As you DISCOVER your voice, TRUST it…

At yesterday’s practice where Toto was a meanie (no surprise — just ask Miss Gulch, Toto bites), we picked up telling stories about choosing ACUTE pain per the homework assignment.

The team wanted to hear from Toto, who shared about a newbie client who’d just embraced acute pain during Discovery.    His pain was rooted in his acute FEAR of laying aside his carefully-crafted ‘persona’ to be REAL     This is what Discovery is all about.   It’s throwing up on paper so you can begin to discover — for the first time in a long time, maybe EVER — your answers to the 3 Big Questions “who AM I?”,  “why DO I live & work?”, and “how do I really WANT to live and work”.    It creates internal dissonance as integrity gaps come to the fore between Current State & Dream State.  To write about them is one thing — but to share the answers with someone else??   That takes ACUTE pain to TRUST your builder — he said he hadn’t been that naked with ANYbody, even his spouse.

Then Toto had me share my story.   I’d subbed for the teaching pastor at church Sunday, which meant standing on a platform before 600 people.   To illustrate, I stood on a chair 100 ft away and yelled to them about the 3 Big Questions, and why getting the ORDER right matters (most start with “HOW”…which is like playing a frustrating cosmic game of pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey hoping maybe SOMEDAY you’ll figure out the WHO & the WHY.    If you turn to God though, you’ll get amazing answers for the “why & who” that will give the “how” new clarity & alignment in finding your OPUS and the ultimate FLOW experience in life as God works in you & through you).     The message & people I loved — the format, not so much.    It’s like speaking into a canyon.    After 45 minutes and some Q&A at the end, church was done, and I was OVERdone.   There were several high-fives afterwards, but unlike practices that leave you buzzing with energy, church left me wiped out…I KNEW I hadn’t been myself.   The irony  is that my topic was “Finding God’s Rest.” 

Here’s what I realized (i.e. RE-realized).   There are gifted presenters who’ve mastered their voice to weave a spell-binding story & message … but that ain’t me.    MY voice is asking questions, getting folks to THINK & interact, helping them see the melody line, and then going deeper together on a learning adventure.      I knew it — and could have done different with Q&A throughout — but I didn’t TRUST it, so I did it the same way as the other pastors at our church.  

Take home point?  When God puts something on your heart to do, trust the voice HE’S given you to do it — God nevers ask you to do something apart from being Y.O.U.     Part of the Builder’s Journey is learning to discover and then trust it — more & more.    The wrong conclusion would be to say “no-thanks” to something God puts on your heart to do — that’s just slow DEATH, not rest. 

Together we improve.