Hey, everyone, I am so glad that you can join me for the breakthrough program and I wanted
to do an intro video before we even have a teaching session to give you an idea of what
you can expect in the program, how to position yourself to receive the most benefit and getting
the breakthrough to get the, as I always refer to the fastest and the most effective way,
as well as how to go through the actual journal, especially because you will be starting the
journal before we even get together for our first community group.
So first of all, I wanted to make sure that y'all knew a few things.
So I wrote down some notes so I could make sure to cover like the highlights.
First of all, remember that in getting breakthrough, really what it is that we're doing is we're
not adding some cool tool or tool belts, how to get breakthrough in certain either
like a final breakthrough for the rest of our lives, or even how to get breakthrough
periodically when we might need it in various areas, because trust me, you will get it more
than once in various areas of your life.
I'm still going through times where my own spiritual wilderness is where I need a new
breakthrough and then I'm always learning something new about the Lord.
So it's not about a, having a tool in your tool belt about getting breakthrough when
you need it.
It's actually all about positioning yourself differently in life and in your relationship
with the Lord and doing that is what gets you the breakthrough every time that you need
it.
Every time you go through a spiritual wilderness, it's because you reposition yourself more
intimately with the Lord, letting go of more things, holding more closely to him in faith.
And that is what gets you the breakthrough.
It's like I said, it's not some special tool that you just pull out when you need it.
It breakthrough really just gives us an opportunity to just move into a deeper level of intimacy
and relationship with the Lord.
So please don't compartmentalize this program from your life like, well, I do all my normal
stuff, but then an additional thing that I'm doing, you know, during this month is
I'm doing something called the breakthrough program and just kind of not thinking about
it unless you're actually working on it.
The whole point of this program is so that you will integrate it into your life so that
this is what your life is sourced from, not the program itself, but what you learn in
the program, what you learn about yourself, what you learn about the Lord.
I encourage you that the way that this will have the greatest impact in your life and
the way that you will get the breakthrough, the fastest is to infuse what it is you're
learning into you yourself and therefore into the rest of your life.
Not just something that you just kind of pick up, try to learn something, you know, like
I said, a new tool to pull out of your tool belt or a new concept or whatever to remember
when you need it.
Now, this is a, this is repositioning yourself to yourself, which we'll be talking about
later as well as in your relationship, repositioning you in relationship to the Lord.
Um, so please do not compartmentalize this, just, just infuse this into the rest of your
life.
And it's a completely different approach to how to live life.
So it will change how you feel when you get up in the morning.
It'll change how you feel when you go to the grocery store, when you do, when you go
through your to-do list, when you handle relationship conflict, when you are trying to make decisions,
when you are having to navigate, uh, how to handle yourself or your children during a.
Child's meltdown or whatever.
This is a completely different approach to life and that different approach of how you
approach yourself.
And God specifically is what's going to get you to break through.
So these are some point pointers that'll get you break through the fastest and the
most effectively.
So the first thing is commitment.
So this can't be dabbled in and actually work and get you breakthrough.
This actually requires your commitment that you've decided, you know what, this is what
I want for me, because this is how valuable that the Lord is to me that he's not just
this.
Extra relationship in my life.
You know, I've got my, my spouse and I have my children and I have my parents and I have
my friends and then I have God know that your very existence you, you determine depends
on God and on your relationship with him.
And that you, as you go through this program, that you are committing yourself to him.
not committing yourself to doing the homework,
not committing yourself to just check all of the boxes off
and do all of this stuff and learn as much as you can.
No, this is a commitment to yourself and to the Lord
of who it is that you choose to be in relation to him.
So I recommend that you choose that the theme
of the next several weeks, as we go through the program,
sets the tone and the flavor in which you choose
to live life, in which you choose to take care of the kids
or do the dishes or clean the house or go to PT meetings
or go to work or whatever.
It's remember, it's not the program itself,
but it's what is talked about in the program.
And so give this and everything it is that you're learning,
everything, the ways in which you will find
during your journaling that you are changing,
give that access to the rest of your life,
meaning like the other parts of your life,
instead of disassociating from it,
instead of going through, checking all the boxes,
doing all of this stuff, but not giving of yourself.
