Embrace the Unique You

I want to encourage you to fully EMBRACE who YOU are in Christ.

There are many beautiful women I’ve met over the years who have not embraced who they are in Christ for a variety of reasons.

• Some felt they weren’t smart enough for God to choose them
• Some felt they didn’t know the bible well enough to be effective
• Some compared themselves to others and found themselves lacking

God designed you with not only gifts and a calling, but a manner in which you will operate in that gift and calling (see 1 Corinthians 12:5-6).

For example, if God has called you to be a teacher, embrace the teacher inside you, the one He designed.  You should not try to teach like anyone else.

Or perhaps you’ve been called to be a prophet or to prophesy (on occasion).  Please don’t let the fact that you don’t prophesy like others stop you from being used by God.  The operation of your gifting will be different from someone else’s.  There are many prophets in the Bible, but they all operated differently as they had different messages from God to different people (or situations).

Paul serves as an example of this principle, as well.  Paul knew he was called to preach to the Gentiles while Peter was called to preach to the Jews (see Galatians 2:7-8).  Although their target audiences were different, their singular purpose was the same:  To preach salvation through Jesus Christ.

Be honest.  How many of you haven’t fully embraced your calling because you’re insecure about who you are in Christ?

Imagine how Paul must have felt when Jesus called him to be an apostle after he persecuted the church (Acts 8:3).  The apostles and other Christians were afraid of him.  They couldn’t believe he’d been called.  Paul could have let that hinder his ministry, but he didn’t.  Paul didn’t let any of that stop him.  He was obedient to the Lord and was used mightily to accomplish God’s plans (see Acts 9:21-22).

I want to encourage to do as Paul did.  I want you to lay aside any insecurities, doubts, and fears that are hindering you and let the Lord use you.  Say with Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am: and His grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain…,” (1 Corinthians 15:10a).

There’s an entire generation of people waiting on your ministry.

~Aretha