In less than 2 weeks I will turn 28 years old. 28, can you believe it!!
When it comes to age, I stopped caring about “getting older” a long time ago because walking with Abba gives you new perspective. Not only that, but He gives you PURPOSE. For me, 28 is far from negative but a beautiful milestone, and another opportunity to appreciate the journey Abba has taken me on to date. There has truly been so much GROWTH, and at 28 years old, I am closer than I ever have been to stepping into that which He has predestined for my life; in fact, I can finally say that I am at the beginning.
Identity precedes purpose
You may or may not have heard this phrase before, but more than ever I know this to be true. It’s not something our society champions; however, unless you first be who God created you to be, you will never fulfil that which He created for you to do. It’s simply impossible.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” (Ephesians 2:10 NLT)
This past year has been one where, more than ever, Abba has been revealing to me who I am... I mean who I really am. Not who others say or think I am, neither who I thought I was, but the woman He has made me. Through His process, He has restored me and that word ‘restoration’ is all about returning something to it’s original condition, its original state. It’s that woman that He has restored, and this last year He has been presenting her to me, allowing me to get well acquainted with her.
I can’t lie, I love this woman created by God. This woman so secure in her Lord, so confident in her Father and so strengthened by His joy. When I see her, I can’t help but magnify the name of the Lord, for truly I know that she is His masterpiece. Only a creative genius could take an insecure, timid, fearful, weak, selfish and prideful girl who holds onto her own life tightly, and transform her into a honest, fearless, free, strong, submissive and courageous woman totally dependent on her God. If He would take all this time to transform me, I certainly have no doubt in my mind that He desires to use me, and will use me.
The many aspects of you
One of the key things that has really been amazing to discover, is how unique Abba has made me, and how this is a good thing.
So often we believe that if we are one thing, we cannot be another. However, who we are is first and foremost a reflection of God. There is a certain way He desires to express Himself through you and just as He has many facets, it is very likely that you do too. The same God that is love, is also a warrior, and this God that is gentle is also mighty. So often, we feel like one aspect of who we are must cancel out another, but as Abba has shown me the woman HE has created, I have come to recognise that I can possess multiple attributes and they can all be true and they can all be good at the same time.
For example, for so long I thought being muscular as a woman was a bad thing because I thought it automatically meant I could not be attractive. But somehow Abba has shifted my lenses and I finally see that, yes, I am muscular which makes me strong (which is good), but I am also feminine (which is also good). One might sound like a contradiction of the other, but they are both true at the same time. I did not know this before, neither did I know it was possible for me to be both. In the past, if I was called “hench” I automatically thought this disqualified me from being a female, let alone pretty (I talk about this in my book, G.I.R.L Esteem); however, now I know I can be both. Another example is that I am quiet by nature, but I am also animated and playful... again this could sound like a contradiction, but they’re both true and they are both good.
It’s these quirks, these oxymorons, that contribute to the uniqueness of who God created us to be. Through our physicality, personality and abilities Abba desires to display His creativity and through the speech and action of our lives He desires to display His fruit (character).
My prayer, is that as I begin to be (just as Jesus did at 30, see Luke 3:23 KJV), that the world would come to know the one true God through every aspect of my being and that He might get all the glory. Amen. Xx
“Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16 AMPC)
“When you bear (produce) much fruit, My Father is honored and glorified, and you show and prove yourselves to be true followers of Mine.” (John 15:8 AMPC)
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