And that's one of the things that we'll be talking about
in just a second.
So I'll explain a bit deeper about what I mean about that,
but give it actual access to yourself,
meaning that you'll have to be vulnerable.
And that's the next thing that I wanted to talk about.
So first of all, it's commitment.
It's also a choice, but it requires vulnerability.
And we will be talking more in depth about it,
especially as you learn to try to apply all of these things,
learn to try to apply the teachings
that we'll be talking about through practices
or through your journal entries or whatever,
when you intentionally engage with the information,
with what it is that we talk about the Lord,
with what it is that we talk about you,
it's gonna require your vulnerability.
And to prepare you for that,
I thought instead of listening to me talk
about vulnerability,
because both of y'all have heard me talk
about vulnerability in the rest intensive,
but I thought, instead of me,
let's give you something that's a little more interesting
and give you another video to watch.
And that is Brene Brown's viral TED talk
that she made on the power of vulnerability.
So I've included that in the program.
So I recommend that you watch that.
And just so that you hear a different voice,
a different perspective, she's really fun storyteller.
And so it's fun to hear her talk about how her discovery
of the power of vulnerability changed her life,
changed the complete trajectory of her research
and how she chose to, I don't know,
just that the various, how would you put that?
The various topics that she then chose to pursue
into research, the different people
that she would choose to meet with
and just really what she's become known for.
With vulnerability, she'll be touching
on a few things like shame,
and some other topics that come up
when that hinder us in our ability
and whenever we try to be vulnerable.
But the vulnerability is really, really important
between you and the Lord and between you and yourself.
And without that vulnerability,
it is impossible to have breakthrough.
Breakthrough requires vulnerability.
And that's very challenging for us
because that's what the Bible refers to
when it says that we're called to be a living sacrifice.
When God says that he is free and his whole gifts are free,
but how do we get into the kingdom?
We give it by being a living sacrifice.
We get into the kingdom by being a living sacrifice,
by laying down our right to ourselves,
which is the same thing that Jesus did.
And then choosing that it's Jesus
and Jesus's work that gives us access to the father,
not our work, not our earning.
We can't do anything.
And that leaves us in a very vulnerable position,
completely at his mercy, right?
And anyway, so vulnerability is required for breakthrough.
We'll be talking more about that as we go along,
but I just wanted to prepare you for it by saying it now
and then recommending that you watch that video.
The next thing I wanted to mention,
and this was the most fun, I think,
is that when you do this,
this whole thing about breakthrough,
I understand that this book might look
kind of like a dark theme and you've got the bricks.
and you've got a door and you have this hindrance
that's now been broken away.
So that's a positive,
but everything else can feel so negative.
The reason that I chose it to look like this
and this basically to be the theme picture of Breakthrough,
especially the Breakthrough Journal
is because this is how we feel
when we're meeting Breakthrough.
Everything feels dark, it feels hard,
it feels difficult, it feels impenetrable,
but know that the way to get Breakthrough
is actually from viewing things from the positive.
It's a lot, you will get Breakthrough a lot faster that way
if you approach things from where it is
that you want to go
as opposed to what you want to escape from.
So remember it like this,
to live is not suffering.
To live is Christ.
And that's what it says in the Bible.
To live is not suffering.
The Bible doesn't say that.
The Bible doesn't say that to live is suffering.
To live is Christ.
We're always moving to a positive.
It's not to escape the negative.
Escaping the negative is a benefit that we get.
But why is it that we want the Lord?
We want the Lord because He's that beautiful.
He says that as we move towards Him, we receive freedom.
We step into freedom.
We have intimacy.
We have that closeness with Him.
And so I recommend that you pursue the positivity
and expect goodness.
Expect the Breakthrough because you'll get it.
So don't approach this as a wishful thinking
and I hope that this works
and I hope that God will meet me
and or I really can't wait until I'm relieved
of all of this negativity
and all of this trauma and all of this suffering.
You'll get rid of that.
