Since my last two posts were long and wordy, I’m going to attempt a short and sweet post today about budgeting. Like all discussions about money, this is not a one size fits all kind of post. This is a skeletal break down of how I have been budgeting my regular income since my first real job out of college. I’ve been able to adapt it to every level of income bracket I’ve found myself in and I totally foresee myself using this one day when i’m married and running a house with two incomes.
In celebration of international women’s day, which was on March the 8th, I’d like to talk about identity. When I think of identity I think of three things: who the world says that you should be, who you think you are, and who God says that you are. Identity is so important to us as humans. If we have no idea who we are then it is hard to have any kind of direction in life. Identity is all about connection. From the very beginning of life we can see how important human connection is. Babies need to connect with their parents, if they are neglected it can have negative effects on them for the rest of their lives. Our parents are the first ones to contribute to the formation of our identity (that we are consciously aware of). This is part of the “who I think I am” part of identity. Later on we get our identity from friends, gender, culture, hobbies, experiences, habits, society…etc. Some of this is also part of the “who I think I am” part of our identity but most of it falls under “who the world says that you should be”.
I mentioned before that identity and connection are closely related. In order to form an identity, we need to connect with something. This is what we are all searching for. We need to feel something click inside. We need something to fill a void, to give us direction so that we can find meaning in our lives. Ultimately what we are looking for is to connect with God. The need to connect with something comes from God. God created us to be social beings and he also created us with a need to be close to him. Our souls long for him.
“My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.”
–Psalms 84:2 (NIV)
This is what I really want to talk about. This is what I struggle with the most. How to you figure out who you are when there are a thousand voices seeking your attention? Trying to tell you who you are? How can you find God’s voice? The one that tells you who you are…
I’ve had a life long battle with trying figuring out who I am. We all change a little bit with every season of our life…hopefully for the best but sometimes for the worst. It is hard for me to figure myself out and when bad seasons come into my life I feel like I have to start from ground zero. I feel like I know who I am and then something happens that turns my world upside down. Instead of trying to figure out who I am on my own and who I need to become after encountering storms in my life. I feel that God is telling me to stop fighting. Give up and give in to him and let him mold me and tell me who I need to be. I’m definitely going through one of those crossroads in my life when I know everything is about to change. The way I see the world and view God are about to change. It has to…because I’m telling God that I am ready to move forward and to become someone new. I want to embrace a new identity in Christ…an identity that is ever-changing and always moving forward.
How are you going to change and move forward from the struggles in your life?
Singles Seeking First 