{"id":696,"date":"2012-07-18T06:47:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T11:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=696"},"modified":"2013-01-01T20:41:37","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T01:41:37","slug":"the-resolution-for-women-happy-to-be-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2012\/07\/18\/the-resolution-for-women-happy-to-be-you\/","title":{"rendered":"The Resolution for Women ~ Happy to Be You"},"content":{"rendered":"

Memory Verse:<\/h3>\n

You did not choose Me, but I chose you.<\/em><\/h3>\n

I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit.<\/em><\/h3>\n

John 15:16<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Happy to be Me, huh?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I sit here and attempt to relate this to a situation, to someone I know, or anything that would bring this to point for you, it dawns on me that I am one of those people who has spent years and years of my life ‘wishing or pretending’ I was somebody different ~ in every way possible.\u00a0 For me that is pretty disappointing because I absolutely KNOW that I was created by my Heavenly Father specifically; down to every freckle, every flaw, every talent, every strength – I was designed just the way I was meant to be; however I’ve gone through life fighting that tooth and nail.\u00a0 Have you?\u00a0 Do you still?\u00a0 I can honestly say to you that today I too \u00a0find myself still wishing I could get an ‘overhaul’ – picking and choosing the strengths and talents I see in those around me. Still unhappy being me, wanting to be better, wanting more in my life.\u00a0 The difference\u00a0today ladies\u00a0is that I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father and with Him I can accept the things that are just “me” and\u00a0 can change the things\u00a0that keep me from being the best I can be, For Him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I grew up on a small street in Orchard Park, New York with several beautiful girlfriends. My friend Dawn had incredible talent, a voice that you could listen to all day (even as a child), she was model beautiful (but wasn’t one to know it or show it).\u00a0 She went on to do Broadway and Vegas, she married well and has beautiful children – what I wouldn’t do to be Dawn!\u00a0 (Really Kelley?)\u00a0The complete package, no flaws (more realistically, no\u00a0visible\u00a0<\/em>flaws)! Then there was Wendy who was just a natural -I\u00a0remember playing softball together as kids – she was a natural, I was a ‘wanna be’.\u00a0 At that time, I found it hard to retain the rules of the game nor\u00a0was I as thin and athletic as everyone else.\u00a0 Wendy\u00a0always seemed totally comfortable in her skin – she loved life and embraced it.\u00a0 If you didn’t like how she was, she didn’t care – she was going to be herself regardless.\u00a0 It was your loss, not hers.\u00a0 She was always laughing and enjoyed life, but realistically I know there were down times or times even Wendy was wishing or pretending she was someone else.\u00a0 While you are meeting all of my friends, I had a friend Susan, her family lived on top of their family restaurant. WOW, how cool is that!\u00a0 They had their own restaurant!\u00a0 When I would spend the night with Susan, they would bring us big hot fudge sundae’s upstairs.\u00a0These were very cool times!\u00a0 But were they for her?\u00a0 Looking back now, I understand that each one of these awesome friends very likely spent their own amount of time wishing or pretending they were someone else.\u00a0 Growing up, I could not find ONE talent within me.\u00a0 I loved to write poetry ~ but never felt good at it.\u00a0\u00a0I spent day in and day out trying to find ‘WHAT” <\/em>God blessed me with\u00a0 that was comparable with what all of my friends were or had.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Psalm 139:14-16 ESV says:<\/p>\n

I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.<\/em><\/p>\n

This reminds us that\u00a0We are UNIQUE<\/strong><\/span><\/em>!\u00a0 We are one of a kind!<\/strong> <\/span><\/em>– we were built just the way we were supposed to be.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0I met a new friend who could find nothing good\u00a0about herself.\u00a0 I challenged her (oh yes, I’m good and creative at helping others – it’s myself I pick and choose what I want to address).\u00a0\u00a0I had her write down 10 things she liked about herself. She struggled with this for several days, but eventually got them!\u00a0 For affirmation, I had her put these by her bed and read them over and over. She eventually was able to work this list up to much more than 10!\u00a0\u00a0God makes no junk.<\/p>\n

Priscilla challenges us today to get to know ourselves – to ‘strip away’<\/em>\u00a0 those things that mask us allowing us to be the AUTHENTIC person God created us to be; the person that was specially\u00a0designed for His purposes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’m going to use the word again – yes, the word we must live by that keeps cropping up\u00a0throughout our studies. Be INTENTIONAL in accepting who you are.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Once we begin accepting who we are – when we allow ourselves to be AUTHENTIC and are okay with it – only then will we find freedom from the burdens of wishing we were someone else, of wishing we had the life of someone else, from the exhaustion caused as we fret over what we are not.\u00a0\u00a0Live as yourself, as created by God<\/span><\/strong><\/em>, for His plans and purposes – not your own.\u00a0<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>It’s time to stop fighting who we are and learn to bask\u00a0in that\u00a0the person God intended us to be!<\/p>\n

Homework<\/strong><\/p>\n

Record your uniquenesses other people see in you.\u00a0 Which of these surprises you?<\/p>\n

Record how you can be more intentional about using and celebrating these characteristics.<\/p>\n

How would\u00a0the\u00a0dynamics of your family, your office, or your relationships benefit from your doing this?<\/p>\n

Hugs <3 Kelley<\/p>\n

Prayer<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father God, thank you for making each of us with our own special uniquenesses.\u00a0 Allow us through you to embrace these, celebrate these, and accept these for who we are in You.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank you for loving us unconditionally, for eternal life, and for every blessing. Amen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When you have completed the assignment here on the blog, return to your Facebook Online Bible Study Group for today\u2019s FUN Activity!!\u00a0 You just never know what we have in store for you!! \":)\"<\/p>\n

If you are not a member of our OBS Facebook Group, and would like to be, please send us an email and we\u2019ll be happy to place you!!\u00a0\u00a0 Our email address is:\u00a0 GirlfriendsCoffeeHour@gmail.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Memory Verse: You did not choose Me, but I chose you. I appointed you that you should go out and produce fruit. John 15:16 Happy to be Me, huh?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I sit here and attempt to relate this to a situation, to someone I know, or anything that would bring this to point for you, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[1164],"class_list":["post-696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-womens","tag-bible-study-2","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-be","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=696"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6538,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696\/revisions\/6538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}