But remember that it's a lot more powerful
that whatever it is we focus on, we feed.
So if you're gonna focus on the negative,
well then it's gonna increase the strength of the negative
and make it harder to escape from.
And so if you feed the positive,
then you're strengthening the positive
and you make it more powerful in your life.
And it will help you get Breakthrough much, much,
much faster and much easier.
So by talking about the positive,
one of the, in talking about, you know,
approaching things from the positive,
one of the ways I recommend that you do it
is to think of it as in,
we'll be talking a lot about letting go
of things that are weighing us down and just playing.
So when you go through this program,
don't see it as something that you're trying to buckle down
and exert a lot of strength and a lot of willpower
in order to get done, in order to make sure that this works,
in order to make sure that you get it right this time,
because that will hinder it.
In fact, that's usually why people need Breakthrough
is because they have been approaching things
from the perspective of buckling down harder
whenever things get difficult.
And what that does is it entrenches you further
in your situation,
instead of working to your benefit to get you out.
So the way to get out faster is to loosen up
so that basically the river can carry you out
of the place that you're in.
And you do that by playing,
by approaching things much more positively,
by alleviating a lot of the worry, the stress,
the concern, letting go of wishful thinking
and exchanging it or trading it for expectation.
I was watching a movie recently
and where this man was asking this young girl
who was a prodigy on the violin.
And he was asking her, I think,
oh, I don't remember what the exact question was,
but basically, oh, maybe it was how do you feel
when you play or what happens
when you play something like that?
And she said, she said, when I play for my teacher,
I mostly focus on not making mistakes.
But when I play for myself, I don't think about anything.
In other words, when she's just playing for herself,
that's when her best stuff comes out
because she's just allowing who it is that she is,
who God created her to be,
to just come up and out naturally.
And as opposed to focusing strictly on the negative
of not making mistakes.
So I recommend that you do that.
Take this program, your time doing the journaling,
your time doing the practices.
Take it as having fun.
Take it as, make it enjoyable for you.
And expect goodness.
Expect breakthrough.
All right, so the last thing that I
wanted to cover really quick are the practices.
Well, I say the practices.
The things that will be like the actual practical applications
as you go through the program.
And first of all, so on this page,
it talks about how to use the journal.
I recommend that you read this real quick about just welcoming
you into your breakthrough, into the program,
into what it is that God is wanting
to do and work in your life.
And then on this page, this is just how to use this journal.
So I could only write so much detail on here,
so I wanted to go over it in person.
We talked about commitment.
Now the session notes, and you'll
see in here that I mentioned that I recommend trying
to listen as much as you can.
So the session notes, let me just mention this really quick.
Those are right here.
Those are going to be after each section, so each teaching
that I'll be doing.
Then this will be the, this is the section
that I put aside if you want to have any notes that you write
down during the session.
And I recommend that you can do it however you want.
Y'all are all adults taking this program.
You can do whatever you want, whatever
is most helpful to you.
But I recommend you allowing your,
give yourself credit, your spirit, your soul
to give it credit and trust that it is gathering,
not just information, it's gathering truths
and it knows what to do with them.
You don't have to consciously grab a hold of a concept
every time and understand very particularly
about how to apply it in order for you to be changed.
So sometimes when we're writing down notes,
we're trying to rely too much on our knowledge.
OK, I need to remember this.
I need to remember that it was said just this way
because I think that that was a pithy way or a very logical way
to explain that.
And I figure that if I remember it in the important times,
well, then I can grab a hold of that
and convince myself in the moment to change my action.
And we're relying too much on knowledge.
And instead, I recommend that you allow yourself,
that's usually why we get stuck and we need a breakthrough.
So again, in order to get breakthrough,
I recommend that you just let go and you
start to play a little bit.
Just take it in a much more relaxed state.
Expect goodness.
Expect change just simply by listening.
Simply by listening and being able to just receive it
without trying to grab a hold of everything
as if kind of like a poverty mentality of expecting
that if you don't grab a hold of everything
and consciously put it to memory,
that you're not going to be changed,
that you're going to forget,
that you're not going to apply it when you need to, et cetera.
