Sharing the Light - Linda Werner~Strength's Defined

• • • • • • Sharing the Light • • • • • • •

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• May. 26, 2009 - Linda Werner~Strength's Defined

Strengths Defined, Strength's Validated and Strength's Celebrated!

In twelve years of Homeschooling I don't think any speaker has ever impacted my life as much as Linda Werner this past weekend at our homeschool convention. There are so many amazing people that have inspired me over the years, but her message was very validating, encouraging and inspiring.

I do NOT want well-rounded children! I want PASSIONATE ones that operate in their strengths and only manage their weaknesses. I want to spend this short season of homeschooling helping my children become exactly who God created them to be instead of trying to make them who I think they are supposed to be or who I think the world thinks they are supposed to be.

The entire message revolved around the idea of letting go of status quo and instead empowering our kids (and ourselves) to be the best we can be for the Lord and for this world. I was especially touched by the close of the message when she had the most amazing little boy come up and give an awe inspiring public speaking performance. This little boy had Aspergers and mild autism and had been written off by those who wanted him to fit their idea's, their rules. After unsuccessful years in a classroom situation they decided to try homeschooling and that was when little Matthew's life took off.

He was administered the Clifton strengthfinder test and that turned the tables as they found out his strengths and worked around those instead of trying to strengthen his weaknesses. When that little boy stood up in front of over one thousand people and took that microphone he demanded your full and complete attention. I did not see aspergers or autism. I saw an incredibly gifted young man who literally brought me to my feet with thunderous applause.

As a Mama to four sons who struggle to process auditorily we have invested literally thousands of dollars trying to fix their area's of struggle. Right before convention I told Brandon that this was his senior year and that we were gonna work HARD ON MATH his worst subject. As little Matthew took the stage my memory went back to March when my Brandon emceed the county homeschool talent show and held an audience in the palm of his hand with his humor, personality and charm. I remembered his little hand going up as he wanted to go up on stage to pray at P.E. class. I cried tears of sadness for all the time invested in trying to build up his weak area's and began to ponder what it would have been like had we instead worked on those strengths. I'll never know, but I do know that Phillipians 3:13 tells me to forget what is behind and strain towards what is ahead and so that is what I am purposing in my heart to do. This year will be all about watching Brandon GO, as he works on those strength's of his.

After meeting Matthew I realized that I had been approaching it backwards. We will manage math by having him work on it everyday, but it will NOT become the focal point of his life. Instead, I am going to administer his StrengthsQuest test tomorrow and our senior year will be spent indulging and celebrating his strengths.

I so see the Lord's timing in all this. Most of you know that I traveled with my friend Kim last year and spoke on "Becoming The Best Homeschooler You Can Be". The gist is that we should embrace our strengths and stop striving to become what we admire. I still believe that, as a matter of fact even moreso now, but My message was to the moms who kept trying to keep up with their friends. Linda's message is about the whole family, especially the kids.

If you have never heard Linda speak I would highly recommend going to FPEA Website and order all of her CD's. Also, be in prayer as she and I are working on scheduling a visit to our area very soon. I want every single one of my PPEA members to hear this message!

By the way, Colton, Brandon and I took our tests today and I will close with our TOP strengths. The adult gives you your top "5" and the youth 10-14 age range gives you your top three. Brandon and I are very, VERY close in strength's. Colton is a lot like his daddy!

Mary's Strength's

Woo- Woo stands for winning others over. You enjoy the challenge of meeting new people and getting them to like you. Strangers are rarely intimidating to you. On the contrary, strangers can be energizing. You are drawn to them. You want to learn their names, ask them questions, and find some area of common interest so that you can strike up a conversation and build rapport. Some people shy away from starting up conversations because they worry about running out of things to say. You don’t. Not only are you rarely at a loss for words; you actually enjoy initiating with strangers because you derive satisfaction from breaking the ice and making a connection. Once that connection is made, you are quite happy to wrap it up and move on. There are new people to meet, new rooms to work, new crowds to mingle in. In your world there are no strangers, only friends you haven’t met yet—lots of them. .

Communication- You like to explain, to describe, to host, to speak in public, and to write. This is your Communication theme at work. Ideas are a dry beginning. Events are static. You feel a need to bring them to life, to energize them, to make them exciting and vivid. And so you turn events into stories and practice telling them. You take the dry idea and enliven it with images and examples and metaphors. You believe that most people have a very short attention span. They are bombarded by information, but very little of it survives. You want your information—whether an idea, an event, a product’s features and benefits, a discovery, or a lesson—to survive. You want to divert their attention toward you and then capture it, lock it in. This is what drives your hunt for the perfect phrase. This is what draws you toward dramatic words and powerful word combinations. This is why people like to listen to you. Your word pictures pique their interest, sharpen their world, and inspire them to act.

Positivity- You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. Some call you lighthearted. Others just wish that their glass were as full as yours seems to be. But either way, people want to be around you. Their world looks better around you because your enthusiasm is contagious. Lacking your energy and optimism, some find their world drab with repetition or, worse, heavy with pressure. You seem to find a way to lighten their spirit. You inject drama into every project. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Some cynics may reject your energy, but you are rarely dragged down. Your Positivity won’t allow it. Somehow you can’t quite escape your conviction that it is good to be alive, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one must never lose one’s sense of humor.

Connectedness- Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life’s mysteries.

Includer- “Stretch the circle wider.” This is the philosophy around which you orient your life. You want to include people and make them feel part of the group. In direct contrast to those who are drawn only to exclusive groups, you actively avoid those groups that exclude others. You want to expand the group so that as many people as possible can benefit from its support. You hate the sight of someone on the outside looking in. You want to draw them in so that they can feel the warmth of the group. You are an instinctively accepting person. Regardless of race or sex or nationality or personality or faith, you cast few judgments. Judgments can hurt a person’s feelings. Why do that if you don’t have to? Your accepting nature does not necessarily rest on a belief that each of us is different and that one should respect these differences. Rather, it rests on your conviction that fundamentally we are all the same. We are all equally important. Thus, no one should be ignored. Each of us should be included. It is the least we all deserve.

Brandon's Strengths

Adaptability- You live in the moment. You don’t see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. And so you discover your future one choice at a time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have plans. You probably do. But this theme of Adaptability does enable you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment even if they pull you away from your plans. Unlike some, you don’t resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. Indeed, on some level you actually look forward to them. You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.

Positivity-Description Above

Communicator- Description Above

Connectedness- Description Above

Includer- Description Above

Coltons Strengths

Dependability- Trust is important to him. He cares about being seen as responsible and trustworthy. (understatement) People count on him to do what he says he will do. When he makes a promise you can bet he'll keep it.

Caring- He has a heart for helping others. This is very important for him. He wants to make the world a better place in small ways or big.

Organizer- Scheduling, planning, and organizing his world make life better. People count on him to get the details right and to pull a plan together.

As you look at mine and look at Colton's I can already see why God put him in my life. Where I love the relational/people side of things, I NEED my Colton as he can help us stay on track! I will post more about where to get the books so that YOU and YOUR children can take the tests too. If you do decide to purchase please e-mail me your results. I would love to see how God has gifted you. We can never, EVER take pride in our strength's as they are simply a gift from the Father and used best when we remember our position that HE IS THE VINE and we are the branch! (John 15:5)

Mary, do not conform to the behaviors and customs of THIS world, but let GOD TRANSFORM you by changing the way you THINK! Romans 12:2