I don’t know about you, but I grew up pretty quick. And, what I’m finding out about growing up too fast, is that it catches up with you. At least, for a lot of people it does. You suddenly find yourself, all grown up – literally, and you have all this luggage that you’ve been dragging around with you, and you’re like, “HOW DO I GET RID OF THIS??”

At least, that’s what happened to me. All my luggage came tumbling down on me, around me, popped open and burst all over the floor, and the walls. And suddenly, as I looked around, I realized, there was no way you could a) keep carrying this around forever or b)possibly fit all this stuff back in (nor should you.) As I’ve found out, God doesn’t want you to carry it all around, He wants to help you get rid of it. He wants to dig all that nasty garbage out and throw it out! And, then, fill you with the good stuff of God instead.

So, part of my journey, has required that I go wayyyyy back. In fact, all the way back to the beginning. And, with that journey back, I realized. I don’t know WHO I am. Like, as person. I have been going at Mach 5 for so long, and re-acting to everything happening in my life, I haven’t really ever taken the time to understand, WHO I am. Which, to be honest, in your mid-thirties, is a little disconcerting. Feels like I’m a little late to the game, but as always, my rose-colored glasses remind me that, better late than never. And, as I let this realization sink in, of course, it instigates the quest to discover – Who I am. Who Am I? What do I like? What defines me? And, thank God, that I have cultivated this relationship enough to understand, that the best place to look to figure out who I am, is in the Bible. Because – you don’t ask the creation what it is, you ask the Creator. And, God, has a lot to say about who we are. I’m going to unpack those things with you, over the coming weeks.

The first one, I wanted to focus on, was “I am Beloved.” I wanted to start here, because I know God is love. And, I know, that He tells me, I am Beloved.

Beloved – clearly defined – is an adjective. It means “dearly loved”. As a noun, “A much loved person.”

So, here, just getting started – it’s not just someone who is loved. But dearly loved. Very much loved. Here is our Father, doing more than we can ask or imagine, again.

All emphasis below, is mine. Let’s look through what the Bible has to say to the beloved.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

John 13:34

“Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him,
    for he shields him all day long,
    and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders.”

Deuteronomy 33:12

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. ¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:7,9-12,18-19

¹² Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. ¹³ Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. ¹⁴ And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.

¹⁵ Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 3:12-15

¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3:17-19

⁶ You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷ Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. ⁸ But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

⁹ Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him! ¹⁰ For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! ¹¹ Not only is this so, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Romans 5:6-11

¹⁹ “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. ²⁰ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. ²¹ I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

Galatians 2:19-21

¹ Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children ² and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Ephesians 5:1-2

⁹ “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. ¹¹ I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ¹² My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ¹³ Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴ You are my friends if you do what I command. ¹⁵ I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. ¹⁶ You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. ¹⁷ This is my command: Love each other.

John 15:9-17

Through all these verses, we can see the emphasis, that God so loved us, that He sent His Son to die for us. That’s extreme love. Dearly loved. Beloved. We are the Beloved.

I heard a saying years ago, that’s always stuck in my heart, and reminds me constantly of how personal the Bible is for me. How personal my relationship with my Savior is for me.

Even if, you were the only person on the earth, God still would’ve sent His Son to die, just for you.

unknown, potentially St. Augustine or C.S. Lewis

I really like to think about it that way, not to elevate myself, but to magnify God’s love. That He would’ve done it anyway, even if it was just for me. That’s how much God loves us. That’s how much we mean to Him. He cares specifically for each of us.

 ⁶ Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. ⁷ Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows…

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. ²³ For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. ²⁴ Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! ²⁵ Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? ²⁶ Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

Luke 12:6-7; 22-26

He knows the very hairs on your head. And, how much more valuable are you, than the ravens, and the sparrows, and the wildflowers? That He would die for you, to have a relationship with YOU.

Let’s Pray

Dear Father God, thank you! Thank you for your blessings today, and every day. Thank you for loving us. Thank you for loving us more than we could comprehend or imagine. For being the God of more than enough. That although, we may have gone through life, not fully understanding or experiencing love through those around us, that you have shown us Your love by sending Your Son to die for us. That You want to have a personal relationship with us. That You can love us better than anyone, and that you can show us how to love. How to love others, how to love ourselves, and it’s all through the love that you’ve already demonstrated. Love that you wish for us to experience each and every day, in a personal way. That you enter in, and heal us from the inside out. That you are blessing us, Father God. Thank you, for being Love. Thank you for your example, and your never-ending fount of all the good things. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!

