Allison Bailey > Recent Status Updates

“Get ready to trust Him in every corner of your marriage. He will accept nothing less. He will be infinitely patient with you, but He insists on changing you. He loves you too much to let you go through life believing that you dont depend on Him for breath, let alone everything else. He loves you so deeply that He will force Himself into the very middle of your heart and marriage.“

“Your marriage to Jesus lasts forever. It costs you nothing. It cost Jesus His life.”

Wow. What a staggering truth! Humbled and grateful.

“A deep grasp of this grace (salvation) is one of the sweetest qualities you can ever bring into your marriage. The more you comprehend and marvel at the fact that you have been chosen…, holy and beloved, the more eagerly and cheerfully you will put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other…” (Col 3:12:13)

“Change is like wet cement; it becomes solid over time.”

Recovery Groups address destructive, habituated life patterns. Process Groups are for decreasing the disruption caused by difficult experiences or "sticky" emotions. Support Groups are for mutual encouragement as participants persevering through difficult experiences that endure for an indefinite period of time. Therapeutic Educational Groups provide a better understanding of challenges that are often misunderstood

…the underlying premise of this book is this: the more important something is, the more important it is to do it well and the more dangerous it is to do it sloppily. Because a counseling ministry will invite people to be vulnerable with the most sensitive parts of their lives, it will—for better or worse—have immense influence. With great influence comes great responsibility.

Multiplication is at the heart of the Great Commission. We are not only supposed to do our work well, but to teach others to do it also—sometimes better than we do it. We are called not only to be successful, but to reproduce. If God prospers you at something, take that extra time to write down the secrets of your success so that others can do it too.

I appreciate this description of one of Summit Church’s goals as they do the work of ministry: “Show your work and let others copy your paper.”

"…I can't tell you how beautiful it was there in the twilight... And it put us in such a mood that we began talking about all sorts of things. Sat up late last night writing, and early this morning... In the evening there's also a beautiful view of the yard, where everything is deathly still and the street-lamps are burning the sky above full of stars. When all sounds cease-God's voice is heard-Under the stars." VG

“Sewing up the seams as words
grow into sentences, verbs don’t fit,
fall into place. Nothing proceeds
according to plan. There isn’t a plan.
I perform confusion instead of composition.”

“Productivity comes from engagement, not control and mere compliance. This is why operating in our strengths is so important.”

“We have been given the privilege of honoring and delighting in God forever. Marriage plays a part in the whole program, as does singleness. Whether we are single or married, our lives are unfolding according to His perfect will and design, and always for our ultimate good. We cannot try to make sense of our lives in isolation, nor can we try to make sense of marriage in isolation from God and His design.“

I’m already really appreciating the questions in this book. Specific, and gospel-centered. They help bring things to the surface you may not think to ask, and are crafted with the wisdom of a biblical counselor. Excited to use them!

“There’s only one rule for being a company of one: stay attentive to those opportunities that require growth and question them before taking them. That’s it - one rule. The rest is entirely up to you. But if you ever stop questioning the need for growth, you run the risk that the beast of growth will devour you and your business whole.”

“The average life span of a business on the S&P 500 is only 15 years total.”

Interesting!

“In Japanese, shinise is the word for a long-lasting company. Interestingly, about 90% of all businesses worldwide that are more than 100 years old are Japanese. They all have fewer than 300 employees, and the ones that still exist never grow quickly without reason.”

“First, ensure that your company of one is making enough profit to cover your living expenses. Second, make sure you've got enough of a runway buffer built up to work full-time at your company of one, even if things get slow. Third, with your salary and runway buffer covered, you can reinvest money in your company; if things are going well, you should be able to get a better than 3% return on such an investment.”

“The opposite of love is not hate but apathy. As English philosopher Edmund Burke is often quoted to have said, ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’”

“Fear exposes the idols of our hearts very effectively, just as it also puts a spotlight on the good places where God has shaped our desires in righteous and healthy ways.”

^ This!

“Nothing so powerfully quenches the fire of fear as the presence of someone we trust.”

“Our fears not only tell us what we love; they also push us towards extremes in relationships. Fear urges us to either jump back from others or cling to them like driftwood in a shipwreck, depending on our perception of what will most likely make us feel safe.”

“ But we need to say no to the temptation to shut down our emotions before we’ve really understood what the emotion is communicating. When we feel the need to shut down and escape, including the shame of experiencing them, it’s easy to fall prey to dangerous escapes—drugs, alcohol, sexual sins, and a host of others.”

“Anger gives you the bravery to stop destructive interactions, and that’s a good thing (esp. in the context of abusive relationships)”

“Trying to develop a heart whose emotions overflow from loving what God loves without bringing your feelings to him is like trying to fly by flapping your arms instead of boarding an airplane.”

“Why would God choose to care about or listen to the weeping or pleading or crowing of a sinful creature who caused his beloved Son to go through physical and emotional anguish we could never fathom? … Yet this is exactly what we observe over and over in the Psalms.”

“In studying how trust is built between companies and consumers, Urban has found that there are three aspects of trust: confidence ("I believe what you say"), competence (“I believe you have the skills to do what you say"), and benevolence (*I believe you're acting on my behalf").“

“In business these days, it's not enough to just tell people you're an authority — you’ve got to demonstrate your actual expertise by sharing what you know and teaching others. You build authority not by propping yourself up, but by teaching your audience and customers- so that they truly learn, understand, and succeed.”

“…collaboration is the one area where companies of one should scale down - from an environment of always on, always-available, slow-drip messaging distractions to a regiment of clearly defined times to work together to accomplish large tasks together. Otherwise, you run the risk of being available for distraction during every hour of every day.”