So recommend that if you write notes,
that you write them like as phrases or as bullet points,
instead of word for word
or trying to jot down a lot of them.
I recommend just listening as much as possible
and then writing down anything
that just really strongly jumps out at you.
You're going to have multiple things that jump out at you.
Allow yourself subconsciously
in your subconscious and in your unconsciousness
to just naturally change
and just write down certain things
that just like are just the biggest truth bombs
that you think would be very helpful.
So that's just my personal recommendation.
And then this section over here is your reflections,
your personal reflections,
should you choose to write anything down of this session.
So maybe after the session is done,
then you go and you write in your own words,
what, I don't know, basically your,
how would I put that?
Basically your internal response to it.
How did all of this,
you know, everything that we talk about in here,
how did it hit you?
Did you agree with it based off of how you've grown up?
Did you grow up that way?
Does this feel very different from how you approach things?
And so it feels very challenging
or does it feel very freeing or, you know, whatever,
if there's any, the point of this journaling,
whether you're writing down your notes or thoughts,
or you're starting to write down specific things,
you know, in the morning or in the evening,
the whole point of this is to get you
to articulate things for yourself of how
you are internally responding. And then that will help get you some it will. These are tools that I
have provided to help you more likely get breakthrough. It's not that any of these
things are magic. It's just that they're tools that you can use. So that's what those sections
are for. Go back. And practices. Okay, so those are going to be back here. We'll be talking about
those in more detail later. But I just wanted to let you know, as you flip through your journal,
and you're wondering what each of the different parts are, this is where you would be articulating
your when you did the practice, what was it like, you know, what's your response to it,
that kind of thing. None of this, you know, you look at all these pages with all of this writing,
none of this is meant to be burdensome, or time consuming. But they're just placeholders for you
to be able to quickly even in one bullet point five, or if you're if you're a really big writer,
you might pull up the whole page, whatever it is that you like to do, gives you a space
that is specifically designated to articulate something to yourself about your journey.
Um, okay, let's see. So the next one is our all of the journal response, which are these.
So you will have these prompts and you'll have three in the morning and three in the evening.
But I recommend that you do when you have your journal prompts is set your timer for five
minutes. Unless you use your timer all of the time, you might be like me and you just use it if
you you know, maybe like, for one thing a day. For me, I have it always set on how long it takes
my tea to steep in the morning. And it's always set to that amount of that amount of minutes and
seconds. So if you're like me, then that's very easy. Just set your timer on your phone for five
minutes. Because that is all that it should take for you to do this. But the reason I say that to
set your timer for five minutes instead of simply just take five minutes to do this is intentionally
put yourself in a place without any distraction. And realize that you're not going to suddenly be
sitting there for 10 minutes and forget that you needed to go do something. And you just got all
wrapped up in this, you have an alarm that will let you know when time is up. So it frees you from
having to think having to make sure to stay aware of how long you're spending on this,
just set the timer, and then think of that it gives you the space to think of nothing,
but what you're doing, which is going to increase the likelihood that you'll be very intentional
when you do this. So the first question is, who does God say he is? Write down some you can write
down a sentence if you want to or just a phrase, but it needs to be something meaningful to you.
So if you say something like because the whole point of the breakthrough is the breakthrough
program is to focus on God and us. So we have to be very intentional about how we're changing our
approach to who God is and who we are, meaning like who we know ourselves to be, who we choose
that we are, who God has said that we are, right? So we have to be very intentional in order for any
for that kind of thing to change. So who does God say he is? So if you just write down something
like, oh, he, he is righteous. Well, that all sounds great. We all know that from church. We
all know that from the Bible, but how many of us really truly have an emotional response
and are able to consciously articulate what that means? God is righteous. Okay. Well, we know he's
righteous. What does that mean? And why is that? Why does that change how you would go about your
day? You know, so like something like that until his righteousness means something deeply personal
to you, I wouldn't recommend using that one. Um, and wrecking or the fact that he's holy,
you know, or something like that, you just something else, you something like, you know,
who does God say he is? He says he is provider. Do you struggle believing that he's going to
provide for you? We all know in theory that he will, but does he provide all of your, you know,
will he provide you the money that you need when you need it? Does he provide you the emotional,
uh, would you put that the emotional, uh, uh, does he meet your emotional needs when you have
particular emotions? Can you trust to be comforted by him when you want to be that kind of thing?
