Learning to embrace

For most of my life, my mind and heart have been filled with lies like “God forgot about me or got distracted when creating me”. As far as I can really think back, I remember thinking I wasn’t good at anything. After all I was never MVP on my little league teams, never received High Point on the swim team, I did not make the drill team in high school, I wasn’t going to be a good Architect so I changed my major to become a CPA, but I couldn’t pass the exam. And I am fairly certain I never got first prize in anything I entered (at least that I should have because I did it on my own).

About two years ago when I began Celebrate Recovery at Watermark, I started to really see how this thinking was keeping me down and only feeding bad choices and my unhappy life. But I still could not shake this thought process even though I began to experience God more and more and began having a daily walk with Him.

Fortunately, God does not give up and He keeps moving in our lives if we surrender. In just the last few weeks I have begun to see victory over this battle in my mind. And I can say that’s been my belief for way too long! What my thick head and heart and attitude for that matter have believed for all these years is just plain lies. Sure, are the statements about the things I did not accomplish true? Yes. But do those facts define me? Do they have to mean that I am not good at anything? Maybe in certain circles (like professional baseball players or Olympic swimmers) they do, but not under the realms of believing God! The truth to all those things above is that just because I am not the best, does not mean that I can take swimming or softball as a hobby or even participate just for fun. After all, if it was in God’s plan for me to be an Olympic athlete I am sure he would have made that happen.

So my question is: why is it that we so often struggle with what other people think about us? Why is it so hard to embrace who we are in Christ?

There is no doubt that over the last few years I have grown to understand more about myself and have been growing to a place where I can express what I am learning. But it was not until the last few weeks that I could even hear what God was saying was unique and beautiful about me. Now, I am beginning to see the ways that he created me and how those ways are like Him. As He intended - the more that we study His word and the more that we walk with Him, the more we begin to know are ourselves.

All I can say about that is there is abundant freedom in believing and embracing what our Father says about us!! Can I get an AMEN!
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Genesis 1:27