more thoughts on Grace

Processing through more of how the summer shaped me, here is another thought, or two.

In essence: I'm free. I'm His.

Let me further explain.

Without delving too much into baring my soul on the internet, I would like to say that working at Grace has shaped me in that I am free. I am free to be the woman God made me to be. (That in itself is a whole 'nother story. I learned a lot more about what that looks like, and am still learning a ton.) I am free to be crazy. I am free to be out of control, full of energy. I am free to be Ellie Potter. I am free from what others think of me. I am free to be passionate, to be crazy in love with living well. I am free to desire Christ. I am free to strive. I am free to be me.

Also, I'm His. He's got me. I'm safe with God. Does this include His plans for me? You better believe it does.

Here's a section of verses from Ephesians 1 in the message:

Because of the sacrifice of the Messiah, his blood poured out on the altar of the Cross, we're a free people - free of penalties and punishments chalked up by all our misdeeds. And not just barely free, either. Abundantly free! He thought of everything, provided for everything we could possibly need, letting us in on the plans he took such delight in making. He set it all out before us in Christ, a long-range plan in which everything would be brought together and summed up in him, everything in deepest heaven, everything on planet earth.
It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.

I'm free because God is my God. Because He cares so much about me. I'm free from sin, guilt, shame, the past, the present, the future. And He's got plans for me. I feel like this summer I saw a little bit more of what those plans might be, a little bit more of who I am, of what I'm living for, of what His designs for my life are. That gets me pumped! Of course it does! It's part of my heart! It's part of my passions! I believe that God's plans for me are going to somehow line up with the passions He gives me. How cool is that? Um...uh-mazing. That the things we get excited about can be what God might want us to do? Wow...He's pretty sweet how He has everything working together so amazingly. My life, the plans He has for me, are just part of "the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone." That's pretty dang sweet...