Author: amyoberg

Mrs. Amy Oberg owns a consulting center called Hope & Health Hub in Kingman, Arizona. She consults in cognitive psychology for businesses, counties, and schools. She teaches workshops, facilitates groups, and speaks for large groups. She graduated with a Master’s degree in Psychology and she is currently in her Ph.D. program to be a Cognitive Psychologist who teaches, speaks, and writes tools to help people become emotionally healthy. She loves spending Sunday dinner with her family, hanging out with friends, sitting in her camping chair, and enjoying a bit of patio time for coffee and contemplation with her husband. Unlike most people, Amy is comfortable in a room full of people she does not know and loves humans!

amy oberg

Be a Weeble!

November 3, 2021November 2, 2021by amyoberg1 Comment

Life is quite “interesting” sometimes. I say that a bit sarcastically because I have not found a better word than “interesting” to describe some of the seasons I have been through in the last couple of decades. There are ebbs and flows coming and going all the time. What I learned in 2020 is that everything is only for a season. This means no matter where we are, it will really only be a season of life, even if it feels like it’s never-ending. Days feel like years, and years feel like they pass quickly. So weird because it feels as if the dust does not ever settle. The moment one area of life calms down, three more areas get put in motion, and dust begins to fly again! Every time I feel like I have a handle on life, something changes. The only consistent thing is inconsistency. (eye-rolling) (lol)

During all of this, a piece of me waits for the settling of everything: emotional balance, personal security, calm/rest, peace in all ways, earthly understanding, and boundless confidence. That sounds like a Miss America pageant answer, huh?!?? Lol. I believe God puts in each of us a longing for a relationship with our Creator without the distance between earth and heaven. Our humanity really must be accepted for all that humanity entails. Unfortunately, our world will probably worsen before we meet God, so we may want to settle in. Come quickly, Jesus…but in the meantime, I trust you, Lord!

Recently, I have found heightened angst in our world for God to fix our world, heal our land and mend our hearts…He does promise to do so but not yet. This creates typical human angst we all have to live with. This seems to be a “life question” and one we all have to ask ourselves. How can I accept the inconsistent human life with the goal of eternity with God? The short answer is that the only thing consistent in our world is God. In every situation, up or down, ebb or flow, balance or wobble, security or insecurity, calm or struggle, peace or tragedy, knowing or not knowing, confidence or uncertainty…God is with us! Resilience, coping, and getting back up when you get knocked down for the 100th time is imperative. Do you remember Weebles? If you do, then you are saying or singing this right now… “Weebles wobble, but they don’t fall down.” Be a Weeble! It is okay to wobble around the world of humanity with inconsistency, heartache, drama, etc., etc., etc.… but don’t fall down. God has you! Trust anyway, pray anyway, love always, and serve God nevertheless! Be a Weeble!

Psalm 33:18-22

¹⁸ But the eyes of the Lord are on those who fear him,
on those whose hope is in his unfailing love,
¹⁹to deliver them from death
and keep them alive in famine.

²⁰We wait in hope for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
²¹In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
²²May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you.

If you don’t know what a Weeble is, here is the vintage commercial for Weebles. https://youtu.be/qq0OQBdIhsc

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Do I have a hard heart?

May 19, 2021May 18, 2021by amyoberg2 Comments

In the song Graves Into Gardens, there is a line in the second verse that says:

I’m not afraid to show you my weakness, My failures and flaws Lord you’ve seen them all

Are we afraid to show God our weaknesses or failures or flaws? Is it hard to confess our real feelings to God? When do we lay them before God and ask for his help to change our heart? Sometimes these unsaid, ignored weaknesses turn into a hardened heart.

It is not hard to see a person who has been taken over with bitterness—honestly it is hard to witness, watch or be on the receiving end. This is a good time in our world to talk about why God tells us “do not harden your heart” multiple times in the Bible.

Hearing this, everything in me bows my head to ask God…Do I have a hard heart? Truthfully, this is not an area I want to pay much attention to—most of the time I feel justified. The warning is that callousness starts somewhere soft and then builds into a hard heart. It creeps in without knowing it and the enemy turns it into a bitter root. But maybe there is room to bring these things before God so it doesn’t go on longer than it should.

