I don’t believe in karma–I believe in Jesus–but I do believe things come back around.
I was talking to my friend Adam over coffee, and something Jesus spoke into my life almost a year ago came full circle and took over our conversation in a revolutionary way.
It started off being about dating, and why girls think the way we do. (On an aside, to my male readers — we will never have a good answer to this perplexing question). The conversation then very quickly shifted to identity and Jesus, wherein lies the disconnect. Because this is not about dating, and it’s not about losing yourself in the chaos of being single or a working mom or having a mid-life crisis.
This is about placing our identity in anything or anyone but Jesus. Period.
The first time I really heard Jesus whisper this into my heart was last November.
The pages of my journal resounded my thoughts:
November 20, 2013
BREAKING NEWS:
Women, we have been fooled. Lied to. Convinced that men will fulfill all of our desires and make us feel valuable. Told that it is their fault that we are insecure and left empty when we don’t feel validated.
I declare war, dadgummit!
I also declare that I have been a victim in said war before. But if there is anyone who can knock some sense into a woman it’s Beth Moore. She says it perfectly: “Men are not our problem; it’s what we are trying to get from them that messes us up…we’re attempting to get our security from a gender that doesn’t really have much to spare.”
Our culture is merciless on us, as women, no doubt. But it is equally as callous towards men. So if we are expecting men to be strong enough to help us feel valued in the midst of that then we will absolutely, positively fail.
There is an answer here, you know. And there’s a Sunday school answer coming, as well.
Jesus.
In the words of my girl Beth, a source of soul-deep security “that never runs dry and never disparages us for requiring it.”
So if you’re single and every girl around you has a ring on her finger, I get it. If you’re in a relationship and still feel like there’s a hole that penetrates your body and goes straight through the ground and all the way to China, I get that too.
It’s easier said than done; but placing our security in something that is literally perfect takes the relentless pressure off of everything that is so imperfect–ourselves, men, friends, job, success. God is giving us a chance to breathe, if we would just let Him.
One year later, as I sit and chat with my friend Adam, it rings truer than ever.
It’s simple, really. There is no person who can give us identity. There is no material possession or feeling that can clarify it. There is no reason or lack of reasoning that brings to us what He can.
Fall in love with Jesus.
Everything else will start to make sense, and you’ll only wonder how it took you so long to see it.
