E.12: 4 Times I Needed Leaders, Not Friends
Season 1: Episode 12
4 Times I Needed Leaders, Not Friends
Get the Podcast Playbook, to accompany the podcast here. Filled with devotionals, checklists, questionnaires and more:
In this episode you will learn:
What leaders add to your God-Sized Dream
When to go to the Leaders in your life, and not your friends
How to deal with betrayal so that it propels you
Episode length: 9:56
Transcript
When is the last time you bowled? I know stinky rented shoes, kids, birthday parties and bad nachos is what comes to mind for me, too. But bowling is the ideal picture of what leadership can mean for your life.
On today's podcast this bowling analogy is going to bowl you right over. Sorry, it's a bad joke, but we are going to get gritty and maybe even a little loud. These are tips that you could start right now so you can move toward those gods size dreams in bite size chunks.
Hello and welcome to the podcast God-size dreams in bite-size chunks. I'm your host, Angela Meer. So let's get ready to be energized, inspired and activated in our God size dreams.
Hello and welcome to another episode. Bowling is actually one of my favorite things to do, but I only go a few times each decade. Why is that? Well, it's just not one of those hobbies that I indulge in often, but as an analogy that actually works perfect. Because today I'm going to chat with you about four times I needed leaders and not friends.
We need leaders often times to really help us course correct with our God-size dreams and friends often aren't really the person that we need to go to when that needs to happen.
So just like bowling, you may only go a few times each decade. But when it happened when you go, it's supposed to be really impactful. So let's get this framed up.
Betrayal
Number one. First time I needed leaders and not a friend. It was when I was betrayed by a dear friend. You see, the Bible puts it this way. Iron sharpens iron, and what this means is that oftentimes, when we're moving towards our God size dreams, we can get really sharpened up by people who were also really powerful people. It's like too hard things hitting each other, a bowling ball and a bowling pin. You see, when were betrayed by people that are really close to us. It's often because there are things in us that need to be bowled over. There are things need to go, and their hard surfaces are hitting our hard surfaces and it's really difficult to see past the betrayal into the very thing that we need to look at in your lives.
When I had this happen, I went to my leader and I said, This is a story as best as I could tell you, What is it I need to do in this situation? My leader looked at me and said, Have you considered the possibility that this and this is going on in your life? The truth was that I never considered that possibility was going on in my life because we often are short sighted when it comes to our own weaknesses. It's ok to have weaknesses. But I really think it's important that we have people in her life. You can point out what those weaknesses are so that we don't get into traps over and over and over again, where our weaknesses are causing us conflict or difficulty when it comes to our god size dream. This is one major reason why you might need a leader and not just a friend.
Failure
Another reason I needed a leader and not just a friend at one point in my life was when my first business failed. You see, the bowling analogy works here, too, because what I realized was that I needed to wait until the Lord developed me a little bit more into a better business person. There were things that I just wasn't willing to do that need to be done in business.
And I had to learn to do something you have to do in bowling all the time, which is to wait Your turn. You see in the waiting were often developed into the person that we need to be for the gods size dream of our life To be realized. Now when my first business failed is because I just wouldn't put in the time and the energy into the things that I didn't want to do. Now anyone who's ever ran a business knows: It's not a way you run a business, but I thought I could just bull right through and make it happen. But guess what? It failed again. I went to a leader and I said, What did I do wrong here? And guess what? She told me. Exactly what I needed to hear: was I willing to do the hard things, was I really willing to get down and gritty in the various aspects of that business, and I had to be honest with her and say no, I wasn't. I wasn't really ready. And so oftentimes we need to wait our turn.
And we need to actually ask that the Lord will help us do the hard things, to do the challenging things to move forward in our God sized dream. A friend's not going to tell you that. A friend's gonna come along side to you and tell you that it's all okay, and that's awesome. You're gonna need that person, but it's often leaders who who can tell you, counsel you, and help you inform your next decisions about whether or not you're willing to do the hard stuff.
Podcast Playbook
Are you looking for more information to dream big with God? Perhaps you were interested in starting a business ministry or nonprofit hop on over to my website and get tons of free. Resource is including the podcast playbook. Ah, workbook designed to accompany each of our podcasts. Find the free resource is at AngelaMeer.com. See you there.
Independence
Okay. Welcome back. The third time I needed a leader and not just a friend was when I thought I could go it alone. You see, just like bowling, it's better in teams. Oftentimes, a god sized dream requires a lot of people. It doesn't just include you.
If your dream just includes you, that is probably not a big enough dream. The Lord wants us involved in people's lives, whether those people were involved in our God size dream or whether the God size dream serves the people to God wants us to be around. It's important that we understand that being with people, being in teams, really is something that we can do better at.
It's something that I'm constantly trying to strive to get better at. And really, it's the reason why I created the Overcoming Roadblocks workbook. It's a way for you to be able to overcome relational issues that are preventing you from going forward in your God sized dream. If you're interested in that workbook, you can find it at AngelaMeer.com.
Going alone is not God’s plan for you. He has great people to add to your God-size dream!
When you think you can go it alone often times, you have to figure out it's better in teams and I needed a leader to tell me that friends once again will come around you and comfort you. But it was a leader who said to me, I think you need to think about doing this with more people and to consider pulling in resources that you haven't considered pulling in before.
Pride
Number four. The fourth time that I needed a leader and not a friend was when I was being prideful. I call this a strike. Yeah, in bowling, a strike is good, but in real life, a strike is not something you want. And it really was a strike for me, often times getting prideful about things that I thought I should do or should be doing. But instead it was a leader who came to me this time instead of me turning to them and said to me, “Have you considered how this is affecting people around you when you say this or do this other thing?” But guess what? These are people who have poured into me to make sure that my God size dreams become a reality.
If we're preferring our own ego, our own pride, if we prefer to be independent or we prefer to not let our iron be sharpened. Guess what? Our God sized dream should be the thing that pulls us out of that because it's got a reward on the other side of it. Your God size dream is a thing that causes you to say, Look, I've got these behaviors in my life. I've got these things in my life that I'm not proud of.
And if I'm gonna move towards this God sized dream. I've gotta start acting like the person who is that God sized dream leaders play such an important role in the development of our God size dreams over the podcast playbook. I've got a worksheet for you to dream up what you need in a leader. It's free, along with other cool journal prompts checklist, templates, devotionals and prayers at AngelaMeer.com. Until next time. This is Angela Meer helping you achieve God sized drinks in bite sized chunks.