“I Made You This Way”

It’s not uncommon for me to spend a few Friday nights babysitting for some dear friends of mine. I always enjoy giving them a break from their parenting duties so they can have some quality time together. I also like the fact that after the girls are in bed by 8:00 PM, I get to enjoy a house that is completely quiet. I spend those precious moments listening to podcasts, writing, watching highlights from leadership conferences or reading one of the many books I carry around. This past adventure in babysitting Friday, I was deeply engrossed in Francis Chan’s message on discipleship from the 2012 Catalyst East conference, I started to get this nagging thought that would not escape me.

How lame am I that I actually spending my Friday nights watching Francis Chan preach on discipleship…and I am actually enjoying it? I should be out on the town with friends, laughing it up and “being available to be found” if you know what I mean. Instead, I am sitting on the sofa, Bible and notebook in my lap, jotting down ideas on how to make disciples. I turned off the TV and started to really think about where my life was in that moment.

• I spend more time listening to sermon podcasts than I do watching TV.
• Aside from the Hunger Games, every book I have bought in the past couple of years can be found in the Christian section of Barnes and Nobles.
• I have not been in a relationship in about 3 years and I am actually okay with that.
• When most people get excited about planning vacations, I get excited about planning my next missions trip.

Who am I? Certainly a far cry from who I was a few years ago. If I had seen a snap shot of my life today about 5 years ago, I probably would have thrown eggs at the woman I was to become. I am so far removed from my old ways that I actually had to stop and take a moment and look at myself in the mirror. I know the Bible says that when I accept Christ I will become a new creation but I was beginning to wonder if by some chance, God accidentally gave me someone else’s new life.

I could feel myself starting to get worked up and overwhelmed. Before I could pick up my phone and start inviting people to my pity party, the Holy Spirit intervened and calmed my fears with a few simple words:

“I made you this way.”

Really? I went from boy chasing, going hard in the world, emotional train wreck of a girl hiding behind my good grades to sitting home on Friday nights reading my Bible and God, you really thought that this was a good fit for me?

“Yes.”

Then it hit me.  Though my life is dramatically different than it was some years ago, the essence of who I am has always remained the same. Areas that were once contributing to my destruction have been redirected and used for good in this born again life of mine.

• That nurturing spirit that I had for my younger brother and sister when we were kids, sustained me when I had to take care of them when I got older. That same nurturing spirit is being used to help women love themselves and love Christ.
• That thirst for knowledge and learning I had as a kid sustained me through out my educational career. That same thirst for knowledge and learning is why I find myself studying the Bible or reading yet another book on discipleship on a Friday night. I am choosing the good part by sitting at the feet of Jesus on a regular basis.
• That overwhelming need to seek love and affirmation in men when I was younger has been redirected and now I seek love and affirmation from the One who is love. Finding love in Christ keeps me from seeking out love from undesirable places. It protects my heart and reserves my body for my future husband.
• That burden I had to help people when I was younger is the same burden I have to faithfully serve others today. My desire to serve has made me a better leader, friend and Christian.

I sat back and soaked in my new found peace.  Despite my sin, God’s plan for me and unique details about me were never altered.  I am exactly how He intended me to be.  Lifelong learner, servant, nurturer, leader, daughter of the King.

Aim to Please

I firmly believe that for the most part, it’s in our nature to please others. There are times when pleasing others is a result of the desire to serve mankind. Usually, it’s from the innately selfish sin nature that we are born with. Our desire to please others stems from the need for acceptance,  praise and to avoid conflict. People pleasers are masters of  tailoring their actions and words in hopes of garnering their desired response.  Before they know it, the ever present aim to please leads them into a life of pleasing man through compromise and less of pleasing God through obedience. The values and truths that many hold dear, slip through their fingers for the sake of making others feel good.

