By Cyndi           

                  Are you happy with the way you are? Would you have designed yourself differently if you would have had the chance? Many people are obsessed with the way they look. The popularity of Botox, facial lifts, liposuction, and even colored contacts reveal the fact that some folks are not content to be just the way God made them. However, I believe there is a power in embracing exactly who God made us to be, and it is a huge detriment when we rebel in some way to how God designed us.  

                When I was young, I used to love to go in my father’s office and sit with him at his drawing board. It was a part of his workshop building behind the house where he could work on house plans. He took in side jobs for supplemental income, and, having been a drafter at one time, I think he still liked the creativeness of drawing things himself.

                These were the days before the CAD computers when architects and engineers had everything drawn by hand. I remember always asking him to explain what the all symbols in the templates meant. To me, it just looked like neat little shapes and squiggly lines to trace, but each design had a specific purpose. One part of the template had something that signified folding closet doors, another part meant sliding ones. Some symbols were to show where toilets or sinks were to be. On paper, there was a way to design a whole house with pictures. I found it fascinating! The entire building was planned, inside and out.

                After all the plans were drawn, blueprints were made of them. These were the copies that a builder would use to actually build the house. All the details and measurements were there, written on those blueprints.  Contractors cannot build anything without a blueprint-it’s the directions they follow.

                It’s amazing to think that God had blueprints of each one of us. He thought through exactly how he wanted us to be designed-what color eyes we would have, our hair, our height, whether we’d be big boned or small-even our gifting in being analytical, artsy, introverted, or extroverted. There were so many things to design! And He didn’t use the same template on any of us-we are each entirely different from one another. King David, in Psalm 139:14, said, “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made” When we embrace how God made us, we are in a position to prosper, to come into all God has for us-the very things we were designed to do. I think David had a revelation of God’s blueprint for him. Jesus told his followers, in Matthew 10:30, that “the very hairs on your head are all numbered.” God knew all the intricate details of us before He even created us.

                We were all uniquely made by a specific plan for a specific purpose. I can imagine God sitting at His drawing board thinking through each person with such precision and attention to every detail of their design.  When He made us, he said it was very good (Gen. 1:31).Truly, we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

By Cyndi

                   Is it hard for you to admit not understanding something? What about admitting you were wrong? This can really hit our pride and ego. It can also cause tremendous shame. For me, admitting I didn’t know something was basically saying I was stupid. Being stupid is different than being ignorant, yet many times I didn’t want to expose my ignorance or my stupidity. Generally speaking, I don’t think any of us like to be exposed in any way.

                   Maybe some of this dislike for exposure goes all the way back to Adam in the garden. After having a close relationship with God, daily talking to Him, walking in the garden with Him, he and Eve disobeyed one of His rules. He knew he had done something wrong. He felt exposed so he wanted to hide from God. Don’t we do the same thing now? We try to hide our mistakes. We try to hide our ignorance. We try to hide whatever wrong thing we’ve done to avoid the shame that would come from others if they knew.  We don’t want anyone to think there is anything wrong with us.  In Asia they use the expression, “You must keep your face well.” In other words, you need to always look good on the outside regardless of what’s on the inside.

                   Much of our society is centered on the outside-how we look, how we dress, where we live, and so on. Just about every commercial on television is rapidly flashing multiple ways to improve our outsides in just 30 days, with no cash down, or in only two payments of $19.95, plus shipping and handling. But does changing what we wear, drive, or our hair color really change who we are as a person? Perhaps we’re ashamed of our true personality, trying to be someone we’re not; so we cover our inner person with layers of stuff and lies.

                   God is never ashamed of us; in fact, Jesus even calls us His brethren (Heb.2:11). Even when we make mistakes (which we will) or get embarrassed by our ignorance (that too), we need not try to hide. It’s not like He doesn’t know everything about us anyway! He loves us no matter what, and He’s not ashamed to be our God (Heb.11:16). He readily claims us as His own. We may do something really wrong and, like Adam, want to run and hide. We may even get exposed in front of everyone, thinking we must be the stupidest person who ever lived, yet Father God’s love covers us. Love covers (1 Pet. 4:8).

