My word this year is CONFIDENCE {in Christ} and for me, at least in what God is doing in my heart, confidence and bravery really are one in the same.
For so many years I have lived my life insecure and questioning why God made me the way He did. Why am I so sensitive? Why do I get offended? Why do I cry so easily? Why don’t I enjoy talking on the phone? Why do I need time to myself to recharge? Why is quiet so hard to come by — and why do I need it so much? Why am I so terrible at small talk? Am I just a bad friend?
The Lord has continued to work in my heart despite my doubts. Isn’t He good like that? In fact, He takes the brokenness and the questions and He makes them into something beautiful.
If I let myself, I will dwell on the negative and the questions and I will feel like God could never use anyone like me. Why do I write on this blog? Why do I work so hard to create these resources for you? You aren’t good enough to be a writer. You don’t have anything special. Just another blogger. Just another friend. Just another person.
But, in God’s eyes, I am so much more than just another blogger/writer/person. And sweet friends, I want YOU to hear this message because I know some of you need it as much as I do.
You were created for a purpose.
You have unique gifts that the world needs.
You can point others to Jesus with your gifts.
The hard places, the weaknesses, they are given so that God’s glory can shine through those broken places.
The mistakes of the past can become your message of redemption.
The very things you hate about yourself, God gave you for a reason. That reason is to give Him glory WITH those things you may not love about yourself!! He can use you whether you are shy/outgoing, talkative/quiet, a writer/singer/teacher/cashier/mom.
No matter where you find yourself today, He can use you. Right where you’re at. In the grocery store line, changing that 27th diaper, sitting at your laptop typing from your heart, showing up to the office for yet another day, teaching a classroom full of children. God can and will use you right.there. Will you let Him? Or maybe you’re a divorced mom of two and think God can’t use you. Maybe you’re in chemo treatment for cancer and think God can’t use you. Maybe the mistakes of your past weigh on your mind more than the beauty of His face. Friends, it’s time to fix our eyes on Jesus and take them off of ourselves and our inadequacies. He is my adequacy! I don’t need to be adequate in and of myself.
He truly makes me brave. I should say He is making me brave. I don’t feel like I’m “there” yet, but that’s ok. I don’t know that I ever want to be “there.” I want to be a work in progress, I want God to continue making me more and more like Him each and every day. He isn’t finished with you, either.
He is making you brave, right where you are with just what you’ve been given. Now, go and shine for Him!
You Make Me Brave
This song, by Bethel Music, has been my heart’s cry since the first time I heard it. I thought you and I could both use a little reminder to print out and stick on our mirrors!
After you print, scroll down and listen to the song as well!
Click on the link or the graphic to print!
P.S. As an addition to the thoughts in this post, I want to say that I do believe God DOES call us OUT of our comfort zones to be bold for Him. However, I think there is a fine line between wanting to be someone different and being content in who He made us to be. I think each of us has to find that happy medium. What I mean to say is, despite my weaknesses, I can still do things OUT of my comfort zone if the Lord is asking me to do so. However, He is also asking me to be content in who He made me to be and not always wish I was someone else. This has been a very stretching process for me…just to be content with who He made me to be. In learning that God can use my sensitivities and introverted tendencies for Him, that HE made me that way, that has been very healing for me and has brought me much joy. Finding peace in who He made me to be is a growing process…but He is teaching me so much about Himself through it too. We are all, in fact, made in His image, after all. So those things I don’t like about myself, well, I need to stop hating those qualities because they must be another glimpse into Almighty God as well!