I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever.

Psalm 86:12

Do you remember testimony services?  I remember there used to be time set aside in every service, and sometimes whole evenings, dedicated to people coming one after another up to a microphone to share the good things God had done for them.   I loved listening to the more seasoned saints tell of His unfailing love when they had failed to love Him.  One of my favorite people to listen to was Sister Linney.  One of my sweet friends was her granddaughter and I remember that when Sister Linney started telling of the love of Jesus, others behind her might just want to take a seat.  My friend would tug on her skirt and remind her that others were waiting to testify too but when she started talking about how good God was in her life, it was difficult for her to find a place to stop.  I did not know then how the words of those testimonies would return to my mind in moments when I too would fail Him.

As I explored the fact that we were fashioned to glorify God, the Holy Spirit directed me to my own journey with the Lord.  It was always easy for me to see how a girl who was raised in the church and guided from a young age into a life of ministry could be used to glorify God.  But there came a day when that girl was not so young anymore.  Ministry was the furthest thing from her mind as she sat in a puddle of her own tears asking God: “How can you possibly use this?”  Her life was such a mess.  Some if it was chosen for her but it would be arrogant and misleading for me to say that none of it was her fault.  

I looked back at my young life and could easily see how God could be glorified in that girl but I struggled to see how I was fashioned for His glory in the mess I had made.  And yet, there was never a moment in all of my history when I was not fashioned for His glory and the same goes for you.

There is a difference between being fashioned for His glory and being used for His glory and that difference is you.  You were made to bring glory to God and He can be glorified even in the ugliest parts of your life but first you have to give them to Him.  He cannot use your life for His glory if you are still holding on to it.  I had to come to a point in that mess that I had made when I handed it all to God and told Him that I didn’t want to do it alone anymore.  Let me clarify, I had not been handling it alone because God left.  I had been alone because I wasn’t allowing Him to help me.  This is not just about turning your life over to God and becoming a Christian.  It’s also about trusting Him to be glorified in your whole story.  How many Christians are leading a life of faithful service and love for the Lord but who also have a portion of their testimony hidden from view because of fear and shame?  

I understand.  I wanted so badly to just be invisible but in order for God to be glorified, I had to be willing to be seen.  In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus tells the crowds to let their light shine before men so that God could be glorified when their good works were seen.  He likened it to a city on a hill that was visible from miles away; a city visible in the darkness.  That is how God will use your testimony for His glory.  He will make you a beacon to those who are still trying to find their way out of the dark.  That beacon will draw others to you and you will show them to Christ.  This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! (2 Corinthians 5:17)  Out with the old life and the old story of shame and fear; and in with a new life, the life shone brightly on a hill for all to see.

As I prayed about this last entry for the month of January focusing on how we have been fashioned by God I came back to the word study I did in the first week.  I referenced the dictionary definition of fashioned.  At the time I also made note of the antonyms of this word.  Antonyms are opposites or contradictions, in this case, of being fashioned by God’s hand.

Antonyms for Fashioned: ignored, neglected, disregarded, abandoned, skipped, skimped, brushed aside, forgotten

As you pray this week, declare not only what you are in Christ but what you are not.  You have been fashioned to glorify God and therefore, every moment of your story is eligible to be used for that purpose.  I want to issue two challenges to you today.  (1) Pray this prayer with me and declare that you have been FASHIONED by God.  (2) Surrender your testimony to the Lord for His glory.  If you want to share it below in the comments, I would love to rejoice with you in all the good things God has done in your life!

Father, today I declare with the psalmist that I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all that I have and I will glorify Your name forever!  I declare that I am fashioned by Your hand in love, with integrity and imagination, with a purpose for Your glory!  I AM loved, chosen, promised and valued.  I AM NOT, and never will be, ignored, neglected, abandoned, brushed aside, or forgotten.  I surrender my life, my home and my testimony to Your service for Your glory today.  I love You, Lord, and I know that I can trust You.  You are a faithful friend to me.  I give You all the glory, God!  Amen.