                   Knowing His love has now empowered me the freedom to be both ignorant and wrong. It sounds funny, doesn’t it? But I no longer have a problem asking seemingly “stupid” questions and admitting to being wrong (at least sometimes). I don’t feel the need to hide myself anymore. I’m not ashamed of what I appear to be on the outside to others because I know God loves me for who I really am on the inside. Being exposed is just a way for me to see His amazing love and grace exemplified in my life.

By Cyndi              

           Remember Mr. Spock from Star Trek? He would do that Vulcan hand gesture and say, “Live long and prosper.” But what is prosperity anyway? Is it security? Is it having lots of money?
            Well, when we are prospering, we do have a sense of security in that we usually are not worried about paying bills, losing our house, paying for college, or our retirement. We have a type of external security-but it can be a false sense of security, thinking that whatever problem comes up, we can solve it with money. But what if our health fails or we lose a loved one? No amount of money can change that. Yes, wealth can make our life easier and more comfortable-we can fly all over the world getting the best treatments and medications-but we, ourselves, are not in control. We have lost our sense of security.
            I’ve been thinking about prosperity in the internal sense though. (Perhaps this is even what Mr. Spock meant.) I may not be prospering monetarily, but my self-confidence is growing, my knowledge is growing, and I’m becoming more secure in who I am as a person and who God made me to be. For example, I used to be quite fearful about using computers. I was totally insecure that my teenage son knew bookoos more than I did about the computer. After praying about my fears and spending more and more time actually working on the computer, my knowledge has multiplied tremendously over the last year. I am now prospering in this area. I went from a place of fear to a greater self-confidence in my knowledge, and now I’m not as insecure anymore. This is a type of inner prosperity the Lord wants us all to grow in every day.
            Of course, there are many forms prosperity, or security, can take, but my point for this article is to show that it does not have to be just in monetary ways. In Psalm 1, the first few verses tell of the person who seeks the Lord and desires to live in a godly way. This person, the Lord says, shall prosper and live well. Hmm…I wonder. Did Mr. Spock ever read the Bible?   

By Cyndi

Where would we be without light? Why do we need it? It is light that allows us to see things around us, that keeps us from bumping into things when we’re walking. It is light that helps us to see and not just feel and touch objects. When there is no light, there is darkness.

Light dispels darkness. Things are exposed when light is present. When you were a kid, did you ever think you saw something in your room that wasn’t really there and it made you afraid? Whenever I did, my dad would come into my room, flip the light on and confirm to me that what I thought was there, in reality, wasn’t. The light revealed the truth to me. It dispelled my fear. Sometimes we don’t know what is true until light is shed upon it.

Light reveals, darkness hides. Do you ever think about how evil is portrayed in literature or movies? Usually it is characterized by nighttime, shadows, the color black, or darkness. Even certain people can be considered “shady”.  Light, on the other hand, tends to characterize hope or something new-a “dawn” of some sort.

Think about this-you can bring light to something, but you can’t bring darkness. Light can be contained, but darkness can’t because the minute you reveal it, it’s no longer dark. We can put light in a box, in a bulb, in a room, in something that can hold it. When you switch on a flashlight, the light comes “on”; when you switch it off, the light goes “off”. We don’t say the darkness goes away and then comes back, no, it’s the light that changes things. Darkness is the absence of light. You only get darkness by eliminating light. The natural state of the world is darkness. That’s why in Genesis, the first thing God created after the earth itself was light. (Gen. 1:3)  

Jesus says, “I am the Light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”(John 8:12) Here in this verse, Jesus refers to Himself as light personified-a living, breathing example of what light is. I believe He did not come to condemn sinners and threaten evil doers, but to expose the darkness in their lives and reveal a better, brighter way to live. Even as it is hard for us to function physically in the dark, God doesn’t want us to live spiritually without light either. He is the light, the hope that can dispel the darkness in our lives, whether it is fear, anxiety, or desperation. It is His light that can change everything.