Transparent Thursday--Be overwhelmed by HIM

I used to be the woman who freaked out about EVERYTHING. I'm still her at times, but by the grace of God and His mighty, mighty powers I am slowly changing. 

I used to be the woman completely and utterly overwhelmed by everything that this life threw at me, I would sink into a self-loathing anxiety attack faster than I could realize what was happening. 

For years I struggled with my identity. When you don't know where your identity is, the weight of this world can threaten to crush you. You cannot hear the truth of what God says about you because you are too busy listening to the voices that this world speaks. 

But, it is only IN Him that we can truly find our identity. 

I found my identity in this world. I found it in what people said about me, and I found it in the mistakes I made. This crushed me at times. 

Why? 

Because I believed that what people said about me and my past mistakes made up everything about me. 

But, what people think of us doesn't make us who we are. And the sum of our past mistakes doesn't make us who we are. 

God made us who we are. He formed us for a great purpose, one He has called us to.

He says we are royal priests and priestesses, holy and loved. He says we are righteous, redeemed and loved greatly. 

He believed these things to be so true that He was willing to send His one Son to die so that this truth could be our reality. 

We are greatly loved. 

I didn't see that. 

I only saw this world. 

I saw my mistakes, heard the whispers, or sometimes shouts, of the people around me and my spirit was so often crushed. 

Has this happened to you, sweet friend? Don't let it swallow you up as it did me so often.

The payment that Jesus made wipes out every single thing that we think negatively about ourselves, every mistake that we have made, and every lie that someone wants to utter about us. Jesus paid the penalty that we should have paid for one reason and one reason only--He loved us that much. He doesn't want us to believe those lies. He doesn't want us to speak those lies about one another or ourselves. 

Instead, He wants to encounter life-breathing relationships with us. He wants to speak life into our souls. He wants to renew our minds and our spirits so that we understand how greatly we are loved. 

He wants to counter every lie we have come up against with a truth--WE ARE LOVED. 

I missed Jesus for so, so long. I saw only this God that I thought was punishing me. I thought I was rotten and terrible. I thought, "well, if so and so says it, it must be true". 

It's not. 

It never was and it never will be. 

He completely wiped away everything upon that cross. 

We may make mistakes, but when we accept Jesus, the penalty is immediately paid. We no longer have to worry about what this world says or does to us, because Jesus did the most absolute wonderful thing ever--He died for us. 

We don't have to be overwhelmed by what this world hands us, or says to us, instead we can be wholly and completely overwhelmed with how AMAZING GOD IS. 

We can be wholly and completely be overwhelmed by the power of the cross and unashamed because of mercy. 

The song by Big Daddy Weave, overwhelmed, says it perfectly!!!  

We are free. 

We are forgiven. 

We are less than only Three.