Sunday, April 24, 2016

Who am I?


Last night I was challenged to answer to the question "Who am I?" I have been meditating on that question since I opened my eyes this morning.  

As I ran down the different hats I wear in this life, the list became rather long...
I am a wife, mother and grandmother.
I am a writer and a sewist.
I am a minister, an evangelist and a teacher.
I am a woman who cares for the poor and destitute and will fight for the underdogs.  
I am a lover of people, all people as all life matters!
I am a hard worker, a baby sitter, a professional paper pusher, a fact finder, mediator, and other items I get paid to do at my job.

However all of those things are things I do and doesn't answer the question of who I am.  I had already gone through all of this when I was having my identity crisis last year when I wrote my article "Identity".  

None of that answered Who AM I?

As I was laying there meditating on that question as a visual came to mind of a song in which God spoke to me in church one Sunday during worship.  The lyrics just had me picturing a person unraveling...and words and visuals just kept popping into my head without structure so bear with me as I try to explain what I saw and felt.

During the worship song there was a line that we sang, “You unravel me with a melody you surround me with Your song…”

I saw a person that was unraveling at the foot like a sweater…

Words of the song were just floating through my mind:
Bye Bye Fear
Love has called my name
No longer a slave to fear
You split the seas so I could walk right through it
Fears drowned me in perfect love

Words became sentences that became visual and were given life:
Unravel me, flesh me is unraveling for the spirit man to thrive.  Chains that had us bound can’t hold on to our spirit man.  Once the flesh man is unraveled, fear that is woven into our being is unraveled; all negativity can’t stay with nothing to hang on to.  The chains, the fears, (anything not of God) just slides off as we continue to be unravel.   

Unravel me, flesh me is unraveling for the spirit man to thrive.  The Holy Spirit covers me like a blanket with the song of songs – God’s perfect melody.

The covering of God starts with praise, from the heart of the spirit, God’s melody brings so much of the Father’s love that fear and negativity are drowned out with His love.  Love has called my name…Love called ME.  God is LOVE…GOD called ME.  God LOVES ME!  

I am a child of God...I AM A CHILD OF GOD!

Yes, I am a child of God.  That is my answer!  I am a child of God, first and foremost.  Everything else about me is a result of who I am, I am a child of God.  I know who I am!  

Without God I am nothing but what I do.  I want an ACTS CHAPTER 2 life.  Without God, life is just a life of acts.  Without God, Joela is nothing.  With God, Joela is whatever He made her to be.  

I know that I was created on purpose for a purpose.  The desires that are woven into my DNA were put there by my Creator.  

He designed me to have the passions that I have and to live out those passions to the fullest.  

He designed me to be who I am.  

He designed me to be His child and know that He is my Father that loves me.  That is what I was created for. 

I am not being arrogant.  What I have is more than confidence, it is GODfidence.  I know who I am.  I am His child and He is my Abba Father, my Daddy, my Papa God.  He is a Good, Good Father, it is who He is.  Isn't that AWESOME?!?!

Knowing who I am and knowing Whom I belong to helps me build that relationship with Him so that I can grow in Him.  As I grow in Him I learn to be obedient to what He asks of me.  The more I am obedient, I discover more of what He has destined for me.  

It is an ever growing process, that will continue over my life on this earth.  Our lives are ever evolving as we continue through this life with God.  

By being a child of God, all the rest falls into place.  Isn't that great?!?!  How easy is that?  Being who we are, starts by knowing who we belong to. 

We are children of God!  He loves us, even with all our faults, HE LOVES US.

As I end this, I pray that you know Who you belong to and that you walk in His love and obedience.   I pray that you grow in Him and His plan for your life.  It is a pretty great life knowing that God loves you and that YOU ARE A CHILD OF GOD.

Until Next Time, God Bless!

Note:  Song referenced was by Bethel Music entitled, "No Longer Slaves".