Reasons to Rejoice....

Throughout my journey in discipleship, it has been very important to me to learn and understand all I can about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. When a person looks at my life from a worldly and natural perspective, they see that I have many reasons to be defeated. I walk with a limp, my eyes do not work properly, I have a learning disability, I have to deal with a lack of spacial awareness and so forth and so on. I was not supposed to make it to 25. Satan wanted me to die the day I was born, in fact, he tried everything in his power to make that happen. Thankfully, God had a different plan. God's plan was to restore me, to work through my limitations to capitalize on His power, and to teach me that He is the one running the show of my life. I praise Him for this every day.

One of the reasons I rejoice is because I know that God can and does work through every situation I face. I rest assured in the fact that I can do anything through the power of the Lord. The power of the Lord is so much greater than anything I possess or boast in. If I rest in the certanty of who He is, than I am confident in my abilities and giftedness.

Another reason I rejoice is because I do not rely on my physical body anymore. By this I mean that I rely fully on the Lord to accomplish anything that is good in me. I rely on the Lord for everything that I need. Now, yes, I have days when my flesh gets the best of me and I hate when those days come because I want so much to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. I am learning that God allows me to have those days because I need to constantly be reminded that I can do nothing without Him. Flesh days allow me to see the depth of my need for Jesus and the filling of the Holy Spirit.

The thing I rejoice in the most is the fact that my beauty cannot and is not calculated by the things and methods of this world. I belong to a God who constantly reminds me of my beauty. I have really tried to learn to see myself through the eyes of God. This is hard sometimes because I live in a world that is constantly bombarding me with temporal beauty. This world does not focus on the contents of the heart, the contents of character, and the contents of soul and spirit. I have had to turn to my God to define who I am. His opinion and evaluation of my life is the only one I am concerned about. I am thankful that we all have a place and purpose in this world. I am thankful that if we seek the things of eternity we will find the face of God.

Don't let the things of this world define who you are. Don't be defeated by what this world thows at you. Most importantly, know that you are a priceless, one-of-a-kind creation of God. Be blessed.