It's those kinds of things about the Lord that we need to change our, our beliefs about. So,
you know, who does God say that he is? And then write down something that you want to
intentionally remember that day. He is comforter, or he is provider, or he is protector, or he
protects me when that did it.
or he provides for me by, I don't know, whatever.
But just make it real short.
This isn't a paragraph.
This is just meant to be like a phrase,
but be intentional about what you are choosing that God is.
And then who does God say that I am?
Again, saying something like righteous or holy
or one with him.
If you cannot deeply connect with it yet,
I recommend not writing it.
I recommend writing something that challenges you.
Maybe the fact that he says that you're perfect,
that you are a saint and not a sinner,
or I don't know, something like that.
And we'll be talking more about both of these.
So just do what it is you can.
We'll be having, I think this one is session,
who does God say that he is?
That I think is session two.
And who does God say that I am is session three.
So we will be going, having our own individual teachings
just on these, and that'll give you more step
to be able to write and to be able to practice.
But this is just getting you started.
And then you'll have today, I choose to live by...
In other words, by doing this,
or by approaching this situation in this way
with the Lord or whatever.
I recommend that you don't use words like remember,
or think, like, or I choose, what did I say?
Today, I choose to live by remembering that,
again, we're going to our head again.
Or I choose to live by reminding myself,
or by thinking about, or by reflecting on,
or by believing, make it a little more substantial than that.
And then again, what you're doing
is you're setting your intention for the day.
Again, I gave you a huge section here,
but really, you can write really big.
These are just phrases, just start like one phrase here,
one phrase here, and maybe one phrase here.
That's it, it's very simple.
So it should only take five minutes.
Again, the whole purpose of that
is to give you time to just set an intention,
not to have this whole huge thought process,
but to make a determination and choice for the day.
Same thing for the evening, this is how I saw God today.
Think of this, because remember,
what we're doing is we're choosing how we're seeing God.
What this is basically like is,
and the reason that I did this is,
the reason I chose these questions
is this is what changed me and my relationship with the Lord.
These are literally the practical things that I did
and that I approached my life from that changed everything.
And they changed how I saw God,
they changed how I saw myself,
and therefore it changed how I made decisions.
What decisions that I made,
it changed the opportunities that suddenly appeared to me.
Why?
Because simply by making different choices,
I was positioning myself differently in the spirit
and new and better and more spiritual blessed opportunities
came my way as a result, which is really fascinating.
So how I saw God today, that might be something like,
okay, well, let me compare it to,
or contrast it to what we're doing now.
What we've been doing is we've been looking at
things that have happened in life.
And we're like, see Lord,
you say that you're X, Y, and Z in scripture,
but I have proof from how I've seen life work,
that that's not true.
And so what we've done is we've looked at
things that have happened in life
and we're like, see God, this is who you are.
This is how I see you.
This Lord is how you showed up.
You say you're this, but this is how you showed up.
What we're wanting to do is we're wanting to change
how we see God.
How did we choose that we were gonna see God today?
Begin looking for that.
Begin looking for like, say for instance,
if you chose that he was provider,
begin looking for ways that he demonstrates
and is expressing and is trying to communicate to you
the fact that he is provider.
And you will be able to see that your life
actually affirms who God says that he is,
as opposed to contradicting who God says that he is.
Right now, we're very good at trying to find contradictions
and using that to build our faith on.
We'll see you can't trust God.
We're not safe with God.
When I go to God, he's always gonna correct me or whatever.
And instead we need to be looking.
For an opening our eyes to be able to see that actually life is affirming that what God says about him really is true. So that's what we're changing. And we're also changing how I saw, you know, how we see ourselves. So how I saw me today. So who does God say that you are, and then look for that.
That day.