For we are God’s masterpiece.  He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10

What do you want to be when you grow up?  This is the question that we ask children throughout their school-going lives.  Most children change their answers frequently and, the older they get, the more frequently the answer seems to change.  In my experience, the answer changes so often because they think they have to pick one thing.  

Personally, I still ask myself this question frequently.  What do I want to be when I grow up?  Grown-up feels like a destination that I keep aspiring to but never reach?  When will I feel grown up?  Maybe I will feel grown up when I stop getting lost on my way to my brother’s house (he has lived there for more than 5 years).  Or maybe when I stop calling my mom to remember a recipe or to ask how to get a stain out of something.  When will I stop calling my dad everytime my car makes a weird noise?  I feel like I still rely too heavily on my parents on a daily basis to be described as grown-up.

How does this relate to purpose?  When I started thinking about God having fashioned us for a purpose, I realized that I still held some beliefs about God’s purpose for me that are biblically unsupported.  For me, purpose felt like a destination, much like the feeling of being grown-up.  I was expecting to arrive at my purpose.  If that is how it works, then all the time leading up to the arrival is just fluff, backstory to set the stage.  It will be a good story to tell when I get there but ultimately inconsequential to the end result.

The Holy Spirit led me to the life of Joshua in the scripture.  He was born in Egypt before the exodus.  He fled with the Isrealites into the wilderness and during the 40 years of wandering, he served as an assistant to Moses and a guard at the tent of meeting.  He was called on to be a spy and an explorer when they reached the edge of the promised land.  When he followed Moses as the leader of the Israelites, he became a worship leader, a captain in battle and a preacher.  As I was reviewing his life, God asked me this question: Which one was Joshua’s purpose?  The obvious answer is that all of them were.  It was then that I realized what God was getting at.  I am not waiting to arrive at my purpose.  I am living my purpose right now.

The purpose for which God has fashioned us is a process.  The ultimate purpose for all of us, as followers of Christ, is the same: to lead the lost to Christ.  I think we all know that part, but I was getting discouraged waiting to see what God would make me into.  How is He going to turn me from a directionally challenged, tired mom into the purpose filled woman of God who stands confidently at the beginning of each day ready to take on the enemy in the name of Jesus?  

The answer is that He will carry me from one purpose to the next the same way He did with Joshua.  In each season, Joshua was fulfilling his purpose, and each season before He was preparing him for the next purpose he would fulfill.  When Joshua was serving as an assistant, an assistant was what God purposed for him at that time.  The leader was in training but it wasn’t time for the leader yet.  God fashioned an assistant in Joshua just as He fashioned the leader.  What God wanted me to see is that purpose is not a destination at which I will arrive one day.  It is a journey through many doors.  I walk in His purpose daily right where I am.  The real question is, do I accept His call to that purpose?  Will I accept His call to rear my children to serve the Lord?  Will I accept His call to weep with those who weep?  Will I accept his call to live in the joy of the Lord before a world who believes God will suck all the fun out of their lives?  When I am called upon to speak at a church, will I allow my own fear to stifle the purpose to which I am called that day?  When I am called upon to use my administrative assistant skills to help further the cause of Christ through the church office, will I scoff because it isn’t the stage?

This study of purpose led me to ask some hard questions but it also led me to some freeing realizations.  When I accept my purpose for today, it frees me from the worry about what comes next.  I’ll walk through the door before me and let the Lord concern Himself with the next one.  As the doors open, I will say yes and give it my best effort and God will fill in all the cracks.  I do not have to be the best writer.  I will pray and study and write then God will prosper my efforts, not my perfection.  After all, He planned all that He would have me do long ago.  Today’s purpose is why I was made new in Christ Jesus.  Today I will do the work that He sets before my hands with all my might for His glory.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  What do you want to be today?  Do it all.  There will be a season for each good work that God has planned in advance for you to do.

Lord, you are the Grand Designer.  In my desire to fulfill your purpose in my life, help me resist the urge to tell you what that should be.  Show me what you would have for me to do today.  Help me to allow the worries of tomorrow to wait until then.  I will rest in knowing that you have fashioned me to do all that you have called me to do and that, as the seasons for each purpose arrive, you will continue to sustain and equip me.  Give me the courage to say yes to you every day.   I love you and I trust you, Father.  Thank you for all that you are in my life; encourager, healer, guide and friend.  Amen.

