YOUR IDENTITY.

Hey friends. Sorry it’s been so long since my last post but in that time, I’ve packed for my 3 month move, hung out with all the people that I would miss so dearly and traveled 3,000 across the United States. Now I’m in Redding, visiting some friends that go to Bethel School of Ministry. It’s been an amazing week with Shari and Lilly, just enjoying each of my sisters in Christ and being free in who we are. We've laughed and just relaxed and enjoyed the Father this week, while enjoying each other as well. It has been so great to just make some fun memories with these sweet friends of mine; from biking to breakfast, to eating mountain house on the side of the road in the sketchiest town in American, to going to a rodeo, to eating 18 of the 24 hours in a day. We have definitely made some great memories, but we are all so excited about what happens tomorrow. We leave tomorrow to drive to the ranch & we start our amazing adventure this summer. But besides that, I just wanted to make a quick post about something that has truly been on my heart and mind the last couple of days, I hope it encourages and challenges you as much as it has me.

The word that has been ringing in my ear the last couple of days…identity. Who are you? Whose are you? From the world’s view, we might be gorgeous on the outside, we might have beautiful teeth, a great tan an awesome personality or even a hot boyfriend. But I come to you with encouragement today, that is NOT who you are. You are not meant to live OF this world, only IN this world…which frees you from the lies of believing that you have to look like the girl on the cover of People magazine or you have to have the “American Dream” by the age of 25. Your identity is not in things or people, but only in Christ. This thought has been ringing in my head for the last couple of days and the Lord has been so gracious to reveal to me so much about MY identity in HIM. Complete freedom comes when we live so deeply in Him and his grace, that we could care less about what the world says and views us as. That we are so in love with him, that we see Him as our greatest romance, our greatest adventure and our greatest achievement.

I heard a podcast last week that challenged me so much. The speaker was talking about identity and who people say he is, compared to who God says He is. He explained that while its all good and well to hear encouragement, prophetic words and good things said to and about you, you shouldn’t live for them. Anything that people say that would be uplifting/encouraging to you or your spirit is great, but the Lord has already set in stone who you are and what you are called to me... and if its His truth, the He will tell you in due time. He gave an example of a woman that prophesied over him that he was going to be like Moses and lead people into unforeseen places. He said that he received the word but it didn’t change a thing about he viewed himself or felt about himself because he was already 100% sure of what God had told him he was. He wasn’t saying that the prophetic word was wrong he was merely just saying that the Lord had already told him what and who he was in His eyes and that is all that mattered. This challenged me so much because like every other human, I like to hear words of affirmation, encouragement and good things said to and about me…but they are not who I am, because they are said to me by humans and not said to me by my heavenly Father. I am encouraged and encourage you to live in and only in Christ says you are. This is the only way to live because if we survive and love the words of people, we will live out of emotion and their words (and humans love conditionally) unlike the father who loves UN-conditionally. This is all to say that if you live in the identity of who people on this earth say you are, you will live a life like a roller-coaster. Happy and feeling good about yourself on the days that you hear encourage and “good things” said about you and sad/depressed/unfulfilled on the days that no one has anything to say to you or about you. And that life is dreary, unfulfilling and not worth your time. If you wake up every morning believing all the promises of who HE says you are, you don’t have to worry about what kind of day or life you will have because He already delights in you. You don’t have to worry about what encouragement or great identity revelation you will hear that day from someone, because He has already told you WHO you are and WHOSE you are.

You are a child of God. (John 1:12) You are a branch of the TRUE vine. (John 15:1) You are justified and redeemed. (Romans 3:24) You are no longer your old self or a slave to sin. (Romans 6:6) You are a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) You are free. (Galatians 5:1) You are chosen. (Ephesians 1:4) You will produce good works. (Epesians 2:10) You are bold and confident. (Ephesians 3:12) You are complete. (Colossians 2:10) You are chosen. (1 Thessalonians 1:4) You are HIS.

So I encourage you and myself as I type this, ask the Lord what He thinks about you and what He says about you because I know it'll be better than anything that anyone on this earth has to say. And it will be truth and will ring in the heavens for all of eternity. You are His beloved and He delights in you and you being fulfilled, but that can only happen in Him. But be encouraged today, if you do not who you are in Christ, just ask. He will be faithful to tell you and patient in the time that it takes you to truly be convinced that is who you are. You might not have known this life and truth before but iI have to tell you it will be the most freeing journey you will ever take with Him. I will tell you that you might wake up some days and not believe all that He says about you but just keep yourself open because He will keep telling you until you hear it, believe it and walk in it. If you live through the words of others you will live in defeat and un-fullfillment, but you are not defeated. If you are beaten by the words of others but you acquire wisdom and learn, you have won. I encourage you to improve yourself daily, but only by the words that Christ speaks to and over you. Only when we shed all self-definitely do we find who we really are in Him. Be blessed. 

