who i am to who i can become...

have you ever felt like you weren't amounting to much? or that where you were in life...wasn't exactly where you thought you'd be? i've had those moments...and i've had those moments where it was really hard for me to comprehend the Father's love for me...

i was reading an interesting excerpt from a zig ziglar book...i think it was a book on child rearing actually...but this specific section that was sent to me...was on the subject of how we look at people...specifically children...but really...it can be applied to anyone in your life...and God used it to completely change my perspective as a woman and as His child...here's what i read:

Andrew Carnegie was the wealthiest man in America in the early 1900s, so wealthy that he employed over 42 millionaires! One day a reporter who was intrigued by Carnegie's wealth asked how he developed these men to become so valuable that he would pay them that much money. Carnegie explained, "Men are developed the same way gold is mined. When gold is mined, several tons of dirt must be moved to get an ounce of gold, but one doesn't go into the mine looking for dirt — one goes in looking for gold. And the more he looks for, the more he finds."

after this story...ziglar challenged parents to look past their children's mistakes and mine for gold in them...and although i don't have children...i'd been buried in the dirt that day...my discouragement and feelings of failure as a daughter...friend...sister...left me so disappointed in myself...i was also convinced God felt the same way about me...

pity set in and i started wishing i had a gold-miner in my life who could see beyond my mistakes and find the gold in me...that's when God whispered to my heart..."elena...i am that gold-miner...you are the one who is so critical of yourself...you are the one who focuses on your faults...but i see the gold of My image in your heart...and i want to bring it to the surface so your family & friends can see Me in you..."

as i sat there trying to process what God was whispering to my heart...stories and promises from the bible started flooding my thoughts helping me believe that God really does see beyond who i am to who i can become...it would take time for those truths to sink in...but that day God used His thoughts to give me a new perspective...of Himself and of myself...then He challenged me to look for ways to transfer that perspective to my family & friends...

it's easy to get buried in the dirt of discontentment...disobedience and discouragement...you may even be thinking...where's the gold in it all? i wondered...too...but after reading carnegie's story and hearing God speak to my heart...i wanted to become a gold-mining woman...

as i thought about the gold i'd like to portray...character traits like patience, kindness and contentment came to mind...as the weeks passed...i'd find a new character trait and bible verse...think about ideas to live it out and make them part of my daily walk...God's Word became a part of my everyday life as He taught me to take my eyes off of others...and focus on their hearts. God had given me a new perspective, and a whole new sense of purpose...

i thank You Lord...for not focusing on the dirt in my life but seeing beyond who i am to who i can become...help me believe that...receive that and give it away to my family & friends...help me look at their hearts and encourage the glimpses of You that i see in them...that is my continual prayer...