Here is a blog that I wrote during my time in India. God called me to do a media fast so I could work on a few things that God was placing on my heart. It was during this time God spoke to me about rejection & what it looks like to live in the fullness of God. During my time in Nepal, I got to share this message with girls who have previously lived or been stuck in prostitution. During my time in Nicaragua, I felt that God wanted me to share this blog to encourage you. Thanks for reading.
I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to live in the fullness of God. I keep thinking about the rejection of my past. I keep thinking about my lack of confidence, and my worry about approval. I don’t really believe that’s who God made us (me) to be. I don’t believe he wants us to live in shame. I don’t believe he wants us to live in rejection. Living in our pasts, living in shame, allowing those things to define us. In the beginning when God created his creation, he used the phrase “and it was good”. God delights in his creation. He wouldn’t have created you if he didn’t want you. He created you for a purpose. He made Adam and Eve in the beginning in His image. Let me say this again… IN HIS IMAGE. There is significance in those words. Shortly after creation, sin came into the world. I truly believe that until sin came into the world, we weren’t broken and that we were Free.
“God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female” Genesis 1:27
Could you imagine living in a world without brokenness. There are no shackles; no chains. No pasts lingering over our heads. Could you imagine the Freedom Adam & Eve felt in the days before their sin. Free to live in the goodness of God and all that he made them to be. It’s beautiful to picture in our minds. But sin is the result of our brokenness. Isn’t it crazy that sin started with a tree and the serpent and ends on the tree of the cross that Jesus carried? Trees are so symbolic; especially in the Bible. From trees, so many things can grow. When we are born in Christ we proclaim his name and make more fruit as his disciples. If we don’t have Christ we are dead. The tree was used for both good and evil.
The moment that sin entered the world, we became broken. We became burdened. We no longer lived in the fullness of God like we were created to. We were no longer free. We became shackled by sin. But Christ decided he didn’t want us to live in our brokenness → our sin. He decided he wanted to save us. So he took the cross. Maybe I’ve never realized this depth of love for us. Because he defeated sin on the cross we can live in the fullness of God again. We can find freedom from sin if we confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord. He allows us to have that as long we continue to seek God in our brokenness. Satan always comes and tries to steal what is not his. He steals freedom. He steals joy. He wants us to live in shame and pain. His heart rejoices in that. In him there is darkness; but in Christ there is hope because there is light. Christ is that Light. He is the light in the darkness. Satan wishes to be the light in our life but in, him there is no light. He only brings darkness to us. Satan doesn’t offer us freedom. He offers us chains and darkness with no hope of escape.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
So when Satan comes to rob us of living in the fullness of God, what do we do? We need to work through it. Life happens. Experiences shape us, and Satan tries to wiggle through our thoughts and take captive of them. He wants us to live in rejection, lack of confidence, and shame of our stories. If we live in that, he wins. God calls us to take our thoughts captive. So what does that mean for us? When Satan brings us to this dark place of our pasts, we have to remind ourselves that Christ is working in us and he is helping us work through that pain so we live in the fullness of Him. We can give God our hurt, rejection, pain and shame. He can take what was meant to be broken and destroyed and turn it into something beautiful. That’s essentially what he did on the cross so that we could find freedom. We have to seek God in the things that make us broken and surrender those things to the foot of the cross. I want God to continue to show me what it looks like to live in His freedom because I truly believe that he created us to live in the fullness of who he made us to be.
Everyday I want to live in that and fight through insecurities and past hurts so I can be the person that he created me to be. Sin tries to win, but instead Christ wins. Fight for God’s truth and the peace and fullness you can find in him. I want to fight for God’s truth daily. Even if that requires me to work through the pain of my past, I will. I just want to be the person he made me to be. I want to confidently be me, and confidently be able to share the Gospel to others. He is the only one who makes me worthy. This is my prayer: Take the dead in me, and make me alive again in you. I know we will find complete fullness in you when we come to heaven and nothing will compare to that, but I want to aim for living in the fullness of you during my time here on earth, God. Please help me do this God. I am unable to do it on my own. Help me work through the hurts and pain. Help me live in the fullness of you God and who you’ve created and made me to be.
I pray that this could be your prayer too.
With Love,
Shannon
