If I asked my friends to define me with three words, they might say I’m fun, compassionate, and faithful. Actually they probably would say that, because I just asked my husband and that’s what he said.
Ask people who don’t like me to define me and you’ll get three very different words.
Here’s the thing, I don’t think you could be defined in three words, nor could you be defined in 3,000. The person you are inside isn’t the person they see. They don’t see all of your hurt, your fear, and your pain. They don’t see where you have come from or what you’ve been through. They see only in part who you are.
Even we don’t know ourselves as well as we think that we do, and yet we label ourselves again and again. Some of those labels are good, and some we wouldn’t dare give another. Labels like failure, loser, unloveable, and hopeless should never be used to describe who we are.
Yes, we may have failed or fallen or disappointed others, but we have a God Whose grace runs deeper than our sin ever could.
We have a God who knew us before we knew ourselves. He doesn’t put negative labels on us that define where we have been or what we have done. He calls us to a place of repentance. A place of forgiveness and grace. A place where old things have passed away and all things become new.
What God Knows About Me Is Infinitely More Important Than What Others Think of Me. – Unknown
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Tilling the Soil
Make a list today of some of the negative labels that you have put on yourself or that others have put on you. When you are done, cross each one out as you focus on today’s Bible verse.
It doesn’t matter if you sinned as recently as this morning, His mercy is new every day. Ask Him to forgive you and ask Him to help you overcome your sin next time.
Planting Hope
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! (2 Corinthians 5:17, NIV)
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Darlene Schacht and her husband Michael live in Manitoba Canada where the summers are beautiful and the winters are cold. Together they’ve come to learn that relationships aren’t always easy, but that marriage, the way God intended it to be, is a treasure worth fighting for.
She began her publishing journey about twelve years ago when she pioneered one of the first online magazines for Christian women, known at the time as “Christian Women Online Magazine.” After three years, Darlene left CWO to blog as a solo author at Time-Warp Wife Ministries.
It was also during this transition that she worked alongside actress Candace Cameron Bure to write the NYT Best-Selling book, Reshaping it All: Motivation for Spiritual and Physical Fitness. Reshaping it All was the winner of both the 2011 USA Best Book Awards and the 2012 Christian Reading Retailers Choice Awards.
Author of more than 15 books, Darlene continues to write and to minister to her readers through her blog at TimeWarpWife.com.
Connect with Darlene:
Facebook: @timewarpwife
Instagram: @timewarpwife
Pinterest: @timewarpwife
Twitter: @timewarpwife
You are loved by an almighty God,
Darlene Schacht
The Time-Warp Wife