Hello beloved child of God, I hope you’re fine by God’s grace.
There wasn’t any homework yesterday apart from inviting a friend to join us as we’re learning about life-lenses. I hope you did your job.
Today we’re going further into the topic of life-lenses.
As stated previously, the way you interpret events in your life is determined by the lenses which you already have.
Today, our exercise will be to discover what our life-lenses are. I got this exercise from the “Anxiety and Depression Workbook for Dummies” by Charles Elliot and Laura Smith.
Don’t forget that this exercise is not meant to condemn you but just to help you know more about yourself. Once you know what your default life-lenses are, it will be easier for you to notice when they control you and to learn how to renew your mind so as not to see your life through your default life-lenses but through God’s Word.
Romans 12:2 NIV
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.
Here are a few instructions:
- Answer as honestly as possible. Don’t practice self-deception
- Take time to reflect on different events and situations that have happened to you which are relevant to each life-lens. Don’t rush it.
- Base your answers on how you feel and react in situations which are related to each life-lens. On how you really feel and not how you think you “should” feel.
- Don’t worry about inconsistencies as life-lenses often come in opposite pairs. You may find your self using both lenses from time to time.
- Answer on the basis of how often each lens defines you.
Exercise: Problematic Life-lenses Questionnaire
Use a scale of 1 to 5 for your frequency rating.
- 1 if the lens almost never describes you
- 2 if it occasionally describes you
- 3 if it sometimes describes you
- 4 if it usually describes you
- 5 if it almost always describes you
| Lens | Opposite Lens |
| ___________Unworthy
I don’t feel like deserve to have good things happen to me. I feel uncomfortable whenever someone does something nice for me. |
___________Entitled
I deserve the best of everything. I should have almost everything I want. If my needs unexpectedly go unmet, I feel threatened, sad, or angry. |
| ___________Abandonment fearful
I need lots of reassurance to feel loved. I feel lost without someone in my life, and I worry abut losing those I care about. I feel jealous and cling to my loved ones because of fear. |
___________Intimacy-avoidant
I don’t like to get close to anyone. I’d just as soon stay away from any emotional involvement; I don’t really want anybody in my life. |
| ___________Inadequate
I feel like I’m not as talented or skillful as most other people. I just don’t measure up. I don’t like taking on things I’ve never done before if they look different. |
___________Perfectionistic
I feel like I must do everything perfectly. I feel like there’s always a right way and a wrong way to do things, and I want to do things the right way always. |
| ___________Guilty and blameworthy
I feel like everything that goes wrong is my fault. I worry about whether I’ve done the wrong thing. I can’t stand hurting anyone else. |
___________Guiltless
I don’t let “stupid” things like morality and conscience stand in my way. If I want something bad enough, I never care about what other people think. |
| ___________Vulnerable
Bad things happen all the time. I worry a lot about the future. I’m scared; the world feels very dangerous. |
___________Invulnerable
I’m invincible-nothing can ever hurt me. The world treats me extremely well. I always have great “luck”, and I never worry about taking precautions. |
| ___________Help-seeking
I depend on others a lot, and I feel better when other people take care of me. I can’t handle life by myself. |
___________Help-avoidant
I hate asking for favors, and I don’t like it when other people try to help me. |
| ___________Under-control
If I want to do something, I follow my impulses. It’s hard for me to set limits with people, so I tend to get walked on. I’d rather express my emotions rather than control them. |
___________Over-control
Nothing is worse than losing control. I never let anyone else see how I feel. I like to keep my hand in everything. I don’t like working for someone else, and I can’t stand leaving my fate in the control of others. |
Congratulations on finishing with this exercise and on answering honestly.
Remember, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
John 8:32 NIV
Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Any life-lens that you rate as 3 or above probably gives you trouble now and then.
You may have more many life-lenses where you rate 3 and above. Don’t worry about that. Renewing your mind takes time, but you can do it — one lens at a time.
Take a few minutes now to reflect on the results of your Problematic Life-Lenses Questionnaire. In your exercise book, jot down thoughts about how these life-lenses may be causing you to have troubling emotions.
Conclusion
The lenses with which you look at your life influence your thoughts, your feelings and your health. It’s your responsibility to renew your mind through God’s Word so as to see your life through the lens of God’s Word and nothing else.
Now that you know what your default life-lenses are, please join us as we learn on how life-lenses work and how to renew our mind.
Prayer
Father Lord God Almighty, thank You so much for opening my eyes so that I may know what my default life-lenses are. Help me renew my mind to see life through Your Word and not through faulty life-lenses anymore in Jesus Christ’s Name. Amen.
It’s Now Your Turn
When you worked on the exercise above what were your life-lenses? Please let us know in the comments section.
Your home work today again is to invite someone whom you know will greatly benefit from learning how to identify their life-lenses and how to renew their mind.
Don’t forget to share this blog post on your social media accounts and to invite your friends and family members to join us as we’re waging war against depression. You may save a life by sharing.
If you’ve not done it yet, subscribe to my Newsletter so as not to miss any post on depression and also, make sure to invite anyone whom you know is suffering from depression.
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Also, please consider sharing this blog post on all your social media accounts.
Invitation
Click here if you’re looking for a church. I recommend Elevation Church to you. A wonderful Christ-centered Church in which you aren’t limited by your location and in which you can see what God can do through you.
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Also, please consider sharing this blog post on all your social media accounts.
God bless you
Victoria Eyog
1 Comment
Life-Lenses (part three) – Mission For Jesus · March 31, 2019 at 8:15 pm
[…] you do yesterday’s exercise to know your problematic life-lenses? I did it. It was really really messy for me. I discovered stuff about myself, I cried […]