STRIP IT ALL AWAY

"Our relationship with Jesus is messy, intimate, and beautiful all at the same time. Often He takes us on these dangerous adventures just to strip everything else away but Himself. From there, He'll show us that He is writing a bigger and far more beautiful story that we could have ever imagined."

I read this quote tonight and it gave me chills. This completely sums up the season of life that I am in at this current moment, and for the next couple of months. I went from graduating college to looking for a corporate, high paying job to the Lord closing every door and opening up the door for me to work at the place where my heart belongs, JH Ranch. It has been so cool to look back and see how everything happened, all in His timing and to His plan. I didn't understand anything that was going on, I was becoming frustrated and even to the point of settling...but the entire time He was just strengthening my trust in Him. Now I'm at the place where I just sit in awe of him the entire day long, thinking of how every piece of my puzzle has been placed together and has brought me to the place I am now; and I'm more excited than ever. 

My relationship with the Lord definitely gets messy sometimes, I scream and yell and sob and laugh and He just patiently listens. I'm not the girl that is quiet when it comes to Yahweh. He knows my heart and thoughts anyways so why not tell him out loud exactly how I feel, it always makes me feel better. And when I'm done, he always allows me to relax and then proceeds to tell and show me the better things He has for me. When I become frustrated or my relationship with Him becomes messy, it's usually because I tried to take a situation into my own hands and we all know that never works out well. My relationship with my Father is also quite intimate and beautiful too. I long for the days where it can just be this way, where I don't have the "messy/screaming" days with Him, but that all comes with time and I'm learning to look to Him for all things. My intimacy with Him has grown deeper in the last couple of months, He has romanced me so much and I look forward to the days to come. I can honestly say that I am completely in love with Him and truly feel Him holding me each day. I'm so thankful for this place because His love is what everything goes back to and comes from and I pray that I possess more and more of it each day that I'm alive. 

The adventure that I'm on now is unknown, but that is the best kind I think. Life with Jesus is so exciting and it truly humbles me to think of the places He has brought me from and the ones He is taking me to...but I can't help but wonder; although that is where the trust I have been learning comes in. Now I'm in the place where I am truly asking for Him to strip everything that isn't of Him away from me and my life. I only want Him and the things of His kingdom. And from this place, I continue to walk. I can't see more than a couple of steps ahead, but if I could I guess I wouldn't need Him so he obviously knows what He is doing. 

I know I reiterate this a lot but I just have to continue to remind myself that His plan for me is better than mine. And with your life too. You might be in the same place that I'm in or you might not, but either way you're going through something right now that pushes you to the point of trusting Him. And you'll be in situations to trust Him for the rest of your days. But I encourage you to just enjoy the scenery while you're here because it only gets better. He has never led me wrong and even the times that I have strayed or made a wrong turn, he keeps His promise and "works it all together for good (romans 8:28). It might get hard and you might get lonely but trusting Him completely and being in a place of the "unknown" is a good time in your life. It might not seem like it now but when you look back in years to come, you'll see that He knew exactly what He was doing. So, I just encourage you right now to blissfully bask in His presence and truth while you're on this journey, it's quite exciting don't you think? If you get down on yourself...just sit down, open your bible and just pick one of the thousands of promises that He bestows on us each day. You're a daughter (or son) of the King and He only desires to give you the very best, even if it doesn't look like it right now. Enjoy the adventure with Him.

I AM HIS

It's 1 : 13 am and I lay in my bed wide awake. I've been praying and talking to my daddy (God) for a while now but all I know to do now is...blog, so here goes. You might know me, you might not or you might know me and not really know what all is going on in my life here lately but the last month has been a world-wind. Both happy and sad but all in the process of teaching me to to just trust my Father more.

