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Self-Care

As David and I begin our missionary training, we have been prompted to identify what spiritual disciplines we need to build up.

Referencing the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook by Adele Calhoun has helped me to identify a discipline she calls "Self-Care" as one which I am sorely in need of building up in my life. I tend to be blinded by my own standards of success and failure on a day to day basis. I have found that I really need to learn to see myself as God sees me. That sounds simple. That sounds like something I know how to do. But, as the bustle of the day commences, I don't find it easy, and I don't seem to know how to correct my attitude toward myself.

Purpose

I long to build up a practice of Self-Care, rooted in my Creator and Savior that will have deep and lasting results. I do not desire to simply complete a 1,2,3 guide. I hope for Christ-centered methods that produce modifications in my life. How do I reshape my thoughts and actions toward myself to be in unity with Holy Spirit?

Practice

In the Spiritual Disciplines Handbook, the following are listed as some of the results of pursuing the discipline of Christian Self-Care (p70).
  • "Valuing yourself as Jesus values you"
  •  "Freedom from the 'Messiah trap' and trying to save the world to the detriment of your health"
  •  "Living within the limits without burnout"
  • "Having a deep awareness of God's love for you"
  • "Being comfortable in your own skin"
Here are a couple elements of the discipline (p72) I plan to practice in the coming weeks.
  • "God created you 'very good.' Thank God for making you you. If you have a hard time thanking God for yourself, what does this reveal about how you value being made in His image? Talk to God about what it is like to receive yourself as He receives you."
  • "Stand in front of a mirror... What does your body tell you about where you came from? What you have done in life? Your choices? Tell God how you react to what you see. What places of your past still need to be received and integrated into who you are?"
Encouraging scripture for this discipline:
  • I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. Psalm 139:14 
  • Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 1 Corinthians 3:16 
  • "And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." The second is this: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:30-31 (emphasis added)