Strong Women

When I was at Catalyst, in addition to hearing Margaret Feinberg, I heard two other strong women, Dr. Brene Brown and Christine Caine.  They both have several books, and I'm in the middle of reading Dr. Brown's Daring Greatly and enjoying it very much.  Dr. Brown first gained acclaim for her TED talk on vulnerability and shame.  Below is a summary of what each of these women had to say.

Dr. Brene Brown

If we are brave enough, often enough, we are going to fall.

People who dare greatly choose courage over comfort and have a high capacity for disappointment.

The people who are the most resilient after falling or failing practice certain habits that enable them to get back up.  

When we are hurt or face something hard, emotions get the first crack at making sense of it.  Our brain rewards us for creating a story to interpret the event, and we experience this reward whether the story is accurate or not.  People who are resilient recognize when they are reacting with emotion to an event.  They stop and think about this and are curious about what they feel.  They have a tremendous understanding of their emotional landscape.

These people physically write down the story they are creating.  Dr. Brown calls this the "@!$% first draft."  They have then learned to confront people with this story by saying something like, "The story I'm telling myself right now is..."  Many times this leads to a conversation that tells a different story and restores the relationship between the people involved.

In the absence of real data we all make up our own story about what has occurred.  When you own the story, you get to make up the ending.

Christine Caine:  She spoke from Numbers 13, about the 12 spies that went into the promised land.

The people who ended up wandering in the wilderness were the Lost Generation.  They had seen more of the glory and power of the Lord than any other people in all of history.  This means you can be in the midst of a miracle and not know the God of the miracle.

Ten of the twelve leaders kept the people from experiencing the glory of God.  We don't even remember their names.  But how many people even today are named Caleb and Joshua.

Your perspective will determine the destiny of many others.

These leaders couldn't comprehend what God said in verse 2 : “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the Israelites."  God said He was GIVING them the land, not seeing if they were able to take it.

Some of you keep asking God for signs, wonders and miracles, and then you refuse to put yourself in any kind of context where you need one. 

The ingredients of a miracle are right there in our midst.

Even though it has been more than a week since I heard these talks, God is still using them to speak to my heart and mind.  I am glad to share them with you here, because maybe you need to hear them too.