Our world is fixated on compromising in the area of sin in order to please carnal desires. The very sins that Jesus died on the cross for are now widely accepted social norms. The media and pop culture has given the stamp of approval on sexual immorality, homosexuality and the worshiping of idols (money, status and celebrity).  It’s even more disheartening to see believers around me compromising on sin for the sake of pleasing others. They would rather accept and tolerate that which leads to death, so they do not offend, as opposed to accept the truth of the One who saves.  The Gospel is not popular and offensive to many. Yet, no where in the pages of the Bible does it say that we should massage the truth to please man. No where does it say that we should dress up the Gospel in a way that it is more accepting that convicting.

Paul made it very clear that any believer in Christ should be less concerned with pleasing man and more concerned with pleasing God.

“Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10

“We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.” “We were not looking for praise from people, not from you or anyone else…” -1 Thessalonians 3: 4,6

Who are you aiming to please? Is it man? Or is it God?

We are called to live a holy life that is pleasing to God, even when it is unpopular with man. Never be afraid to walk away from sin in order to stand alone for the sake of the Gospel.

Activating Faith

I haven’t written much lately about my passionate, holy discontent for human trafficking. It’s not that my passion to see sex slaves set free has waned or that I have left it up to others to be the voice for the victims.  It’s so hard to sit back and not go into action when there are literally millions of girls around the world being bought and sold for sex daily. How could one not want to do something. Yet, it seems like every time I get amped up about finally partnering with local organizations or brainstorming creative ways to bring awareness on my own, God puts the brakes on it.  After knowing for absolute certain that this is what God has called me to, watching Him close the door on my efforts has been disheartening, almost to the point where I was starting to question if this passion was ignited by Him or me.

A couple of months ago, I felt this burden to pray for victims all over the world. Not just my regular prayer to end slavery but a soul stirring, out of bed early in the morning, not going back to sleep until I do type of prayer. With each prayer, I could feel something being activated in the supernatural; a shifting in the atmosphere; a plan being set into motion. I didn’t know what was happening or what was on the horizon but, I knew that after being silent for over a year, God was finally speaking again about this passion that was still raging in my heart.

To help another dimension to the very prayers that I had been sending up to Heaven, God decided to invade my dreams. God tends to speak to me a lot in dreams and visions but honestly, He has been rather quite lately. He has taken a more still small voice approach as opposed to the prophetic dreams and real time visions I am used to. In this dream, I was staring into the tear-filled blue eyes of a young girl, handcuffed to a wall in a room with only a stained mattress on the floor.  I saw the face of the man in the green jacket that held her captive. I watched as he waited in anticipation for someone to arrive and purchase an hour with the handcuffed girl. I knew the exact address of the location to give to the authorities, down to the apartment number: seven.

This past Friday, I went to the Jesus Culture concert with absolutely no idea of how much God would reveal to me. I found myself being somewhat  distracted and unable to focus because I was starting to stress out about something that really wasn’t all that significant. I couldn’t pressing into the presence of God like I wanted to, as if something was blocking me. In that moment, Kim Walker-Smith prayed against any distractions and asked for everyone to just focus on encountering God. For what was probably about 7-8 minutes of intense prayer and worship, I felt like God slowed down time and spent hours transporting me to various parts of the world to show me the work that I would be doing to rescue girls from sex slavery. In those moments, He commanded me to dream BIGGER and ask Him for MORE, not allowing my limited human capacity to dictate what I think He can accomplish. By the time the last vision was revealed, I was physically exhausted from the weight of His glory and intensity of the experience. I wish I could take a picture of my mind’s eye and show people what I saw. Even still most probably wouldn’t even believe it because part of me still can’t quite process it all.

I truly believe that the spirit of God is roaming this Earth activating a wave of those called to go into all the nations to bring His enslaved daughters to the feet of the Throne.  He is activating the faithful warriors who have been on the training ground being prepared to be launched into the darkest corners of the world. He is calling a generation of believers to stand for righteousness and justice, to be the light of the world, a city on a hill. Life will be breathed into the sleeping church and the Earth will literally tremble from the weight of His glory.

