This journey is as much about discovering self and who we are in Christ as it is serving the least of these. The two are really one. When you give it all away and say ‘I will follow you’, something happens. The Father starts showing you what following Him really looks like, and what His heart really looks like.
Last month, the Lord used situations to reveal to me that I was hanging onto hurts and perceptions from my past. I was letting my past define me so much that I couldn’t see the good that was right in front of me.
Why do you bring your past into your future? Why do you let it define your present? You’re not who you were. You’re not who others have said you are. You get to choose to be who I say you are.
Wow. I had what we would call a light bulb moment when I heard the Father speak that over me.
Ok, got my attention, what does this mean?
I will show you.
As my perspective started to change, and I began to see life through the new lens the Father had given me, I started reacting to people differently. I began approaching relationships differently. Instead of showing people who I thought they wanted to see (based on past perceptions) I started showing them who I really am. I stopped trying to see how others perceive me and started asking God how He sees me.
Jesus paid for the burden of my past. When He came to me and said let Me carry it, He meant it. He physically lifted off of me the burden of past mistakes, of past misperceptions and of past lies.
I am no longer defined by how others see me, but how God sees me. I am no longer defined by my past, but by who I am presently, in Christ. I am not who I was, but a new creation.
Coming out of last month and walking directly into a new season with team Chayil, I am learning to live in these truths. I am learning who I am and who I was meant to be. As I told a new teammate on the day of team changes: We let our freak flags fly here.
Let your freak flag fly. God loves you. He made you unique, and yep, maybe a bit of a freak. Embrace it. You’re the best you that you can be.
*photo courtesy of aforementioned 'new teammate' Joan Moore.
*photo from Eddie Beiler
