Am I Stubborn? Or Determined?
This week, I was told I was blessed to be stubborn, which is a viewpoint I have never had. Believe it or not, no one has ever complimented me on being stubborn! I am resistant when confronted, and not easily moved. My defiance is not malicious, I just tend not to take “no” for an answer unless I have tried it all myself. I am resolute in the things that I believe to be true, and am not likely to take another person’s word for something that I haven’t proven for myself. My boundaries are pretty strong now, and I consult Holy Spirit for direction more often than people. In my relationships, I place an incredibly high value on honesty and communication, and my level of trust in a person corresponds to their ability to do those things. I’m pretty sure that I’m physically unable to tell a lie because of any intense conviction I might feel even when thinking about it, and I am a bit naive to think that people are generally good deep down unless God or the person shows me otherwise.
Am I Naive? Or Optimistic?
I remember these traits as they were developing in me as a small child, which affirms to me that I am being true to who I was created to be at this point in my life. That wasn’t always the case, though, because I thought each of those characteristics were wrong, and they made me feel like I didn’t belong. I want to encourage you if you are being told by others that some aspects of your core personality are too much or not enough, or simply misguided. God made you to be very unique, with special talents, character traits, physical characteristics, strengths and weaknesses, and God DOES NOT create humans by mistake or with mistakes. Everything is intentional in all of creation, so don’t believe for one moment that you were not intentionally designed.
Am I a Misfit? Or Intentionally Designed for the Kingdom of God?
If I had managed to only believe what I knew that God thought about me rather than listening to the humans around me who either didn’t know any better or were deliberately trying to change me into someone I was not, then I would have had a pretty easy life. Likely, that’s true for most people, because I can’t imagine that the humans you have interacted with throughout this life are significantly different. If you’ve been dismayed by human voices around you, welcome to the club! Jesus didn’t fit in anywhere either, remember? So welcome to the Jesus Club! It’s due time that we band together with one another, heal some of our trauma wounds, and start making the voice of the Truth of God the loudest in the room!
What does God say? Why would we listen to anyone else?
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?” God’s Spirit touches our spirits and confirms who we really are. We know who he is, and we know who we are: Father and children. And we know we are going to get what’s coming to us—an unbelievable inheritance! We go through exactly what Christ goes through. If we go through the hard times with him, then we’re certainly going to go through the good times with him! – Romans 8:15-17 MSG