Let's Start at the Very Beginning- Part 2

In order to answer these questions, I turned to the worn pages of my Bible- for I have come to know them as the only true lamp to my feet and light to my path. As some of you know, I am one of those crazy people who believes these to be the very words of God, and have found them to consistently reveal what I understand to be God’s truth and love. As an unsatisfied young woman looking for comfort, I turned to these pages once again seeking the hope and promise of something more than what this world seemed to be offering me.

What I found in these pages was not what I was expecting. I suppose I expected to be advised to consider my gifts, my talents, and my passions in order to pursue what God had planned for my life. Surely God’s plan for me would be based on the specific gifts, talents, and passions He gave me, right? While I do think God gave me these things for a purpose, I came to realize that I was looking at this situation from the wrong vantage point. I was looking at my life and asking what I wanted to do, what I was passionate about , how I was to accomplish my dreams, when I found the Bible compelling me to consider what does God want, what is He passionate about, how would He accomplish through me His plans of redemption on the earth.

I became deeply convicted that I had been living my life according to my own selfish desires and longings for comfort and ease, and therefore began to pray that God would change my heart and mind. I found myself coming again and again to the verse Galatians 2:20, and wondering what it really meant-

“For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Although I had identified myself as a follower of Jesus for several years, I came to find this verse very un-descriptive of my life. As a Christian, I am called to surrender and sacrifice everything so that Jesus Christ, Himself can live through me. And as I came to understand this, it brought up a whole new set of questions: what does it look like for me to surrender, what does it mean for Jesus to live through me, how would my life be transformed if this were so?