Job Seekers Prayer and Support Group Note.... A note to a group of people looking for work and dealing with over coming, how she has overcome her dyslexia and learning disabilities...

A note to a group of people looking for work and dealing with overcoming how she has overcome her dyslexia and learning disabilities...   Job Seekers Prayer and Support Group Note 

I personally stand in faith on this confession because this morning before walking out the door, my 8 year old daughter had a complete and total temper tantrum. You see, she had a paper due on Dolphins and she had not finished the last paragraph on "Interesting Facts" about Dolphins. She has a severe learning disability and writing is extremely difficult for her as most of her letters are backward and the words are not spelled properly.  

In her teary and angry tantrum, I saw myself as a child sitting there. The same tear-stained cheeks, the same shameful feeling of feeling so small and powerless. The same unsaid conviction that I was stupid, big for my size, yet mentally smaller than others my age - as I could do so little that they could easily do. I often asked as a child: Why? Why, why, why....I always wanted to know WHY this was my disability. What possible purpose could this serve? What could God "do" with me when I couldn't even write or do math or frankly do anything that my friends could do.  

You could say I get my daughter's tantrum because I had a childhood full of angry and shameful tantrums myself. We are both severe dyslexics, and the pain she feels almost daily is a pain I am too familiar with. She is always asking why, and if I'm not careful, I ask why, too, not trusting the fact that my Lord knew her exactly as she was in the womb. No matter what circumstances suggest, I believe that she is fearfully and wonderfully made with an exact plan and purpose for her life. That all of the experiences she is having now will uniquely qualify for her life's calling. As her Mom, I need to remember to let go and let the Lord direct the child that He so beautifully created. She's only mine on loan...

So what about you? Are you asking Why? In the book by John Maxwell, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, this week we will be discussing  the Law of Curiosity.  

In this chapter, he states, "Most revolutionary ideas were disruptive violations of existing rules. They upset the old order. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make, the better".  I value innovative thinking and am easily frustrated by people who refuse to think outside of their self-imposed boxes.  When people say things like  "We've never done it that way before" or "That's not my job," I just want to shake them up. I want to offer to do their funeral because they have already died and are obviously just waiting for someone to make it official.  

Good ideas (opportunities and resources) are everywhere, but it's hard to see them when you won't look outside your box.  Instead of remaining confined, people need to break down the walls of their boxes and become hunters of ideas.  That requires an abundance mindset.  Unfortunately, most in-the-box thinkers possess a scarcity mindset. They don't think there are many resources to go around. They believe they can't. 

Author Brian Klemmer says, "One of the keys to abundance is having a solution-oriented mindset. The average person thinks of himself as positive, but he's not solution-oriented". In other words, most people live inside of the box instead of outside of it. They live within their limitations.  When average people ask themselves "Can I do this?" they base it on the circumstance they see....An abundant thinker asks different questions. An abundant thinker asks, "How can I?"  This simple twist of semantics changes everything. It forces your mind to create a solution.  

So, what's the question that you are asking why to? Are you an abundant or limitations-minded thinker? As job seekers in transition, it's easy to get stuck at any of these points in the process of our thinking. To revert to what we can't do. To focus on our limitations. To look back toward our experiences and agree with conclusions that keep us comfortable in our mindsets, behaviors, "our box," and our paradigm.  

When I think about my learning disabilities and how easy it would have been to think I was unqualified for a true career as an entrepreneur, I am amazed with what God has provided for me.  He has mercifully brought me out of a well constructed box. What boxes are in your life right now? 

Maxwell points out that we aren't called to be "in the box" if we are engaging with intentional growth. 

He asks you to measure your engagement with life by asking:

-Do you believe you can be curious? (If not, why? When I say curious, I mean: always looking to grow, understand more, ask why, and learn new things)

-Do you have a beginner's mindset? (Or do you consider yourself "an expert")- Be careful; it's a trick answer!

-Have you made why your favorite word?

-Do you spend time with curious people?

-Do you learn something new every day?

-Do you partake in the fruit of failure? Do you avoid failure and avoid risks?

-Have you stopped looking for the right answer?

-Do you "get out of the box" on your circumstances? Your conclusions? Your goals? Your idea of potential? What is your definition of success? Do you still dare to dream?

-Are you enjoying your life?- Or, just going through it?

I can't wait to discuss these ideas with you as we engage in this journey together.  Won't you consider joining us for fellowship, great discussion and prayer? I've missed you and would love to see you. 

We will be at the Church of the Resurrection at 135th and Roe at 6:30 pm tonight in the west building, room number 2205 

Isaiah 41:13

For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; I am the Lord, Who says to you, Fear not; I will help you!

Jesus loves you, and I do too. 

Elizabeth

Elizabeth Allen, Leader of the Job Seekers Prayer and Support Group, Church of the Resurrection.