Episode 278: Are We Fighting the Wrong Battle?

Ever feel like you keep fighting the exact same battle, no matter how many times you thought you'd dealt with it? This week Dot and Cara talk about roots, the patterns, lies, and old wounds that keep resurfacing no matter how hard we try to manage our behavior instead of the actual cause. Using the picture of Dot's flower beds (and a seriously stubborn pile of leaves), they dig into the difference between trimming the fruit and getting to the root, why unforgiveness keeps us stuck, and how to ask the Holy Spirit to show you where a lie first took hold. Pull up a chair, grab your Bible, and lean in with us.Got a question about today’s episode or something else you’d like to hear us talk about on the show? Let us know! Episode RecapIntro (00:00)Write this down: Hebrews 12:14-15, guarding against a root of bitterness (00:00)Cara sets up today's topic: roots, not the kind in a garden, but the kind in our own hearts and patterns (00:35)Dot's leaf blower story on her deck becomes a picture of managing behavior instead of dealing with the root underneath it (01:08)Why behavior modification can slow things down without ever actually solving them (05:16)Asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the real root behind anger, anxiety, or fear instead of just trying harder (08:05)Dot's dead flower and the root that had spread everywhere it touched, a picture of how an unaddressed root never stays contained to just us (12:06)Looking back without staying back, and asking God where a lie first took root, even one planted by someone we trusted (18:23)The lie that we're not enough, and what it means to rest in being enough because we belong to God (22:43)Why telling yourself the truth isn't the same as believing it, and what it actually takes to get free (26:13)Are you interested in having Dot come and speak to your community? Email us at [email protected] Write this Down! on YouTubeFind Dot Bowen on Instagram and Facebook This Episode’s Scripture VerseHebrews 12:14-15 (ESV) — "Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled."