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Romans 8:14  "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God."

Have you heard the song by Matthew West?  It's new.  If you haven't heard it, look it up on youtube.  It's a great song. 
The past few weeks have been somewhat discouraging.  One thing after another falls apart, I'm working more hours as a sub at the place where I worked before, and I've been failing at things that I want to win at.  Things that are important. 

Loser. Failure. Reject.

Never mind that I have never in my life been able to keep up with laundry and that is going fine. 
Never mind that I am teaching high school Algebra to my 9th grader.
Never mind that I have sometimes up to four extra kids, while I teach three boys.

But I don't want to find justification for my mess ups.  I don't need to get snippy with my kids, just because I have too much on my plate.  Or maybe it's not too much, maybe I'm just too busy looking at my situation and analyzing all the difficult things I have to do.  Sounds like a bit of pride creeping in.

The thing I'm forgetting when I'm thinking the words above - loser, failure, reject - the thing I'm forgetting is that I'm a child of the One True King.  And while I am a loser, failure, and a reject, I am not any of these things when I am in Him. 

Oh, man that gives me the chills!  And this morning, it brought tears to my eyes.  I had to quickly recover as I was picking up and dropping off children.  But hallelujah!  I am a daughter of the King!  If I have done wrong, I only need to run quickly to Him and confess it.  He gives me the strength to do what I should. 

I've been memorizing Romans 8.  Wow!!!!  Isn't it funny that verses that you've "known" all your life can be so alive?  Memorizing them together and in context - amazing!  So many things and questions about verses I've known all my life. 

For instance, in Romans 1, it talks about the righteousness of God being revealed from faith to faith.  What kinds of faith are we talking about? Is it two different kinds of faith?  I have been thoroughly enjoying pondering some of these things.

In Romans 8, I love the picture of living according to the Spirit as opposed to living according to the flesh.  I want to be sold out for Christ, living according to the Spirit as much as possible.  When I walk according to the flesh, I know that I can quickly return to the King and confess and I'm back in fellowship and walking according to the Spirit again. 

After I've listened to that song and been reminded of my standing in Christ, it made me think of my kids.  Sometimes I condemn them and point out their faults.  I'm not saying that I shouldn't help them grow.  But I need to make sure that they know that they are children of the King too and that He can give them the power to continue their growth toward maturity.  I'm not there yet and never will be, I can't expect it of them. 

This post seems to be hitting a lot of different things.  Hopefully, it doesn't sound disjointed as I feel it is, but I pray that you are a daughter/son of the King and you're finding your identity in Him, not in the things you do.  If you aren't a daughter/son of the King, you can read more about His love for you here.

Romans 8:16-17 "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him."

Making the most of today,
Steph