1601425775 (SH) by Sandra McCollom

Author:Sandra McCollom [McCollom, Sandra]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Tags: Christian Books & Bibles, Personal Growth, Women's Christian Living, Christian Living, Religion, Inspirational, Women's Issues, Religion & Spirituality, Christian Life
ISBN: 1601425775
Publisher: WaterBrook Press
Published: 2015-03-03T00:00:00+00:00

CENTERED IN CHRIST

I wish you could meet my friend Amy and see for yourself how God’s grace is beautifully evident in her life, now that He has transformed her wrong believing. I’m so glad she was kind enough to share with me her personal story of how everything changed when she got a revelation of grace:

My life as a people pleaser began in early childhood, and the vast majority of my forty-three years had been spent perfecting my performance. Sexual abuse by a close family friend evoked feelings of guilt, inadequacy, and condemnation that color my earliest memories. The constant feeling that I had provoked the abuse left scars of shame that ran deep into my psyche. My early sense of inadequacy insisted that everyone approve of me and that I perform perfectly in every situation so that the real me, who was so desperately lacking, never showed through.

My childhood insecurities carried into adolescence. I compared myself to everyone, always coming up short and certain that every glance, every laugh was directed at me. My teenage years were spent trying to prove my worth with clothes, grades, friends, and a perfect reputation. And as hard as I tried, I never felt that I quite measured up. At seventeen, poor judgment landed me in the local police station waiting on my parents to pick me up. I spent the time trying to convince the police officers what a good person I really was, even brandishing my honor society membership card! By the time my parents arrived, the officer in charge told my dad what a great kid he had and to please go easy on me.

“Going easy” meant that I was sent to church camp during spring break. I was less than happy. However, during that week, I asked Jesus to come into my life and save me. I know that the moment I asked, He came in. However, I spent the next twenty-six years convinced that my standing with God, my salvation, my ability to receive anything from my heavenly Father was based on my performance. Any mistake would cause me to run from the Lord’s presence for days, weeks, or however long it took for me to “clean myself up.”

My performance-based mentality led me to run blindly on a treadmill of guilt and condemnation until I was exhausted and powerless. I was constantly focused on myself and all that I was doing wrong. At the same time, I was a perpetual rule follower—a Pharisee’s Pharisee. I made myself judge and jury of everyone in my life, which often made for dismal relations with my husband and other family members.

But thank God, all that changed last summer when I heard a message that truly set me free. I had heard parts of this message all my life but never in this way. The statement I heard was this: “He who knew no sin became sin for us. Jesus became your sin. Therefore you can become His righteousness.” That revelation struck my heart with profound power.

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