Praying To Be Who God Intended

Are you struggling to do it all?

Maybe it’s time to give up trying to do, and focus instead on being the woman God created you to be.

I get it. I’m a doer. I’m goal-oriented by nature, I like checklists, timelines and clear expectations. So it can be a struggle for me sometimes to set all of that aside and really focus on who I am, as opposed to what I am doing (or should be doing).  But this kind of personal, prayerful, self-reflection is crucial for understanding and embracing God’s direction for your life.

This whole “having it all” discussion we’ve shared over the past few weeks really starts here: the first step to “having it all” is understanding who you truly are. Without that, you can’t possibly know what “it” looks like for you. Without it, you’ll find yourself frustrated, chasing after impossible standards.

I came across an insightful article by Kristen Tennant on just this topic. For Kristen, learning who she is started with discarding the “good Christian image” she’d been struggling to live up to:

Instead, the focus has shifted to uncovering the unique me God created. What I’m discovering, little by little, is that it’s a me who’s able to accept God’s love and grace and who trusts the inner voice of the Spirit—without the comparisons, the checklists and the noisy doubts.

I don’t know Kristen, but I applaud her openness here and I encourage you to check out her series of articles.

This struggle to know and accept yourself as God’s creation is really a struggle to submit to God’s authority. When you keep your emphasis on doing the “right thing,” you’re fighting to keep the ball in your court. And this struggle is nothing new.

Consider Eve’s story in Genesis 1-3. Here is a lady who literally has it all. And I mean definitively IT ALL. She lived in a perfect world, surrounded by beauty, beloved by God, with a partner created specifically for her. And yet when that voice suggested that maybe she could do more, discontentment creeps in. Eve rejected who God made her to be, with disastrous consequences.

The thing about knowing and accepting yourself as God created you is that, frankly, it can be hard. As difficult as it might feel to do, do, do, sometimes checklists are just plain easier (and faster) than serious introspection and prayer. But unless you accept yourself as God made you, you’ll always be striving for (and falling short of) something more.

Who did God create you to be?

Looking for more executive wisdom from Diane Paddison? You might also enjoy Single Without the “Gift of Singleness”.