One of our Licensed Facilitators forwarded an email to us today saying, “You’ve got to read this!!!” As Tom and I poured over the words quoted below – we knew it was exactly what happens when people seek God through the process outlined in our workbook, “Identity and Destiny – 7 steps to a Purpose-filled Life”.
Thousands around the world have purchased our book seeking answers to the questions – Who am I? – Why am I here? and What Does God want me to do with what I’ve been given?
Through their journey of life purpose discovery, they not only answer those questions with profound clarity and certainty – they also spend time getting to know their Creator in a deeper and more personal way.
4 critical truths emerge:
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You are OK just the way God made you – now run with it!!!
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No more comparisons, pretending or imitating necessary.
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There is purpose in your pain and hope in the hard places.
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God wants to use you – not in spite of your pain – but because of it!
Check out the workbook at http://identityanddestiny.com/home/buy-the-book/
Now…keep reading and you will see why we knew it was important to share this message in today’s blog post:
As they wrestled together, the angel of the Lord asked Jacob, “What is your name?” He answered, “Jacob.” Then the angel said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, which means deceiver, but Israel, which means ‘a prince with God’, because you have struggled…and have overcome” (See Ge 32:27-28). God forced Jacob to look at his true identity. He wrestled him into a revelation of who he was—not who others said he was. His parents gave him his name and others called him by it, so he believed that’s who he’d always be. But God had a different plan for him.
Hear this: you are not who others say you are. Why should they name you? Determine who you are before God. Let Him determine the level of your success. Why should others be allowed to live at their highest potential but not you?
You are more than your past, more than your education or résumé, more than the color of your skin, more than your bank account, and more than your circumstances. Tell those who talk down to you and devalue you, “You’re confusing me with somebody else. God says I am a prince. And if I’m a prince, then I have the right to be treated like one!”
You ask, “But is that true?” Yes, the Bible says that when you walk with God you are part of a royal priesthood (1Pe 2:9). You are an overcomer (1Jn 2:13-14). You are the head and not the tail, above and not beneath (Dt 28:13-14). So dry your tears, lift your head, square your shoulders and begin walking in your God-given identity. (from Pastor J Franklin)
I LOVE this ~ what a blessed & wonderful truth it is!
Nobody can tell a person who they are, OR who they “should” be….other than our God who created each of us in a unique and special way!
The enemy, our family’s, friends, society and the world may try to tell us, or try make us be someone other than who we were created to be, and if we do not know the Truth of God, it is easy to succumb to those messages and lies!
Sadly, I lived most of my life truly struggling to survive as a person who I was not naturally made to be. And let me say from experience, how hard it was to live that way, and to find enjoyment or fulfillment in life! Living as someone I was not, eventually led me into the black darkness of a consuming, disastrous lifestyle. As I hid in that place, embarrassed & shamed of who I “thought” I was, I was rescued by the Holy Spirit and led into the Truth in God’s word. There I found the hand of Jesus reaching for me to show me the way out into a freedom I had never had before.
By the grace of God, I have discovered my real authentic self as I have worked through my recovery from anorexia. And as a huge added bonus, I “found” (by God’s guidance of course), Tom & Pam’s I & D, 7 Steps to Purpose program and as I have worked though this, God has revealed more wonderful things to me about who HE created me to be! I give praise the Lord for all of His work in my life!
Hi Jen – Your words and your story are sure to touch many lives! All praise the the Father as you begin your training to be one of our Identity and Destiny Licensed Facilitators. We are blessed and honored to have you joining us in this important work of the Lord. God bless!!!
Thanks so much!!
Erin and I are very excited to begin the training next week, and to belong to the I & D community! It will be good….Blessings to you!