afterwards, and even pray together then.

But sometimes the body needs to follow the heart instead of only rationalizing with the head.

I stepped out. Already there were many others up front praying. I found Sandy and knelt beside her, my arms over her shoulders, and prayed with her. Not just in spirit, but also in body.

It felt different than praying from my seat. It felt stronger.

A few more minutes went by. Sandy turned to me and asked if I needed prayer, too. I did. Don’t we always?

She prayed for me. This song flooded over us.

Chains fall
Fear bow
Here now
Jesus, you change everything.

All across the auditorium people were asked to pray with open hands. I opened mine.

Sometimes we need to just put the body in position.

The Body Complete

Some lead with their gut, some with their heart; I lead with my head.

But sometimes the whole body needs to show up, not just the head or heart.

I often have to make my body go where I want it to go.

I have to remind myself to linger in my body, not just in my mind. It doesn’t come naturally.

But perhaps we are most like God when we are three-in-one, together, like he is with the Son and Spirit.

Send the body. Put it where you want it to be. Let it do things.

Even if it’s uncomfortable.

Put the body in position.

* * *

Which are you: a head, heart, or body person? Please share in the comments.

This is my year to Linger. For January I’m focusing on lingering in the body. Here’s why.

Linger

For more on worshipping in the body:

  • Let the Body Worship
    When God is in the house, how can a body contain him? Go with it. Let the body worship.
  • Worship Different
    It was just a small change but a good change. May we never be too comfortable to try something different.
  • Raise Your Hand If . . . 
    She asked me, “Why do people raise their hands at your church?” It’s a good question. How would you answer?

5 Scriptures for Making Decisions

By LisaNotes January 20, 2020 Encouragement, Trust 29 Comments

5-scriptures-for-making-decisions

So Many Decisions to Make

How many decisions have you already made today?

Some experts say we make 35,000 decisions every day.

For most of them, we breeze through without even thinking.

But occasionally one choice will paralyze us. We want to pick the God-honoring decision. If we only knew what that was. 

We’re stuck. What to do next?

5 Ways to Improve Your Decisions

Here are five truths from scripture to help us make better choices.

1. Tune out distractions to tune in to God

But [Jesus] would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Luke 5:16

The world shouts at us all day. The internet, texts, Facebook, music, podcasts—they can all drown out God’s voice.

So first, turn down the volume. Get quiet.

Then revamp your hearing by listening to God for spiritual principles that apply to your dilemma (Romans 12:2). Use reference tools to study Bible verses in full context. Look for God’s character in the stories you read and see how you can best mirror his character through your choices.

2. Seek godly advice from others

Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Proverbs 19:20

After listening to the Word for yourself, listen to godly people around you. Who has God placed in your life you can consult? Have any of your spiritual friends already walked this path? Is there a mature believer in your family who can advise you?

Seek help also from experts you’ve yet to meet—maybe in person, maybe in print—who can give you additional information.

Look for similar threads in the advice they give. You may have initially overlooked something that they can point out. Be open.

3. Narrow down your choices

What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?
James 4:1

Do certain choices appeal more to you than to God? Cross out options that are least compatible with your goals. Then circle the options that could bring God the most glory.

Hone in on who you want to be after the decision is made. Use that image of “future you” to help purify your motives in the present.

If certain choices are time-contingent, and the pace seems wrong and out of God’s timing—either too rushed or too prolonged—discard those options as well. While waiting on the Lord may be difficult (Psalm 27:14), he can build up your strength during the wait (Isaiah 40:31). God’s outcomes are worth waiting for.

4. Do something

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.
James 1:22

On the other hand, if you’re only waiting because you’re too scared to act, step out in faith and do something (Joshua 1:9).

After seeking God through prayer, Bible study, godly counsel, and appropriate pacing, quit delaying your decision. Just make it! Trust that God is true to his word—if you ask in faith for wisdom, he generously supplies it (James 1:5-6).

God is even more invested than you are in accomplishing his works through you (Philippians 1:6).

5. Give thanks for the results God will bring

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped; my heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to him.
Psalm 28:7

Instead of second-guessing the decision you’ve now made, give thanks for it. Look forward to how God will bless it.

Believe that God will work good out of your choice (Romans 8:28). Even if you mess up, he can redeem it. His grace is big enough. Trade in the pressure for peace; he sends rest for your heart and mind (Philippians 4:6-7).

As you enhance your spiritual sensitivity to God’s guidance, let it grow your confidence in what the Lord does, not just what you do.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.
Proverbs 3:5-6

* * *

What helps you stop wavering and just make the decision? Please share in the comments.

Read more for making better decisions:

revised from the archives
originally posted at Do Not Depart