This weekend, Mosaic in Los Angeles hosted the Mosaic Conference.
Kim McManus spoke an inspiring and powerful message called “Breathe.”
Here are notes from her message:
Are you tough enough?
Being tough means recovering from setbacks.
Bending but not breaking.
Ezekiel is like the drunk uncle from Saturday Night Live. He was asked by God to do some strange things.
Kim’s life verse because she can completely identify with the people of Israel.
4 On the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to make you clean, nor were you rubbed with salt or wrapped in cloths. 5 No one looked on you with pity or had compassion enough to do any of these things for you. Rather, you were thrown out into the open field, for on the day you were born you were despised. – Ezekiel 16:4-5
Kim’s broken parents led to a broken family. Experiencing poverty and a foster family made her wish for another life. Her father never pursued her. Her mother had ten children for which she couldn’t care for.
People who have never been loved don’t know how to love.
6 “‘Then I passed by and saw you kicking about in your blood, and as you lay there in your blood I said to you, “Live!” – Ezekiel 16:6
“Live!”
When you are in foster care, no one comes for you.
Jesus came for Kim. Jesus comes for us.
We can find strength in Him.
Her foster mom told her: “You are going to be just like your mom!”
Kim decided not to receive that and walked out the door and kept walking until she got to a church building.
They felt sorry for her as the orphan and pressured her to go to the front of the church.
Even still, a little bit of life was starting to spark.
“If you don’t like it here, you can leave!” – foster Mom
“I’m never leaving here, and I love you.” – Kim
7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew and developed and entered puberty. Your breasts had formed and your hair had grown, yet you were stark naked.
8 “‘Later I passed by, and when I looked at you and saw that you were old enough for love, I spread the corner of my garment over you and covered your naked body. I gave you my solemn oath and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Sovereign Lord, and you became mine.
9 “‘I bathed you with water and washed the blood from you and put ointments on you. 10 I clothed you with an embroidered dress and put sandals of fine leather on you. I dressed you in fine linen and covered you with costly garments. 11 I adorned you with jewelry: I put bracelets on your arms and a necklace around your neck,12 and I put a ring on your nose, earrings on your ears and a beautiful crown on your head. 13 So you were adorned with gold and silver; your clothes were of fine linen and costly fabric and embroidered cloth. Your food was honey, olive oil and the finest flour. You became very beautiful and rose to be a queen. 14 And your fame spread among the nations on account of your beauty, because the splendor I had given you made your beauty perfect, declares the Sovereign Lord.
Ezekiel 16:7-14
God makes a covenant with us and cares for us – even though we don’t deserve His love.
Resilience determines if we win.
Resilience is not born in laziness.
Three characteristics of the resilient from How Resilience Works by Diane Couto:
- Staunch acceptance of reality.
Denial is a coping mechanism and it doesn’t work!
- Deep belief to make meaning of terrible times. Discovering our noble purpose.
Viktor Frankl imagined himself giving a lecture on how he survived the Holocaust when he was in the concentration camp. Imagining this better future got him to his better future.
You are strong enough to move forward!
- Tough people have the ability to improvise a solution.
Don’t give up. Assume you can find a solution. What we don’t expect under pressure is creativity, but this can be true! We don’t have to relapse to the worst version of ourselves.
We’ve been called by God and empowered by God to rise above our troubles!
Thank you so much for posting your notes. I was at the conference too but I was so transfixed while Kim was speaking I didn’t take any notes. Kim’s talk was one of the most inspiring messages I have ever heard. I was hoping it would be on YouTube or on a DVD I could purchase.