Who Do You Think You Are?

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—  to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace  that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding,  he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ,  to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.   [Ephesians 1:3-10]

I often forget who I am.  How do I identify myself and why do I cling on so hard to those identities.  My Pastor, Mark Driscoll, recently released a new book and it is beautiful.  I have only read, studied (with the daily devotional study guide) and heard (from his sermon series) the first two chapters but God is turning me back to the basics.  I often try and identify myself as certain things which are all on shaky ground.  Nothing, other than Jesus, is for certain.  As sad and heart wrenching it is to think about, even identities as daughter, sister, friend, wife, mother can be stripped of you from a tragic accident.  Something that I have lived for in the past is outward beauty.  That will diminish as time goes on.  There is no getting around that.  When we cling to those identities, what happens to us, who are we, if and when those things are lost?  Who will I be if I am not beautiful, wealthy, or successful?
This is where I get to share the most amazing thing with you!  If you are saved by Jesus, you were bought!  Your identity now lies in the hands of the creator of this world, and you are made new, you are made clean and you are righteous.  Your righteous does not have to do with anything you have done but rather what Jesus has done.  Jesus!  Much controversy surround His name (as it did when He walked on this earth 2, 000 years ago).  God left His thrown in heaven and came down to this earth as a HUMBLE SERVANT, lived a perfect, sinless life, died on the cross, rose from the dead after 3 days, walked on the earth for another 40 days and then rose into heaven.  Why did Jesus do this?  ALL was done so we may be a part of His family.  We are loved beyond any sort of imagination by the King of this universe.  And THAT KING is who holds our identity.  Because of Jesus, we can identify with Him, as our Father, as our perfecter.  We no longer have to cling to things which are on shaky ground.  Yes, I am a daughter and a sister and a friend, but more importantly, I am SAVED and I am RIGHTEOUS and it is in those things that I live out!  I can appreciate the blessing of my other roles here on earth.  As Pastor Mark says, the things, events and roles in my life explain me but they do not define me!  I am defined by someone so powerful and beautiful that I get to live joyously in that identity.
I would HIGHLY recommend reading this book for ANYONE.  If you know Jesus, this is so helpful in growing in wisdom, if you do not, read it!  For you want to know Him!!
BUY THE BOOK HERE!!!

I also just wanted to share this picture from when I was baptized in the puget sound in August.  This picture stirs so much peace in my heart when I see it!

Blown Away!

I am currently taking a study break while studying for my first Neuroscience test!  I am currently in week 4 of spring quarter.  This quarter has been beautiful as God is answering my prayers to change and grow me DRAMATICALLY.  I really enjoy praying for big things because I know God is capable and faithful in that.  So at the beginning of the school year as well as every quarter, I have been asking God to grow me more than He ever has in my life.  To reveal Himself more to me and allow me to better understand myself as His daughter.  The first two quarters were the hardest!  And I sort of expected this due to the mysterious ways God does things(which are beautiful).  I felt the pains of loneliness like I have never felt them before.  I don't think I have felt lonely until then.  I didn't feel like I had a home(and in a sense I didn't).  I was paying rent and storing my things at one place and sleeping on the couch at another.  I lived out of bags.  I am so grateful for that couch as well as to my amazing friends for allowing me to stay there.  I will be forever grateful!  I also had to leave for work at 615 every morning and walk the 20 minute walk in the dark.  I am scared of the dark so it was not fun!  The only thing that kept me afloat those months was directly related to my prayers.  The interesting part as well was that I did not feel very close to God.  I just cried out to him constantly knowing he was there even if he didn't feel like it.  I feel like when this quarter started He flipped my life upside down and showed me for the thousandth time how faithful he is and how much He knows me.  I was blessed to be able to move my things into my friends house and officially move in!  This was amazing because I now get to live with my best friends.  I love them so much and they are such a support to me!  It is a joy to be able to serve these girls(my preference is when they are not looking) and just love on them.  As you saw in my last post, I was BLESSED with an amazing car!  I still can't believe that I have it and am so thankful.  I want to drive it so much :)  This car has allowed me to do more things due to not having to walk or depend on others for rides.  One of those things is to get involved in another Community Group(like a bible study through my church).  I prayed that God would put me in one that I grew from and of coarse from the first time I went to my new CG, I have been taught and grown through it.  I can not get over how thankful I am to God and to the people who are in the group!  Every single one of them has been a blessing to me and I don't think they even know it!  :)  God also gave me a new job at whole foods which is a huge gift because this just secures the fact that I  will be living in Seattle over the summer which I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT!!!
I don't want to take for granted any of the blessings in my life!  Truely, God's grace has blown my mind and I could not be more thankful to Him.  I know He is giving me what I need and even in the first two quarters I know that the loneliness was a feeling I needed to be pushed in the direction of God.  The sweetness of God's grace is unlike anything else.  I am humbled at the fact that God is even allowing me to see even a sliver of Him, to talk to him, to love hIm, and to sing to Him.  Oh, I am so undeserving!
I must get back to studying but I will continue this very soon!