I am ready, Lord.

Send me.

Unanswered Call

One of my biggest pet peeves is getting calls from unknown numbers. An even bigger thorn in my side is when I get phone calls from unknown numbers and the caller doesn’t leave a voice mail. Maybe they are under the impression that I recognize the number but truth be told, I only know maybe four numbers by heart: mine, my grandmother’s whose had the same number since maybe the 70s, my aunt who has had the same number since the 90s and my job. Anyone else, sorry but if I were to lose the contacts in my phone, Facebook and email would be our only form of communication.

Most people avoid phone calls from strangers for only a few reasons. Either its a bill collector or its someone who has not been deemed worthy enough to be saved in their phone. Those have been the reasons for me in the past but lately, avoiding the ringing phone from an unknown number is based on one thing: unforgiveness.

At least once a week, I get a phone call from some unknown Mississippi number. I am about 99% certain that the caller on the other end is my father. My mother has confirmed numerous times that my father has been trying to reach me but I never answer the phone.

I have my reasons.

I get calls from this number at all times of the day and night. This has been going on for a couple of years and to this day, every time I see a Mississippi number I don’t recognize, my anxiety level rises and I swear my heart stops. For those few seconds that I am staring at my ringing phone, a war is raging in my mind. It’s a never-ending battling over whether I should answer it or whether I will let unforgiveness keep getting the best of me.

Before I know it, the ringing stops and unforgiveness is victorious yet again.

In my mind, growing up without a father was nothing traumatic. It’s hard to miss something that was never really there so to me, growing up with just a mom, siblings, grandmothers and a host of aunts was my normal. I’ve always known him and would brush off his feeble attempts to get to know me when he would try to worm his way back into my mother’s good graces.  For a couple of years when I was in middle school, he lived with us in an attempt to reconcile with my mom. But by then, I was an emotional and angry teenager that refused to respect my absentee, alcoholic father who would fight with my mother behind closed doors.  I broke up my fair share of fights between them and regularly threatened to call the cops if he dared speak to me or my younger siblings.  I was ashamed at having such a horrible person as a father and was somewhat envious of friends that had “normal” two parent families. After many sleepless nights, violent outbursts and emotional meltdowns in private, it became clear to me that his absence was much more beneficial to my family and my sanity. He eventually left our home and pretty much floated from here to there with a six pack of beer in tow. He never amounted to much and last I heard he was living with his mom working at a car wash. My fragile spirit was left more empty and broken than when he arrived. There were no uncles or other male figures to affirm me, protect me or love me unconditionally and I didn’t realize how much I needed that until it was much too late. Those very things that I needed from an earthly father, I sought in one bad relationship after another.

After numerous mistakes and sins under my belt, I finally surrendered my broken life to Christ. It was then that I started to understand the heart of my heavenly Father. To this day, I sometimes have trouble processing His boundless love for me mainly because the love of a father is still such a foreign concept.  I know in my head how His love is unending and timeless. No matter how rebellious and sinful I have been or will be, His love is not contingent upon my reciprocated emotions. Sometimes, my heart isn’t always so quick to catch up.

I’ve reached a crossroads with the phone calls that I still cannot seem to bring myself to answer. God is doing a serious work in my heart regarding my unforgiveness and the conviction that comes with each unanswered call is mounting. I am well aware of as a Christian, I have no room for unforgiveness when God has forgiven me for my host of sins. It’s a daily struggle to kill my flesh that says “remember all the hurt he caused” when my heart knows that all those hurts have been nailed to the cross.

Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. – Colossians 3:13

It’s a slow process that requires many baby steps for me to answer a simple phone call and listen to the person on the other end. There is still a hurting daughter who never knew what it was like to love and be loved by her father. Hearing anything besides “I’m sorry” may be more than she can take right now. Yet never answering the phone robs her of the chance to hear “I’m sorry” and robs him from the chance to truly be forgiven.

