I Am Who He Says I Am

I am who He say's I am. Now, let’s be real here. We can say the phrase all we want. I am who God says I am. We can say it and say it, but deep down, we don't believe it. We're too caught up with our own negative thoughts about ourselves. "I've done this, I'm too (insert negative comment here)". I've been listening to Pastor Steven Furtick’s series on Crash the Chatterbox(check it out if you already haven’t! totally worth it!). To summarize , it talks about how often times we get too tangled up in our own thoughts or "chatter" and that holds us back, because we begin to listen to the chatter more than what God says about us.
I can tell you that this chatter has been present in my life, and it always will be, because it’s an everyday battle that you have to fight against. It may not be easy, but we are fully equipped to do so! We have Gods word, and through this we can find what God says about us! Not what society says about you, not what your boss says about you, not what your teacher says about you, and not what the enemy says about you. GOD, it’s about what God says about you! It's the only thing worth listening to.
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The chatter says you are so filthy in sin, that you can't be forgiven....God says you ARE forgiven.  

Matthew 26:28
The chatter says no one loves you....God says "I love you!"  

John 3:16
The chatter says you were born without a purpose....God says you have a purpose! Ephesians 1:11
The chatter says you are worthless....God says you are full of worth and value! 

          Matthew 10:31                  

The Chatter says you are ugly….God says you are beautiful!  

Song of Solomon 4:7
The chatter says you are weak.... God says he gives you the strength. 

Phillipians 4:13 

The chatter says you are alone....God says you are never alone.  

                                      Deutoronomy31:6                                           

The chatter says you are rejected….God says  you are accepted!  

        Romans 15:7                 

 The chatter says you are a captive….God says you are set free! 

Galatians 5:1
I am who He says I am…I am a child of God!  

John 1:12
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I am who God says I am. I am defined by Him and no other. What society wants to say about who I am is irrelevant because I've found my true identity in Christ. It can be hard to silence your own thoughts, but when you look for the truths that God has spoken over your life, it makes it a whole lot easier. It's about time that we realize that sometimes our biggest enemy is comfortably sitting in our own heads. I don't know about you, but I'm sick and tired of letting my own negative thoughts get the best of me. It's time to fight back! Defeat the lies with the truth! I am who HE says I am.

“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” Phillipians 4:8

 With Love, Michelle ♥

Ps. I'm back! Hopefully you guys didn't miss me too much! I know that you guys had some really great reads thanks to my bestie Diana. Just so you know, I'm gonna be posting a lot more than she is in the next little bit. She's getting crazy busy just as I did. 

Female Empowerment Gone Wrong?

I saw two amazing things this past week, one of them being that picture right about by the wonderful Lauren DeMoss which says: "What does it cost you to support someone's dream or efforts? To say 'good job' every now and then or to 'like' someone's accomplishments on social media? To throw your hand up and say 'high five' to someone working hard on their dreams or their ministry or their weight loss or their selfie for that matter? What does it cost you to be happy for someone else's success or happiness instead of being put off by jealousy? To essentially say 'hey, I see you out there doing good.' What does it cost to be kind? Nothing. It cost you nothing, but let me tell you... it sure might mean a lot to them" (#wow) and the next being a this quote:

The source is Naomi from Love Taza's Instagram,as one was of her description in a picture and I just modified the saying a little, "Women need women. We need deep satisfying and loyal relationships with one another. We need to not only love each other more but love each other BETTER" (can I get an amen sisters?!.. no.. just me? okay.) There’s something that has been so heavy on my heart recently and it is exactly what those two pictures talk about. Lauren DeMoss’s quote is just amazing but it ties in so perfectly with Naomi’s.

We’re in this era where women are starting to recognize it is time to empower each other, and that is amazing I’m all for that but there is something that always tugs at my spirit. Are we, as women, being genuine about it? Is it becoming a power game, a quantity versus quality type thing? By that I mean, are you trying to show how much you can love women so you can get the title of “best women lover and inspirer(this isn't a word, I'm  sure of it)” award? Is it becoming something you do mediocrely? Trying to find as many girls you can befriend and just be nice and see if they think the world out of your kindness. In the Christian “culture” women are “ranked” by how kind, nurturing, powerful, or anointed they are(we don’t say it but I guess I’ll be bold enough to put it out there, I may be hated for it) and a lot of us will manipulated our way into favouritism. Like I said I’m all for women empowerment but we have to be genuine about it. Women lack REAL relationships with women, seriously we are supposed to count on each other, we are the only ones that understand what it feels like to be a women! We can love each other but what we really need is to love each other BETTER. By better I mean wholeheartedly, to love three women with your might rather than 15 mediocrely. “We don’t need to love each other more” you can love many people but not love them the right way, if you need an example of the "right way" look up to Jesus, John the Baptist, Peter, and Mary Magdalene. “But love each other BETTER” you may never learn to love perfectly, but you can learn to love better and more genuinely. Don’t take my rant as limitation to love; our heart grows with the more people we love, the right way. By no means am I a perfect lover or encourager, I actually suck at consoling, I just stand there if someone cries, yikes! Which is why this stings, because I want to love the women I know BETTER! I want to focus on the women I know and really connect and create genuine satisfying relationships with them. 

Can female empowerment go wrong? Can it actually happen? Has it already happen? I want to know your comments and thoughts! This is just a little rant before I start studying for the endocrine system test I have tomorrow, lets discuss this I am so curious about what my fellow women have to say!

With Love & Grace- Diana C.