My True Identity

Parts of this post have been taken from the book, "Made to Crave." 

One of the books I have been reading is "Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food" by Lysa TerKeurst.

I have not gotten very far into it, but so far it is very intriguing and has offered great advice and goals for living a healthy lifestyle. 

This is, after all, about glorifying God with my body and taking care of the temple in the way that He has instructed me. 

So far, Chapter 5 has been my favorite: Made for More.

Lysa says, "We were made for victory. Sometimes we just have to find our way to that truth." 

The life that we have is about so much more than just us, it is all about Him and what the Savior has done and how God wants to have us and use us for His glory.
We have to realize that we are worth it.
That He does want us!

Lysa talks about embracing our true identity in Christ. 

The way we see ourselves is not how Christ sees us. It is so important that we know how our Father sees us. 

I wanted to share these truths with you all. These are taken from chapter 5 in the book. 

Read and reflect over these. Let them resonate over you. 

Open your heart and let Christ show you who you are to Him. 

The forgiven child of God.
"...and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus"

Romans 3:24

The set-free child of God.
"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death."

Romans 8:1-2 

The accepted child of God.
"To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ -- their Lord and ours..."

1 Corinthians 1:2

The holy child of God.
"It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption." 

1 Corinthians 1:30

The made-new child of God.
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

2 Corinthians 5:17

The loved child of God.
"For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love..."

Ephesians 1:4

The close child of God.
"But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far way have been brought near through the blood of Christ." 

Ephesians 2:13

The confident child of God.
"In him and through faith in him we may approach God with freedom and confidence." 

Ephesians 3:12

The victorious child of God.
"No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us." 

Romans 8:37

A few more thoughts from Lysa: 

"The truth of my identity as a child of God empowers me to believe that living in victory tastes sweeter than any unhealthy delicacy." 

"The real reason for grounding ourselves in the truth that we are made for more is 'so that you may know Him better.' The more we operate in the truth of who we are and the reality that we were made for more, the closer to God we'll become." 

"Being ruled by anything other than God is something God takes quite seriously. And so should I." -- Chapter 6

My Goal for 2011 (and years to come)

I am reading this book by Elisabeth Elliot that is called "The Journals of Jim Elliot".

If you look over on the left side of my blog, you can see the cover and click on it to find out more information about the book.

I am reading it very slowly though, because I feel like it contains so much wisdom.

I am reading Jim Elliot's words, the very words and prayers that he wrote.

And let me tell you, it is good!

If nothing more from this book, you can see that he was a true man of God.

Jim Elliot was a missionary that went to Ecuador with four other men to contact the Auca Indians. A people group that was seemingly unreached at the time.

They wanted to make contact with them with the goal of preaching the Gospel to them.

They were among the Indians for close to a year and had gained some ground and trust with them.

But, in January of 1956, Jim Elliot and the four other men were speared to death by the Auca Indians.

There is much wisdom in the book that I am reading.

Many quotes of which I love and want to live out.

I came across one last night that is brillant. And it is my goal of 2011 and the years to come.

Jim Elliot wrote on February 29, 1948:

"What man or household is sufficient to take in all that the Lamb of God embodies? None. He must be shared with the neighbors."

Essentially it is the Great Commission found in Matthew 28:19-20, which says:

"Go therefore and make disciples of every nation, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I am surely with you always, to the very end of the age."

My goal for 2011 and the years to come is to glorify Christ with my entire being. To be the obedient daughter of Christ that I am called to be. To share His love and Word with eveyone that I come into contact with. That I will be bold and obedient for the cause of Christ. Because, as a believer and follower of Him, it is what should be my desire. It is my honor to be a vessel for Christ. It is commanded of me.

And though I will fail and stumble along the way, I know that I have a Savior who will pick me up time after time and a Savior who will continue to equip me as I need to be, all so that His glory may be shown.

That He may be exalted.

It's going to be a great year.

Word(less) Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

(Usually, I just post a picture without a caption, but I feel as though this one deserves a story.)

Now, before you go thinking that I'm actually reading all of these and trying to come off as "better than others", many of these never come off of the shelf.
They rarely get picked up unless I need a reference or just want to hold them.

This is just one shelf on our wall to floor bookshelf we have in my living room.

But, to me, it is the most special shelf.

Most of these Bibles and reference books were my Pop's.

Pop was my Dad's dad and a preacher.

We got these after he passed away.

I absolutely love them.

Most of them still contain sermon notes that my Pop typed out himself on an old-fashioned typewriter.

He has notes in the front, the back, and in-between.

They are getting fragile with age, but are still here.

 Maybe one day they will be in my house.

A little piece of Pop in our living room.

Because, if there is anything that I would grab in a fire, it would be the entire contents of this shelf.

"The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God will stand forever."

Isaiah 40:8

Randomosity

I don't really know how long or short this is going to be, but I do know that it is going to be full of random information.

We get a long weekend off from the internship for the 4th of July this weekend. I don't have to be back until Monday night, so this weekend I am splitting my time between home and Tuscaloosa. I love being in Mobile with my intern family and love being around the kids! I wouldn't change this summer for anything and I thank God all the time for allowing me to have this awesome opportunity. However, I am ready for this little bit of a break and enjoy the time with my other family here at home and my family of friends at school. I have missed them all tons and can't wait to have some fun with them!

Speaking of the internship, I will have another post specifically about that coming soon. Complete with more pictures. I'm hoping to have it up sometime this weekend. We shall see.

Very random side note. I tried the new Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Chik-fil-a today. And it was amazing. I very much enjoyed it.

I also purchased "Radical" by David Platt today. Which I read the first chapter of while sitting in Chik-fil-a eating the new spicy chicken sandwich.

I've added a new button over there ---->
At the top.
That is the blog of a very inspiring girl. She just found out some news that needs some prayer. Earlier this week she went for an MRI and discovered that she has a brain tumor. She is scheduled for surgery to remove it this upcoming Tuesday. They won't know for sure if it is cancerous until they get in there, but her doctor's guesses are that it isn't cancerous. She is asking for a lot of prayer right now. Visit her blog here to learn more about her and for more of her updates. She is holding fast to the Lord and putting all her trust in Him.

My mind is really jumbled right now. I'm sure there is a lot more random stuff that I could talk about, but right now I just can't think of it.

So, on that note. I'm ending this post.