I will keep waiting for my phone to ring, praying that one day soon, forgiveness will be victorious.

Titus 2 Woman: Loving By Example

A few months ago, I heard a radio interview with Jocelyn from the popular reality show Love and Hip Hop. I’ve never watched the show since I am not a fan of women being portrayed in such a negative light, but I have heard plenty of discussions about her from others people and social media. As she bragged about her recent fame, history of stripping and bartering herself for money, my heart ached for her. She is admired by so many women but under the surface, it was obvious that she was still battling some of her own personal demons. She confirmed my thoughts when she made statements that have stuck with me to this day. Jocelyn admitted that she does regret some of the decisions she made as a young woman like stripping and relying on men to fund her lavish lifestyle. She also mentioned that if she had someone to mentor her or show her that her body didn’t have to be her meal ticket, her life would have been different. As the interview was wrapping up, Jocelyn made a heart felt plea for older women to start looking out for the younger generation.

Women, if we are honest with ourselves, we can admit that we have not done a very good job of looking out for the younger generation.

The bible is filled with some amazing stories of women who are still an influence in the lives of woman today. As they have encounters with Christ, women are shaking off the remnants of a life that sometimes mirrors that of the Proverbs 7 woman in attempts to live up to the expectations of the Proverbs 31 woman. So many have repented of their sins, accepted Jesus as their Savior, embraced a new spirit filled life, married the amazing man of God and had children that will be raised up as the next generation of Jesus lovers. For many, that’s the extent of their Christian experience. They do a great job of keeping Christians saved, but often times neglect the very broken women they have been called to minister to.

As much love and praise as the Proverbs 31 woman receives, there is a woman of the Bible that does not receive nearly enough recognition though her instructions are in such a high demand in these modern days. She is the Titus 2 woman.

“These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.” Titus 2:4-6.

As busy as our lives are, it is so easy to forget that there was a time when we were new believers trying to figure out what it meant and looked like to be godly woman. There was a time when we still struggled with certain sins, still felt the sting of shame and guilt because of past mistakes and didn’t always know how to receive God’s love. We are all new creations in Christ but we should not forget that there are women in the world that are in the very places we once were. There are still plenty of Jocelyns, Real Housewives of Atlanta, strippers and promiscuous women that need to be shown that there is a better life for them. There seems to be no shortage of Proverb 31 women yet not enough Titus 2 woman who are willing to putting in the time and energy to mentor and train up other women to be godly wives and mothers.

I looked at various websites and books on what it means to be a Titus 2 woman. Often times, I was left with images of stay at home mothers who make their own clothes, grow their own food, and home school their children. There is nothing wrong with this type of lifestyle but that’s not a lifestyle that is appealing to the masses. The same principles outlined in the scriptures are still applicable to the many different lifestyles that woman live today.

• There are singles mothers who need support in raising their children as well as encouragement to pursue purity until marriage.
• There are women in the sex industry that needs someone to remind them that they are beautiful, worthy and that God still loves them even in the midst of their sin.
• There are middle, high school and college age girls that need the wisdom and example of godly wives to understand that there is a blessing in waiting on God for a husband and waiting on marriage for sex.
• There are engaged and newly wed wives that need the support and example of older wives when it comes to maintaining a home and honoring her husband.
• There are young believers that need the support and example of mature believers when it comes to serving and doing good for others.

Let us not get to busy or too saved that we forget that we were pulled out of our own destruction by the love and blood of Jesus Christ. Take the time to pour into young girls or even peers who may not be as mature in the faith as you are. At some point, a woman with the principles of Titus 2 sealed in her heart prayed for and encouraged us to continue down the path that lead to Christ. Pay it forward and be the same for another woman.

Jesus Is Still King

It’s been a while since I have truly cried and hurt over someone. I usually cry at the drop of a hat but I cannot recall a time when I have been more moved to tears and heartfelt prayer than I have been yesterday. It was one of those days where I am reminded that this life is not about me. It’s not about my long days and many commitments to ministry. It’s not about my 9-5 job that drives me insane some days. It’s not about my ups and downs of single parenting.