And, and we'll be again as you go through this part of our meeting together so often is to for me to be able to hear from y'all. Okay, so how is this going when you're doing this.
You know how, who did you decide that you know God was that day or that you were going to say that you that God says that you are. And then what were you going to remember that day.
And then, how did you see it. So I'll begin to, I'll be able to help you understand how to see those things in life I'll be able to see how you're interpreting it.
And then maybe give you perspective on like how else, how else you can see it, you know, in life. And the same thing you know today I chose to live by.
So there's a it's hard to see but there's a little comma right after the word live. So that's why I pause there so today I choose to live by doing this, or whatever.
So today I chose to live because it's in the evening so you've already made the intention now you're in the evening today I chose to live by, and then describe or articulate again it could just be a phrase that could be, you know, it could be a sentence
of mentioning something that you did or some way in which you approached things or how it is that maybe you, you stayed more emotionally stable.
Why because you remember these things about God and about yourself etc so today I chose to live by, and then articulate something that demonstrates how you walked out the intention that you had made that morning.
And then the last thing is the conversations with God conversations, you're going to have this twice a week.
And that is going to that those pages look like this again you don't have to fill up all of this time, all of this space I just mentioned it I just provided again just for those of you who are real big journalists or for particular days where you're just
going to have a lot more that comes up. You've now got the room. And so these conversations with God are started out with things like you know father these are my thoughts, feelings and questions.
What is on your heart towards me today father.
The reason that I included this is this is very, very, very, very, very helpful for people who are having a hard time hearing God.
And so I recommend approaching it from the perspective of your writing, as if in trying to communicate with God, as if he doesn't know what you're saying until you write it.
And so I've been talking all this time about all of these different sections in which you just I recommend just writing like if you don't want to write full sentences then just write phrases or write bullet points or something like that.
But when it comes to when it comes to find it.
When it comes to conversations with God conversation with God, I recommend you write it in full sentences like a conversation.
No, you know, God you know that this is what I think this is what I'm feeling you know, or, you know, whatever. And then you can do it however you want you can.
So the way that I do it is I whenever I'm writing out what God says back to me I put it in quotes, so that I know the difference between me talking to him versus him talking back to me.
So the way that you that I recommend that you approach it again, full sentences, as if God doesn't know what you're saying to him until you write it.
You're talking to someone who can't talk and you can't talk to them and they can't talk to you. And the only way to be able to communicate it is to write it, think of it kind of like that so write it out.
It will kind of force you a little bit to not be as distracted as you as we can get when we just start thinking and trying to have conversation with God, we can get distracted and also kind of like force you to articulate what you really feel what you
Then what you will notice and it's really fascinating is, think of it, just like you do to the Lord, think of it as you don't know what God says until you write it out.
So God doesn't know what you're trying to tell him until you write it, and then he can see what you're saying and then be like, okay, so that's what you're saying.
Okay, child, here's my response. And as you write it, you will feel things from the Lord.
And write out what you're feeling, write out what it, you feel like he's saying.
Um, and, uh, anyway, so people that have.
Um, had a really difficult time hearing from the Lord and be like, you know, I
used to be able to hear from the Lord, or I've never been able to hear from the
Lord and I don't know how to do it.
They've been able to hear from him when they write, start writing it out.
And when they go through this type of an exercise, so, um, anyway, so I hope
that that is, that that would be helpful.
Um, the last thing I wanted to mention is there's a lot of
scriptures that I include in the journal.
Let me actually, let me mention that before I close up the journal.
When, um, Hey, remember that these are the section titles for
each of the teaching sessions.
Over here across from it is always going to be a brick wall.
This one's actually called the brick wall because these are all the struggles
that I will be my own personal struggles, wilderness experiences that I've been
through and, um, that I needed breakthrough from, and that God gave me
breakthrough in, and there'll be a lot.
And I'll be telling the stories of each of these as we go through them.
When we get to those particular sections and underneath them, I have mentioned.
Uh, I've written scripture verses out that all talk in ways that, that lets you
know that people like Joe, David, Jesus trying to remember who else I've written.
