Final Thoughts

Did you write your letter? Or at least write it in your head? I hope you did! I hope that you had some nugget of truth that helped you accept who you are and then give it all to Christ.

This is the last day of Living with Me and I thank you so much for going through this journey with me. I pray that through the power of the resurrected Christ in you that you will be able to release all of yourself to Him and find your True Self in the love of Christ.

For further reading, get Brennan Manning's book, Abba's Child!

Love to you all!

Check back in on Monday to see what's coming up next at Stiletto Army!

Saying Good-Bye

I want us to do something before our final day on Friday. Taking a cue again from Brennan Manning in his book "Abba's Child" I want us to write our Impostor a note. It can be lengthy, short and sweet, direct, one liner, whatever. I want us all to put REAL in action. Here, I'll go first and then you guys take some time with Jesus to get this moving.

Dear Me,

There is something I'd like you to know (and I know you know this) but I don't belong to you. You see, someone else controls me. I know, I know, there are too many days when I turn to you for affirmation, intimacy, acceptance, and well, I'm kinda done. You've offered me nothing but empty promises, selfishness, and guilt and I think more than anything, you make me tired of Me.

Now, I've got to be honest, sometimes I fall for it. Sometimes you have me convinced that if I had more of the applause of man then I'd feel fulfilled. Yes, I've listened to you and when those moments came, I simply felt the same and longed for more of empty fulfillment. But, the truth of the matter is; you are me and I am you, but, you see, I have a new Me. When Jesus took over my life I was told that I'd be a new creation and you? well, you'd die. Seems like you keep resurrecting.

Here's what I'd like to do. First, I'm going to stop denying that you are me and I am you and stop pretending that what you are isn't a real thing. Secondly, I'm going to tell you that you are now going to shrink. Third, I'm going to strive for a single-minded focus on the New Me, that is Christ in me. His promises are Yes and Amen. His ways are good and holy. His love is fulfilling and true. His grace is a balm on my soul. His laughter is what I long for. His nod of approval is the only approval I need.

My dear Impostor, you are me and I am you, but I'm ready for you to shrink even more. There's many areas where you a simply an afterthought or no thought at all. These are areas that Jesus has simply transformed and you are quiet, dead. However, there are some places where you are running in the fields of my mind laughing, alive, healthy, and causing me to be distracted from my Real Lord.

I need you to sit down for a minute. You, my dear Impostor, are going to meet Jesus and He has some stuff to do in Me. I realize that as I gaze into the face of the Real Me, the Real Lord, you will simply disappear into the shadows and no longer run these areas. I know this because He promised me. I am "putting you off" and letting the Spirit renew my mind. I am being renewed in the image of my Creator and am being created as a workmanship for Him.

I hope you understand, but you've got to go now. We'll both be better off.

Love,

Me

Would the Real You Please Stand Up

It's our final week for Living With Me. Although y'all may not comment, I know you're out there. This isn't really an interactive blog and is good for just having in your reader. I do hope that you were touch by something this month in Christ. I know that personally a lot has been happening, especially this past week and I hope to teach on it one day...but not now. I have much to sort through first! :)

So, with that said, thank you for being here. Thank you for reading and thank you for subscribing.

With our final week, I want to drive home the thing that will shrink your Impostor and foster the Real You in Christ. It's not rocket surgery and we've heard it before: Increase Christ.

That's it. In order for us to be set free from those things that hold us in bondage we must learn how to go to Christ, lay all of ourselves at His feet, engage with His Holy Spirit, and have Him increase Himself in us.

Sounds easy when you read it in your head, doesn't it? But, is it practical? How DO we go about increasing Christ and decreasing ourselves? What does that look like?

Well, in a word, humility.

Oh sheesh, you say, here she goes again with that dang word! I hope that's not what you're mumbling, but I just can't get around it. Humility to the power of Christ is the key. THE key. This key is what will cause you to decrease and Him to increase. And it's not like you disappear. In fact, it's quite the opposite. You come alive! You become strong, confident, powerful, loving, kind, free!

Humility in mind means being aware of His supremacy in your life regardless of what tries to be lord.

Humility in your heart means actively giving Him your love everyday.

Humility in spirit means knowing that His Spirit is at work regardless of how you feel. He does not stop working and transforming simply because you don't feel it. Humble yourself to this awesome truth.

Humility in flesh means submitting your life to His, your lusts to Him, your insecurities to Him...everything.

