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Determination

 

Determination means you have a firmness of purpose, a tendency to move in a fixed direction.

 

Believe it or not, the behaviors needed to fulfill New Years Resolutions typically last 30 day or less before old habits override good intentions for positive behavioral shifts in life.

 

How about you? What’s your mission statement for the New Year? Have you taken a moment to right that down and think of 3 action steps that you will commit to on a daily bases to fulfill it? It’s worth the determination backed with clarity of focus around what you want to see more of within the New Year. Clarity of focus fueled by determination leads to accuracy of response around desired outcomes. How determined are you to make your mission statement a reality? Do you have a firmness of purpose and fixed state of mind to do the behaviors needed daily to accomplish your desired outcome?

 

When I went through cancer I had a fixed state of mind on choosing life no matter what the doctors told me, this required divine intervention because my body was very weak. When the body is weak, the mind often follows. Increasing my prayer times with God along with declaring the scriptures over my life (Psalm 91) throughout the day gave me the strength I needed to override the fears, doubts and sabotaging thoughts.

 

I want to share a story with you of one person who was determined not to let his past define what was possible in his future. This story is taken fromThe Emotional Intelligence in Christbook. Where do you recognize yourself in this story?

 

“This is the story of Christian Music Artist/Speaker Billy Ballenger. Perhaps you can relate to Billy’s “BC”,before Christencounter, and theafter Christencounter as you read through his story.The following testimony is used with the permission of Billy Ballenger.

 

You will notice that an identity crisis is often the fuel that Satan uses to confuse the mind enough to forget whose you are and who you are. We will discuss this more in Chapter 3.  Emotional Intelligence in Christ is made possible when we see with our eyes, hear with our ears, understand with our hearts, and turn as we allow the love of Jesus to heal and override the pain and false beliefs (Matthew 13:15) we’ve encountered.

 

Identity Crisis:

 

As a young boy, Billy faced many challenges. Before coming to know Jesus at the age of 10, he discovered that he was adopted and that his parents were his maternal aunt and uncle. Billy’s biological mother had her own struggles and decided to give him up for adoption at age 3. Before age 11, the sense of security that Billy once had started to fray as his adoptive parents divorced, eventually marrying other people.  As a result, he moved in with his dad, but he never felt a strong sense of stability or connection. According to Billy,“It was a very difficult time emotionally. I struggled to find common ground with my stepparents. I was mocked, ridiculed, and bullied by other students well into high school. Friends were hard to find and this consumed my thinking and affected my learning throughout school. I hated life, I had no self-esteem; I was very unhappy as a child and began to run away from my problems.”

 

By the time Billy reached age 16, he was ordered by the court to attend a residential juvenile facility called Josiah White’s New Possibilities in Wabash, IN.  Josiah White’s was a pivotal experience for Billy.  For the first time in a long time, he felt the possibility of a new start in a place where no one knew of his past struggles. He learned to serve others and began to work on character development.  At the facility, he also met his future wife, Jodie. 

 

After completing the program at Josiah White’s, Billy was placed on probation and sent back to his former surroundings. By age 17, Billy ran away to where Jodie lived, who was 16 at the time.  Billy moved in with Jodie and her mother in Muncie, IN and Jodie soon became pregnant.  Shortly after, the couple married and delivered a healthy baby girl named Mindy.

 

Billy and Jodie were living a chaotic life while raising Mindy. Fueled by excessive drinking and drug use, the couple engaged in a dangerous lifestyle, including illegal drug dealing, receiving stolen property, and engaging in violent behavior.  This conduct came to a boiling point with a dramatic SWAT team raid on their house leading to losing their freedom and their daughter in the same day.  Recounting those moments, Billy laments “All my hope was gone.”

 

Billy’sidentityhad been hijacked by exterior circumstances along with the ability to experienceself-control,care for othersandconnections with people around him that were grounded in Christ. Little did he know, Jesus was after him.

