We’re delighted to have Krista Gilbert guest posting for us again. Krista is a mom of four who is passionate about people connecting in meaningful relationships.  She blogs and speaks about living life with creativity, purpose, and intention.  When she isn’t at Costco, you will catch a glimpse of her racing her kids & husband down a black diamond in the mountains of Idaho. Find her at Meaning In a Minute.

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There were no words.  I had missed the biggest appointment of my life and I was not going to get another chance.  Feeling worthless, I fell onto my bed, despondent. Hadn’t I just been reading Ephesians 4:1 “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received?” Hadn’t God given me that verse for this very time? I expected to muster up enough worth and strength to be worthy!  Like a warrior running into battle, I sounded the horn and ran boldly ahead, only to be knocked off my horse at the first blow.

Now, humbled and low, God had my attention.

“Don’t you see? He whispered to my heart.  YOU are not worthy.  It’s only JESUS. Only Jesus.”

I can work, sweat, and do life as perfectly as I can, but I will still never be worthy enough.

It is only through Christ, in His holy living and sacrificial dying, that I am redeemed and able to act on the calling He has planned for my life. Fulton John Sheen says it this way, “God does not love us because we are valuable.  We are valuable because God loves us.”

 

Once we settle the issue of worthiness, we simultaneously settle the issue of identity.

When we know where our worth comes from, we look to God, rather than people, to determine who we are.  Because He is bigger, the cares of the world become smaller. What once was so important, feels insignificant.  His desires become ours, and we stand confidently under the umbrella of His protection. Our mistakes become less devastating, and our successes don’t define us. We stand tall knowing that Christ stands over us, beside us, and beside us.

It is in this freedom that we walk into our true identity.  Once that is established, our calling naturally comes out of the overflow of this discovery, and by God’s leading in our surrendered life.

Ephesians 1:13-14 says, “It’s in Christ that you, once you heard the truth and believed it (this Message of your salvation), found yourselves home free—signed, sealed, and delivered by the Holy Spirit. This signet from God is the first installment on what’s coming, a reminder that we’ll get everything God has planned for us, a praising and glorious life.”

God has a plan. And it’s glorious!

If you are struggling with finding your identity or worth in Christ, try a few of these suggestions:

1. Pray that God would take away your striving.  Ask Him to replace it with a deep desire to know Him.
2. Spend daily time in God’s word.  Knowing our creator is a key component to finding out who and whose we are. Even a few minutes in God’s word helps!
3. Whenever you are tempted to look to people for approval, pray and ask God for His approval instead.  Take the focus off of a person, and put it where it needs to be.
4. Allow grace to flow through your life.  Whether it is to ourselves or toward others, when we practice grace, we move toward Christ and His ways.

That appointment I missed?  Turns out she is a woman of grace and offered me a second chance.  Head held high, I sat before her knowing that indeed I was not worthy, but Christ is.  And that was all I needed.

For further encouragement, download You Are Worthy.

 

Link Up & Share

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{Option 1} Share Your Story: Link up to a post you’ve written about that reveals God transforming work in your life, but be sure to mention Transformed Tuesdays at More to Be in a link or use our button.

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