The Gift of Being Yourself
A sacred call to self-discovery from a book
“You can never be other than you are, until you are willing to embrace the reality of who you are”.- David G. Benner
I like the way David thinks cousin!!!
Welcome to another Chat with Candice!
I’m back in the kitchen serving up a fresh meal of spiritual enlightenment courtesy of my latest read, “The Gift of Being Yourself” by David G. Benner.
This book is apart of a 3 book series:
Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality
The Gift of Being Yourself: The Sacred Call to Self-Discovery
Desiring God’s Will: Aligning Our Hearts with the Heart of God
Organically I stumbled across Desiring God’s Will first. After researching the trilogy a little deeper The Gift of Being Yourself seemed like a better starting point for me. Where I’m at in life, I've been on bending knees long enough, so Surrender to Love was an immediate no.
Acceptance of yourself plays an integral factor in knowing what words are apart of your spiritual appetite and which aren’t.
In the first quarter or should I say first page, Don Pennington labeled this book as a challenging read. Good thing for me I don’t like labels— I ignored his warning and proceeded to read with an open mind & heart. To say the least, The Gift of Being Yourself did not disappoint.
*During our last chat y’all voted for keeping book ratings at the end so the end it will be.
The Gift of Being Yourself is an approach to self discovery through the lens of God. I didn’t expect this read to be as Christian based as it was, if that’s not your jam, this book is not for you— proceed to exit the chat now. That being said, this book is great for Christians or anyone ready to take a step discovering themselves through a personal relationship with God.
To know God, one must know self- David Benner
It blends modern psychology with Christian spirituality, guiding you on a journey into the duality of the God within you: yourself in God and God’s self in you.
We are all sacred beings…
Created from love, of love, and for love our existence makes no sense apart from Divine Love.
Some language in this book might challenge what you’ve been taught, especially since the perspectives are coming from psychology instead of theology. Theological teachings on “doing more” have often overshadowed biblical instructions encouraging you to “be more” by prioritizing God's will for your life:
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."- Matthew 6:33
To live a life fully immersed in God, we must learn to do both. Within these pages, are words focused on helping you uncover your true identity and authenticity in Christ.
The Gift of Being Yourself inspires you to strip away false versions of yourself to gain access to the truest version of yourself through 6 chapters on:
Transformational Knowing of Self and God:
Knowing yourself is essential, but it must be rooted in understanding your identity in relation to God, as self-knowledge without this foundation can lead to self-absorption.
Knowing God:
True knowing of God starts with a sincere connection through belief, deepens with relationship, and grows as we spend time with Him.
First Steps Towards Knowing Yourself:
The first step to knowing yourself is recognizing yourself as deeply loved, embracing both your human and spiritual selves.
Knowing Yourself as You Really Are:
True knowing of self requires meeting God in the depths of your being, seeing yourself as God sees you.
"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."-Psalm 139:14
Unmasking Your False Self:
A Saul to Paul Journey of unpacking your previous self to evolve into a radical encounter of your truth
Becoming Your True Self:
Living the truth of your uniqueness by embracing your temperament, personality, abilities, interest, and passions
Making my way through these chapters I came across a personal revelation for myself.
I’ve never considered myself to be "false"; perhaps uninformed, but never false.
There are previous versions of myself that operated at inadequate levels simply because I was unaware. I was, in a sense, lost, blinded by the confines of my surroundings, trapped in a limited perception of who I was. To grow into an evolved version of myself—my true self, I needed nourishment to grow...knowledge and the freedom to embody what I learned. This led me to question...
Is there really a false self, true self, or is there just a self evolving toward its purest form?
Any way back to the book…..David sums up the sacred call to self discovery as a complete knowing of our self in relation to God by acknowledging only three things:
Our self as deeply loved
Our self as deeply sinful
Our self as in a process of being redeemed and restored
In between chapters David gives practical applications through journaling prompts like:
What would you identify as the most important thing for your existence and well-being?
What have you learned about yourself as a result of your experience with God?
What truly intrest you?
What ideas do you have to add to the world?
Relationships develop when people spend time together.- pg 37
And 2 forms of mediation to practice called:
Gospel Mediation- an opportunity to enter specific moments in Jesus life through a shared spirit guided experience.
*Select a gospel account of one event in the life of Christ, read it several times preferably out loud , then allow yourself to imaginatively enter this experience and encounter Jesus as a spectator for 5 minutes. Daydream: Watch, Listen, and stay attentive to Christ. Don’t try to analyze the story or learn any lessons from it. Just be present. (Before you begin take a minute to pray, asking God to gift you with an Holy Spirit Guided imaginative encounter with Jesus.)
Daily Prayerful Review- an examination of the day.
*Spend 15 minutes reviewing your day. Allow the events of the day to replay for you. Accept whatever comes into focus, no matter how trivial it appears to be. If something unsettling arises ask God for help reflecting and discerning the root causes of these emotions for revelation. End your time by thanking God for gifts received during this process.
The goal of the guided meditations are to increase awareness of God in the events of our lives.
Shared experience is at the core of any friendship.- pg 37
Speaking of shared experiences thank you for joining me on this lovely afternoon for lunch. I pray that your spirit has been blessed by the knowledge and wisdom shared in this chat.
Personal knowledge of anything begins with belief and deepens with relationship. Nothing will give you more pleasure than knowing God. Don’t count yourself out…Choose to have a relationship with yourself by first having a relationship with God.
Book Title: The Gift of Being Yourself
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Candice’s Quill Spill Rating: 4 Pens
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