porn, sexual abuse, and body image

One thing we talked about while we were in our alpha group was that it is easy to know how God feels towards us. We are beautiful in his sight and he made us in his image. It is something that we have all been raised hearing and something we all have embedded into us. However, it is harder to act out and truely believe. I know that God loves me and thinks Im beautiful but sometimes I dont feel like i am. Through our talk I realized that because I dont believe that i am beautiful or that others are beautiful I am making a personal insult toward God. We are all God's creation and we need to realize that and the text time we are tempted to criticze or talk bad about someone we should make an effort to remember that.

addiction

I liked how instead of avoiding the topic all together that the leadership realized that these things are present and that they need to be talked about. I think it was good because people at all different stages could relate to it in some way. They talked to people who had drank and applied the message to them, which is what is most commonly done but they also had something for those who had never drank. I liked the point that one of the guys had because he had never drank but still wanted people to be able to come to him but most people didnt feel like he could because he had never experienced it. I thought this was interesting because I fall into the category of someone who has drank and I saw where he was coming from because I never go to people who havent drank to talk about my experience because i feel like they dont know what i have been through and I dont want them to judge me. He gave me a different perspective and to know that just because someone hasnt experienced something doesnt mean that they cant talk to you about it.

3 things

1) I would like to make a genuine group of friends who i can be real around and who can be real around me

Strengths: I think all of my strengths can help me with this because when your in a relationship with someone and you are yourself you bring every aspect of yourself to the table and my strengths are part of who I am so it would just make sense.


2)I would like to improve on my public speaking because speaking in front of crowds has always intimidated me.

Strengths: well the obvious one would be communication because it is "public communicating" that i want to work on. I think adaptability also because it can allow me to change directions quickly if what I'm doing isnt working too well


3)I would like to make an effort to spend more time with God

Strengths: I think that achiever might keep me from this because I will have a task that i want to get done and find it hard to take time for God. I think adaptability can help because it enables me to go with the flow and allows me to go where god wants me. I think communication will help because it helps me when talking to others, for example prayer. I think maximizer and developer are irrelevent in this sense