I, I, You, I, I, I... Rinse. Repeat.

       I. A guy at my bible study once told me, “I is the worst letter in the alphabet.”Agreed. People use the word I more than any other word... Have you ever been chatting with someone on your I.M., and had to say, “Well enough about me! How's your...?” Well, you're not in this boat alone. I'm afraid we're all in it. I struggle with the same thing. Yay! Confession time with Jacalyn! After spending a few hours with a “quieter” family, I realized I was always talking. That's a novelty! Jacalyn, talking. No, I mean a lot. And really, the bulk of the conversation was me. Yep. Guilty as charged.

        These things are symptoms of Imosophorous. That's the Latin translation. In short. It's You. No. I. Not me. I... Understood?

          I is the only pronoun that is capitalized. You is not. She is not. He is not. (Unless it begins a sentence... oh!) And how ironic. Many times you and I capitalize pronouns when we speak of God. Now, I'm not trying to start a movement of lower casing all our i's. But the culture around us... Well let's just say, the devil really likes you to see I. It's nice isn't it? Doesn't it look majestic? Like it should always be there. And the devil, well, he's not stupid. He knows this. In fact the first temptation was the devil flashing the I in Eve's face.

         Think of everything you've done wrong. What the reason (or excuse really) for what you did? It always comes back to I. “Well I wanted to--,” “I couldn't let my--,” “She said I--,” Think about it, it's true. Now I'm not trying to convict you, or even preach. (I'm coaching myself here as well.) So... Now that we've found the cause, can we fix the outcome? Or furthermore, the effects of such selfishness? What the world wants us to believe is that we can fix our problem. You can. If someone's told you that it “lies within you,” or “you have to find yourself,” that's a lie. From the enemy of your soul. Look, the problem can't fix itself. It needs something that can overpower the problem.And I think that's my biggest problem. Me. And the only thing stronger than every issue, every problem I have, and will have is Jesus Christ.

James 4:7 “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”

1 Peter 5:8-9 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.”

Yeah, I'm A Failure

        Ever heard the saying, “What you say is what you are?” Well, living in a house full of girls, (With nothing to fight with, but words) I certainly have. This may seem a small statement, but I think it's a reflection of our world today. The world wants you to believe that you are what your choices are. And your fruits define you. Okay, but what about all the stupid things I do? What about the time I lied to my cousin? Gossiped about my friend? Undermined my parents decisions? Spat in my sisters face? Hey! What about the 639,039,328,211 things I did wrong yesterday? (yes, I keep count) I believe I'm a child of God. I try to act like one, but like all other fallen creatures... I must be a complete failure according to the world. And I am. According to the world. Haha! That makes me think of the song (which I do not like) called According To You by Orianthi... It goes...

According to you

I'm stupid, I'm useless.

I can't do anything right...

       And sometimes I even find myself thinking this. It's true. I'll never be good enough for the world. Girls. Have you ever been to a grocery store?! You can't even check out without seeing one of those trashy magazines screaming that you need to loose 25 pounds in two weeks! Oooo! Exciting...! Aaaaand then gain it all back a week later. But seriously. Let's face it. We're all failures.

        But I'd like to share with you another song... It's called You Are More by Tenth Avenue North. Good Band. Really solid guys. The song goes like this...

You are more than the choices that you've made.

You are more than the sum of your past mistakes.

You are more than the problems you create.

You've been remade.

       I think that's what the real answer is. It's not about what you've done. But what's been done for you. And that's the beauty of grace. It takes you as you are... Bruised, broken, torn, mangled, mutilated, mournfully mortified. (wow) But the great thing about God, is that he doesn't just leave us there. He redeems us. Redemption. One of my favorite words. It's one of those things that only God can do. It's when you dig a hole. You keep digging, (this is your life) you keep digging, and digging... It only gets worse. But not only does God fill that hole up. But he turns it upside down. Yes by grace he covers what we've done. He gives us something that we don't deserve. But He takes it a step further. He takes all of the things we've done. The things that made us a failure right? He takes all of that stuff and makes it into something that we could never have imagined before. Into something only God can do. Redemption.

        Remember that song According To You by Orianthi? Scroll up if you don't.

After all the pouting and stuff...

According to you

I'm stupid, I'm useless.

I can't do anything right...

                                                                                                          etc.

BUT then it goes on to say...

According to him. I'm special, cute (You know, The normal pop song...)

But, I look at that. And I think of my Father in Heaven. I just thought it was funny, turning a secular pop song into a "Jesus Loves you and the world doesn't," song. It doesn't matter what the world thinks. I'm not who I was. I am a new creation. God no longer sees a mangled, mournfully, mortified mess... He sees his Son. Not me. And that's all I need. The truth is yes. You are a failure according to the world. But now you are more than the choices that you've made. You're the sum of a fathers love for you.

Take a look at this...