The Goal is NOT Perfection

I know that I'm not alone in my ongoing struggle to want to be perfect. From the time I was a little girl, I wanted things to be "just so." I had pictures in my head and my heart of what my life would look like when I "grew up" - the kind of house I would live in, what my family would look like, the lifestyle we would share. It's funny how, even though I don't remember a time when Christ wasn't a part of my life, He wasn't in/on the list of things that the "younger Jen" dreamt of.

It never ceases to amaze and impact me how God uses a conversation, a book, a verse of scripture to remind you who you are, whose you are, and what is really important.

There are always going to be parts of my heart that I try to hold back, that are full of sin, and need forgiveness. No matter how hard I try, I am unable on my own to be the person that God has designed me to be.

This morning as Olivia and I were having some quiet time, we prayed and asked God to show us what He wanted us to read. We closed our eyes, opened the Bible, and put our finger down.

Luke 18:27 - "Jesus replied, 'What is impossible with men is possible with God.'"

A special friend gave me a book a few months ago that I kept looking at but hadn't gotten around to reading past the first day. Today, here is what I read:

"The goal is not perfection. It's simply to be in an intimate relationship with Christ each day, fully embrace who he created us to be, and seek to fulfill the purpose he has for us. He is our greatest strength - and the One who enables us to live out all the other strengths he's placed within us.

Hey you...
The one wondering if you've got strengths.
You do.
The one questioning if God really even wants to use you.
He does.
You've got gifts to offer the world.
Things that are good and right and true.
No one else can make a difference like you can.
Like you already do.
Dare to believe it.
Dare to receive it.
Stand tall, be strong, just go out there and be you in your own wonderful way.
Today."
(from "You're Already Awesome" by Holly Gerth)

There are oh so many parts of my heart and my life that I need to work on. But I know that as I seek to dare to draw closer to the One who has more for me, the One who has designed a better life for me than I can ever imagine, that he, and others he puts in my life, will work to refine and heal them.

No matter how hard I try, I will never be perfect. But I can be with the One who is. So can you.