(27)So God created human beings in his own image.  In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.  (31)Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good!

Genesis 1:27 & 31

Looking around at creation, both nature and people, it cannot be doubted that God has a grand imagination.  It astounds me that anyone could see it all and still deny an intelligent Creator in all of this diversity and intricate design.  This uniqueness stretches far beyond the very looks of God’s creation.  It extends to the fabric of who we are.  We are all so different with regard to personality, strengths, weaknesses, temperament, and expression.  Beyond the tapestry of our very unique physical features, there is a whole new array of diversity and creativity to experience in getting to know each of God’s children.  Even more astounding than the careful detail of His design, is the fact that he looked over all he had made and saw that it was very good!

Have you ever wondered how God could look at you and say that you were very good?  I certainly have.  As women, I am convinced that a great number of us are constantly teetering on the ledge between too much and not enough.  A constant dialog is provided by the enemy of our souls, either through the words of others or through our own inner monologue.  He tells us that we are too emotional, too complicated, too busy, too lazy, too afraid, too bold, not brave enough, not meek enough, not holy enough, not talented enough, not good enough, too much of all the wrong things, and yet still not enough of all the right things.  The father of lies has a never ending playlist of what he says we lack.  I got this particular list from the playlist he made for me.  I would wager that many of my greatest hits are on your playlist as well.

God did not look at all you are not.  He looked at all that He had fashioned you to be and said that it was very good.  He fashioned each of us with all the basic traits and ingredients necessary to become what He dreamed for us.  As we spend time with Him in His word and in prayer, He shapes those base ingredients to form us into the women that He called us to be.  He shapes what He made to become more like Jesus but He doesn’t throw out any of the original ingredients.  

Allow me to elaborate.  We all have personality traits and talents that make us who we are.  Each of those traits and talents has potential that will be determined by whose hands we place them into.  When we use them for selfish purposes, we will produce selfish fruit.  But if we place those ingredients into the hands of God, He will produce gifts for us as well as for others.  Alone we can produce only a mirror that reflects straight back to ourselves but with God we can produce love, joy, patience, peace, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self control to be shared (Galatians 5:22-23).  If we hoard our gifts selfishly, we will eat alone but if we allow God to use all the unique parts of us that He created then we can feed the world.  What the enemy would convince you is lacking in you, the Father can transform into such an abundance that you have no choice but to give some away.

Do you have a temper?  He has given you the potential for a passion for justice.

Are you dramatic?  He has given you the gift of storytelling.

Do you have a complex story?  He has given you the keys to the prisons of sisters who are in bondage to despair.

Can’t sing or preach?  Then, design websites.  Create art.  Write.  Care for children.  Weep with those who weep.  Engineer solutions.  Fight for those who cannot defend themselves.  Organize.  Plan.  Love.    Do what you were fashioned to do.

The original ingredients are all very good!  Give them to God and allow Him to fashion you into what He has dreamed for you and I promise you will love it!  Psalm 37:4 says that if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He will give us the desires of our hearts.  He designed our hearts with those desires already installed but the enemy begins immediately to tell us that those dreams are impossible because of what we lack.  God says what He made was very good and that all things are possible in Him!  Believe it!

Many of us get caught in the trap of comparison and try to tell God what we need to be in order to serve.  You already are all that you need to be.  He created you (unique and wonderful you) with all that you need and it was very good!  

Father, help me to see how you provided for all that you had planned for me when you formed me in my mother’s womb.  Show me how you can transform me and make me more like your Son.  I wholeheartedly place myself and my talents into your hands and trust you to do what only you can do.  I commit to view myself through your eyes and to walk faithfully through the doors that you open before me.  I confidently say that I am yours and I am fashioned very well!  I love you, Father, and I love how you love me.  The works of your hands are marvelous-how well I know it!  In your most holy Name, Amen.

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it!

