{"id":32345,"date":"2021-06-24T03:30:58","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T10:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=32345"},"modified":"2021-06-22T09:30:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-22T16:30:43","slug":"june-24-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2021\/06\/24\/june-24-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"June 24, 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.\u201d <\/em>Psalm 139:14 NKJV<\/p>\n

Accept Yourself<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I have a small piece of paper on my desk\u2014two little words obtained in a fortune cookie from a meal long forgotten: \u201cAccept yourself.\u201d I don\u2019t read horoscopes or play the numbers on the back of those small pieces of paper, nor am I looking for counsel from elsewhere other than the Lord. He has, however, been stirring my heart with these simple words for months.<\/p>\n

I wish I could say that I\u2019m at the height of my physical, emotional, mental and spiritual journey and so it\u2019s a breeze to say, \u201cYes Lord, of course I accept myself\u2026I am fearfully and wonderfully made\u2026Your works are marvelous\u2026of course my soul knows that very well\u2026.\u201d That\u2019s not the case; honestly, I\u2019m in the worst physical, mental, emotional and spiritual condition I\u2019ve been in probably a decade, and yet the Lord continues to draw me to those words and to myself. I\u2019ve come to the conclusion that until I take a good long look at myself and accept me right where I am, I won\u2019t be moving on or up or out of this funk I find myself in anytime soon. Only in accepting me where I\u2019m at now, as ugly and unlovable as I feel, will the Lord be able to move me on from this stagnant place I\u2019ve found myself in for the last 12-18 months. Herein lies the crux, I don\u2019t like myself right now, at all, and yet coming to grips with who I am here and now is the only way I\u2019m going to be free.<\/p>\n

I know the Lord loves me; I know He will eventually use this time for His glory and my good. Just as the seed lays under the ground for a determined amount of time, I know He is birthing something in me that will be beautiful in the desert I find myself in. Of course, He doesn\u2019t want me to stay here and accept myself, as in saying \u201cthat\u2019s just the way I am\u2026I can\u2019t do anything about it\u2026it\u2019s just how it\u2019s going to be from now on\u2026.\u201d That\u2019s not what He means at all. He\u2019s telling me to accept this dark side of myself enough to hand it over to Him so He can pour His life into it and awaken the beauty and light that\u2019s beyond it. If indeed I look myself square in the eye, truly accept who I am right now, and then surrender myself at the throne of Christ, I\u2019ll be transformed. This cocoon of negativity I\u2019ve found myself in will be opened and I will emerge with the beauty of the Son on my wings (Isaiah 61:3).<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Do you need to accept yourself?<\/p>\n

Father God, thank You for meeting us right where we\u2019re at and for gently prompting us to accept ourselves so You can transform us. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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