Purpose Statement Revised Again... :)

“My purpose is to use my effervescence and people skills through writing, music, and personal relationships to guide, to inspire, and to lead others to realize their identity in Christ, to find their purpose, and to enter into the freedom of worshiping God in utter abandon.”

Always a work in progress!

My dream

My dream... does it have to be singular? I have so many... .... All my songs recorded, by me, hearing myself on the radio, singing to thousands of people...
My books, written, published, taking pictures of them on random library shelves, sig...ning them alongside of those CD's I'm selling!
Getting my doctorate... yeah, I still dream about that... in developmental and positive psychology
Doing motivational/identity talks to thousands of people. People discovering who they are in Christ and finding freedom and realing the dream that God has placed inside them... becoming who God has made them to be.
Touring all over the place, traveling the world.
Coaching individuals to overcome obstacles and realize their big dreams!
the purpose (LEADING PEOPLE into a deep and real relational worship of God, Jesus, and the Spirit.. a place of utter abandon to the Saviour!

Tweaking purpose statement...

This is definitely a work in progress :)

I am still not sure on the finished project, but here are some thoughts.


I have a great desire to lead others to discover their identity in Christ, to find their purpose, and to live their full potentials in the abundant life God desires for them.


Not exactly the same thing as counseling. Hmmm... Life coaching starts this week, it will be interesting to see if that fits into the picture!

Previously my purpose statement read like this:
"My purpose is to use my effervescence and people skills through writing, music, and personal relationships to counsel those who are in bondage and to lead them into the freedom of worshiping God in utter abandon."

Guess I need to drop the "to counsel those who are in bondage" I'll have to post a blog sometime on how God spoke to me on not being a Christian counselor. It was very definite.

Anyway, feel free to comment with suggestions!

Identity

A short little thing I wrote up for developmental psych class... thought it was more in keeping with this blog than my writing assignments blog. =)

My adolescent years were spent in a time of identity foreclosure in the areas of religion, politics, and vocation. I was raised in a very conservative Baptist home and I felt strong pressure to perform and conform, to please and to live up to the wishes of my parents and spiritual leaders. I was not apathetic towards self-discovery, Erik Erikson’s identity diffusion (Berger, 2008, p. 416), but I was afraid to question the status quo and accepted my parents’ identity instead.

After getting married, I began to actively explore my identity, even struggling with issues of sexual identity for a time. I realized I was not even saved. As Don Ratcliff said in his article “Adolescent Spirituality,” “merely having strict rules is not sufficient; it is all too easy to conform to rules but inwardly live a very different life. Spirituality is a matter of the inner person, not just the outward activity” (2002, p. 3). I came to Jesus when I was 20 years old and began progressing in spiritual growth all the while seeking my true identity. Sometimes this felt like the hills and valleys which Ratcliff (2002, p.3) describes and sometimes like Darling’s growth loops of assessment, confession, forgiveness, and appropriation of God’s strength (Ratcliff, 2002, p. 2).

Upon reading Steve McVey’s book “Grace Walk” (1995), God showed me that my identity was found solely in Christ. I began to devour books on grace and identity. I realized that I was already forgiven and that true growth was to be found by ceasing from my own struggles to perform and resting in Christ’s finished work on the cross, and by allowing him to live through me. Once I had a solid foundation of understanding that I was the bride of Christ who is loved, and accepted, in the beloved, a king (or queen!) seated in heavenly places, and a saint who has been placed in perfect union with Christ, I settled into identity achievement.

For me, college is not a time of moratorium, which is a time to put off choosing identity (Berger, 2008, p. 416). It is a time for me to shape my God given purpose that flows from my identity. I do not take my identity from my role of college student or any future career roles any more than from my role of wife or mother. These are just little parts of what constitutes the whole me.