Psalm 139:14 

Our theme this year for STXWM is Fashioned.  When I first heard it, my honest thought was that I wanted to do some study about it.  This is not a word I use very much, so I started in the place that I usually begin when I’m studying: Webster’s Dictionary.  The second definition says that it is a verb (action word) that means:

to give shape or form to something; to make, construct, or create something with careful attention or by the use of imagination and ingenuity; transformed.

Wow!  How awesome is that?  (Yes, I am actually really excited about that.  After all, I will be the first to think about research and study when I hear a new word. I proudly wear the bookworm badge).  Let that definition sink in for just a moment with respect to God having FASHIONED you. 

He has shaped and formed you.  With imagination and ingenuity He constructed you, giving careful attention to every detail.  By His hand, you are transformed!

I absolutely love this time of year.  I love to get my house all cleaned up in the days after Christmas and start the new year with a clean space.  I love to buy new calendars and planners.  It all feels so fresh and full of possibilities.  

However, this time of year can also come with a lot of pressure and guilt with regard to new goals that we’ve set for ourselves.  We make plans to improve our credit scores, our health, and our professional endeavors.  Goals are great, but I don’t know how anyone else is doing so far.  I have already used a cheat day.  It’s January 6th!  We can so easily fall into the trap of allowing accusing thoughts like, “How is it possible that I have failed already?” or “What is wrong with me?” to play on repeat.  

Allow me to remind you of a few things:

He has shaped and formed you.  Psalm 139 reminds us that He knit us together in our mother’s wombs.  He knows you.  He designed and loves every inch of you: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  All of you.  

For years I was teased for being too emotional when I was young.  Even now, I cry when I’m sad, happy, overwhelmed, angry, frustrated or simply dealing with most emotions.  Tears are my release, but for a long time I was ashamed of it.  God had to reveal to me that what the world called too emotional, He calls tenderhearted.  He fashioned me with a heart that feels deeply to intercede in prayer, to weep with those who weep, and to rejoice with tears of joy.  When the world saw a weakness in me, God saw a tool He could use for His kingdom.

With imagination and ingenuity He constructed you, giving careful attention to every detail.  God used his imagination and made you the original, and inventive you that gazes back from the mirror each day.  He not only understands, but He intentionally designed all the details that make you unique.  In His eyes you are stunning!

We all have things about ourselves that we would like to improve.  Goals and growth are all wonderful biblical tools that God can use to draw us closer to Him, but comparison is the tool of the enemy to breed division and to destroy our confidence.  All too often, it is the fear of comparison that rules the day.  Hear what I am saying.  Set your goals.  Chase the growth and change that will improve your life and strengthen your character. Then at the end of every day (regardless of what the world labels as pass or fail, win or lose), look into the mirror and honestly see the amazing creation that you are.  You are already loved!  You are already enough!

By His hand, you are transformed!  God is the one who will work true change and transformation in your life because He loves you, and because He created you for a life of freedom.  He is always working for our good.  When we are chasing hard after our goals and making strides for change, He is working.  When we are doing good just to make it through the day, He is working.  Even when we quit, He never does.  

God has fashioned us with integrity.  Webster’s dictionary defines integrity as: 

the condition of being whole, unimpaired, united, and of sound construction.  

All that He has made was good.  You are “fearfully and wonderfully made.” (KJV)  I love the way that the New Living Translation says: Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex.  Complex not complicated.

We have been told all our lives that we were made by God, but let’s make this the year that we allow God to show us what it means to be fashioned by the Creator.  His “workmanship is marvelous!-how well I know it!”

Father, thank you for making us wonderfully complex women.  Thank you for forming us with imagination and ingenuity.  You had every detail in mind when you formed us in our mother’s wombs and a moment never passes when we are not loved.  You see us through our greatest joys and in our lowest moments and your love for us never waivers.  We have been bought with a price, sustained by your promises, and sent forth with your purpose.  Help us to know that.   Defend our minds against the lies of comparison that would seek to divide us from our sisters.   Imbed this truth in our hearts and minds that we are loved, we are enough, and we have work to do for you because we have been fashioned by your hand.  We will rejoice at the works of your hands this year, Lord.  We give you all the honor and glory!  In Jesus’ name, Amen.