“You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.”
One of the first posts in this blog section told information on how you can get to know YOU better by taking an enneagram test.
Did YOU do it?
I intentionally started my journey finding myself better in 2020, I had become a version of myself that I just did not like. It was not who I wanted to be.
“If only you, God, would slay the wicked! Away from me, you who are bloodthirsty! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, Lord, and abhor those who are in rebellion against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them my enemies Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
After a conversation about the enneagram I took a test.
WOW! That Hurts! It was a little too revealing of the ways this tool described me. I am a 2. One of the things about a 2 is that it's hard for us to take criticism. OUCH! But, after reading the words that hurt a little, there were also words that brought comfort, validation, and clarity. I wanted to go deeper into this.
So, What NEXT?
I wanted to be the best of me. I wanted to know the WHY behind my actions, to become more intentional. Part of what is explained in the enneagram is how each number goes towards another number in “health” and in “stress”. It explains our characteristics in those situations. To better understand all that I had found and learn to apply it, I read some books about the Enneagram.
“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast, If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me, even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
This tool of the Enneagram has helped guide me in my every day, there are so many stressors in life. Some stress is very much front and center, some stress hides deep within our souls that we didn’t even know it existed. The enneagram tells us about our core motives, lists multiple subtypes for each number, and so many other areas to explore to help you to become the BEST YOU, and discover who you are!
One book, The Sacred Enneagram, I learned how my enneagram number could help me to best receive God and listen to HIS voice. This has made the greatest impact on my life. Since this discovery, I have become much more intentional with my time with Him. I better understand how I can get the most out of my time with Him. In those daily stressors, I better understand how I can seek His comfort.
Why is this important?
For me, through my listening, through my understanding of who I was, and how to work towards the BEST me. I heard from God, who he calls me first. He calls me HIS DAUGHTER. I am part of HIS Kingdom, and I have a better understanding that the BEST me, is to DO HIS work, the BEST that I can with His guidance.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand—when I awake, I am still with you.”
I, like you, are not to do this alone. I am to do this listening to HIS word, following His WILL for my life, and to walk with other brothers and sisters in Christ to do HIS Work.
What’s holding you back from moving towards the best YOU? Maybe you have done the enneagram before, but in my journey, I have found I have to go back again, and again to be reminded of my WHY, just like I need to do with my Heavenly Father, go back to Him again and again to remember WHY.
Here’s your chance again to move in the direction of the BEST you, take the test, your Father is waiting for you to find out who He made you to be, your brothers and sisters need you to work towards your BEST to do HIS work. This could be the start, this could be the next step, or this could help you figure out what is holding you back.
Here are the books that helped me in my journey:
The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, By Ian Morgan Cron, Suzanne Stabile
The Path Between Us: An Enneagram Journey to Healthy Relationships, by Suzanne Stabile
The Sacred Enneagram: Finding Your Unique Path to Spiritual Growth, by Christopher L. Heuertz and Richard Rohr
The Enneagram Type 2: The Supportive Advisor (The Enneagram Collection), by Beth McCord
This is one from a collection, each type has its own book/journal.
