Becoming Well With Liz Tafadzwa

Hello BW Community. Welcome back to another post and as always I’m ecstatic to be here. Priorities are the topic of the day and if we can be honest with ourselves we have all been confronted with moments in our lives where our priorities were not in check and we got results that blew up in our face. I want you to take the next 5 minutes and write down what your top 3 priorities in this season of your life are. Why is this important? Because if you don’t know what they are, how can you even live by them? So, I want you to write down that top 3 list and remember there is no judgment here. No one is hovering behind your shoulder so I want you to be brutally honest with yourself. I will go first so you can become less intimated.

My top 3 priorities in this season are:

1. Soul healing (mind, will and emotions)
2. Spiritual stability
3. Healing my relationship money

This is me being fully transparent with you. Yours may look different and that’s good because if you are not willing to be honest with yourself, then maybe the first step is to unpack why that is the case with God + 1 trusted and safe person. Before I go any further let me provide a definition for this word. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines priority as “the quality or state of coming before another in time or importance or a condition of being given attention before others.” To put it plainly a priority is anything you perceive and act upon as important. See, if you desire to be healed, freed, or discover your God-given purpose, you have to make it a priority my friend.

Healing won’t happen simply because you desire it. You have to prioritize processes that facilitate that healing whether be it prayer, getting into God’s word, therapy, reading books, doing the messy work, etc. The same is true if you desire freedom in a particular area of your life. Where you prioritize is often where you get the prize whether it is a good or bad prize. Prioritize working nonstop and you will see great results in your work but the negative prize may be a break down of your relationships. I hear this a lot from people who genuinely mean it when they say they want to get closer to God and know him more. The good news is that God wants to be close to you and has always wanted to. He has been waiting for you to prioritize your relationship with him so you can get to know him. What i have also come to realize is that when you know more about a person, it brings you closer to them. The same is true with your relationship with him. The more you know him, by default the closer you become to him.

If you feel called to help a specific group of people, get to know them and by default, you will get closer to them and they will get close to you. Priorities are also shaped by our values whether they are spoken or not spoken. I will go a step further and say that values have sources. 

So if you go back to the list of priorities you have just written, what can they tell you about your values? There are many sources that our values can come from: ourselves, the world, books, music, parents, friends, heritage, fear, and God’s word. Now this is not an exhaustive list by all means but it provides a decent range to help you pinpoint the source of your values that have framed your priorities. I like what Rick Warren says: 

• Unclear values cause confusion
• Conflicting values cause tension
• False values create deception
• Wrong values create dysfunction
• Lasting success is built on values that are lasting

If you feel that you have misaligned priorities the best place to start is not to shame yourself but start by asking what your values are and then over time go deeper to the source. I’m amazed by the number of people who can’t name their top 3 values but are working themselves to death to get things they dont even really want or make decisions that they are still experiencing the consequences of. If you have been feeling tension in your soul, could it be an issue of conflicting values and if dysfunction has taken center stage which I’ve had my fair share of too, wrong values as Rick Warren wisely said may be the root. You thought another person’s perception of you was more important than God’s so you did all you could in hopes that the person would see you positively and you were left crushed and malfunctioning. 

There are many verses that talk about priorities but when you read most of them, they dont always seem to be talking about priorities. However, when we fail to take time to sit at the feet of Jesus and ask the Holy Spirit to give us an understanding of the scriptures we are reading, we quickly get overwhelmed and close up our hearts and minds to the truth truly capable of freeing us. Matthew 6:33 says “Seek first the Kingdom of God and live righteously and he will give you everything you need” and Luke 12:34 “Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.” Both verses are priorities verses and when we lean on them it makes it easier to understand.

As I have sat with these two verses, I realize that perhaps Jesus was not focused so much on guilt-tripping you if you seek other things above God’s righteousness and kingdom or if your treasure is in money. What if the meaning behind both verses was to help us identify what happens when our priorities are in the wrong things? What if he wanted us to see the power of priorities and how our hearts will always be drawn to them even if they are unspoken yet they have become destructive bombs in our lives? I’ve come to realize that the men and women that we are drawn to, inspired by, who helped transform our lives or became in-person or virtual mentors for us more times than not are people who have their priorities in check. What they say they prioritize and their actions match.

 People are drawn to focused individuals because when your priorities are right, your life gets more orderly and when your life is in order, focus is a natural consequence. Mathma Gandhi said “Action expresses priorities” and that is as true as it can get. My actions reveal my true priorities and your actions reveal your true priorities. I may say I prioritize my physical health but if I am too busy to go exercise and eat nutritiously then it really isn’t my priority. I can say my relationships are my priority but if I dont make time to catch up, talk to, call, and check in with people I value then relationships are really not my priority. I know on social media there has been this long-standing trend that just because you haven’t spoken to your “friend/s” in months does not mean you dont value them. I strongly disagree with this ideology even when it calls me out with some of my friends. The truth is whatever we really value we make time for. We already know this yet we choose when it applies to us and when it wouldn’t apply to us because we are not ready to accept truth.

 I pray this blog post has brought some perspective for you friend. Take time to observe over the next week what have you actually prioritized that contradicts what you tell yourself you prioritize. Remember you are loved, seen and heard. I want you healed, freed, and awakened to your God-given purpose. Have a fulfilling week and if it’s already a bad week for you remember nothing is permanent. This too shall pass. I will see you on the next one!