Hey everyone! I’m Justine- I am the Apprenticing Coordinator for Student Ministries here at Faith Promise Church. It truly is such an honor and a privilege to have this job. I love connecting with people and helping them find the area in their life where they know that this was why God made them. There are many great opportunities at Faith Promise to find your area and if you feel a call to serve in Student Ministry send me an email at [email protected] and I would love to get you connected! Also, if you want to know how to connect with your student and experience Church with them visit www.faithpromise.org/Students to see upcoming events!

 

I Was Made for This….

Have you ever been to a circus and wondered why an elephant doesn’t break through the chain tied to its ankle and escape? The reason is because it has developed what is known as “learned helplessness.”

 

Now you may be thinking, what does this have to do with me? Or what does it have to do with my children? The reality is that so many people are living in this “learned helplessness” state of mind that they don’t even realize it.

 

You see, when an elephant is young and weak the trainer attaches a heavy chain to the ankle. As the elephant gets stronger the trainer doesn’t need to make the chain any heavier because the elephant believes that it isn’t strong enough to move it. Thus creating the “learned helplessness.”

 

There are many people who are living like this today. Through whatever circumstance or situation, they have been trained to believe that they can’t do something. They develop a learned helplessness towards a specific thing. I believe that this is prominent in the Church today. God has given each of us a specific purpose and calling. Satan, however, comes to steal, kill and destroy- the majority of the time he does this by slowly chipping away at who we are, piece by piece. Overtime creating this learned attitude in our lives, which eventually leads us to where we aren’t doing anything that we were created for.

 

So how do we change this? How do we reverse this learned habit and stop believing the lies that Satan is telling us? I believe that we need to 1) surround ourselves with people who are speaking life into us. The absolute best way to do this is join a small group. 2) Become intentional in your prayer time. Satan will try to fill your mind of all the reasons in the world of “Why Nots.” He will continue lying to you and the only way according to Colossians 4, to combat those lies is to “devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”  3) Another essential thing to do in order to change this learned effect is to do something that you know you were created for.

 

My prayer is that the Church would be full of people who are living life on purpose and leaving the things that they are committed to saying, “I was made for that.”

 

What are the things you were made for? Maybe for some it’s greeting others as they walk in on a Wednesday or Sunday. For others, they may feel alive when they are apart of their students’ lives- not just at home but experiencing their lives at Church and School. And still for others the moments that they feel alive are when they are leading students and helping them experience Christ and watch they grow in their walk with Him.

 

Whatever it may be, don’t allow Satan to have the “learned helplessness” effect on your life and keep you in the same place forever. Step out, have faith, surround yourself with encouragement, and find that thing that when you leave you say, “I was made for this.”