He's Still working on me...

...to make me what I ought to be.

"God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. He wants you to be just like Jesus. "
— Max Lucado

God has been working in my heart for some time now. I really can't put it into words. This is my feeble attempt to try. One area where I really have a problem is vanity. I don't mean to say that I am conceited, but rather that I obsess over my appearance...my nose isn't straight, my lip is crooked, my boobs are too small, my stomach isn't flat enough, my thighs are disproportional to the rest of my body, etc. (these are all actual things that I think about on a regular basis) What a waste of my mind and time! I looked up the word vain, and it actually means having no real value! And these things that I spend so much of my time worrying about and obsessing over, have no real value. So I am making great effort to not focus on these valueless things quite so much, and to focus on things that really matter. Just as importantly, it is my goal to stop basing my identity on temporary things, such as my appearance, or even my intelligence or abilities, but instead, to base my identity on who I am in Christ. God has been working in my life and speaking very directly to me in this area. Just today, a read a book review, that so eloquently expressed what God is doing in my heart, I had to share a little bit of it with you.

"I found myself thinking about the ways I’m tempted to base my identity in temporary things. Perhaps this is a statement of my own weak faith, but I’m aware that at a deep level I base my self-concept on being smart, on being able to do a lot of things well and quickly, on being a mother. If any of these things were removed, to be honest, I would struggle tremendously to find meaning and purpose and regain my sense of myself. This is troubling because, of course, any of those things could disappear in a flash."

"I wound up thinking about how my faith provides an identity that can’t be lost or taken away. At times when my temporal identity has been challenged, I have drawn strength from my spiritual identity, but I was convicted while reading this book that I shouldn’t use my faith as a fallback, but rather that ought to be my primary identity all the time. "

" It strikes me now that when I truly have a primary focus on who I am spiritually, I am free to enjoy and be grateful for my identity as a smart person, a capable person, and a mother without relying on those things. I am free to hold those blessings lightly."

I am very excited about the changes that are taking place in my heart. I know that as God is doing work in me, He will be able to do more through me!

You can read the entire book review over at A Spirited Mind