I Am Perfect

When you hear the word perfect, what comes to your mind?

I think of something that is flawless or without defect. I think of someone who has no shortcomings, who never makes mistakes in thought or action. And of course, I think to myself, there is no thing or person who is perfect on this earth.

But then, that's only true if that was the definition of perfect.

According to Webster's 1828 dictionary, to be perfect means "to finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; to give to anything all that is requisite to its nature." Now, that's quite a difference if you ask me.

In the Bible, it says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." Now, if I read that scripture and think that it means to be perfect, I have to be flawless and without sin or mistake or shortcomings, I'll know in my heart that I'm incapable of that. But if I read it knowing what perfect actually means, it makes my heart beat differently. Because I know that if I try everyday to be flawless, I'll fall on my face every time. But if I'm working "to give all that is requisite to my nature," I believe I can do it because I know what is "requisite to my nature."

This past year, as some of you may know, I traveled the world on missions for eight months to eight different countries on a trip called The World Race. Explaining everything that God did in me and to me would be another blog entirely. But after all that has happened in my life with the Lord in recent months, I can look back and say with every fiber of my being that The World Race was only the beginning of the biggest journey of my life. When I first came back to America, the confusion and frustration was overwhelming. And since I was seeing everything through the filter of confusion, I looked at my trip as a mistake. I blamed it for all of the crap going on in my life. But oh, how wrong I was! I mentioned in the previous blog just a tiny bit of what the Lord did throughout last year, how He just broke me down until there was nothing left of me, and how He made me see that I haven't been living as the person He fully created me to be. I've been living out parts of who He made me to be, but no where near perfect. But the beginning of last year was the beginning of this journey He put me on to find the woman He intended me to be, the woman He created me to be! I've been realizing the weight of the place that I'm in with Him, and it blows my mind! I'm literally in the process of becoming the woman that He has had planned out since before time began! And He had to break off everything, everything, to be able to do that. I'm not sure how long this journey is going to be, but I do know that when I come out on the other side of it, I'm going to be a "fire and force to be reckoned with," as a friend of mine called out in me. And right now, in this very moment, I can say that I am perfect. Because I am giving all that is of me and my nature to the Lord and to the world. I am holding absolutely nothing back. And the Lord has been doing some big things in my heart recently because of my refusal for mediocrity and my denial of living for myself. I'm not trying to be arrogant and I'm not trying to brag. There's just been something growing inside of me that is disgusted with living my life for myself. I'm tired of just reading the Word and not doing everything it says, not just the things I like or are easy to do. I'm tired of going to church for the church's sake. Church is not about us. It's not about how much we can serve or how much we get from it or how good we feel from attending and serving. It's not about the cliques or our status there. It's about reaching out to the hurting people. It's about praying for and loving the "church sluts," and the

 "church outcasts." If I'm attending church or serving at the church just for me, I am missing it completely. I'm tired of living everyday wondering how I'm going to get to a place I want to get to, or how I'm going to acquire a position that I want, or how I'm going to make myself happy. Living in joy is the only way to live. And I only find joy when I'm living my life for bigger things. For God. For His people. For bringing Kingdom. For bringing justice. For bringing hope and healing and redemption and salvation and reconciliation to a lost and dying world. Not just for other countries. All of those things need to be brought to our nation too! To our own churches! I remember I wrote a blog while on the race that talked about how much I felt like my world was getting so much bigger. And back then was only the beginning! Now it's even more...bam! Isaiah 54:2 completely supports exactly where I am. It says:

Enlarge the place of your tent; stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes!



This is what I've been doing! These are some of the desires that the Lord has been putting in my heart. And so when I read it, it was like...whoa! Yes, Lord! I have been enlarging my heart. I have been stretching my world wide. I have not been holding back!

So in being perfect, I know that right now, I am living in perfection in regards to the second half of the definition. I am being everything and giving everything that is requisite to my nature. My nature is one of passion and fire and emotion and boldness and war and laughter and joy and dance and unconditional love and a refusal to shrink back. I am not of those who shrink back and are destroyed! And the first half of the definition, to "finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting," I know I will reach that, even if it's not until the day I die. My Abba alone makes me perfect. No matter what anybody else says.

Man, it's so good to walk through life not caring how people see me and not caring what people say about me; living for God's approval alone. I know who I am. God knows who I am. The people that are supposed to be in my life are in my life because they know who I am too.

This journey is awe-some!

The Best Is Yet To Come...