It’s about Jesus and the staggering number of people who are not living for Him.

Yesterday after church service, I received a call from a dear, sweet girl that I met at the altar a few months ago. She is a young mom that is sincerely pursuing Christ and allowing Him to restore the broken areas of her life. This is a young woman who loves Christ despite the circumstances in her life. This is a young woman who wants nothing more than to see her children and her family love the same Jesus that has made her a new creation. This is a young woman who has laid down her old life, sacrificed friendships and relationships to walk with Christ.  This is a young woman who has cried on my shoulder as we prayed for a miracle that her family, especially her troubled teenage sister would receive Christ.

This is a young woman who has been trusting and believing God for the miracle of her family’s salvation.

Yesterday, the same sister that she and I have been praying and interceding for to be freed from depression, spiritual oppression and the bondage of sin, committed suicide. I have never met this girl but my heart has been aching for her as if she was my own child. My tears have not stopped flowing for my dear, sweet friend who has been believing God for a miracle. Even I was believing that this teenager girl would have an encounter and somehow my prayers would help make that happen. Just this past Wednesday, a friend shared the story of her own mother who denied Jesus for most of her life but accepted Him on her deathbed. My friend never stopped praying and trusting God that she would see her mother come to Jesus and it happened.

Why didn’t it happen for this teenage girl? Honestly, I do not know and probably will never know. In this moment, it’s so easy to question God and whether or not our prayers are falling on deaf ears. I am constantly remembering that God hears every single prayer, even the prayers that we cannot put into words. Romans 8:26 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.” When the pain of life and circumstances are too much for us to bear and we cannot even put into words how much we need God, He hears us. His response may not come packaged in the way we want it, but He responds in the way that we need it.

What I do know is that Jesus is real. His love for us is real. He rejoices when we accept Him and His heart aches when we reject Him. He passionately pursues us and meets us right in the midst of our sins. He woes us with His love, adoration and protection but ultimately leaves it up to us to decide if will walk with Him or not. My heart is breaking for my friend and her family but no matter what, Jesus is still King. His love is unmatched and readily available for all that choose Him. He died 2,000 years ago but is still setting the captives free of sin to this day. There is no sin, no depression and no form of spiritual warfare that cannot be overcome with Christ. I am still believing and trusting that as I put my faith into action, more people will come to this realization.

Below is one of my favorite songs by Will Regan and the United Pursuit Band. This has been on repeat for weeks now and speaks right to the heart of how I feel. Listen, enjoy and be blessed.

Mommy Seeking Marriage

It is a known fact that not many days go by that I am not reminded of the fact that I am single. From conversations with friends, to worried “when are you going to find a man” looks from family members, to the never-ending engagement announcements, the topic of marriage is never far off. I am not that girl that spends time putting together my wedding Pinterest boards, dreaming about the perfect wedding day, or constantly revising a “list” of qualifications for my future husband to possess. Instead, I spend my days serving others and pursuing God’s will for my life. I am more fulfilled and content in my single days than I ever have been when I was coupled up. I have traveled internationally on missions trips, ministered to people in ways that I never would have imagined, and have had the most life changing encounters with God during this season. I learned that the more time I spend doing God’s will, the less time I have to worry about my relationship status.

I must admit that I have not always been this confident in my relationship with God or in His promises for me. Being a single mother of two wonderful boys, I have not been immune to the social and emotional stigma that it sometimes brings. In the past, I have either seen myself or allowed others to see me as being less than; a statistic; damaged goods. I have never lacked attention from men for reasons other than marriage so for a long time, I never thought that marriage was necessary. Insecurities, loneliness, and carnal desires often keep single mothers bound to lies that that are so deeply rooted that it’s hard to even fathom the truth.