I was dating a guy that seemed to be perfect but after much seeking and prayer, the Lord confirmed that He had better plans for me. I had to somehow find the words to tell this guy that it wasn't going to work out.  If you know me, I'm better with a pen (or keyboard in this case) than I am with words but I knew it was the thing I had to do. I'm going to be honest and admit that I knew it for a while before I actually talked to him, but I was miserable the entire time. All I could think about was the disobedience that I was living in and the sadness that my heavenely Father probably felt; although, those thoughts were overpowered by my flesh. You see, I've been somewhat single my entire life. I've never had the long relationship or the in-love experience but in a weird way, I'm thankful for that. Even when I wasn't living for the Lord, he truly protected my heart from the guys of this world. Even when my own efforts didn't help what His plans were for me, he kept my heart and I'm thankful for that. But all that to say, in this specific instance, I allowed my flesh to rule. I was in a place where the thoughts and loneliness was almost all I thought about. I knew that if I broke it off with him that I would go back to being "the beautiful, Christ-loving girl that is STILL single" by everyone that knows me and to be honest, "I" wasn't okay with that. I almost had myself talked into justifying the situation and to just not change anything, but the Lord had other plans. He has just been so patient with me through this entire situation and I can only thank Him for his goodness and strength because without Him, I'd be defeated.

Anyways, back to the point of this post. So, I took the plunge and ended it with the guy. It was difficult and I might have not explained to him in the best way but it was something that is deeper than words. It's one of those instances where you just KNOW that you're in the will of the Lord and when people ask why, all you can say is "I just know." Of course he didn't understand but due to a lack of words, we weren't raised the same and that probably has a lot to do with it. I was raised in a Holy-spirit filled home with parents that taught me to pray until I hear or He moves and that is exactly what I did. Parents that have never held me back from what the Lord has called me to do and always showed me that living in His will is better than in the acceptance of man. He, on the other hand was raised in a home that just lived their life believing in Jesus but not really living IN him and that's where the "unequally yoked" part comes in. If you know me, you might be skeptical at this point because I'm not one that settles for just anyone, but I am human and like I said, I was tired of being "that single girl". So as I explained to this guy that I was moving 4,000 miles away because that was the will of the Lord, he thought I was absurd...but now looking back, it was just a test. And one that I passed thank God. I'm not going to say that it was easy and that I didn't or maybe still don't have regrets (for a milli-second), but then I think of the fullness I feel now that I know I am living in obedience to my heavenly Father.

Since then, I've gone back to being the girl that is single but like always I'm joyful and completely content in that place. Yes, I've had good days and bad days but all have come with fulfillment in my Lord Jesus. This situation has been such a learning experience and has truly grown my faith so much. I see this season of new things and continued singleness as a blessing. I do still somewhat desire that significant other in my life, but I desire His presence and His plan more than my fleshy desires. I'm learning that one of the biggest things that I can continue to learn is that God's plan for my life will always surpass the plan I have for myself. I do sometimes this about my future with a Godly man, great relationships with my friends and family and being successful - all those are wonderful things and yes, it's true that God withholds no good thing from those who love Him, but God's plan for my life might not always appear to be attractive. Sometimes His plan for me doesn't even look like what I "think" God's plan for me should look like, but then I'm reminded of Abraham and Joseph and Mary and Christ himself. You see, Abraham would have never that that God's plan for Him would be to become a dad at 100 years of age, Joseph never thought that his being sold into slavery would be the very thing that would lead him into being a governor in Egypt, people never expected that the Messiah would come into the world through an insignificant teenage girl, Jesus' death on the cross looked like defeat for the disciples at first, but all these instances were all the perfect plan of God. His plan will not always be what I expect, but His ways are higher, His ways are better and He is worthy of trust in every area of my life. And I challenge you to live your life with that in mind. . . I know I do.

-In, for & because of Christ.
bcj

HI

Hi. If we do know each or if you just heard about my new blog from someone, I welcome you all. I've always been a writer, but never a blogger. I have journal after journal of my experiences with Christ, each are so dear to my heart and usually only seen by me (and my wonderful mother occasionally) but after countless times of my mother telling me how great of a writer I am and how I need to write my insights, adventures and thoughts for all to read, I've taken the plunge and here we are. I am honored that you have taken time out of you busy life to read about what the Lord is doing in mine. I hope and pray that through this blog and into the journey of my life, that the Lord somehow speaks to you the words that you need to hear. Some of my posts will be funny, some will be a sneak-peak of my new season of life in California and then some, might tug at your heart strings and make you tear up...but my only goal in writing my posts are that they might help someone as much as the ones that I've read on others' blogs. I don't take any credit for anything that I get to experience or that the Lord shows me, I desire for everything in my life to only point back to the One whom I live for, and that is Christ. So just a heads up, I'm going to be transparent on this blog and I hope it blesses you in more than one way. In the end I just pray that you don't see it as the story of my life but only the life of a girl that is living in the fullness of her Lord Jesus Christ; a daughter of the King that is experiencing his grace from Alabama to California and everywhere in between. See you soon friends.