Getting to the Roots of our Community Issues
Last week we started chatting about the wounds and traumas that we may have had in community and why it’s worth it to work on those things so that we can embrace the good and the joy that God wants to give us through community.
Today I want to give you some more tools to help you uncover the roots of any issues you might have with community so that you can bring those origin stories to the Lord for him to speak into.
Sound good? Amazing.
(This is really a preview of what we’ll be doing next week in a very special way through our prayer podcast episode.)
But for today, I want to start with looking at what you experience in community currently as really the fruit of your past experiences - both good and bad. This will give us a starting baseline - looking objectively at what goes well and what goes poorly for you in community will help you figure out what wounds that you might have from community and how Jesus may be inviting you to heal.
So for instance, do you always struggle with comparison in community?
Do you struggle with exhaustion?
Do you struggle with insecurity?
Do you struggle with being vulnerable to the other people?
Do you struggle to trust people to be faithful to the relationship and the community?
Looking at these fruits of our time in community, especially these “bad fruits,“ for lack of a better term, we can start to get an idea of what to pray into.
For instance, if you realize that you always struggle with comparison, then that can invite you into prayer and sharing with the Lord:
“Lord, I always struggle with comparing myself to other people whenever I’m in community. Where is that coming from?“
Invite the Lord to bring a memory or specific person or community into your mind. And then do some detective work with Jesus. This is not necessarily an easy or straightforward process, but it’s so empowering to bring the struggles we face into concrete conversation with Jesus instead of trying to piece things together ourselves or simply giving up on the good of community because it’s triggering to us.
If we have wounds that are keeping us from enjoying the fullness of what God has made us for, then we are settling for less than everything God has for us and we can know with assurance that that is not God‘s intention. God absolutely wants to heal these places in our minds and hearts so that we can live the kind of abundant life Jesus talks about in John 10:10.
So to put today into an actionable form:
- Look at what the common struggles or frustrations are for you in community. Make a list.
- Pray with each one individually. Ask the Lord to bring a specific event, person, or community experience into your mind that he wants to heal. Ask him to lead you in that healing.
If you try this method, let me know! I'd love to hear about your experience.
Use our Memory Stone Journal to record your experience!
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