May God bless you with joy, peace, and love today and always. If anyone enjoys worship music, I also share Psalm-inspired worship videos here: psalmsoundworship.netlify.app 💖

For those who missed it or are in the process of doing the Challenge - here is the link to the Debrief. https://youtube.com/live/b9dpdAqzsBQ

I feel led to share this experience. I hope it helps someone. One day I was making cake batter. My eldest grandson came to me and asked me if I was going to bake and I responded that I was just freezing them for now. He then asked me what was bothering me. I responded by asking him why he asked me that. He replied, "when you have writer's block, you garden. When you have a work problem, you make cement pots. And when something is bothering you, you make cakes and freeze them." I thought about it and realised that he was absolutely correct. Not being someone given to games and mind numbing zoning out, I have found that temporarily distracting myself from the problem, but still engaging my mind, or my hands, help me to find clarity. I call this a constructive distraction. Do you find that your hobbies help you in this way? Does anyone else have a version of Constructive Distraction that you would like to share? How does your version of Constructive Distraction help you to achieve clarity?

Loving yourself is also a part of good self-governance https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWgCozPjvI4/?igsh=MXhxdDZkMGpiOGJk

I have struggled in my earlier years with making decisions. How do I move from Point A to Point B? I will admit that I have made some terrible decisions in my life. Looking back, I realise that some of those decisions were made because, I wanted to be seen, to be validated, to be acknowledged. As I experienced many trials as a direct result of my decisions, as I learned from these experiences, and as I studied the Word of God, I realised that I was basing my identity on a foundation of sand. Studying the Word enabled me to see myself identified in Christ (the Rock). This is validation in its truest form. Since then, I've been making better decisions, which have only made my life better. I feel more peaceful, as opposed to being numb, I see with greater clarity, as I'm no longer double-minded. Often we think our problem is decision-making. We believe we need more discipline, more clarity, or better options. But that is not where the issue begins. We can know what to do and still not do it. We can recognize the right decision and still default to something else under pressure. That is not a lack of knowledge. That is structure. If we do not identify the structure behind our decisions, not being able to achieve because of either indecision or bad decisions, eventually leads to self condemnation. Every decision we make is coming from somewhere. It is being shaped long before we act on it. Our identities, what we measure, and what we are aligned to are already at work before the decision ever shows up. If those are not examined, our patterns will keep repeating themselves, even when we know better. In this module, we are not fixing anything yet. We are looking at what is underneath. Because once it is revealed, we are now responsible for what we see. Module 3 — The Architecture: What Governs Your Decisions