Friday, November 8, 2013

Who do I think I am?

Who do I think I am? I've been going through a bit of an identity crisis. A loss of confidence in myself. And while I recognize the stench of the enemy...I also recognize that there is something in here that God wants to accomplish with this unpleasant place I am in. When I was younger, I had more confidence than I knew what to do with. When I was younger--and before cancer--I had a swagger. There is something that I miss about that place in time. It is great to feel confident. It is fun to have a swagger. And while I do not appreciate the enemy's attempt to make me feel worthless and washed up, neither do I just want to go back to the confidence I had in myself, or the swagger with which I once entered every room. I think God is giving me the opportunity to replace my self confidence--which, btw, the enemy is happy for me to come back into, because he will have just as much fun stripping it from me the second time around--with a much deeper confidence. An unshakeable confidence. A confidence that is rooted and grounded in Who He is--not who I am. And as for the swagger?--presumably based on how good I feel about myself on any given day...or how good I look--I sense He wants to replace it with something much more useful. Fearlessness. Instead of walking into a room and feeling "socially on top of things", I can enter that same room--or back street alley--with the boldness of a woman surrounded by an entourage of love and power. The enemy is always trying to steal, kill and destroy. And if he can't have my soul--which he can't--then he'll take what he can get. He'll minimize me. He'll back me in a corner and accuse me: "Who do you think you are?" . That question that can make a grown man shake in his boots. It's a winning tactic the enemy has: kick 'em where it counts. He comes at us with partial truths: "you're nothing", "you're nobody", "there are tons of people who do that better than you", and if we have entered the arena based on our own self confidence, well, it's about to get ugly up in here. Your house of cards will soon become an unwanted game of 52-pick up. The fact is, we are dust, we are as frail as grass--God's word even says so! The devil loves to rifle through the truth of God's word and handpick what he then twists to use against us. The fact is: apart from Jesus I am nothing. But the Truth is: I am never apart from Christ. Why would I ever want to return to the empty promise of self confidence and human "swagger", when I can have the confidence of the King of the Universe? When I can walk into a room flanked with the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit. Who do I think I am? I'm the luckiest girl in the world;)

Friday, September 20, 2013

Instructions for when the sky is falling

"Be wise in what is good and simple concerning evil. And the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath your feet." Today the enemy is scheming panic. But I will be wise in what is good: Who my God is. What He alone can do. How His love never fails. I will be simple concerning evil. I will not fill my mind with what the enemy is possibly up to. I will not make it my business to scheme against the plans of the enemy. I will keep my eyes on the King of Heaven. "Now I...will praise and exalt and glorify the King of Heaven because everything He does is right and all His ways are just. And those who walk in pride He is able to humble. (Daniel 4:37) The enemy himself is the originl "pride walker". And the God of peace will soon crush Satan underneath my humble feet. My hope is in the Lord, I will not be put to shame! The very One Who made the sky, is able to keep it from falling...or to rescue me when it does.