Nicole Unice > Quotes

“Understanding what you bring to your family system helps shape your understanding of the particular joys and struggles you remember—and understanding your own temperament impacts the way you move forward with relationships today.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Imagine being described like this every day: “[Insert your name here] _____________ has an intact moral compass and is courteous and considerate of others, gentle and reasonable in decisions, full of compassion, unwavering and resolute, transparent and authentic.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“If you want to get a different result out of life than you are currently getting, you are going to have to suspend your own understanding of reality for a time.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“We find the good when we handle the four most important relationships on earth—our relationship with God, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with others, and our relationship with the world at large—in the right way.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Your temperament is a huge part of who you are. This means that the way you experienced your family is hugely important to the way you understand life today.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“means suspending our own reality and willingly choosing to see things God’s way.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Parenting is a delicate balance of convincing your kid they can do anything in life . . . while also screaming “Don’t do that!” every three minutes. UNKNOWN”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Good living is the side effect of a transformed relationship with Christ. Dallas Willard says that a heart transformed by God creates people who live “in such a way that doing the words and deeds of Christ is not the focus but is a natural outcome.”[2]”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Nothing is more important than to learn how to maintain a life of purpose in the midst of painful adversity.[2]”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“that every time we embrace the truth that God is greatest, and He knows best, we can become healthier.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“The simple act of taking notice of everything bigger than you—the trees, the sun and moon, the rolling hills, the wide rivers—can shift your perspective off yourself and back onto the Creator.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“think we are all conspiracy theorists when it comes to God. We find ourselves doubting His intentions when the story lines don’t make sense. When it comes to deciphering the world, our culture relies on logic and emotion, not on tradition or authority. Perhaps the most radical thing God could require of us is to believe what He says.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“sighed out a whispered help me prayer. “Help” prayers aren’t just about God showing us the way forward with decisions. Often my help prayers are more about grounding and direction: Help me understand me. Help me understand why this feels the way it does. Help me understand what this struggle is really about.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“I like to imagine us having this conversation on a great hike together when we come upon a break in the trail—a deep and muddy ditch in the middle of the path. I jump right into the ditch and am calling to you from the bottom. You are standing above, wondering why in the world anyone would jump in. It’s muddy and dirty and probably a little smelly, too, and it looks like it’s going to take a lot of work to get to the other side. But I’m calling you down because I know it’s the only way back up. Christ is here ahead of us, and He promises to lead us out. You can stand at the edge of the ditch for as long as you’d like. You can try to find a way around. You can try to jump over. You can try to turn back. But at the end of the day, the only way forward is the way down. You see, I’ve come to such a ravine more than once on my own journey”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“God’s love without God’s truth will give you a distorted view of yourself and others.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“It takes only one person to change an entire family system. It takes only one person on the freedom cycle to affect everyone else. This change won’t be like transformation TV. It won’t happen overnight, and it won’t happen without a struggle. There will be inevitable setbacks.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Our awareness shifts from the world around us to the world we’ve created. Over time, it becomes dangerous to live only within the world we’ve created on a personal-sized screen.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“The opportunity to walk back in our stories with Jesus might present itself when a snapshot of a memory comes to mind and we invite Him to connect the way we feel today to any hurt from our past. It might mean taking an honest feeling (insecurity, anger, resentment, powerlessness) into God’s presence and allowing Him to uncover, rewrite, and release us from the power of a memory or pattern in our past.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“God is not like a Dear Abby column. To actually seek His direction—fully, the way James describes here—will take a much more intentional approach. It will require more than just your desire and your faith—it will require your willful choice and action.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“The good news is that family dysfunction is not new. If you want to feel better about your own upbringing, spend some time in the Old Testament. Adam’s son Cain killed his brother, Abel. Noah got drunk and disgraced his family. Abraham slept with his wife’s servant in order to have a child, defying God’s promise that his wife would bear his son. Isaac played favorites with his twin boys, turning them against each other. Jacob’s sons were so dysfunctional that they sold one brother into slavery and then led their dad to believe he’d been murdered.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“The Holy Spirit is the manifestation of God who dwells within you and leads you to truth.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Acting and reacting to the responses we received from our family, caregivers, and siblings, we began to play that role, for better or for worse. Our role as a child might have been “outgoing” or “fearful” or “smart.” The roles we play expand as we grow up, and we take on new roles as “mom” or “teacher” or “anxious.” These roles are integrated into our understanding of ourselves.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Kay Arthur's Precept”
― Nicole Unice, Help! My Bible Is Alive!: 30 Days of Learning to Love and Understand God’s Word

“That suffering season taught me that we all need a home base to return to, and from that home base, we make small, faithful choices.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“The “it” in your “not worth it” is the variation that is unique to you. Maybe it’s that deep lie you believe that you aren’t worth that person’s time. That you aren’t worth loving. That you aren’t worth protecting. That you aren’t valuable. That you aren’t enjoyable.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“To enter into God’s story means entering into a new “reading” of our lives, one defined not just by what we can see and experience but also by what God sees and experiences in us, what God is doing around us.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“Those little struggles lead us to wonder if we really have what it takes to make it in our lives, or if maybe we missed an important class somewhere about how to actually be a joyful and free human being.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“When we step into Christ’s Kingdom, we are transferring our hearts to a new place spiritually. Rather than uprooting and replanting our bodies, we are uprooting and replanting our spirits. If following Jesus isn’t actually affecting your everyday life like this kind of move, then something is tragically amiss.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“God will direct us into our new stories. In part 1, we talked about the sinister work of the enemy, who takes our memories and actively works to make our brokenness our ultimate truth.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck

“If you reckon with the truth but don’t desire forgiveness and extend it to others, you will off-ramp into denying who you really are.”
― Nicole Unice, The Struggle Is Real: Getting Better at Life, Stronger in Faith, and Free from the Stuff Keeping You Stuck