{"id":34501,"date":"2023-12-06T16:27:45","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34501"},"modified":"2023-12-06T16:27:45","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T00:27:45","slug":"a-story-of-overcoming-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/a-story-of-overcoming-resistance\/","title":{"rendered":"A Story of Overcoming Resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cAny act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lover.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Any of these will elicit Resistance.\u201d [1]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t have ended my semester in a better way than to read a book about the enemy of creativity. . . resistance.\u00a0 In the last few weeks, I have been in a battle with this enemy.\u00a0 In Book One of <\/span>The War of Art:\u00a0 Break Through the Blocks of Your Inner Creative Battles,<\/span><\/i> author Steven Pressfield names several characteristics of resistance.\u00a0 The resistance that I have been experiencing has felt a little crippling, to be honest.\u00a0 This enemy justified my every action to avoid the task at hand, and I am not typically a procrastinator.\u00a0 It has no strength on its own, Pressfield writes but is fed by our fear. [2]<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s worse is that as I formulated all of the learning, research, interview data, and resources, resistance had recruited allies, especially self-sabotage.\u00a0 I had times where I sat down at my desk and felt paralyzed and overwhelmed.\u00a0 I questioned my motivations and doubted God\u2019s greater purpose for directing me to this program.\u00a0 I prayed, journaled, and cried out to the Lord for direction and affirmation.\u00a0 As I met with young adults and ministry leaders, over and over I heard stories of discouragement, deconstruction, Biblical illiteracy and the church\u2019s adoption of cultural ideologies, and on and on.\u00a0 I documented like crazy but my heart was hurting and the task of collaborating all of this data was too overwhelming.\u00a0 It felt like resistance was winning.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, resistance can be beaten.\u00a0 The author compares the defeat of resistance to childbirth (been there, done that three times), it seems impossible until you remember that women have been giving birth from the beginning of time, with and without epidurals. [3]\u00a0 Remembering that I am not alone and that my peer group pals and cohort compadres are likely experiencing similar resistance to some degree seemed to remind me that resistance CAN BE BEATEN!\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In the midst of all of this resistance manifesting itself in discouragement and procrastination I had a distinct sleepless night, an unusual occurrence for me.\u00a0 At about 1:30 a.m. on this particular Saturday, I debated with myself about whether I should just get up and type or struggle to get more rest.\u00a0 I decided to stay in bed but my mind was reeling with so many thoughts.\u00a0 Earlier in the week I had been reading about Samuel in 1 Samuel 3:1-21.\u00a0 Samuel, a boy who ministered before the Lord under the priest Eli, did not yet know the Lord.\u00a0 Samuel was resting in the house of the Lord near the ark of the covenant.\u00a0 The Lord spoke to Samuel.\u00a0 Samuel replies, \u201cHere I am\u201d and ran to Eli because he had mistaken the voice for that of Eli.\u00a0 Samuel returned to rest and heard the voice again.\u00a0 From 1 Samuel,\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNow Samuel did not yet know the <\/span>Lord<\/span>: The word of the <\/span>Lord<\/span> had not yet been revealed to him.\u00a0 A third time the\u00a0<\/span>Lord<\/span> called, \u201cSamuel!\u201d And Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, \u201cHere I am; you called me.\u201d Then Eli realized\u00a0<\/span>that the <\/span>Lord<\/span> was calling the boy. <\/span>So Eli told Samuel, \u201cGo and lie down, and if he calls you, say, \u2018Speak, <\/span>Lord<\/span>, for\u00a0<\/span>your servant is listening.\u2019\u201d So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The <\/span>Lord<\/span> came and stood there, calling as at\u00a0<\/span>the other times, \u201cSamuel! Samuel!\u201d Then Samuel said, \u201cSpeak, for your servant is listening.\u201d [4]\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In this moment of sleeplessness, I heeded Eli\u2019s words to Samuel and went back to rest and determined at that moment that if the Lord called, I would respond with \u201cSpeak, Lord, for your servant is listening.\u201d\u00a0 So I laid in bed waiting.\u00a0 The last time I remember peering at my alarm clock, it read 2:34 a.m. I fell asleep and had the most vivid dream.\u00a0 In my dream, I said the words \u201cSpeak Lord, your servant is listening.\u201d\u00a0 The dream continued revealing specific details for one of my prototypes.\u00a0 I shot out of bed around 7:11 a.m. and proceeded down to my chair with my blanket and a cup of coffee.\u00a0 I lit the candle that sits next to my chair and grabbed my journal.\u00a0 I frantically sketched images, words, concepts and details that were so vividly received in my dream.\u00a0 The resistance battle had been beaten and the Lord, an ever present help in time of trouble, was the Hero of my journey again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m thanking God, who makes things right.I\u2019m singing the fame of heaven-high <\/span>God<\/span>.\u201d Psalm 7:17<\/span><\/p>\n

[1]\u00a0 <\/span>Steven Pressfield, The War of Art (New York, NY: Black Irish Entertainment, 2012), 6.<\/span><\/p>\n

[2] Ibid, 16.<\/span><\/p>\n

[3] Ibid, 57.<\/span><\/p>\n

[4] <\/span>1 Samuel 3:7-10, NIV<\/span><\/p>\n

[5] Psalm 7:17, MSG<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cAny act that rejects immediate gratification in favor of long-term growth, health, or integrity.\u00a0\u00a0Or, expressed another way, any act that derives from our higher nature instead of our lover.\u00a0\u00a0Any of these will elicit Resistance.\u201d [1]\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t have ended my semester in a better way than to read a book about the enemy of creativity. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":168,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2310],"tags":[2489,2197],"class_list":["post-34501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02","tag-pressfield","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/168"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34501"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34502,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34501\/revisions\/34502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}