Sok Embracing the Awkward By the end of today I want us to understand what it means to embrace the awkward I want us to leave giving ourselves permission to move towards our awkward ID: 527148
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Slide1
Presentation by Jordan Sok
Embracing the
Awkward Slide2
By the end of today…
I want us to understand what it means to embrace the awkward.
I want us to leave giving ourselves permission to move towards our
awkward. Slide3
About MeSlide4
About MeSlide5
About MeSlide6
About MeSlide7
Oh, and my life is awkward.Slide8
“
This
is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
If
we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” – 1 John 1: 5-7Slide9
Define: Embrace the Awkward
A lifestyle of moving
towards
the things that we naturally want to move away from out of discomfort, fear or sin,
because we choose to believe that our true identity is untouched in Christ.Slide10
Practical Examples of Embracing the
Awkward
…
Trying
something new
Confessing a struggle
Accepting your quirks
Sharing a secret about your past
Speaking up in a groupAsking for help when you need it
Speaking
at a woman’s conference ;) Slide11
When have you embraced the awkward?Slide12
What Happens
W
hen We Run
F
rom Awkward?
We live in isolation
We live in fear
We live in lies
We miss God’s design of community
We live with a false sense of inadequacy
We are more prone to sinSlide13
What Changes When We Embrace the Awkward?
We know ourselves
We learn to love ourselves
We live honestly
We live in community
We live fearlesslySlide14
How do we Embrace the Awkward? Slide15
5 Steps…
Step One:
Identify Your Awkward
Step Two:
Share Your Awkward
Step Three:
Get a Mentor that Makes You Awkward
Step Four: Develop a Lifestyle of Embracing the Awkward
Step Five: Encourage Others to be AwkwardSlide16
Step One: Identify your awkward.
Resolve to be
honest
with yourself.
Don’t assume there is nothing “in the dark” in your life.
Take time to dig deeper than just the surface. Slide17
Step One: Identify your
awkward (cont.)
Some questions to help begin identifying your awkward:
What
makes you uncomfortable
?
Why?
What would be awkward to share?
Why?Are you in a habit of secret sin?Does anything keep you awake at night?Is there anything in your past that you have worked to remain hidden?
What is “in the dark” in your life?Slide18
Step One: Identify your
awkward (cont.)
Identifying
your awkward often requires exploring emotions you’d rather ignore.
One
of our greatest obstacles in knowing God is our own lack of self-
knowledge.
Do you ever feel like you shouldn’t feel a certain emotion? Why?Slide19
“The journey of genuine transformation to emotionally healthy spirituality begins with a commitment to allow yourself to feel
…
At the very least, the call to discipleship includes experiencing our feelings, reflecting on our feelings, and then thoughtfully responding to our feelings under the lordship of Jesus.”
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
, Chapter 4: “Know Yourself That You May Know God” – by Peter
ScazzeroSlide20
Step One: Identify your awkward (cont.)
We can not thoughtfully respond to our feelings without knowing what they are.
“When we neglect our most intense emotions, we are false to ourselves and close off an open door through which to know God.”
To embrace the awkward means to run towards emotion, not away from it. Slide21
Step One: Identify your awkward (cont.)
Are you running away from any emotion?
The first step for you to begin identifying your awkward may be to
feel
the emotion you are stuffing.
Give yourself the room and the permission to focus on the panic, the sadness, the anger, etc.
Ask the Lord to help you identify
why you feel that way. Slide22
Step Two: Share your Awkward
Go to the Lord first.
Go to a trusted friend second.
Remember: keep moving
towards
the discomfort, not away from it. Slide23
Step Two: Share
your
awkward (cont.)
Take your awkward to the Lord
God meets us IN our struggle. He doesn’t wait for us to get out of it.
“Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.” I Peter 5:7 Slide24
Step Two: Share your awkward (cont.)
Take your awkward to a friend
Choose
someone who is safe
.
Choose someone who is a Christian.
“The possibility of self-deception is so great that without mature companions we can easily fall into a trap of living in illusions.”Slide25
Step Two: Share your awkward (cont.)
Have you
ever talked to someone else about your awkward?
What scares you about the thought of talking to someone?
Do you have a safe person
that comes to mind?
How would you approach the conversation?
Make a plan.Slide26
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
, Chapter 4:
“Know
Yourself That You May Know
God”
– by Peter Scazzero
“ I remember the awkwardness when I began to share my feelings. Initially, I wondered if I was betraying God or leaving Christianity. I feared that if I opened Pandora’s box, I would get lost in a black hole of unresolved emotions. I was breaking an unspoken commandment of my family and my church tradition.”Slide27
Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
, Chapter 4:
“Know
Yourself That You May Know
God”
– by Peter Scazzero
“To my surprise, God was able to handle my wild emotions as they erupted after 36 years of stuffing them. I came alive like never before. And I rediscovered his love and grace – much like David, Job and Jeremiah. I also began the journey to know myself that I might know God
.”Slide28
Food for Thought…
Learning to embrace the awkward may rub the people closest to you wrong.
Embracing the Awkward is simply choosing to believe God’s word to be true in your life and walking towards that freedom.
We can’t truly affirm other people’s unique identities when we don’t affirm our own. Slide29
“But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
”
- 1 Corinthians 12:9-10Slide30
Go to
www.JordanSokBlog.com
and
enter your email
for an
Embracing the Awkward
Workbook. Slide31
Well this was awkward
…
Thank you!