I think song of Solomon, Solomon, all kinds of people in the Bible
experienced these same struggles.
That I, and I know that I'm not the only one who's gone through these
particular spiritual struggles.
These, the ones, the reason I highlight them is like, for instance, the brick
wall, which we'll be talking about what all of that means, um, is that.
You know, these are actual spiritual, common spiritual wilderness experiences.
And I wanted people to be able to hear their story and their frustration in
my stories in case it would be helpful.
So that's what these scripture verses are for are, are they are
not the answer to the struggle.
They are a scripture verse in the Bible that expresses the struggle
in this, um, in the wilderness experience.
And then in the session notes, which I will be giving, um, more
clarity on each of these verses.
This is a, is a verse in, um, what will always be a verse that addresses, which
is where God is addressing basically the answer to another was a breakthrough
answer to this particular struggle.
So that's what those are.
The reason I wanted to point all of that out, because we will have a lot of
scripture verses that we're going through more than just that are included in here.
I've gone through so much struggle.
And so when I was getting scripture verses for this program, this is
where I looked at my home, my own Bible.
So you see, I have all of these scripture verses with, and next to them are, let's
see if I can hold it up because it's very heavy Bible next to them are all
descriptions of those particular passages.
Um, and, and one of them, for instance, that we'll be talking about, let's see
if I can find that particular one.
Oh, I can't find it right now, but for instance, for Psalm six, I wrote that
down, I wrote Psalm six, and then I put as the description crying out to God in
despair, because, and the reason that I wrote these particular passages down is
that in my own personal journey and walk with the Lord over the past so many years
is whenever I would come across a particular passage that would jump out at
me because it meant something very personal to me in the moment, me and my
relationship with the Lord.
And I wanted to remember where I could go to get encouragement, to get encouragement
that I'm not the only one that's felt like that.
Um, or where scripture basically, you know, articulates that my, my internal
feelings or whatever, I would write it down so that whenever I needed encouragement
or if I needed encouragement as in like, I wanted to know someone else who went
through that struggle, or I wanted encouragement of like an, of an answer
to my struggle, like some kind of, uh, where God, you know, addresses, addresses
me in his kindness and his generosity and his goodness and his abundance.
Then I would be able to look through all of these phrases and then be able to see
a corresponding scripture verse and then passage, and then go to that one.
So when I was looking for scripture versus, uh, for the breakthrough
program, that's where I went.
I mentioned that.
That y'all will know that I didn't just create this because I felt people needed it.
This is very personal.
I will be walking people through literally like at least a decade of my, if not two of
my life and my personal relationship with God, the really deep hurt and pain, not
pain that somebody else hurt me, no pain between me and God and how God
himself brought me breakthrough from each of these specific wilderness experiences.
And I hope that you will be able to hear your own struggle, your own pain, your
own turmoil, your own questions in my own, in my story, and that in that the
scripture verses that the Lord in the passages that the Lord showed me of other
people in scripture that experienced the same struggles that I did, as well as
scripture that, that showed his goodness and his kindness that addressed that
struggle and brought me breakthrough.
I'm hoping that all of those things will be very encouraging to y'all as well, so
that you can, even though I, the program is kind of fleshed out from my own
personal experience, I'm hoping that all that that does is it prompts conversations
between you and the Lord, where all of this becomes very personal between you and
the Lord, that the journey that you take, that this journal through all of the
things that you'll be writing in it, that you, that your journey will be.
Marked out with all of the milestones that you go through in the next few
weeks and that it, that all it will be, will be a documentation of you, yours
and the Lord's personal journey and into, into his heart, him bring, because
remember that even though we think of it as our journey into his heart,
everything comes from the Lord.
Even faith, even faith is a gift from God.
We have nothing to be able to give him except ourselves.
And that, and that's where that vulnerability comes.
So anyway, if y'all have any questions, just reach out to me.
But I hope that all of that explanation was helpful.
I will have the next session on Monday and up in the portal.
And that's when our first community gathering will also be.
And so anyway, hope all this is helpful and I'm looking forward to
starting with y'all tomorrow.