You Are Priceless … You Have the Mind of Christ

Note: Each worship program will coordinate with the monthly birthstone, their meaning, and their color to help with decorating ideas. Each birth stone meaning is linked to our identity in Christ. July Birthstone: Ruby, Color: Deep Red, Meaning: Wisdom

Program Ideas

Crafts

Mindful Gratitude Feathers – Explore how to use mixed media to create a colorful expression of gratitude and mindfulness. Using items found in nature as well as paint create a unique feather that can include scripture, affirmations, quotes, or words of gratitude. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynlq-6k2y20

Grounding Art – This craft uses therapeutic art exercise principles of grounding and mindfulness to help manage anxiety and other overwhelming emotions. It can be done with minimal supplies and in any setting. Great project for those who may consider themselves less than artistic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMSC95hEj2w

Rainbow Flowers – A paper sculpting craft that uses various colors and shapes of paper to create a beautiful array of colored bouquets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6RHpWwyPEE

Stress Management Resources and Coaching

Hand out sheet of paper with the information and web addresses for the following websites. Play a 5-minute excerpt during the meeting so the women will be aware of what is available.

Burnout

Burnout can take control of your life and health. Learn how to relieve and better manage your stress through coaching and resources.

https://aprillikins.com/free-stress-relief-resources

Christian Meditation videos

This site gives access to a 20-minute guided meditation to Christian worship music and scripture, helping the listener to relax and rest in the Lord.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZb5fN_YEbQ

PneumaBreath

Connecting with God – This 25-minute guided meditation will encourage the listener to breath in the presences of God while releasing the things that keep us stuck in our cycles of stress and burdens of anxiousness.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tpGQFzebMY

Devotional Apps for iPhone or IOS from the App Store

Lectio365 – a free daily devotional that helps you pray the Bible every day.

Holy Bible – in addition to a variety of Bible translations, there is access to a daily devotional.

She Reads Truth – was created with community in mind and offers a way for women around the world to connect with reading and sharing God’s Word. Includes daily devotions. Fees apply.

Sprinkle of Jesus Daily – This app offers daily bible verses as well as devotions that can be an additional tool for those wanting to deepen their walk through a daily devotional. The app is $0.99.

Daily Affirmation Devotional – a daily affirmation devotional with a Bible verse, thoughts, prayers, affirmation, and mediation. No charge for this app.

Mind and Spirit

Have you ever caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, but the reflection makes you stop and look a little closer. Haven’t the circles under your eyes gotten a little bit darker and larger? Isn’t that a new spot on your cheek that doesn’t look like a freckle? Then there is the misplaced hair that needs immediate tweezing. Before you know it, you’re critiquing every part of your reflection and are consumed by the insecurities that follow. Yup, me too.

Our minds are a beautiful thing. They are created to do more than just control the function of our body. They house our creativity, our imaginations. They are where our dreams reside and where our hopes are constructed. The mind is built up of memories, beliefs, perceptions, and judgments. However, our minds can sometimes distort our reality, making us see and feel things that are not based in truth. It will occasionally even create a heart–head disconnect, where our minds and our hearts fall out of sync. The danger of this disconnect is that it creates a space for the beliefs of the world to seep in with feelings of mistrust, skepticism, insincerity which can take root and potentially give birth to behaviors that are inconsistent with that of a Christ follower.

The Bible tells us in Romans 12:2 (NIV), “Do not conform to the pattern of this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing, and perfect will.” When my heart and head are in sync, I am living in the truth of who Christ says I am. I embrace my true and authentic self. I am honest and loving with myself and others. But when they are disconnected, I fall into a pattern that has a ripple effect on my self–esteem and my relationships with others. I create false perceptions, toxic narratives, and destructive behaviors. As I allow Christ to transform my mind, I am no longer consumed by those things that drive me further from Him and steal my peace. I am released to be renewed by His good, pleasing, and perfect will. And in doing so, not only am I transformed but my relationships are as well.

Philippians 2:5 (NIV) says “In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus.” If my mind is transformed by Christ and I am in sync with Him, then both my mind and spirit will reflect Him in my daily interactions. I will see myself, as well as my brothers and sisters, as Christ sees us. And if I see them as Christ sees them, then I will treat them as He does, with love, kindness, mercy, and grace. If I am truly walking in the mindset of Christ, then my heart is also. I no longer operate from my own selfish ambition. I am not locked into my prideful behaviors or unconscious biases. I am open, accepting, and willing to share in other’s experiences and truths.

If I look for the bad in people and situations, I will find it. But, if I look for good, it too is present. It is part of our struggle with sin. The innate sin in us allows us to easily recognize sin in the world and the attraction is strong because there is less work involved. As a Christ follower, I must strive to find the good in myself and in others. I choose to recognize that the flaws in myself that require grace and are also present in those around me. Likewise, the good that I desperately try to cultivate in myself needs to be nurtured in others as well. God created us each holy and pure, but our humanity is imperfect and requires His love to shape, mold and teach us transforming our minds and spirits.

Questions for Reflections

• What are ways your mind is influenced by the world around you?
• How do your thoughts affect your actions and reactions?
• Are there behaviors or thoughts that may reveal a heart head disconnect?
• What gets in the way of us giving and receiving grace and understanding?
• How can we become a Philippians 2:5 woman?

Prayer

Heavenly and gracious Father thank you for the gift of a wonderful mind. Today I pray that my thoughts be free from my insecurities and sin. May they become the purest reflection of Your love for me and for others. Lord, help me to see the truth that is often clouded by the sins of the world around me and in me so that my heart and head are in sync to Your will and Your love for me and others. Amen.