"Becoming Who You Are"

Hey Everyone!! Welcome to this week's posting...I was reading this article today written by our Pastor, Leon Fontaine. I loved it so much, I just had to share it with you!! Enjoy!!!

BECOMING WHO YOU ARE!

Released: Nov 09, 2008

Everyone wants to feel important and worthwhile.

It’s a basic human desire to want self-worth and a positive self-esteem, to know we’re important, our contributions are significant and we are needed by others.

But many people have the wrong idea about where self-worth comes from. They think it is obtained through achievement or accolades without realizing it already lies within them.

For no other reason than because you are who you are, God loves you and has deemed you to be worthy and dignified. Lasting self-worth simply comes from having a personal relationship with Jesus and knowing He loves you and made you worthy. In doing so, you’re off to the best start, but when you take it one step further by modeling yourself after Him and striving to do amazing things for Him, you’ll rise up to achieve an extraordinary destiny. In challenging yourself to be your best for Jesus, you’ll be filled with self-worth that isn’t contingent on any other factor than being who you are through Him.

Here are a few more keys to developing self worth:

1. Understand your greatest need, after Jesus, is having self-worth. When you feel good about yourself and feel God’s love in your life, you’ll be able to overcome every obstacle in your path and use challenges as stepping stones to a higher level. Feeling good about yourself is important, so look to Jesus to help you become your best.

2. Desire is a powerful force that can help or hinder you. It’s okay to desire great things for your life – like a fantastic marriage, awesome career and enough money in the bank to pay your bills, travel or do other fun things. In fact, God has planted desires in your heart and wants you to go after your dreams. But He wants you to use wisdom when chasing your dreams and to remember that fulfilling them is not the key to lasting self-worth. Don’t fall in the trap of chasing after a title or status or any other superficial means to achieve self-worth, otherwise you’ll be left feeling empty and unfulfilled.

3. Your destiny is in who you are, not in what you do. It’s not as important to focus on what you want to do, as it is to focus on who you want to be. Determine the type of person you want to be and ask Jesus to help you become that person. Your desires, goals and dreams will fall into place more easily once you’ve become the person you were meant to be through Jesus. Being a courageous leader, an awesome parent or spouse or a world class entrepreneur, will happen automatically. In other words, model yourself after Jesus and become the amazing person He created you to be and your destiny will fall into place. Remember, the way to really change is to believe in who you are and then grow into all God intends.

Jeremiah 29:11

Jerimiah 29:11 - "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

God is not someone who leaves us here on this earth with all this 100% original potential - without some kind of a plan. Have you ever thought about that?
Have you ever made something just so that it could sit there and not be enjoyed? Would you ever make a beautiful, cheesey grilled cheese, filled with perfectly crisp bacon...just to sit it on the counter and not let anyone enjoy it, and to let the grilled cheese figure out its purpose on its own?!? NO WAY!! Not possible! It will never reach its potential to be nutritional in your body, and to taste oooohhh so good on its own. You made it with a plan!
We are so so so much more complex and have so much more potential locked inside of us than a grilled cheese sandwich! To fulfill our purpose, why should we think that we can just figure it out on our own and execute it without any help from our creator? WE CAN'T!! Just like the sandwich needs its creator to help it fulfill what it was designed to do, (to be eaten!) we also need our Creator to reach our full potential. Without our Creator, we just look pretty "sitting on the counter" and people look at you and think, "Wow! Look how much they have accomplished! They have made it out of the frying pan and onto the plate with some ranch sauce beside them! They are set!! They have arrived!!" But in actuality, we have done nothing to reach our true potential. Sometimes, we even look at other people who seem like they have arrived, look "finished" and appear to have a great life and have it all together. But really, they have not even begun to touch what they were created to do; to build, strengthen, and give life and energy into the church! What are we supposed to do with our skills? Strengthen the body, bring people to Christ and grow his church!! We need to realize that there is more to life then the frying pan or sitting on the counter - waiting to grow mouldy and be thrown out!! Never be satisfied with where you are. God always has more and more plans for you - more then you could ever hope, dare to dream or even imagine!! His plans will blow you away!! Don't watch other people living their potential wishing you could do the same. God has something in store for you that only you are uniquely and divinely designed for!! Get off the "counter"!!