Ever get so absorbed in what you’re doing that you lose track of time?
Ever get totally lost in something new and interesting that you forget to feed your toads?
Maybe you even lose big chunks of days because you’re working on a particular project?
Me too.
On a weekend, I can get lost on pinterest while exploring all kinds of new ways to get organized, or beautify my home on a budget.
On a warm summer day, I can get lost in an Anne Voskamp book while relaxing on my porch. (I’m wild about porches)
And any day of the year, I can get lost in a dream world walking along the sandy edge of the beach.
A few months ago I was singularly focused on preparing for the Heart Working Women Retreat, Transformed: the Power of Grace in Relationship. It was a blessing to be among you. Our time was well invested.
Most outstanding to me was Natalie’s personal story. She was stirred to share a more deeply personal story than she had prepared to share. Her story gives a heartfelt message on a tender topic not often addressed.
You can purchase the video here.
Currently, I’ve been getting lost in hours of reading and viewing videos about a tool that harmonizes beautifully with Heart Working Women.
The Heart Working Women’s mission is :
To provide resources to help women create life-giving relationships with oneself, others, and God.
My attention has been riveted on a tool that blends beautifully with this mission.
It’s called Transformation Prayer Ministry.
TPM breathes new life into relationships . . . beginning with your relationship with yourself.
Naturally, as your relationship with yourself is kinder, gentler, more nurturing, and honest, your relationships with others will improve also.
The purpose of TPM is to:
Refine your faith
Renew your mind
Transform your life
It is a simple, and effective, tool that helps you identify the lies you’re believing about yourself, or the lies fueling the actions in your life, and then positions you to present them to the Lord.
Simply stated, it allows you to take ownership of your emotions.
Specifically the TPM tool is a set of questions, organized into seven boxes, which help you identify your inner lies and positions you for transformation.
It is a practical application of Romans 12:2 “. . . be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
You can work with it on your own or with the help of someone guiding you through.
By using TPM your inner lies will be eliminated one by one.
Visit Transformation Prayer Ministry here.
You will find this tool will create pathways for the truths you already know in your head to become rooted as a reality in your heart and core.
To help you become more familiar with the TPM process, I’ve included the following piece from my journal which is my TPM experience written through my personal processing of a conflict.
Though it’s only a portion of the TPM process, I hope it gives you some understanding, and an interest in learning more.
I will build on these thoughts in future newsletters. And, please feel free to ask me questions.
JOURNAL ENTRY:
Accusing words come at me, sinking into my gut, one lie attaches onto others already there.
Is my entire life a wasted mess of wrong priorities?
Too many words pummeling me. I can’t think. It’s overload.
I hold my tongue.
Everything within me screams GO . . . TAKE A BREAK. STEP OUTSIDE THE DOOR IT’S ONLY TWELVE INCHES FROM YOU. DO IT NOW. YOUR BRAIN IS ON OVERLOAD.
The blaring words I hear bite as they churn and burrow inside.
“. . . a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1
My hurt quickly curdles into anger and sours any fleeting thought that “just maybe I shouldwelcomethese words and consider if there’s anybenefitI could gain from them”.
Like bats in a bug infested night sky, my anger swirls.
And I hold onto the swirling anger.
In the silence, I notice my anger makes me feel safe.
It feels like a protective shield.
It gives me space to process what’s going on within.
Intellectually I know it’s true that,“A gentle answer turns away wrath, . . .”
But right now I have no gentle answer.
I refrain from using any words.
My head and gut are not synchronizing.
I’m disjointed and hurt within, but anger is what spews out.
Honestly, I can’t tell anymore if the harsh words are coming from within me, or outside of me. Most of them are unspoken.
I refrain from walking out the door. God’s wisdom in the moment. He reaches me even though I’m not tuned in to Him.
I just pause and breathe.
The noise lessens.
Finally it stops.
With some time and space I ask myself the appropriate Transformation Prayer Ministry question:
Do I sense any resistance or hesitancy at the thought of not being angry?
YES.
I needed space. Anger gave me that space.
The next TPM question:
What do I believe would happen if I were to stop being angry?
I think my needs and wishes would be overlooked and ignored.
The next TPM question:
So then the reason for my being angry is what?
To help this person understand my frustration with how we are busily going about our own business, and simply living side by side, rather than communicating and coordinating our plans and desires.
Once I realized why I was angry, (which took me a day or so) I then realized that being angry wouldn’t actually communicate what I wanted to communicate, and that I needed to communicate it with words.
With a bit of time these new thoughts took the air out of my anger.
When I made a plan to address my concerns with him it shrank even more. It shrank down on its own just like a balloon deflates when untied.
My anger dissipated, but I was still feeling hurt.
BAs I thought through the next TPM question I was able to process my hurt which was an underlying reason for my anger.
So the next TPM question I asked myself was:
How am I feeling now?
I feel childish and irresponsible.
The next TPM question:
What comes to mind as I focus on what I’m feeling?
I remember the derogatory comments about my decisions in life that were recently given to me from someone who doesn’t share my values.
And I think of the triggering comment coming from the one with whom I just worked through my anger.
The next TPM question:
How does that make me feel?
Like maybe I did make a mess of my life. Maybe I did choose wrong priorities all along the way.
The next TPM question:
Why do I feel that way?
Because two people have recently told me something like that.
The next TPM question:
Why does believing maybe I did make a mess in my life make me feel irresponsible and childish?
Because if I agree with their point of view, then I can see that I would have been, and continue to be, irresponsible which is childish.
The next TPM question:
Not that it is true, but does it feel true that I am irresponsible and childish?
Yes.
The next TPM question:
Lord what do you want me to know?
What came to mind is that I have been a responsible mother and a good wife, that I have made choices over many years seeking God’s wisdom and not leaning on my own understanding. And that the individual who made the derogatory comments about my choices in life does not hold the same values I hold, and therefore would not be able to understand, or see worth in my decisions.
The next TPM question:
Does it still feel true that I am irresponsible and childish?
NO it no longer feels true that I am irresponsible and childish.
END OF JOURNAL ENTRY
It takes time and courage to untangle a ball of lies and their accompanying emotions.
In the case I shared above the lie was, “I am irresponsible and childish”.
Anger which grows from the lies keep us from being able to process, and move beyond the attached emotions. Therefore we need to address the anger first.
In the above journal I indicated I was angry and it felt safe. In reality if I held onto it too long it would turn into a root of bitterness and poison me. The anger makes us feel powerful, and yet if we hold onto it we will self-destruct from the inside out.
“Be careful that no one falls short of the grace of God, so that no root of bitterness will spring up to cause trouble and defile many.” Hebrews 12:15 BSB
I hope this has been enlightening and wet your appetite for learning more about Transformation Prayer Ministry. You can learn more about it here.
You can purchase the Heart Working Women’s Spring Retreat:
Transformed: the Power of Grace in Relationship here.
Most outstanding to me was Natalie’s personal story. She was stirred to share a more deeply personal story than she had prepared to share. Her story gives a heartfelt message on a tender topic not often addressed. Purchase video here.
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