Identiy lost Identify found

I sat in a coffee shop a few weeks back with a friend.  It was my first night out without the baby or my husband in what feels like a very long time.  I was pumped.  A Saturday night all to myself?  A Saturday night to just sit in a coffee shop, sip my decaf coffee and not worry about having to rush because the baby needed to be fed or had to get to bed.  Wonderful!

And in a lot of ways it was wonderful.  I got to catch up with my friend.  I got to enjoy an entire cup of coffee uninterrupted (and if you are a coffee drinking mom you know just how wonderful that is).  I got to be outside of my house.  

Then there was the part that was not so wonderful.  The part I am still struggling with.  Identity.  As I sat in this cute coffee shop I looked at my friend.  She sat across from me sporting really, really cute patent, gray heels, a black sweater, mustard scarf and jeans.  She was wearing heels on a Saturday night.  And she had the most beautiful gray leather Nine West bag.  She looked fabulous.  She looked so put together.  

I don't remember what I was wearing, but when I left my house I knew it was a step up from the yoga pants and t-shirt I had worn that day so I was feeling good.  But something happened as I sat across from my beautiful friend as we talked about her job and how it was going.  I started to feel lost.  I was always the girl with the cute shoes.  I was always the girl with the new, cute bag that I got for a killer bargain.  I was the girl...

So, if I was that girl, who am I now?  Who am I now that I can't afford new shoes or a cute handbag, even if it was a killer bargain?  Who am I now that I don't wear heels.  Like, ever.  Who am I now that I don't even know what the latest trends are (except I do know this whole ugly tights style with normal length shirts is in, and I'm sorry, I just can't get on board.  I could go on an entire rant, but maybe that will be an entire post).  Who am I?

I think that entering different life stages, especially motherhood, has a way of bringing us to an identity crisis.  For what seemed like a really long time I was a college student.  Then I graduated.  That was a tough identity crisis transition.  I worked for a few years with high school kids.  That job ended and I didn't know what to do with my life because for two years I was the girl who worked with high school kids.  

Here's what I'm learning and in no way have fully grasped- I can say until I'm blue in the face that my identity is in Christ, but if I sit in a coffee shop and wrestle with who I am because my shoes aren't cute than I do not fully believe my identity is in Christ and I need to continue to learn who I am in Him.  I know in my head who I am in Him.  I know what the Bible says about who I am.  But I am not believing it.

So, I want to post a video I watched today that my friend shared on Facebook.  I hope that it encourages you the way it encouraged me.  And I hope today, whether you have the cutest shoes, or you, like me, are wearing your worn out, old, stinky running sneakers that you would know that you, sweet reader, are so much more.  I hope today, we (yep, I'm writing this for me, too) believe we are who God says we are and we stop limiting our identity to what we wear, what we've grown up believing about ourselves, and/or what others say we are.

You are loved.  You are created in God's image to be loved and to be known by Him.  And trust me on this one, He's so much more than an amazing pair of shoes or a handbag.  And we're created for more than cute shoes and name brand handbags. 

Message to All Women  Click that link to watch the video!!

Hello Monday!

I've been following this blog http://www.lisaleonardonline.com/blog/ by Lisa Leonard for a while. I absolutely LOVE her jewelry.  I have received two pieces (the Mama necklace and the Love is my Anchor necklace) as gifts and they are perfect- meaningful, beautiful, fun to wear!

Apparently the dog crate is the new exciting thing!

So today I decided to link up and say Hello the way Lisa does every Monday.  Let's go!

Hello Weight Watchers!  I missed not having a meeting last week because it was Labor day!

Hello 49.2 pounds- which is what I've currently lost.  Holla!

Hello starting up working out again after a little summer hiatus.  Jillian Michaels,  you always kick me into shape in the best way!

Hello napping baby, which is why I have time to sit and write this!

Hello warmer weather- could it be the last warm up before fall?

Hello cleaning my kitchen and cooking dinners- there is something about the structure of Autumn that I absolutely love and is motivating to me!

Hello Sully's first haircut!  Given by my mother in law- he looks so grown up even though there wasn't much to trim off.

Hello trip to Rochester to visit my grandma and hopefully my first trip to Trader Joe's!

Hello trying to be more consistent blogging- let's see how this goes.  

How about you?  What are you saying Hello to this week?  

Trade it

Do you want to know how God taught me a truth the other day?  C'mon, you do, don't you?  If you are thinking it was during some quiet, serene, peace filled moment, you are wrong.

If you are thinking it was when my one year old threw a temper tantrum over an empty sippy cup, then I would have to ask if you are stalking me, because you are right on!  Go you.  But stop stalking me.  Not cool.

On the floor was an empty sippy cup.  It had previously been filled with water that Sully had finished.  He was playing on the floor and came across the sippy.  He picked it up and was trying to drink it.  It was empty.  

I see this.  I go and fill a new sippy cup with milk and I try to hand that to him.  He then throws a temper tantrum because he does not want to give up the empty sippy cup.  Did I mention that it was empty?  I tried to take away the empty cup to hand him the full cup.  He didn't want it and he threw a temper tantrum complete with rolling on the floor.

It's silly, isn't it?  But I do the same thing.  There have been and there are so many things in my life that just don't satisfy my soul.  They are empty and they leave me empty.  But I fight to keep them.  I turn to them to fill me (eating, shopping, vacations, security this side of heaven, trying to keep up with Jonses' even though I don't even know who they are).  They don't fill me.  They never will.  

And God, who created me with a hole meant just for Him, stands before me, offering me all I ever need, offering all that will satisfy my thirsty soul, and I see Him.  But I cling to my empty cup.  

All Sully wanted was something to drink.  And as his mom I was offering him something good- milk that will satisfy his thirst and nourish his body.  It's not that I wanted to deprive him of something good, it's that compared to what I had, what he held in his hands just wasn't that good.  In fact, what he held in his chubby little fingers didn't even compare!  

 My cup is empty.  Whatever I try to fill myself with other than the Lord; His truth, His word, His love, does not even compare.  But when I let go and when I surrender my empty cup to Jesus, He fills me.  My cup overflows in the best possible way.  

One day I will stand before the Lord of the universe, and the truth is, the empty sippy cups I hold in my hands will look even more empty compared to Him.  I don't want to waste this life holding an empty cup.  

If you've ever clung to an empty cup, or are clinging, here is the good news.  You didn't miss your chance to trade it.  The Lord, in all His mercy, in all His love, wants to trade you.  He wants to take your empty cup and fill you up with His love and His grace.  He did all the work.  You just need to open your hands to receive it.  He loves you.  God is crazy about you. And what He wants you to have, a relationship with Him, will fill your soul like nothing else, and probably knock your socks off, too!  

Thanks for stopping by today!  Here's to cups that overflow!

Danielle