I am not my own...

"But by the grace of God I am what I am..." (1 Corinthians 15:10)

It is only by God's GRACE that I am what I am. It is by nothing I have done that I was born into a middle-class white family in America, that I was able to go to college, do prestigious internships, learn to read and write well, eat healthily enough every day to be able to focus and function in what I do, marry an amazing man who has a good job, etc. It is by the grace of God that I received all these things and am the woman I am. So why would I ever think that all those things are for me to take and use as I please? Why would I ever think that this life I have and all that I am able to is my own? I have done nothing to merit all of this - what I have merited is a life of pain and heartache, but by the grace of God in Christ I am saved from that, and for His purposes have been given all the aforementioned blessings. All that I am is His and all that I have is for Him. "You are not your own; you were bought at a price..." (1 Cor. 6:19-20) Therefore, why would I ever think that what I have is for me, to use for my purposes and as I please? I do not deserve what I have; it is by nothing I have done that I am here and not one of the girls born into a destitute family in India who could not afford to pay the bills so they sold her into sexual slavery. My heart hurts thinking of her. Why her and not me? The GRACE of God. I deserve nothing more than her. Who I am, what I have, is given by the grace of God in Christ for His purposes. I pray that my heart, that all of our heart's, would break all over again everyday for those who have been injured so much by the sin of this world, and that we would grow more and more convicted every day of the fact that we are what we are and we have what we have for the purpose of bringing God glory by bringing His grace to those who have not been blessed like we have. We are blessed for His purposes, to spread His grace.

God, show me everyday how to give all that I am to you. Show me how to give back all that you've given me, so that the pain of other's might be lessened by the blessings you have given me in Christ and by His grace lived out in my life.