I can picture it as if it was just yesterday.... I was headed off to teach a class and as I drove up this hill thoughts of the different things I would be teaching came to mind as did the places where there were discrepancies within my life concerning the things I was about to teach and where my life and character were..... I will for the rest of my life remember those next moments that were about to unfold.....
As I drove up that hill.... gosh I can still see it all.... I began to pray... and I lifted up to God those discrepancies and I spoke that especially now that I was about to teach those things I need to get my life and my character stronger within all those things... and God spoke as clear as day.... How about you get your life and character stronger because you are mine....
In the years that would follow He would spend season after season bearing that into all that I am..... my identity... my worth would never come forth from anything I would ever do.... I would never earn anything more or lose anything more ... I was not to be defined by where we lived, what we earned, who we were around, what we did or didn't do......
I don't know about you... but this is about me and I have promised to be honest with you... if I am anything I have promised to be transparent in all my wonderings.....
there have been many times that I have come to the place where I realized that there were banners over my heart and the label on the banner wasn't Jesus.... I came to places where I realized I had a confidence born forth from having my identity more in what I did and who I was around or what group I belonged to than in Jesus and being my Father's daughter....
Cultural divides within denominations or organizations have their influence over that which forms us however those very things can as easily be dogma and intellectual
strongholds that are more from man than from God....
I don't know.... I really don't know.... I write often that I am just a girl following her God and that He loves me and I love Him because for me that brings the greatest commandment to life.... Love Him... love each other... and in all those things the law is fulfilled....
I allowed so much to clutter and clog up my heart..... I allowed a sense of self importance to enter my heart not because I was God's but because I was part of this movement or that denomination or this organization....
I have learned in deeper ways than ever that God will not share us with other things... He will let us have other things but when we turn our hearts and our eyes to only have Him ... than He will make it very clear where our hearts have had idols... and friend we are made to worship... I am made to worship and if I am not worshiping God than I will be worshiping other things ... my propensity to allow security within one thing or another to fill my heart with false assurances is large.....
My worth comes from one place... from one place it is defined and made solid... and from one place it stands in such a way that in that place it is not able to be moved... but if I move from that place and I put my identity in what I do or who I am to any other human being... I'm not just talking about ministry... its not enough to God that I am a mom... that I am a wife ... that I am a housekeeper..( a lousy one at that but that is that) ... I can't hide my identity anywhere other than in Him.... I can't allow anything other than Him to set and define worth.... why? because all ... everything.... the whole kit and caboodle can change.... all the sands that we can build upon can be washed away.....
All the sands we build upon can be washed away and leave us standing their confusion and bewildered and I don't want to be confused and bewildered anymore... I don't want to feel any assurance other than the assurance that comes from standing on the Rock and knowing that I am my Father's daughter... and if His eyes are on the sparrow than they most definitely and certainly are upon me and that He defines me and from Him flows forth the definitive explanation of my worth... my Creator adores me ... fashioned and refashioned me.... knit me together... is passionate about me... planned a future for me....
He didn't plan a future for me so that I could be defined by it but rather that I would define it as I walked in Him.....
I love ... love ...love a story that a great teacher tells..... I always get the story wrong when I go try to tell it but the crux of the story is that we are no more and no less than that which we are..... the story is of a vision where there is a cookie monster like thing walking around this place and there are groups of people standing in clusters.... and the cookie monster like thing wants to know what is the secret for the church today.. and each group thinks that they know.... and as they excitedly explain their answer the monster says something like wrong answer and eats them all up.... then this gentleman says, " I know... I know" and he then says "we are no more and no less than that which we are".... and the monster like thing looks at him and says "good answer" and moves forward eating the other clusters of people....
Not the best rendition of that story but you get the point..... we are no more... we aren't special because of how we look, or what we make, or our influence, our ministry, our intelligence, our beauty, our friend's list, our ... and the list could go on and on.... we are no less... we are HIS... WE ARE HIS... we belong to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings... His hand is upon our lives... His definition of who we are is all that we need to stand in and the most simple and profound definition is that we are His... WE ARE HIS.....
A great great great book on this subject... a very profound read... the deepest work that you could study on this topic is a children's book by Max Lucado entitled, "You are Special." All joking aside this book should be on the top of everyone's list when it comes to finding your identity in God.....
Who is anyone else in your life to put the proverbial stars and dots (from the story) the accolades and detractions of man upon Your person... they are people just like you..... and no matter what if they are putting stars and dots upon you they are letting others put stars and dots on them and that ... well, that is just sad....
Identity is the way forward... identity in Him.. solely in Him... we will move forward into the not yet when we allow Him to be the only one that defines us.... when we stand firm under the banner that He is our God and we are His people .... That His heart is for us and our heart is for Him... that the Father's heart is towards His sons and daughters and His sons and daughters' hearts are towards Him than the world will tremble... because the sons and daughters of God will be revealed... and that... that will be a most awe inspiring thing.....
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