What classifies as a hard heart? Let’s make sure we are all talking about the same thing. Can Christians have a hard heart? Yes! For me, it would be God asking me a question and my answer being “No!”, “no thank you.”, “lol, hard pass.” or any other version of “no” you can come up with. In my life, this is a danger zone and something I need to bring to God right away.

How can I bring it to God? Psalm 95 gives us some instruction and warning about a hardened heart. I have added some commentary.

Psalm 95
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; (invitation to come to God)
    let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. (He is the Rock, the only person worthy of bringing our stuff to).
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving (with thanksgiving and honor first)
    and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God, (the Lord is to be praised because he is GOD)
    the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth, (from the depths to the heights He made it all)
    and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it, (don’t forget how big God is)
    and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship, (another invitation to acknowledge who God is)
    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; (make sure we kneel in reverence)
7 for he is our God (proclamation of who God is to us)
    and we are the people of his pasture,
    the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice, (Listen to God in what He is saying)
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah (rebellion),
    as you did that day at Massah (trials) in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
    they tried me, though they had seen what I did. (remember what God did in other people’s lives’ and our own)
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’ (We are prone to wander if we do not know who God is)
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (There is no rest without God).

We are warned there is no rest without God. Hard hearts, rebellion or tested areas in our life will create unrest, anxiety, anger, impatience, snarkyness, harshness, and indulgence. Bring callousness, hard heartedness, fear, failures, trials, doubts, and weaknesses to God. We are invited by God to bend our knee, remember who God is and worship Him in thanksgiving…then he can soften and change our hearts.

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Rebuild Trust

March 10, 2021March 9, 2021by amyoberg5 Comments

Can trust be rebuilt? Trust has been lost over the last year in a host of ways. It is not hard to see systems break down in our society, career paths squashed, and relationships took a huge hit in our world. Families, friends and just about every one of our relationships were challenged in trust…including our relationship with God.

What happens when things are broken in a relationship? How do we rebuild?

Recently, I heard a Ted Talks on this topic and it talked about rebuilding trust taking three things: authenticity, logic and empathy. These three pieces need to be present when working on a broken relationship.

Authenticity: We really need to be authentic in our relationships or then it is not a real relationship. (Psalm 119:73-74)

Empathy: Empathy is required to have a mutual relationship. It is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. (Galatians 6:2-3)

Logic: This part of the triangle fascinated me! Logic is the form of communication necessary to have understanding. (I know this is where people throw their hands up and determine that rebuilding trust requires the other person to be logical…but both parties need understanding). She drew a simple triangle to explain logic. (Proverbs 3:5)

Start with the story? Many of us start with story and maybe, maybe get to the point sometime in the future. When there is no trust or empathy, then the story will probably fog up the logic and create confusion in understanding if we ever get to the point.

Start with the point? Most of us should start with the point so it is not lost in the story. When rebuilding trust, we may have an opportunity to share the story when trust is built by the point.

This is an incredible formula that can be used in every relationship. Think about how you implement this in your life. When I am with people I trust, I tell them the whole story because the all details matter. When I am with someone I don’t trust, I usually get to the point pretty quick (and maybe I should more quickly). I usually try to tell people the story so they have empathy, but I’m learning it doesn’t work that way. Many times when I am telling a story and I see someone mentally check out…I should get to the point and wrap it up.

Hopefully you can take this formula into your life and put it to good use. While human relationships are hard, God does not need a formula. He loves you just the way you are, he is with you in your emotion, and he understands your story. Trust Him while rebuilding trust in other relationships.

amy oberg

Chatting with God

January 6, 2021January 6, 2021by amyoberg15 Comments

Would you be willing to write a prayer to help a friend?

Don’t you ever wonder what other people pray like? I know I do!

What if there was a place you could turn to have some extra prayers in your pocket? That is exactly what I would like to do.

Prayer is a simple.
Prayer is a conversation.
Prayer is processing.
Prayer is part of relationship.

Recently I heard that we need to be processing with God. Because I am a verbal processor it has always helped to process with people, bounce ideas off of them, get feedback and then come to a conclusion with confidence. My warning in this statement is that I have not always chosen the best people to process with and it usually leads to a bad conclusion or worse…judgement. So, process with someone who loves you unconditionally, won’t judge you, willing to have honest conversation and will lead you down the right path…oh only God can do that! So process with God.

To have a simple, honest, processing prayer time does not take hours on end or even a certain time of the day. I have found that having a few prayers on hand helps moves me toward a thought where I can process with God about a certain topic.

Here is a prayer from a friend about acceptance:

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for loving me. For forgiving me of my sins and my flaws. Thank you for allowing me to bring them to you. Lord, I’m struggling to accept my circumstances. I know you’re in charge of them but I want to fix and control my circumstances. I also know I’m failing at that control. Father, would you lay your hand on me to show me how to accept my stuff, no matter what, so that I can be in your will, so that I can learn to trust you with all of my life. Please help me to grow a bigger faith in you to allow acceptance to be second nature. Then I can testify to your glory and what an amazing God you are. Lord, I love you. I want to accept the things you do in my life, good and bad. Show me the way. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Would you offer a prayer for your sisters to help them process with God?

amy oberg

Why Do We Need Each Other!?!

December 28, 2020December 29, 2020by amyobergLeave a Comment

We are women who are normal. Not normal in a boring sense but normal in a human sense. We are everyday women who work, stay at home moms, corporate executives, small business owners, love our kids with every ounce of our beings, love being married, love being single, strong, meek, quiet strength, foodies, teachers, readers, animal lovers, writers, students, and every where in between or over the top.

Why are YOU important?

YOU MATTER to God and to us! We NEED you! Your gifts, talents and strengths fill in weaknesses of others. We believe our weakness could be your strength. Then how do you fit?

What are your strengths?
What can you do that can help build other women up?
Where does your heart and talent collide?

Typically, God gives you eyes to see things only you can see or do. An early childhood development teacher can easily spot a way to help a new teacher create a space that would encourage a student’s learning environment. A nutritionist easily spots how my diet can change to improve my health. A marketing director can spot the holes in a website and how the prospective client interacts with the site. This is an endless analogy of one person seeing a perspective that others cannot. There is no judgement or condemnation, but confident perspective and constructive information. In business, this is an acceptable form of interaction of building each other up. Can it live inside relationships too?

What if we saw a group of women as someone on your team? God gifting them to help build you up. Unfortunately, we are not really that good at this. We live in relationships that could build our lives up but rarely use the relationship resources around us. Why?

Fear
Judgement
Bad experiences
Bad relationships
Vulnerability

We cannot choose that we don’t need other (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). God has given and gifted us with each other. We need you! We need your eyes in our life to build us up.

How do we do that?

We need relationship with you. What I have learned over the last year: Only a relationship with respect will allow opinions to be valued and heard. Proximity in business or family does not determine relationship per se…no matter how much we want it too. Position does not determine relationship. Relationship must be granted, accepted and mutual—opinions are only allowed in relationship.

What does all that mean?? We need relationship so we can value your opinion. Yes, YOU MATTER! You have something we don’t—our weakness may just be your strength. How would we know that if we don’t know you? Ready to go to coffee and start a relationship? Let’s do it! Email women@journeykingman.com.

Be bold and share your strengths in the comments! What are you awesome at? Or share how you met a new friend.

amy oberg

Kingman Women

December 28, 2020December 29, 2020by amyoberg1 Comment

Every women matters!

We are heading into a new year! We are all grateful 2020 is over and we will not say hindsight is 20/20 any longer. 🙂

Why would we have a blog?

Because our connection with each other matters.
Because we need each other to speak into the heart of our lives.

We have many women who have learned the value of walking with each other while walking with God!

Our lives represent Christ. Karen Ehman would say we re-present God to everyone we come into contact with…so we should share our stories, our victories and our lives with each other.

We desire to encourage one another.
We desire to see God in our lives.
We desire to invite others.
We desire to have a community of women throughout all of Kingman and in every church.

This blog connection is a way to bridge the gap between our monthly event called The Grove. The Grove is an incredible gathering of women in discover her heart and soul in Jesus, worship and enjoy our community.

We would love to hear from you each week! This is a place for you interact with us and your community. We have a few ways to connect daily on Instagram, weekly on this blog and monthly at the Grove.

Please introduce yourself… How long have you been in Kingman? What is your favorite thing about your church? Why is your best friend your best friend?