Jo Saxtonsession One
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THE DREAM JO SAXTONSESSION ONE: WHAT IS GOD’SPARTICIPANT’S NAME GUIDE FOR YOU? This participant’s guide is intended for personal reflection and to help facilitate group discussion. If you are leading a group, take the time to watch the video and read over the guide before your meeting and prepare some personal examples to encourage discussion. Remember to print out or email a copy of this participant’s guide to everyone in your group. SESSION ONE: WHATICEBREAKER IS GOD’S NAMEHave you ever FOR struggled toYOU? appear perfect in someone’s eyes? How have you lived in bondage to others’ expectations? Think about your family heritage. Maybe your people come from a certain country or region, or someone in your family line is famous—or infamous. How does your family background play a part in how you view yourself? We have our own hopes and dreams for our lives. But life is unpredictable, and sometimes everything goes sideways, leading to shame and regrets. We forget who we really are and carry around “baggage,” as Jo described. What sort of baggage are you carrying from your past? How did you move toward healing? Often, we give the past unnecessary power over our present. Whether an ethnic or cultural identity, or a reputation earned by a family member, or something in our own experience, we sometimes allow our association with the past to shape our identity. Jo Jo claimed that “there’s a God who sees you, loves Saxton will show us how to find our identity in Christ you, knows you, and you’re already enough for him.” before all else, to discover who we really are as But Sarah sought acceptance and love from men children of God. This study is based on her book instead of trusting in God’s love for her. That pursuit The Dream of You, which you can read to explore more led to an unwanted pregnancy, resulting in her fear about what we’ll be talking about in each session. that people would judge her. What label do you fear? Today we will explore how we often label ourselves Have you ever spent time reflecting on what, or who, differently from how God sees us. has defined you? WATCH SESSION ONE: WHAT IS GOD’S NAME FOR YOU? (13MINS) REVIEW Jo opened by asking “Who are you?” We may be Has anyone spoken God’s truth over you, reminding daughters, wives, mothers, friends, or colleagues, you that God sees you as his beloved daughter? but we also come from our own family and social backgrounds. We’ve been shaped by so many circumstances and situations that we often lose sight of who truly defines us. Marnie’s story reveals a woman who dealt with great shame at not living up to others’ expectations. She talked about needing to be the good girl, about how everything had to be perfect. SESSION ONE: WHAT IS GOD’S NAME FOR YOU? 2 SESSION ONE: BIBLEWHAT EXPLORATION IS GOD’S NAMEAPPLY WHAT FOR YOU’VE YOU? LEARNED Read: Read chapters 1–2 from Jo’s book The Names signify character and calling in the Bible. Each Dream of You. name has a meaning, and often they tell the reader important insights into that person. In the book of Journal: Take fifteen minutes to write out a list of Ruth, Naomi goes through terrible loss, which leads to adjectives you have used to describe yourself—good a “dark night of the soul” experience for her. or bad. Then write out all the descriptors that God says are true of you (see Ephesians 1:1–13 for help). Read Ruth 1. How does Naomi rename herself, and what does her new name mean? Remember: Spend a few minutes thanking God for his unconditional love. You may still not quite accept it but thank him anyway. Memorize Ephesians 1:11–12 in The Message translation to help you remember the words that he has spoken over you. “It’s in Christ we find out who we are and what we’re living for. Long before you ever got your hopes up, he had his eye on you, had designs on you for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he’s working out in everything, and everyone.” Explore these biblical people whose names God changed. How did their new names reflect God’s call on their lives? Abram and Sarai — Genesis 17:5–16 Jacob — Genesis 32:27–28 Simon Peter — John 1:41–42 Sometimes moving forward means walking, like Jacob, with a limp. We become aware of our weakness and vulnerability, more dependent on God’s word and His Spirit’s power to transform us. As with Peter, Jesus sees our potential, if only we’ll let him redeem our story. Let your creator redefine you. SESSION ONE: WHAT IS GOD’S NAME