Who I Want to Be

Who I want to be is someone who can be counted on.

I want my friends to say, "she was there through thick and thin," and I want my children to never have to question my word. "If mom said it, she'll do it." I want that to be the confidence of their heart.

Who I want to be is someone who is honest.

I want to be a person of integrity. I want someone to feel like they never have to question my character. I want people to say "You can believe Diana, if she said it had to be true."

Who I want to be is a person who loves.

I want people to know that I love them and accept them unconditionally, even when I disagree with them wholeheartedly. I want my kids to know no matter how bad they screw up, I will love them still. And I want my friends to know that even though I may say things they don't want to hear, our ability to agree to disagree is assurance for them even if we don't see eye to eye, I don't reject them.

Who I want to be is a person who encourages.

I want to be someone who sees the best in others and encourages them in their gifts and talents and cheers them on even when they are being stretched beyond their limitations. I want to be someone who recognizes gifts and beauty in others and not only sees it but acknowledges it.

Who I want to be is a person of faith.

I want to be a woman who always takes God at His word, and believes Him for all His promises, even when times are hard and things are tough. I want to be a woman who trusts confidently in the character of her God, and a woman who stands firm on His word.

Who I want to be is a person of hope.

I want ot be a person who looks at the future and sees all the potential it holds. I want to be a woman who lives in expectation of God's blessings and goodness.

Who I want to be is a reflection.

I want to reflect the love and hope and potential of the God I serve. I want to reflect the acceptance and grace of the Savior Who died for me. When people look at me, I want them to continually see less of me, and more of my Jesus.

I am not the person who I want to be, but I hope I am more like her today than I was yesterday, and I hope tomorrow the reflection and the resemblance to her will be even stronger.

I am grateful that the Lord is the one who will bring those things about, and that He alone is faithful to finish the good work he has begun.

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.

1 Corinthians 13:11-12

100 Verse Challenge - Week 3

I hope everyone in this Challenge is enjoying this adventure as much as I am. I'm getting a real kick out of learning new scriptures, and reading Robert J. Morgan's insights about the verses. I highly recommend the book 100 Verses Everyone Should Know By Heart. HOWEVER, the book isn't necessary to participate. And if you want to learn a lot of scripture along with me and a couple hundred other hungry folk, you can RSVP on Facebook or follow along here and join in the fun.

The first two weeks we covered the "Four Corners" of our faith. And you can click back to Week 1 and/or Week 2 if you need to catch up. Or you can jump in now as we continue on and start down what Morgan refers to as "The Roman Road."

"The Roman Road" Morgan tells us "is one of the most effective presentations for people who have heard the message (of the gospel) but need to see it in black and white." It's an encapsulation of the whole Bible, a clear concise expression of God's plan of salvation. Once you have these verses down, you are in essence "fully equipped" to share the Good News.

I warned you in the beginning that there may be a few weeks where we had an extra verse to learn in a giving week. This is one of those weeks, we have three verses for week three. But I think you will find them short, and for some of you they may be familiar again. (Isn't it kind of exciting to realize you already know some of the verses that you "should"?

So here we go, week three's 3 verses:

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23

Only one person has ever been without sin and remained that way, and this verse is the statement of "why" behind our need for Him as Savior.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23

Death is what we've earned, but eternal life is the gift God has freely offered in His Son. Morgan reminds us of the word picture many have seen with us in our sin on one side and God and the gift unreachable on the other. He reminds us that only Christ's cross can serve as the bridge between the two.

But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us! Romans 5:8

Personally I love that this scripture ends in an exclamation point, and as I learn it with my kids this week my intention is to speak it with that force. This is exciting news! Christ died for me! I have said often, "He loved us at our worst first." And too often as believers we get bogged down in our "ought to's and should's" and buy into the lie that if we are falling short, God somehow loves us less. So not so. So not so!

On that note, I want to say a little something about the Challenge. There's been a lot of discussion about the "right" way to do the Challenge. Can I just say one more time? This Challenge is what you make of it. There is no wrong way to do it. Some people are adamant that they want to learn it in their own versions. More power to you! If that works for you, great! The point it getting it. I have people who if they know a verse already they are just bypassing it. OK, great - but I would encourage you, you might be missing out, but again, so be it. I have another (English speaking) friend who is memorizing all the verses in Spanish because of her heart for outreach and missions. More power to her.

I do recommend you give time and effort to this Challenge, the more you put in, the more you get out. BUT I also say, if you only memorizing 1/10th of the list, you're still way ahead of where you would be if you hadn't even tried. So let go of your ought to's and should's and make the best of the adventure!

Get busy now, start working on week 3: