In my last blog I mentioned that the beginning of the month was a realization of how difficult this year will be and that I was longing for the comforts from home – air conditioning, a shower, and a toilet that can be relied upon to flush. Before I left many people told me that this year will be eye opening and make me thankful for things that we take for granted in America. While I do have a new appreciation for some of those things I am more thankful for how I am relying on the Lord and how He is sustaining me and providing for me now. My relationship with Him has deepened and grown over the past few weeks and I want to share a little of what He has been teaching me.
“For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns that can hold no water.” Jeremiah 2:13
The Israelites had a history of turning from the Lord and seeking after gods that they created for themselves. In Jeremiah God calls these idols broken and cracked cisterns that can hold no water.
The things that we look for in our lives for value, fulfillment, and worth are so fleeting and they always fail.
This month God has shown my how I look to find my identity in the affirmation and approval of others rather than in who He says I am. I can keep stockpiling compliments and affirmation but they eventually fade and fail, like putting water into a cracked and broken cistern. I will never fill myself up with the affirmation of others because no matter how much I get it will never be enough to fill a cracked and leaking cistern. And by trying to rely on the fleeting water of my cracked cistern I am missing out on something so much better. God is offering me Himself, a fountain of living water, a well that never runs dry.
So I am trading my broken and dry cistern for His truths about me.
He says that I am uniquely and wonderfully made.
He says that He delights in me.
He says that I am beautiful.
He says that I was created for a purpose.
He says that I am lavishly loved by Him.
He says that I am the daughter of the King of the Universe.
He says that I am His, Always and Forever.
He says that I am enough as I am.
He says that I am His beloved.
He says that I am worthy.
This is who God says I am, This is where my identity lies.
This is where your identity lies, I want to challenge you to believe that what God says of you is true and that anything less than these truths is a lie.
