Free To Be Me

Do you find yourself falling short to the prom queen and cheer leader status, or maybe the straight “A” students or star athletes? Whatever it may be, we have something inside of us that just doesn’t “cut it”. 

If you are anything like me, I often wonder how can God use me. How can he use this ordinary girl that wasn’t a straight A or B student and who wasn’t always the coolest kid on the block. How can God use this ordinary girl who seems to mess up all the time? Society today tells us that we must have a certain body, dress a certain way and live like the world does. Not only do we doubt ourselves, but also have all human kind telling us we don’t measure up unless we are the cookie cutter person.

How do we get past the not good enough mind-set and shift to recognizing that God can use us right where we are and AS we are?!

The Old Testament tells of how God worked through a prostitute (yes, you heard me—a prostitute!) named Rahab to both protect the Israelite spies and save her entire family. Look it up sometime…it’s in Joshua 2.

Because she was willing to offer the Israelite spies a safe place to stay and give them protection in her home, the spies were able to give a clear report back to the leaders, which in turn, helped Israel accomplish what they had set out to do with their military might.

God knows the way we think. God knows we would be quick to discount someone like Rahab because of her past and her lifestyle.

So do you know what he does? He goes to some pretty extreme measures to make sure we realize just how creative and powerful He is.

God includes Rahab in the lineage of Jesus Christ. Lineage is huge; the family tree of the Savior of the world.

It’s true. Matthew includes Rahab in his gospel, letting the whole world know that while Rahab may have counted herself out, while every other person may have counted her out because of her shady past…God didn’t count her out. Far from it!  God counted her in and used her, her story and her faith to show what he’s capable of.


God’s not attracted to people’s abilities—He’s not even distracted by people’s inabilities.


In fact…

“You are not just God’s workmanship, or His little fix-it-up project. You are God’s poetry. His masterpiece. God’s work of art.”

This is so important to get. Because there are some days when we don’t feel like we are even close to a masterpiece. There are days where we don’t act much like it either. There are some days when we don’t think how God’s work of art should think.

But here’s what YOU need to know…

Regardless of how you feel… Regardless of the mistakes you can sometimes make…you are God’s masterpiece. And knowing that; internalizing that; believing that to be true about your life, regardless of how you feel…means starting to do something about it.

Even though you feel like less than a masterpiece, you are one. And as God’s masterpiece, you were created to do good works. You were created to be used by God! We struggle to believe that we could work alongside God because we don’t think we offer value to this world. But our Creator states that we—His masterpieces—have immense value. You have immense value because the Artist created you.

God is in the business of making masterpieces out of the most broken people—as well as those of us who may not feel as broken, but feel just plain ordinary, purposeless and directionless.

Wherever you find yourself—whether totally messed up in a situation you never wanted to be in or you blend into the crowd with nothing special to offer—you need to hear that God has made you his workmanship, his poetry, his work of art.

Each one of us looks different. We have different lives, different circumstances and different families.

Some of you come from a broken home. You feel insignificant because your family doesn’t notice you. They shuffle you back and forth between two homes and never appear to care.

Some of you have a broken past. You’ve made mistakes or mistakes have been made against you. You feel like there is nothing redeemable about your past or your life. You view your potential and your future through the lens of every mistake you’ve made.

Some of you feel “less than” whenever you walk into a room. Your self-confidence is crushed, nonexistent. You’ve spent your whole life walking with your head down.

The good news is that God looks at you and sees his masterpiece. Even if you have a broken past, broken relationships and broken confidence—God sees beautiful art. I don’t know what it’ll look like for you, but I do know you were created by God to be used. You have everything you need. God fashioned you. He painted a masterpiece in you. He created you. He made you…and God makes beautiful things.

We’ve got to change our mindset. Stop seeing yourself as less than and start seeing yourself as God sees you. Trust the Artist when He tells you how much worth and value you have—and then allow yourself to be available. To be used to accomplish things only He could have dreamed up for you.

God makes beautiful things.

Sometimes I believe that I can do anything
Yet other times I think I've got nothing good to bring
But You look at my heart and You tell me
That I've got all You seek
And it’s easy to believe
Even though…

‘Cause I got a couple dents in my fender
Got a couple rips in my jeans
Try to fit the pieces together
But perfection is my enemy
On my own I'm so clumsy
But on Your shoulders I can see
I'm free to be me

Beyond the song,

Ashley


Link to Free To Be Me lyrics
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