Heart Check
Below are some questions to consider as you try to understand yourself better and to discern where your areas of growth are.
Embracing Our Reality…..
If I am being honest with myself, where does my identity lay? Is it grounded in God’s story or is it grounded in something else? (If you don’t know, ask yourself what primary drives your actions, decisions, and views of yourself and the world. What makes you really happy and really angry? This will help you answer this question)
How do I understand myself in relationship to God? Do I believe that God loves me and delights in me? Or do I believe that God is upset with me for some reason? Do I feel close to God or do I feel distant?
Being a child of God means acknowledging just how beautiful and broken we are. How am I broken? How am I beautiful?
How am I growing in knowledge of God and knowledge of myself? How am I growing in closeness with the Lord?
How am I growing in my ability to hear from the Lord - to discern his invitations to me? What practices might help me better hear from the Lord more clearly?
How am I loving my neighbor well? What steps could I take to more fully do this?
How am I growing in the Fruit of the Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self-Control? How might I cultivate these virtues?
How am I growing in Humility? Gratefulness? Generosity? Selflessness? Hospitality? Understanding of Others? How might I cultivate these virtues?
Do I have a teachable spirit or do I have a tendency to think “I know best”? Do I listen well to others? How can I cultivate a posture of humility and learning?
When I am with others, am I truly present to them? Do I truly listen? Or am I distracted by other things in my life? How can I be more truly present in all of my relationships and interactions?
When faced with a conflict, do I have a tendency to engage in “fight or flight”? If I have a tendency with either one, how might I learn to engage conflict with humility, truth, and love?
Do I easily forgive others? If not, what presents me from forgiving? How can I move towards forgiveness? Is there anyone I am called to forgive right now? Is there anyone with whom I am called to take an extra step - the step of reconciliation?
Do I live my life in fear or in faith in God? What areas of life particularly bring up fear? How might I cultivate an attitude of trust and faith in God?
Are there any areas in my life/wounds from past circumstances from which I need to seek healing? How might I seek out this healing?
Are there particular idols, addictions, or vices (selfishness/narcissism, pride, envy, greed, lust, wrath, gluttony, sloth/apathy, over-controlling, critical, judgmental, emotionally or physically abusive, distorted sexual appetites, etc.) in my life that by the grace of God, I am called to give up? What steps or practices might I take up to help me release these idols, addictions, and vices?
Do I control my tongue, using it as an instrument of kindness and truth, or do I rather use it as a tool of gossip, lies, and hurt? How might I speak in ways that that encourage, edify, build up, and lovingly exhort others?
What motivates me? What are some of my deepest hopes and desires in life? (Get in touch with these desires. Don’t suppress them, ignore them, or try to justify them away. Be present to all of them. Know that having desires is good. Desires can often propel us forward in life. They can also become distorted over time and move us in the wrong direction. Make a list of your desires, spend some time reflecting on them, and one-by-one slowly give them to the Lord. Ask yourself the following questions.)
Are there desires that seem to be in touch with God’s call on my life?
Are there any desires that seem to be out of touch with what God desires for me?
Are there any unrecognized desires to explain why some of my actions in life are not in line with what I say I believe?
Are there any desires in my life that seem in line with God’s desires for me yet nevertheless go unmet? What is God’s invitation in these circumstances?
Spend some time releasing your desires over to the Lord and asking the Holy Spirit to transform the ones that need to be transformed and to ignite the ones that need to be ignited.