I also have different things I am working on writing/typing wise though as well which is why I haven't been updating as much as I have been in the past. I would like to give a short update as to how my year has been going so far on the 'surface level' as per the format of this blog. I've also been occupied a lot of days with the additional task of commuting a lot to a more client focused type job.
I have decided to do a little something different with this post and do a little something I haven't been doing on this blog before in a more formal way and that is do a book review. I don't recall if I've formally dedicated a blog entry primarily and explicitly to a book review before but this entry is intended to do something along those lines. The book I was reading was the following:
Crash the Chatterbox by SF, I intentionally did not type out his full name so that those new to reading my blog will understand the convention I use in attempts to maintain a certain degree of anonymity in this blog. This is the first book I've read so far by this author and it isn't bad. There were definitely some chapters and illustrations I liked more than others in it. The main premise of the book is not to allow other "voices" in our lives drown out God's "voice" and how to see ourselves in the light of our true identity in Christ. I definitely like this topic! As the saying goes "the small still voice of God", SF, the author, also does an expository of 1 Kings 19 and mentions this example of how God "whispers". He mentions several sources of how we have difficulty not just 'listening' but 'trusting' in what God says and promises to us and about us in his word i.e. the "fearfully and wonderfully made" from Psalm 139:14 I can't recall if I made mention of in another entry. One of the main "chatterbox(es)" he made mention to, that I can remember of the top of my head is how society conditions us to think negatively of our current and future circumstances with condemnation as opposed to hope. S also uses a similar concept to another author I've been reading, as well as a question BC answered once on Sunday where he points out it is important to distinguish between 'conviction' and 'condemnation'. I feel it is also important at this point to illustrate in some summary statements just what is exactly a 'chatterbox'? For the most part, it is just one's own internal monologue. Does it perhaps though, include an element of how Satan tries to tempt, challenge and demean us through our inner monologue.
It is also quite possible SF's title was also inspired by the generic meaning of the word 'chatterbox'. He does point out how our own internal voices can be a 'chatterbox' and this type of mentality we are often exposed to in our society might also be why I recently heard a speaker in our church saying how we all have some degree of "A D D" (Attention Deficit Disorder). I know for a fact that often when I 'lose my chain of thought' when trying to pay attention to something, it can often be what SF might refer to as 'a word of discouragement' from 'the accuser' or 'the devil'.
I find personally, I have an issue with my mom often being a 'personification' of this concept of a "Chatterbox" in my life. I personally agree a lot also with the author's teaching that it is acceptable we have fallen short in the past, but it is important also not to have our 'failures' to shape us to see ourselves as a 'failure' and also remember we are always loved by God and move on from those moments in our lives to God's higher purpose for us. I also adhere quite a bit with his teaching on how the voice of doubt often causes us to not feel loved enough to be able to do the good God wants of us and I feel a lot of this has to do with the lack of support, or quite the opposite, the amount of opposition I've always faced from my mother in all aspects and eras of my life as well. I certainly hope I haven't been also likewise allowing the 'toxic' elements of my relationship with my mom influence me and leading me follow that example in that I had become a "Chatterbox" to my bestest of fRiends =(...
I will end by including all the quotes from the book that are in the speech bubbles:
"The voice you believe will determine the future you experience." [pg 17]
"One of the main reasons we struggle with insecurity: we're compare our behind-the-scenes with everybody else's highlight reel." [pg 34]
"If the enemy can't keep you from winning, he will do everything in his power to keep you from walking in full awareness of your victory." [pg 48]
"Most of the decisions that send our lives in the wrong direction are the results of us wrongly answering the question 'Did God really say...?" [pg 62]
"You either kick fear out of your heart of it will keep you out of the places God has prepared for you." [pg 77]
"Sometimes the danger of missing out is greater than the risk that comes with stepping out." [pg. 94]
"God whispers because he's close." [pg. 111]
"A believer who is equally convinced of these two realities--sin is serious, but Christ is enough--is the enemy's worse nightmare." [pg. 126]
"God speaks in the past tense about battles you're currently fighting." [pg. 142]
"Condemnation reminds us of our wrongs by showing us our shame, but the spirit convicts us of our sin by reminding us of our righteousness in Christ." [pg. 153]
"My joy is not determined by what happens to me, but what Christ is doing in me and through me." [pg. 170]
"Don't let what you expected keep you from what God wants you to experience." [pg. 185]
"Gratitude begins where our sense of entitlement ends." [pg. 201]
