You will not become the person God intended you to be until you’ve laid down the things He has not intended. But you can start now. This laying-down thing takes a lifetime—and God will guide us into next things that requires laying down as we’re ready—but it starts with the things we know are not from our identity as God’s children. As you trust that God has a better life for you, it will become more natural—I won’t say “easier,” necessarily—to lay down the things that aren’t of Him, and to receive those things that are.

We want to justify ourselves before God, to make ourselves worthy. It will never happen. It can never happen. So let go of it. The good news is: God has chosen us because He has chosen us. And because of Jesus, that is enough.

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We have not died with Christ because we think we have, because we agree that we have. We have died with Christ, and need to truly realize it. “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:10-11, NKJV)

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One thing about sharing your story with others: If it required God’s intervention, then it must have been important. And that is enough. There’s no need to embellish. The importance of what God has done takes care of itself.