Honestly,

the last chapter of my journey at Marquette has begun and I cannot believe it because it feels like yesterday things had just begun here. The last few months I have spent time reflecting on my time here and the legacy I'd like to leave. Quickly, I started comparing my experiences to others and rating my success on some handcrafted scale. Slowly, by the grace of the Lord, it became clear to me that I want my legacy to lead people to Christ, not myself. I don't want people worshipping me in five, ten, fifteen years, I want people to know and experience the love, grace, mercy, and kindness of our Heavenly Father.

I have felt bound by conformity my entirely life. I grew up not really speaking. I rarely could come up with ideas and thoughts on my own and felt as if, even if I did have an idea, it would be refuted because it wasn't worth anything to anybody. I never really developed my own likes, I liked what other people did so that I would be accepted, I wore what other people wore to gain acceptance, I talked like other people to win the approval of them. I didn't want to make my own decisions because of the fear of rejection. I valued so much the validation of others in anything that I was doing and when it didn't come, I either conformed or I was devastated for weeks, months, years!

It has taken me this long to realize that my identity is in Christ and He made me unique and special for His purposes. Sometimes though, even as a Christian, I feel myself conforming to what has become of the Christian culture, looking the part, but not really living it or at least not understanding who I am as a Christian, a unique individual made in the image of Christ. He says that I am forgiven, holy, blameless, righteous, secure, accepted, loved, significant, adopted, free, protected, and used by Him. If you are a child of God, you are all of these things! When I seek God and learn more about who He says that I am, I notice the unique gifts I have to serve God. When He makes me whole, I can see how He can use me more clearly.

Because God did not create us all to be the same. He says in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 that if the whole body was an eye, where would the sense of hearing be. This meaning that the body is made up of many parts; that each has their own function, hands touch, ears hear, mouth tastes, etc. These parts together allow the body to grow and develop. An eye cannot be an ear and and an ear does not become a hand. We each have a specific function, that is unlike any other person. That is how God created each of us. But honestly, I didn't know that in my heart until last summer!  

We are sinful by nature, so by no means am I saying that we should not seek to become more like Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit, but additionally, that we should seek to know God so that we can begin to understand who He has created us to be so that we will be able to serve and grow His kingdom for His glory.

Who did God create you to be? A unique worshipper of Himself. He delights in YOU because of who YOU are, not what you've done or accomplished, but inside, who He made you to be! He loves His children so much! And He wants to use those unique gifts, but first will you allow Him into the depths of your heart to reveal those special talents He has given you? Will you allow the Holy Spirit to transform you into the likeness of Christ? In the name of Jesus, I pray that God would give you a desire and by the guidance of His Spirit, reveal to you your identity in Him for the glory of His Kingdom! Amen!