Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday! I am not one of those folks who ignores their birthday or are shy about their age. I love my birthday! But I can finally say it isn't as important to me as it used to be.

Growing up feeling worthless, I struggled to find worth. Often times I based my worth on other people's opinions and statements about me. A "good job" meant I had worth. However, a rejection - no matter how small, confirmed my worthlessness.  My birthday was just another day to measure my worth.  If people remembered my birthday and wished me well - I had worth.  If my birthday was forgotten - I was worthless.

I praise God that he has helped me find my worth in him alone! I am a daughter of the king. I will make mistakes. I will not be liked by everyone. I don't have to the best at anything. I can just be me, and be made complete by the Holy Spirit in me. 

So today is my birthday. But I don't need you to wish me a Happy Birthday to make my day complete. It is already complete by the one who knit me in my mother's womb, who sent his Son to die for me, and who loves me because of who HE is, not because of who I am.

Do you realize your worth as a child of God? Embrace your worth in him, regardless of your achievements or failures.  And wish me a "happy birthday" if you want to.  But if you don't, I 'm okay with that. 

Kelly Combs is a Christian wife, mom, writer and speaker. You can learn about Kelly by visiting her website at www.kellycombs.com

When God Tells You Something Different Than Her

I put down the book, disappointed. One of my favorite Christian inspirational writers, the woman who was the reason I became inspired to write myself, had a new book out, and I didn't like the book. I couldn't believe what she was saying that God told her, because it was so opposite of what he was telling me.  Was I wrong?  Was she?

I thought back to past things she'd written and said.  In the past God had told her to give up television, now she was giving up sugar. How could he be telling her to give up things, when he was telling me of my freedom in him. How could he tell her to give up certain food, when he was reminding me that what I put into my body doesn't matter, it's what comes out of my heart and mouth that could be sinful. 

As I continued to search the Bible, and prayed, I realized something wonderful. We could both be right. The Word of God is living and active, and it speaks to us exactly what we need to hear. It would seem that her struggle must be self-control, and so God is training her to be self controlled by having her give up things for him. 

Me? My struggle is legalism and accepting grace. So God was training me to be free, not in bondage to "do" things for him, but to just accept his love and forgiveness.  God wanted me to stop living a life of man-made schedules and man-made rules, and accept the grace he gave me, the grace that I don't have to earn.

I love that God speaks to each of us individually, giving us exactly what we need. When you read a teacher's writings, it is your job to weigh their words prayerfully to decide if what they are saying is for you or just for them. Just because God calls one person to something, he may not be calling all to it. This is also seen in the fact that he gives each of us different gifts.

Yes, there are universal commands for all of us. And if anyone believes that God is telling them something that is opposite of Bible teaching, they are wrong. However, God works on each of us in different areas at different times. He may be telling one person to "Go" at the same time he tells someone else to "Be still." Both are Biblical commands. Which is God saying to you?

It is important to listen to good teachers, but it is more important to listen to God. What is He calling you to do? 

Kelly Combs is a Christian wife, mom, writer and speaker. You can learn about Kelly by visiting her website at www.kellycombs.com

Keeping Focus

This past weekend we celebrated my daughter's birthday with an American Girl party. As one of the favors, I crafted flip flops for all the dolls. Because I am "craft challenged" I was proud of my hard work, and I tweeted and Facebooked a photo of the craft.

Soon enough I had several people asking me how to make the flip flops. Because I needed more than 120 characters (the tweet limit) for the description, I decided to write a blog post outlining the steps, and then tweet the link.  You can read that post here, http://www.chattykelly.com/2012/03/american-girl-flip-flops.html

Imagine my surprise, when I reviewed my blog statistics, to find that the Flip Flop post was the 2nd highest read post in the past 30 days.  Truthfully, I was frustrated. Maybe I should just write a craft blog?!?!

There are 2 problems with that thought.  The first, of course, is that I don't like crafting, so it would be a pretty short lived blog. The second problem, is that writing a craft blog isn't my calling.  Writing a devotional blog is.

The temptation is to follow the crowd, to be popular, to want the big numbers.  Jesus warned us of this philosophy when he said, "Enter through the narrow gate." (Matt 7:13).  He continued, "Wide is the gate, and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it."

Don't leave me comments telling me that crafting blogs are okay, because I know.  Whatever God is calling you to do, whatever your God given gift is, that is what you should be doing. And if crafting is it for you, keep focused!

But for me, I have to remain focused on writing for Him.  Jesus concluded his comments above by saying, "Small is the gate, and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

Only a few may read my blog. But I pray that here, they find life. 

Have you ever been tempted to go through the wide gate to gain popularity or status?

Kelly Combs is a Christian wife, mom, writer and speaker. You can learn about Kelly by visiting her website at www.kellycombs.com