References:
Berger, K. S. (2008). The developing person through the life span, 7th Ed. New York, NY: Worth
Publishers.
Ratcliff Ph.D., D. (2002). Adolescent spiritual development. Retrieved from
http://don.ratcliffs.net/books/adolescents.pdf

A pearl in the hands of God

Matthew 13-45-46
God's kingdom is like a jewel merchant on the hunt for excellent pearls. Finding one that is flawless, he immediately sells everything and buys it.
The Message

Honestly, I don't even know how to describe this better than it already is! I have written and rewritten sentence after sentence in my head, and nothing sounds quite right. I was lying here in bed trying to go to sleep when the Spirit brought several verses to mind, starting with the thought that when God looked down at me he saw the most beautiful pearl he had ever seen. He was breathtaken! He was awestruck! He could not take his eyes off of me for one second. There was a problem though; there was a steep price to pay. You see, I was owned by Satan. I was claimed by sin. I was a slave to this world, and he could not simply have me for his own. He pondered this predicament. He couldn't sit and do nothing about this marvelous gem that he had discovered! It would be such a waste of perfection! It came to him then: he had to sell all that he had to purchase me. There was no other option. No other choice. It must be done. He HAD to have me. And Oh! the glory it would bring him to lift me away from the darkness of sin and into his wondrous light! He looked through heaven; only one thing could pay the price for such a pearl and that was the precious blood of His Son Jesus. The sacrifice was made. Jesus was sent to the cross. The blood was spilled; the payment offered. "Tetelestai!" Jesus cried. It is finished. Paid in full.

One day I knelt at the foot of his cross, accepted his sacrifice, and basked in his love. Satan was powerless to keep me, for the price was paid! I was free! Oh, how the Lord lavished his love upon me, his precious pearl. He told me how beautiful I was and how much he adored me... over and over....

But there was a problem.

I couldn't believe a word of it.

Me? a pearl? Perhaps a crusty piece of quartz... but a pearl? And then, IF I was a pearl, a pearl of WORTH? Of beauty? I looked at myself in the mirror and all I saw were smudges and smears of grime. I saw sin stains. I saw the devil's handprints. I saw chips in my would-be smooth exterior. I didn't see what he saw. He must be confused!! Is he even looking at me right?

He smiled at me tenderly and reminded me that he bought me. He paid for me. He CHOSE me. He desired me. He accepted me.

Such words! I looked in the mirror again, and wondered at how I could have my reflection match up to the one that he described. The answer from him was simple: 'Abide here in my hand. Sparkle for me little pearl! Glorify me in your body! Glorify me in your spirit! Glorify me now! Shine for me now! Take every part of yourself and turn it upon me as if you are the perfect pearl I see you to be.'

And so I did. I forgot the image in the mirror. I forgot the smudges, the handprints, the dirt and grime. I forgot the broken and rough edges of my face. I looked upon Him! I loved on Him! I gave my all to Him! I lived every moment of every day to make his existence more beautiful. And one day I glanced at the mirror and noticed that I didn't look quite as dirty as I used to look...

I Cor 6:20 KJV

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

Co-crucifixion

Aug 8, 2007

Excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest

Complete and Effective Decision About Sin
"… our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin" (Romans 6:6).
Co-Crucifixion. Have you made the following decision about sin—that it must be completely killed in you? It takes a long time to come to the point of making this complete and effective decision about sin. It is, however, the greatest moment in your life once you decide that sin must die in you—not simply be restrained, suppressed, or counteracted, but crucified—just as Jesus Christ died for the sin of the world. No one can bring anyone else to this decision. We may be mentally and spiritually convinced, but what we need to do is actually make the decision that Paul urged us to do in this passage.
Pull yourself up, take some time alone with God, and make this important decision, saying, "Lord, identify me with Your death until I know that sin is dead in me." Make the moral decision that sin in you must be put to death.
This was not some divine future expectation on the part of Paul, but was a very radical and definite experience in his life. Are you prepared to let the Spirit of God search you until you know what the level and nature of sin is in your life—to see the very things that struggle against God's Spirit in you? If so, will you then agree with God's verdict on the nature of sin—that it should be identified with the death of Jesus? You cannot "reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin" (6:11) unless you have radically dealt with the issue of your will before God.
Have you entered into the glorious privilege of being crucified with Christ, until all that remains in your flesh and blood is His life? "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me …" (Galatians 2:20).