 

 

Finding Christ:

 

Billy and Jodie were released from jail on bond and awaiting and upcoming trial when they had an encounter of a lifetime. Billy met a man at a gas station who hired him on the spot for a construction job. The man invited the couple to church, where they both re-dedicated their lives to Christ. While both had salvation experiences through altar calls as children, this was different. According to Billy,“My life was a mess. I was broken and afraid. However, I somehow knew God was my only hope.”

 

As life moved on, both were eventually given 6-year prison sentences after being found guilty on charges of possession of stolen goods.  Life had never been so low for Billy. “It was a bad day. I thought my life was over. However, I was determined to not spend the next few years in prison. To fight off depression and loneliness I began reading my Bible and then my faith began to grow. As I studied the Scriptures, I realized God was changing my heart and desires and had made me a new man. I didn’t run to God to worship Him. I hardly knew anything about worship. I wanted my wife and my daughter back. I wanted to be free. It was my number one desire. As I read the Scriptures my faith got stronger, and I realized that God loved me and that He was on my side. Not only did He want me free and restored to my little family, but He also wanted me to follow His plan for my life. I began to thank God for setting me free from prison.”

 

As the Holy Spirit began the mighty work of identity recovery for Billy, his emotional intelligence in Jesus began to take over his perceptions. Love replaced fear, which ignited the courage to declare behind prison bars that freedom was and is God’s plan for his life. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

 

Freedom:

 

God can turn all things around.  Billy and Jodie understood that, knew that their freedom would someday be restored and that they would eventually be reunited as a family.  While the couple was eternally freed from the bondage of sin, a miracle was about to happen that would radically change their lives, release them from incarceration, and escort them right out of the prison one year early. The judge had originally stated that she would not grant an early release for the couple. But God had another plan. Due to a technical error with sentencing, the couple received a special hearing intended to correct the mistake of the court.

 

While at the hearing, the original judge and prosecutor agreed to set aside the remainder of the couple’s sentences, and they walked out of the courtroom free that day. The best part was being reunited right away with Mindy, who had been in the custody of Billy’s mom.  Just as being incarcerated was one of his worst days, the day they got their freedom back was monumental for Billy.“I just felt indescribable elation. God’s word was alive, and it really works. It was miraculous.”

 

 

A New Life:

 

Freedom from prison was just the beginning for Billy and Jodie.  God had big plans for their lives, and everything was about to change.  Soon Jodie became pregnant and gave birth to their son, Jared. Billy and Jodie and their children started faithfully attending a local church and eventually Billy accepted a pastorate at an urban ministry.  The couple was drawn to minister to the hopeless and joined Chuck Colson as instructors for his Prison Fellowship Ministry.  Billy started leading worship at church and in 2002 began recording music and traveling in full-time ministry. It didn’t take long for Billy to land music opportunities in prisons, churches, and schools in North America. Through their nonprofit ministry, Break the Grey, Inc., Billy and Jodie have impacted over half of a million people in search of hope with the same gospel message that brought them freedom years ago.  Additionally, Billy has performed as a national touring Christian music artist along with some of the industry’s most prolific names. 

 

Billy’s message is simple, “Don’t quit. If you can just get a glimpse of what your future could be and that God has a plan for your life – look out!

 

Billy is now filled with Emotional Intelligence in Christ which has made all the difference in transforming one life, hijacked by a lost identity, now recovered for the purpose of God’s glory.”

 

Coaching Question: As you reflect on the above story think about a time in your life where your identity was hijacked and you were determined to get it back. Perhaps you currently feel as if you have compromised the person God has created you to be by farming out your identity to popularity, position, power, passions. God is all about new beginnings. As Jesus says that he is making all things new (Revelations 21:5). Be determined to begin again today. Believe that God is with you and has plans to prosper, not to harm you…to give you hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11). You are not alone on this journey of life. 

 

Check Out theEmotional Intelligence in Christ Projectat:EmotionalntelligenceinChrist.com

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