Why?? I have grown up in Christ this year ...
*I have learned the difference between shame and guilt. Shame says "I am something wrong," and guilt says, "I did something wrong." In Christ, shame is not of me. God met me with His eye contact and granted me His grace.
*I have learned that Christ doesn't desire to strengthen me, but to remind me that He is my Strength.
*I have grown in grace space. I am enough as I am. God made me, but didn't reduce me when He gave His Life to me and chose to live through me. I get to be Kristine with the Life of Christ - all of me and all of Him, because of Him.
*The beauty of the vessel is the contents it carries - Christ in Me and Through Me. I am hidden in Him and He lives in Me. (Colossians 3:3, Colossians 1:27).
*I have grown in ability to accept myself, as I am, not as I wish I was or wished I wasn't. God met me with His eye contact and granted me His grace.
*I have come to embrace the depth and freedom of true forgiveness....it isn't just reconciling ... it's recognizing the hurts that happened, accepting them, naming hurts, allowing Christ to pay the debt - a he intended his Death and Resurrection to, renouncing enemy's hold on the situation, and freeing the individual from future hurts. I found this to be so incredible in depth...
*I have come alive to true identity in Christ - it isn't any aspect of me doing, it's all state of being and me fundamentally in Christ.
*I can trust Christ more fully these days. God met me with His eye contact and granted me His grace.
*I see Him as Provider, Jehovah-Jireh (Genesis 22:12-14), and Advocate.
*I have heard His voice more sweetly and fully than ever before (John 10:27).
*I have let Him into areas that I didn't know I needed anything or anyone. I have been Romanced (Hosea 2:19).
*I have met the Woman at the well and she's my friend (John 4).
*I am learning that God has equipped and empowered me to Counseling and Discipleship in ways that I am embracing, AND still discovering. :)
*I am learning that I am loveable and worthy of Him, because of Him in me.
*Which means that I am learning to be vulnerable and open to community around me. Those who listen, care, and journey alongside me.
*I experienced Christ this year. I didn't just gain knowledge about Him or from Him.
*I am learning these days about the Lordship of Christ - that each aspect of my life and heart are enveloped in His Covering and Refuge.
*I am learning these days about discipline, New Testament Covenant kind, that helps me "live in obedience more today than yesterday, and more discipline tomorrow than today"
I am listening to my Lord, Friend, and Counselor.
I am grateful for this year's encounter with Christ. I am grateful for Choose to Invest, Nathanael and Kristin, for believing in me enough to support me through this year. I am grateful for friends who endured, enjoyed, listened, encouraged, and embraced me during this encounter - it was the thickest and most painful layer of the onion yet. I am grateful for new friends that I met on the Encounter.
God met me with His eye contact and granted me His grace.
I am grateful for Jesus. period.
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