Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Having a Mary Spirit--Week Four


The study this week was called, "Fault Lines" The author, Joanna Weaver, brought us the story of king Croesus that ruled Sardis. He had amassed great wealth and had thought he had his city impenetrable. He and the whole of Sardis felt no one could get within. While the Persians watched, a Sardis guard dropped his helmet and went through a secret passage to retrieve it. This gave them the clue they needed and the Persians overtook the unwatched city.

The author said that, "we all have fault lines that run through our souls. Weak spots in our psyches that may go undetected-or simply ignored--for years." This brought to my mind how the Titanic was thought to be so strong and mighty that nothing could sink it. Men had boosted themselves up with the notion that they had built something perfect. We all know that it proved to be an imperfect design. In 1 Peter 5:8, "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." NIV

"Jesus pointed to a weak spot in Martha's psyche, she had the need to succeed, and to the fear of failure which fed a demanding spirit." My question for study this week was:
Looking back on your life, to what sort of things have you looked for a sense of identity and self-worth? What do you think your core issue might be?

It didn't take me long to realize that I was driven for years to excel in my career and further my education. I began working on my bachelors degree in 1973 and didn't finish until 1998. Although I had jobs that required a degree, I had been hired without one and went around feeling less than adequate. I believe my core issue was insecurity. I felt hyper-sensitive when others started discussing their education. I now see that it was a pride and insecurity issue. I was ashamed. Now that I look back it is not something that I had to have for my Christian walk and that is my focus. Being insecure goes back to my childhood and never feeling good enough. Through years of walking with the Lord, I now realize He is the one that can work on the weak areas of Trish, my fault lines. He is my security.

6 comments:

Betsy Brock said...

My first thought, here was, "Trish, if they hired you without the required degree, then they were impressed with you for a lot of other reasons!" :) Yes, we all have fault lines and I think Satan can try to use them to unravel us. Insecurities, especially. I've enjoyed your writings on this series! Thank you!

sandy said...

thanks for sharing. Fault lines, oh yea...I know of those well.

Strider said...

Amen! Nice post. Our "worth" and "strength" is measured in Him and not us.

Lavinia said...

Oh Trish, what insight your study is revealing....through the Lord. Insecurity is something that lurks in so many of us....

You are right. Through Jesus, the fault lines can be healed.

Dorothy said...

Trish...great post...We all do have our weak points, and insecurities...Life is not easy sometimes, but the God's help we can manage.

Dorothy said...

oops....with God's help, we can manage.