Most of the time, people start looking forward at the New Year. And many times, there’s the adage, “New Year, New You”. But as our family sat together and watched the ball drop this year, my son posed the question, “Why do people care so much about the New Year?” And of course, my husband and I explained that most people do exactly what I just described, they’re making resolutions, they’re putting the past behind them, they’re forging ahead, and making another New version of themselves.

But, I quickly added, “You don’t have to wait for the New Year, to change something about yourself.”

So, over the last couple weeks, I have been in this state of transition. But, I feel, that transitions are truly effective, when you really take into consideration – the past. Where have you been, doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with where you’re going… but for some reason, it seems really important to me to keep it in scope.

2022 for me, was a year of wilderness, of wandering around with God, wondering, “What are we doing?” “Where are we going?” “How long is it going to take to get there… wherever there is…” It was also a year of substantial growth. Sometimes, it seems that in the quiet of the wilderness, is where some of the most interesting growth happens. Growth, you didn’t know you needed.

And, as I write this to you, I’m also reminded that several times in the Bible, Jesus and the Apostles refer to the way it was, and to the fact that it was about to change. But the change would be a good thing. The ways of the past were gone, and a new Kingdom was coming. They discussed in Hebrews 10, how sacrifice was the old way, but Jesus Christ had made a new way.

The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. ² Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. ³ But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. ⁴ It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”

Hebrews 10:1-7

Here is perfect example, of looking back, to move forward.

It was interesting – at the beginning of 2022, I wrote down some very open goals for the year. By open, I mean, like “I want to read more.” Not – I’m going to read 10 books this year. Just like, these general broad-scope goals. And, in the last couple weeks, I realized, I had accomplished all of them. Now, this year, I’m challenging myself to give them more detail (Like, I want to read 20 books this year.)

Understanding where we’ve been, to help encourage us to define where we want to go.

I have also spent the last several weeks, trying to understand the growth that has occurred. Occurred within me as a person, and in my relationship with Jesus. What does that mean for the future? What are we doing next?

I am also in this deep dive of what my identity is, in Christ. Maybe, gaining a better understanding of who I am, because of what He says, will help clarify where we’re going.

As you could maybe tell, I didn’t have a clear outline, as I sat down here today, but I do know that I miss you. I miss spending this time together, and it has been pressing on my heart. And of course, as I bargained with God, telling him that I would sit down for my blog, if I had time, as always, His response was, “what else are you doing with your time?” What could be more important than reaching out here? That even though sometimes, I have no real concept of what we’re going to discuss, it never fails that words flow from my fingertips and here we are. That this year, I truly feel, there’s something here. That this blog is important, and it’s never stopped being important, and I need to get it back on my list where it belongs.

I can tell you, that I’ve spent more time than ever this past year, trying to understand where I’ve been. That I’ve tried to be open, and curious about how I’ve come to where I am. That I’m excited for the future, and all the incredible possibilities it holds. That, just before sitting down here, I went through all my answered prayers for 2022, and found that I had 98 tangible, answered prayers. That comes out to at least 1 answered prayer, every 4 days. That’s INCREDIBLE!! God is absolutely moving in my life, and yours.

I guess, I’m here today, to show you where I’m at, and maybe challenge you to consider the same. To look behind you, and see where you’ve been, and then decide, “Where are you going?” Is this the year, that you make A goal? Is this the year, that you challenge yourself to wander in the wilderness a while? Is this the year, that you finally do that one thing you’ve been waiting for? The year, that you dedicate more time to Jesus? The Year, that you realign your sails because you’ve been drifting? Ask God to help you? What’s on His Heart for your life?

Let’s Pray

Dear Heavenly Father, I know that we can pick any day of the week to start anew. That You are always there, and always waiting for us, wherever we’re at. That you can guide us through anything Father God, and that You have good plans for our lives. I pray that you reveal these things to us. That you put it on our hearts and minds to do Your will. That You guide our steps, and keep us on the narrow path. That You are blessing us Father God, this day and every day. That You are always there to catch us, to watch over us, to listen to our struggles and our triumphs. That You are in each and every moment, and that we feel your presence all the time. That you bless the works of our hands, and the words from our lips. This day, and every day. IN JESUS’ NAME!! AMEN!!