John Community Group Chapter 7: The Facts (Guest Blog)

This week I am so excited to hear from one of my dearest friends, Twila. She has been a close friend of mine for about 5 or 6 years, and she has spoken so much wisdom into my life during that time. I'm thrilled that she would take the time and bless us with her thoughts and what the Lord has spoken to her on Chapter 7 this week! I am positive you will be blessed by her heart that desperately chases after the Father. I pray that I can be more like her some day! Now, from Twila:



Who am I? That has been my life’s question. What is my identity? Am I Kenneth and Peggy’s daughter or Rowdy’s sister? Am I Donnie’s wife? Am I Micaela and JD’s mom? Can any of these titles really define who I am? Can they fill the void in my soul that aches to understand why I am here? I can say I have tried to make them fill that void and failed. So where is the answer to the question of my life? I see it in John chapter 7 in the way Christ shows who He is.

Here it is sometime in September or October and Jesus is with his brothers discussing The Feast of the Tabernacles that was about to happen sometime in October. Now the word does not say that Jesus and his brothers were discussing that fact that people wanted to kill him, Jesus did mention it, but rather the main topic was that his brothers believed he should go public at this feast that this should be his time to become a public figure. However, Jesus said this is not my time and I will not go yet. He did go but later and He went quietly not to make a statement about whom he was but to let those know whose he was and where he came from.

He was secure in his identity. He knew he was the son of the Most High God and he did not allow men, even his own brothers to move him before his time. Oh, how I wish I was that secure and patient. There have been so many times that I stepped out before God and then messed up things. God’s timing is perfect.

So how do I find my identity from this passage? I see it in understanding more about Christ and who he chose to listen to when the voices were loud. He chose to hear His Father over the voices speaking questions and cuts. He listened to his Father and chose to receive what the Lord spoke into Him.

I have been the girl who chose for so many years to listen to the negative chatter and even thought it was truth. I have believed my value was less than what God says it is because of pride. I heard someone say that low self esteem is a form of pride. I did not understand that until God dealt with me on this very issue. I was so focused on me that I could not focus on God and his calling on my life. The “I” focus is the pride. It is all about me whether negative or positive. I still land there from time to time and God still deals with my heart on the matter but I praying that it is less often than it used to be in my life. What changed? I had to change and it required more of God and less of me. It required trading out some things I liked so I could have more room for Him in my life. I am an auditory learner. So what I hear has major affects on me and my life. I knew God asked me to exchange secular music for music with Christian lyrics and themes. I submitted by resetting my radio stations at home and in my car. It really was a small change because I was not in my car that much and was not listening to my stereo that often at home. However that small change gave God room in my life where He could speak over me and into me. It became His time and we talked there.

I have learned through the years since then that I need His word to battle the lies that are spoken to me and over me. I need to remember that He gave it all that I could be called “Child of the One True King”. I am redeemed. So for me John 7 shows Jesus resting in His true identity, being bold in His true identity, and revealing His true identity to those around even when others wanted something else. I want to be defined by God and not by man even when men will not receive what God has revealed to me in His word.

Peace of Christ to you,