• You do not deserve any more that what you settle for.
• You should not expect a man to want to take care of someone else’s child, let alone marry their mother.
• You probably should have made better choices and not had children out of wedlock.

I remember going from one bad relationship to the next, hoping that the next man would be okay being boyfriend and daddy. In some instances, I settled for the idea of being grateful for whoever thought enough of me to keep me around, even if they were not looking to play daddy.

It wasn’t until I stopped searching for love, validation and a makeshift father in random men, that I was truly able to accept the radical love and affection from Jesus Christ. Even when I was more in love with sin than my Savior, He still considered me worthy of being pursued. My past did not matter to Him and it brought Him pleasure to take on my sins, my hurts, and my shame. Allowing Christ to do a miraculous work in me helped me to put my complete trust in Him, even for marriage. God’s word says in Psalm 37:4 to “delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”

That promise does not end with single mothers.

I pray that any woman who made the brave decision to bring a life into this world without a husband by her side understands that she has not been overlooked by God. You are not your past, the labels you have worn or the lies you have believed. You are loved, desired, and worth Christ dying for. You are worthy of His absolute best for your life and His only request is that you trust Him with your life and your heart. Love, nurture and raise your children in the ways of Christ and continue to delight yourself in Him. There will be stressful days, lonely nights and tearful prayers but hold His promised in your heart. God is the author of love, life and all things good so be patient and allow Him to write your happily ever after.

The Blessing in Being Present

As a kid, I could not wait to grow up. I had a huge imagination and being a kid was getting in the way of all the things I wanted to do. I wanted to be a famous author, but 3rd grade was stifling my creativity. I spent hours upon hours writing the most elaborate stories of all the adventures I would have when I grew up. With each passing year, I was grew more and more anxious about the next phase of my life.

• When I was in elementary school, I could not wait until jr. high. No longer stuck in a school with a play ground and kindergarteners.
• In jr. high, I could not possibly wait for high school, which in my mind meant football games and boys.
• In high school, I could not wait for college, which meant my life of independence would finally begin!

As I look back on my formative years, I realized I spent so much time being anxious about what was to come next. It’s a habit that I have taken into my adult years that even now, I am still guilty of it.

• As a single woman, I cannot wait to get married to an amazing man.
• As a mom, I cannot wait for the day where I am not checking for boogie men under the bed and being an on call chauffeur.
• As a writer, I cannot wait for the day when I hold my first book in my hands.

It wasn’t until I stumbled across an old Catalyst leadership message from Priscilla Shirer that I realized how much I had been “sleepwalking through my seasons.” There have been so many instances where I had been so anxious to get to the next season of my life,  I missed out on what God was trying to show me in that season. There have been so many times where I had been focused on life’s interruptions or my own discontentfor the moment, that I failed to be fully present, fully engaged, and fully aware of the blessings that God had right before me.

There is a blessing in being present. Being engaged. Being all there, front and center in the moment God has you in.

In John 20, Mary Magdalene was overcome with her sadness and grief that Jesus’ body was no longer in the tomb. She could not see past her own broken heart and tear filled eyes to notice that the very man she was talking with was Jesus Himself.

 They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. -John 20:13-14

How often are we so consumed by our own plans, agendas, emotions, hurts, and discontentment that we miss the fact that Jesus is standing right there in front of us? Seasons and situations are temporary, but the blessings of God are eternal. Be patient and present in the season God has you in because there is so much for you to learn while you are there. Stop looking ahead to the next chapter of your life and enjoy the stories that God is writing right now.

• You will finally graduate from college. Be patient. Be present.
• You will find the career path God has for you in due time. Be patient. Be present.
• You will be blessed with that husband or wife that has been reserved for you. Be patient. Be present.
• You will be blessed with that child that you have been praying for. Be patient. Be present.

Be patient. Be present. God’s timing is perfect.

Who Is The Prodigy In You?

Defining a Prodigy from Elevation Church on Vimeo.

I’ve been fan of Pastor Steven Furtick from Elevation Church for a few years now. He presents the Gospel in such a simplistic yet thought provoking way. With his home spun southern charm and God sized faith, its hard not to like him. For whatever reason, I was up at midnight shifting through some of Elevation’s thousands of creative videos when I happened upon the promo video for a sermon series he did a while ago called The Prodigy in Me. I haven’t listened to the series but found myself watching this video over and over again.

Lately, I have felt like I have not been living my life to its fullest. Almost as if I have been feeling stagnant; not quite sure of myself or my abilities. This video has left me feeling like a challenge has been issued. Who is the prodigy in me? Do I feel like there is more to this life than what I am doing and experiencing? What will happen if I take God up on His offer to be exactly what He created me to be?

Something to think about.

 

Label Makers

 When I was in elementary school, I was obsessed with this little gadget called a label maker. A friend got one and would spend hours labeling everything in her room, her books, anything that the little adhesive label would stick too. I thought it was such a cool thing to have that I saved my money to buy one. I felt a sense of empowerment being able to label things around my house as my own.  No one was able to claim my toy or my snack as their own. Anything with my label on it belonged to me.

As I got older, I become more aware of the power that labels had on people. Just like my little plastic labels let everyone know that a toy belonged to me, labels like honor student, best friend, boyfriend or girlfriend meant you belonged to someone else or something special. You were chosen to hold a special title and you wore that label proudly. For those that didn’t have those positive, affirming kind of titles, you were left keenly aware that you didn’t belong. No one felt that you were worthy enough to carrying such coveted labels so they gave you other labels.

Weird. Stupid. Ugly. Loner. Freak.

Those were the labels you wore with a hint of shame and frustration because often times, the labels didn’t fit who you were. Unfortunately, that label held more significance to people as opposed to the real you that many didn’t get a chance to know. Those labels were hard to shake and instead of wasting so much energy defending yourself, you started to adapt to the labels other had given you. Before you knew it, labels evolved.

Drama Queen. Worthless. Trash. Easy. Pathetic. Liar. Fat. Skinny. Unworthy.

The labels become your identity.  People, circumstances and lies dictate who we are and keep us bound to what we once may have been. They become ingrained into your very being and it becomes harder and harder to separate the labels from the truth. Its easier to just star in the role that everyone expects you to play, loosing little bits of yourself with every performance.

I carried many labels around growing up and they eventually shaped who I thought I was.

• Child of a single parent home
• Victim
• Poor
• Unloved
• Easy
• Weird
• Single mother
• Statistic
• Damaged goods
• Mistress

Those labels were my identity and my crutch. I blamed what others said about me on how I behaved and refused to see myself as anything better. I didn’t feel like I belonged to anyone or anything and continued to put on a show for my label makers.

It wasn’t until I had an encounter with Jesus Christ that I realized how bound and blind I was. My identity was wrapped up in people, circumstances, and my broken spirit instead of my Savior and Redeemer. As I allowed Jesus to take on the burden of 20+ years of labels and lies, I was made a new creation and given a new identity by the only label maker that counts. With Jesus, these are my new labels:

• I am a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17)
• I have been redeemed and forgiven of all my sins (Colossians 1:14)
• I am holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4)
• I am set free (John 8:31-33)
• I am victorious (Revelation 21:7)
• I am dead to sin (Romans 6:2, 11)
• I am more than a conqueror (Romans 8:17)
• I am alive in Christ (Colossians 2:20)
• I am free from condemnation (Romans 8:1)
• I am the light of the world (Matthew 5:14)
• I am chosen (Thessalonians 1:4)
• I am a member of a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9-10)
• I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14)

Who is your label maker? The world or the Creator of the world? People who love conditionally or Jesus who died to show you His love has no bounds? It’s time to stop playing the roles that we have assigned ourselves or allowed people to give us. It’s time to start embracing our identities in Jesus Christ and wearing His labels proudly.