January 28, 2011 Journal Entry: Written in Flight to the Mainland
Eight months ago I flew across America and over the Pacific until I landed on a rock smack dab in the middle of the ocean which is apparently the most isolated chain of islands in the world, where I met a family I had never seen face to face in my life. I have lived and worked for them for the past eight months and they turned out to be really nice, inviting and sweet people. There is no doubt in my mind that the Lord has given me great favor wherever I go and directed my every step. A lot has changed, I feel like I’ve grown up a lot more and seen/done so many new things. I don’t worry like I used to. I was in a constant state of anxiety for such a long period of time especially when I first moved. I was always wondering am I doing the right thing? What’s right, what’s wrong? I can say that I am at peace now :) I rely more on the Holy Spirit for wisdom, comfort and direction. I believe I am much wiser than in previous years. I’ve learned how to be more honest with myself, and identify what I like and what I don’t like about me. The more honest you are with yourself, the more honest you can be with others. Likewise, the more you trust God for your own personal needs the easier it is to help others find that trust for God within themselves.
Living by example is truly the only way to live. I will teach no one anything if I haven’t first done it myself. I don’t want to preach a message that I don’t live out and exemplify in my own life. I don’t want to live in hypocrisy by saying one thing and doing another. What we say and what we do must coincide with each other; that creates balance and a healthy flow of the Spirit. When we are true to ourselves I believe it is easier to convey a real life impacting message to those around us. Nobody wants to learn from someone who isn’t who they say they are. I want to be like glass. I’m not there yet, but I’m getting there. I am seeing more and more why God needs ample time to prepare each one of us for our callings. He has to carefully develop us, intricately teach us, and intimately get to know us... or rather we need to respond to His intimate invitation to get to know Him further. Everyday is a journey and every moment we are absorbing something from our surroundings. We are benefiting from what’s going on or we are conforming in the wrong ways to our influences and surroundings. Always be objective! Weigh the consequences. Realize the negative and positive of every action. Reevaluate your own actions and choices. Constantly remain in an attitude of learning and total surrender.
The older I get the more humble I naturally become. I did not create the physical world around me. I didn't place the minds of all my friends and family inside their heads. I do not direct the hearts of kings...but God does. I am humbled because I am one, just one of His many beautiful creations, but I realize there are many of us and we were never created for selfishness. I am seeing myself in a new light and it’s changing everything. Take the time to look at your own situation. The way you live often reflects your feelings about yourself. Whether you realize it or not you are probably settling for less than what God has for you in some area of your life. How do you let others treat you? Do people run over you all the time, or do you stand up for yourself when you’re abused or mistreated? The way you handle these kind of situations speaks of how much you think you’re worth. Value the person that God created you to be. Be real and honest with yourself and question your motives and actions. Am I letting the world take advantage of me? Am I settling for less than what God specifically designed me to be? Am I seeing myself in the wrong light?
Ask the Queen of England what she thinks her value is? Guaranteed she believes she should receive royal treatment and nothing less. We would consider that to be suiting treatment for a woman of her stature. Now ask a homeless man what he thinks his value is. He might stand in the shadows with his head hung low, thinking “I just need one meal to get me through till tomorrow. I don’t deserve anything after the kind of lifestyle I’ve lived.” Is that the kind of treatment he really deserves? Are you okay letting him think that way?
Proverbs says the rich man and the poor man have one thing in common and that is that both have the same Maker. If both are designed by the Master, the Lord the King of the Universe then both are entitled to royalty. Both are princes and princesses. Both are sons and daughters of Father God. Both have inherited the same inheritance as Jesus. The difference is they don’t see themselves in the same light. As a man thinks in his heart so is he. What do you believe you are entitled to? What have you let pass you by because you didn’t think you were worthy enough? What the Bible promises belongs to every man and woman on the face of the Earth. The rich man, the poor man, the person whose fallen and the man who is perfect in his own eyes. It’s time to be honest with ourselves and see ourselves in a whole new light, because guarantee once you do, it will rock your world!
When you see yourself in a new light everything changes. Everything that is in relation to you notices the change, and you are one step closer to seeing yourself the way God sees you... as shining, immaculate, beautiful, and the love of His life. Imagine if you came to the full realization of what God thinks about you? You’d never settle for less ever again! What you tolerate in you life you invite to stay. Shine the light of God’s Word on your life and let it reveal the good and the bad and drive you to become a light and an example that shines for Him. Let Him reveal who you really are because honestly He's the only one who truly knows who you are. I’m seeing myself in a whole new light and it’s shattering all the wrong things I used to think about myself. It’s revealing me as the person that God made me to be.
It’s not snobby to think you deserve the best, and you’re not being humble by thinking you deserve nothing but the worst. You are a divine and eternal being crafted by God! Tell yourself ‘I am crafted by the hands of God’ until you actually believe it, and then ask yourself this: As a creation of the Most High God, what do I really think I deserve? The possibilities are endless... It’s not by chance that great people emerge or great things happen but it comes to be by an everyday choice after choice after choice. View yourself and every situation in the light of what God sees and your whole perspective will change. Get ready to open your eyes to a whole new world. Capture yourself in the best light, as if taking a mental snapshot of who God made you to be, and then remember that image and never forget how good you look in God’s light. “Many are asking, "Who can show us any good?" Let the light of your face shine upon us, O LORD. (Psalms 4:6).”
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