Spiritual Disorders, Part 1

The other day I was talking to Jessica and said that I should change my facebook status to 'spiritually bipolar.' I was joking, of course... and yet... Why is it that I can have this super duper amazing spiritual high and then the very next day, or sometimes even hours later, I can be down in the spiritual dregs, moping and griping about God? It's crazy. It's insane! It's Spiritual Bipolar Disorder!
What exactly is Spiritual Bipolar Disorder? Well, it's kinda like this... I am saved by grace! I have a new nature! My old yucky grouchy self is dead, and a new Jesus self has been placed in me. I am righteous before God, and as such have victory all the time! But I live in the world... I have memories and habits of that wretched person that I used to be. I still sometimes view God through the lenses of my past. The problem? That me I remember no longer exists. I know that God isn't the big scary guy waiting to punish me and laugh at me every time I screw up. But sometimes my physical reality doesn't seem to mesh with my BIG 'R' spiritual REALITY. So, sometimes I am WAY up because I am focused on exactly how awesome and spectacular Jesus is and how amazing and spectacular I am as a result of what he has done in me, but sometimes I drop my eyes down here and listen to that little voice that says I'm scum, abundant life is a giant scam, there will never be victory over the trials, there are WAY TOO MANY trials, and I will never amount to anything spiritually.
That nasty little voice in my head is a LIAR! Jesus doesn't think those thoughts about my life; his thoughts are good thoughts! His thoughts are leading me to a beautiful place! His thoughts are making me into the image of himself! No, these thoughts are the whispers of Satan, who would have me to forget who I am in Christ and remember who I was before salvation. He wants me to FAIL. He can't take my salvation, but he can steal my joy, my victory, and do his darndest to steal my identity.
That's where the spiritual bipolar comes in... there are days when I am so confident in my identity in Christ that nothing can stop me!!! I am flying high in Christ and everyone's going to hear about it! Then there are days when it seems to me that I hit the ground with a giant thud like Wile Coyote and I will never find my way out of the hole that I've made for myself. Instead of jumping up and brushing off the dust, laughing at Satan's attempts and taking off again, I linger on my seeming failure. I get sad. I get grumpy. I get angry. I blame God. I have a giant pity party. I whine to everyone I can think of. WRONG MOVE! In Christ I cannot fall, I cannot fail! In Christ all is well! As the song writer said, It is well with my soul! There is 100% victory in Christ Jesus! There is no reason for this spiritual bipolar disorder to control my life! I am FREE!
What then is the cure for this? Well, first off I must submerge myself in the truths of WHO I AM! Who I REALLY am!
I am a daughter of the King! I am blameless, beautiful and spotless in the eyes of God... Full of HIS righteousness! I am bought with a price far greater than any price ever paid, as I am viewed as the most precious of jewels by my Saviour! I have been chosen to be the bride of the very Son of God, and He delights in me with joy and singing! I am loved, cherished, and treasured by my Jesus! ♥
Going hand in hand with this first step is renewing my mind in the Word. Day by day as I fill myself up with God-thoughts I will gradually find that my old life is forgotten - erased from my mind - those old habits have faded away. Finally I must exercise my authority over Satan and tell him to get out!!! Tell him his lies have no power here! Nothing that he whispers to me can EVER change what Christ has done in me! No fake physical reality that he flashes before my eyes can change what I am and where I am! I am seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and nothing or nobody can pull me down! It's done! Finished!
Will I ever be 100% free of spiritual bipolar disorder? In Christ, I believe it will happen one day!!! Maybe I will never see it on earth, but the day that Christ comes to take me home I will be transformed in an instant to that body that has absolutely NO traces of memories, habits and crud that have been picked up on this earth! I will spend eternity basking in Jesus and who he has made me to be!