I am not who I was

How can my story join Gods story?

Last year at the UK Christian convention Spring Harvest, God challenged me to own my story. What this meant I did not know.

But throughout this year God, has been showing me how he has been with me every step of the way. He has been helping me to understand that I have to acknowledge what happened in my past and accept that I can’t change it. However, that does not mean my past should dictate my future.

Me owning my story also means me accepting who I am in Christ Jesus.

When we are being challenged by God, it’s his way of refining and re-shaping us into the person he is calling us to be. Jesus had a calling on his life: he came to save us, by dying on the cross and rising again. And we are called be like Jesus - telling people about the Good News and helping people in need.

God helps us to do this by giving us the Holy Spirit, who equips us to go out and do God’s work. Through the Holy Spirit we are given gifts. 1 Corinthians 12 talks about the different gifts we are given: message of wisdom or knowledge, faith, healing, miraculous powers, prophecy, distinguishing between spirits, speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues.

All these gifts are given by the same Holy Spirit that lives in all of us.

As we use these gifts we see little glimmers of God's kingdom - the kingdom that has not yet come, but is present through us and will come fully in the future. Alongside these gifts, God uses our own experiences to help us meet people where they are.

It may be hard to accept sometimes, but it's important to tell yourself:

Stepping out in faith can be daunting but God is with me and goes before me.

I recently felt that I was not good enough for God - however that's not true. God has never said that and he will never say that.

So please don’t worry about not feeling good enough - or feeling like someone else could do it better - the truth is, we all feel like that at some point in our lives. However,

the most amazing thing is that God can use every one of us and he can give us strength to do anything.

With God there are no limits. All we have to do is say yes and follow him.

There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.

Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. To one there is given through the Spirit a message of wisdom, to another a message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues.

All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he distributes them to each one, just as he determines. 1 Corinthians 12:4-11