FOR YOU? 3 THE DREAM JO SAXTONSESSION TWO: HAVE YOUPARTICIPANT’S LOST YOUR GUIDE VOICE? This participant’s guide is intended for personal reflection and to help facilitate group discussion. If you are leading a group, take the time to watch the video and read over the guide before your meeting and prepare some personal examples to encourage discussion. Remember to print out or email a copy of this participant’s guide to everyone in your group. SESSION TWO: ICEBREAKERHAVE YOU LOST DescribeYOUR a situation VOICE? in which you sought perfection instead of excellence. What drove you to that impossible goal? Describe a scene in your life—maybe a party, an outfit, a craft, a photo—in which you tried to recreate a Pinterest-like experience. How close to perfection did you come? Or did your efforts result in an epic fail? In the second story, Kim faced outside challenges that caused her to deny and hide integral parts of herself in order to survive. Difficult people and unjust social structures are common obstacles to finding fulfillment and being at peace with ourselves. The word “workaholic” is often, and mistakenly, Have you ever felt silenced or overlooked, forced to associated primarily with men. But don’t women live smaller than the gifted, unique person God made also strive to the point of burnout, pursuing a you to be? perfectionist goal that our world sometimes demands of us? Yet, for so many, our efforts don’t even feel like perfectionism. We’re just doing what is necessary to get by or to survive. WATCH SESSION TWO: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR VOICE? (13MINS) Sometimes we cannot dig ourselves out of the insecurity pit. We need help. Trusting God’s word REVIEW when he says we are his beloved daughters, that he sees us when others seem to overlook us, can propel us to seek support from others. Do you have Jo wants us to wrestle with the source of our a mentor? identity. Are we like Jennifer, in the first story, who found fulfillment in her work until she realized it had become all-consuming to the point of endangering her values? Whether we labor in the marketplace, or parent full-time at home, or juggle multiple jobs and attend school, the path to perfectionism is wide and difficult to avoid. How do we allow what we do to dictate our value as a person? Describe a mentor’s influence in your life, either now or in the past. How did this person support and encourage you? SESSION TWO: HAVE YOU LOST YOUR VOICE? 5 SESSION TWO: BIBLEHAVE EXPLORATION YOU LOST ReadYOUR Genesis 16:7–13. VOICE? How did Hagar react when the angel of the Lord reassured her? What name did she give him? Jo explores the stories of two significant women in the Bible. Both of them lived in countries not their own, serving at the pleasure of their masters. In those cultures, their voices had no volume, no power, no input into the course of their lives. Yet God restored their voices, using them to advance his kingdom in remarkable ways. Esther The king of Persia, Ahasuerus, had banished his queen, Vashti, after her display of insubordination—denying How does her experience encourage you when you his summons to “show the peoples and the princes her feel invisible, ignored, put down? beauty” (1:11). Esther chapter two picks up sometime later when he began to miss her and regret his decision. Read Esther 2:1–17. How did the young Jewish girl Hadassah find herself in the king’s harem? What did she have to do to safely adjust to her new life? When we feel silenced, forced to hide our true selves in the face of opposition or oppression, Esther reminds us that we can turn to others for support, guidance, and truth. When we face injustice, Hagar reminds us that God still sees us. We are not alone, Now read Esther 3:7—5:8; 7:1–10. Describe the impact and we can take courage from that truth. that Mordecai had on Esther’s situation when she turned to him for advice. How did his mentoring relationship with her help her find her voice? APPLY WHAT YOU’VE LEARNED Read: Read chapters 3–4 from Jo’s book The Dream of You. Pray: Thank God for the mentors in your life. Reflect on specific ways you can encourage others in your area of influence and ask God to show you those opportunities. Hagar Write: Send a note of thanks to someone who helped you navigate the challenges of your life situation. Or Thus far unsuccessful at bearing the child God had write a note of encouragement to someone who needs promised Abram, Sarai gave him her slave girl, Hagar, reminding that they are seen.