Just as I am

Yesterday afternoon the AIM training staff had us trainees go to a part of the camp that we were staying at. They brought fire logs out and we were directed to write down on a log the burdens we were carrying. When we were finished we would carry the logs on a journey through the camp. I asked God to search my heart and guide me with my struggles and the sin in my life. I wrote on one log PRIDE and the other IMAGE. As I walked up the path it started off a struggle in my heart and a breeze physically on me. When the path began to get more difficult with two hills that were a challenge for me so did it begin with my heart. The burden was heavy and my heart was aching for relief from this pain. ¾ of the way to the cross I debriefed with a staff member. He told me these were two big things and for me to give them up was going to be hard. It wouldn’t be easy and it would mean life change.

I finally made it to the cross and I was so tired and sad of what the sin had done to me throughout my life. PRIDE had caused me to have fear of admitting the need I had for people and acceptance from them. IMAGE the desire that Iwanted so bad to be accepted and feel worthy of unconditional love and acceptance from my peers and friends around me. My IMAGE and PRIDE were defining me. These were lies that I had believed without them I was never really good enough just as I was. God freed me at the cross on that hill in Gainesville, GA from believing the lies Satan had been using to keep me from the truths of God. The identity I had been clinging to was weighing me down. Not only that but there was no room for God to be at work in my life. God put in my heart at a very young age when I heard about Elizabeth Elliott that I longed to show the world God’s love for them. God has brought that desire and passion in my heart again. I can begin living just as He created me to be.