Finding Me.

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is our life, is revealed,

then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.…

Col 3:3-4

It has been a while since I have fired up the QT blog.  After  the story of Esther's release it felt strange to add anything beyond that and so, I let it sit.  Now, just a bit over six months later I think it is time for me to continue. Esther, she is doing so wonderfully.  She is growing and learning and has a reputation of being a little fashionista. I received a picture of her the other day and she had at least six bright plastic rings on her fingers and even more clips in her hair.  She is funny and joy filled.  Just to think where she was this time last year still stings my heart but at the same time drives me to my knees in thanksgiving to God for the miracle of her life.  But even more than that, while God allowed me to participate in the finding of Esther,  she got to participate in finding of  me.  Not that I was lost in the sense that most people might think, but I believe that there was treasure hidden inside me that I never knew existed.  The journey that ended in Esther's release required a dependence upon God like I have never known before.  There were days that we knew unless He moved, we were helpless.  I learned a minute by minute intimacy with Him and this is where I learned the most about me.  I found strength and resolve, love and compassion, patience, that was a real surprise, and courage beyond the measures I thought capable.  In Christ,  I found the me He always planned for me to be. Sounds like a song I know, maybe even a bit cheesy, but it is so true.  There has always been a me that God sees even when I cannot.  It is this me that He makes plans for that are good and that will bring a future and a hope.  It is this me that he calls and sends out with the Good News because He knows the me He always intended me to be is perfectly suited to every task He has planned.  This me is the one that I find in Christ.  I don't find it in the daily practices of religion or in anything I can accomplish on my own.  What I find there is the best I can be but it is not the me He sees.   That me is  the one He says He knew before I ever took a breath.  The one He says can do all things through him.  The one who can do greater things than He even did.  The one He calls His friend and His bride. As I seek  Him and find Him revealed in my life, I find me in the revelation of Him.  
He is planted in my heart and I am hidden in His.

Love from home,

Julie

The testimony of our lives leaves a track in the lives of others.  - Quail Tracks