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Awe and Wonder
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”
-Albert Einstein
Today I realized that I can be amazed every single day. Awe and wonder is literally a lifestyle choice. I can choose to look for and experience joy in the everyday. I can choose to expect miracles. I can choose to say, “Father God, what awesome and wonderful things do you have planned for us today?”
I am the only one who determines how I receive from God and perceive the world around me! Only I have the power to decide whether I embrace the awe and wonder of life or whine and complain about it. I am all powerful in how I choose to react.
I know the faith walk ain’t for sissies. Believing God when all the evidence points against it is difficult, especially when you’ve been hurt and disappointed. But that’s exactly the time to look for awe and wonder in your life. That’s when you need to choose to expect good!
Why do you think Jesus called those little bitty kiddos the greatest in Matthew 18?
Think about it? Little kids just believe, and they walk around amazed by everything they see. Everything is new and exciting. That’s exactly what childlike faith looks like. That is what pleases and impresses Jesus.
What if today you expected awe and wonder? What if you went around knowing that our Father has good surprises for you everyday, hidden amongst the ordinary and mundane? What if you truly believed God is for you and not against you? What if today you just believe that God loves you? What if you just received His love like a toddler being picked up and cradled by their daddy?
I will leave you with this…the Greek word “know” in Romans 8:28 actually means to see therefore to know. It is connected to the word optomai (op’-tom-ahee), which means to gaze at something with wide open eyes, as at something remarkable. It means to be amazed by what you’re seeing. This isn’t a factoid to put in your knowledge bank, it is something you witness and are blown away by.
“And we stare long in amazement,in complete wonder, that the Creator of everything loves us so much that He causes everything in our (those loving and living for Him) lives to work together for our good benefit.” Romans 8:28 Jill Translation
This Is Me
Musical Monday’s song of the day is “This Is Me” as sung by the lovely and talented Demi Lovato in Disney’s Camp Rock. Take a listen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jwdr_pWBigw
The reason I love this song is because it’s about someone realizing who she really is. I think everyone can relate to that. As I’ve gone through my healing process with God, He’s been showing me who I really am. Who He made me to be. Not what people spoke over me. Not what I tried to be based on what everyone thought of me. But me. The child of the Most High God. The one He created with purpose before the foundation of the world.
A man much wiser than me once told me, “Jilly, it’s not about what you do. It’s not about your “ministry.” It’s about being who God made you to be. When you finally embrace and become who He made you to be, everything will flow naturally from that.”
At the time I was like WHAT the heck does that mean? Now I get it. Until I saw myself from God’s perspective. Until I allowed God to heal me and restore me. Until I let go of what people have said to me and told me and called me and believed about me. Until I can fully embrace who I was created to be, the real me, I will not be able fully receive what God has for me.
Knowing who you are is essential. Knowing whose you are is essential.
Do you know that YOU are the Beloved of God? Not just loved, but beloved. Adored.
Do you know that God calls you good? Everything He created He calls good. He knows your potential, what you are capable of, and your strengths. He also knows your weaknesses and what things you’ll need Him to do for you. And He loves you even when you screw up and fall down and make a huge mess. His love never wavers or changes. Jeremiah 31:1, “I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”
You may be thinking, but you don’t know what I’ve done. You’re right there. But most of you don’t know what I’ve done either. And since God loves me, I know He loves you too. He’s not a respecter of persons. What He’ll do for one, He’ll do for all.
You may be thinking that you are a mistake or that you weren’t wanted. Maybe you have a parent that deserted you. Maybe you were the product of a bad relationship, a rape, a one-night stand. Maybe you were given up for adoption. Maybe you were the product of an affair. Maybe you’ve been rejected or abandoned by those who should have loved and protected you. To all of you I want to tell you what God told me:
“I can turn around any situation. Resurrection and restoration are My specialties. I bring life out of death. I bring good from bad. You are the good that I worked out of your parent’s bad relationship. I saw their decisions. Both the wise and unwise decisions. You may have been a surprise to them. But you were not a surprise to me. I knew you before I created the world. I knew what your parents would choose. And you, you my precious daughter, are the good I created from that bad situation. You are the life I brought from death.”
This revelation. This message. Changed. Everything. It rocked me to my core. I always thought I was a mistake that should not have been born. Since I was a mistake God’s promises for a good plan and purpose didn’t apply to me. I truly believed that I had to take what was left. Scraps. That there was no good plan for me because I was not meant to be. That’s truly what I thought. Those thoughts were LIES from an enemy who hates me. Not from the God who loves me. God said, that He planned me before the foundation of the world! I was planned and chosen and known before God even created land on the planet Earth! I matter to God.
And guess what? So were you and so do you! You are made in His image and you matter to Him. Who you are is beautiful! Who you are is unique! So why would you want to be anything other than who He created you to be?
This is truth. Receive it. Believe it. Accept it. Speak it.
jillbeingstill 