This humility is simply acknowledging that He is Lord and you are not. It's bowing yourself to Him in love, joy, and honor and then realizing that it is He who lifts you up.

This is so practical, but it does not go without effort. Make it a daily relationship with an active mind, heart, soul, and strength to make Him your single focus.

The Real You is Christ in You.

How to "Win" or "Lose"

At this point in my life, my Impostor is rather huge in one area. Not many, but there is one where she stands tall and wins much of the argument. However, I'm no fool, there is a way to make her shrink.

First, let me just go over some sure fire ways to make sure your Impostor stays right there on your couch with you eating your popcorn.

• A) Stay out of the Word of God.
• B) Never talk to anyone else about what's going on in your pretty little head.
• C) Consider and ponder what's in that pretty little head more than you pray.
• D) Gripe about your Impostor more than taking her to Jesus.

Got it. Good. I only write those because I'm so good at doing it. On the flip side, there are some sure fire ways to belittle your Impostor into submission to Christ.

• A) Refer back to getting R.E.A.L.
• B) Get your face in the Word and your heart in prayer.
• C) Confess what holds you captive. There is such a power that comes with confession. It diffuses and diminishes that which seems so big and so real.
• D) Stop feeding your Impostor by talking about what ails you all the time.
• E) And finally, submit your whole heart to the power of the Holy Spirit. No matter how you feel or don't feel, the Holy Spirit is always at work. Trust Him.

We do not have time to be run by our Impostor's. We must die to it so that we can get on with living in Him. We weren't just saved to die to ourselves, but to live for Christ!

Over the weekend, take more time to be even more honest with Christ about what's going on in your head. Ask Him to direct you to the verses you need for battle and also what you need to do to humble let the Spirit have complete control.

I pray you have a blessed and freeing weekend!

Sorting Through It

A good look at my Impostor is not always easy, but it's not hard either. She's right there.

Here's the deal, I don't want her to be "right there" anymore. I don't want her in my ear and in my mind. I don't want that natural self to rule places that Jesus should be ruling. So what is a girl to do? Those thoughts are my thoughts. Those things are a reality to me. Are they to you? Is it as easy as saying, "Welp, I just won't think like that anymore!"

Hardly.

Some things, I'd wager, can be gone in a flash when the light of Truth shines on them. Others, need a spotlight of Truth held close before they even start to melt away. Some of my, or our, "issues" can be like a styrofoam cup in a fire; others, like Frodo's ring, fire can't even touch it.

But the point is this: there is a level of intensity in the Word and in the Spirit that can melt away any hang up, stronghold, unbelief, sin, and fear.

This might be corny, but I've just got to run with the whole Lord of the Rings thing. You see (if you haven't seen the movie) there was a ring, a terrible evil ring, that the hero of the story had to return to the place it was made. The ring could not be destroyed except at the place where it was created. Until Frodo tossed it in to the fire from whence in came, it was unstoppable.

It is no different for us. The things that hold us back and bring us down must be brought to our Creator. Only in the white hot glory of the King will those things become obsolete.

I've experienced this in my own life. For a time, I was so drawn to such an intense and dangerous sin that I could hardly make it through a day without wanting a taste. I had accountability, I had knowledge of the Word, I had prayer. It was through taking this to the Source, over and over, and setting it at the feet of my Creator, over and over, and my "ridding myself" of it that His love and Truth melted that away.

Will I never be tempted again? Oh, I already have. And through the years the temptation has seem less and less appealing. My Impostor was finally overcome. That was my Frodo's Ring.

I've had others things that were more like the styrofoam cup. Poof! I had a misconception or wrong perspective concerning something or my belief system needed to be checked and when I would experience the Truth those things fell by the wayside rather easily.

Either way, it was up to me to do this:

...to put of your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds, and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4:22

In those times, we literally have to consciously make decisions to put off those thoughts, habits, attitudes and sin, and put on Christ. A huge part of that is knowing the word!

Just as Paul did for those he served, I too

...pray that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:9

Pray for your knowledge to increase! Pray for your love, for both yourself and others to increase! Pray that you would know the word in order to put it on in your mind and heart through the power of the Holy Spirit! Put off those things of your nature, your Impostor, and put on the things of Christ.

Ask Him to help you sort through it. What is styrofoam and what will need more time, favor, discernment, discipline, and honesty?

Remember:

...you...have put on the new self which is being renewed in the image of its creator. Colossians 2:5

An Invalid at the Pool

I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, sot that you may know him better.
Ephesians 1:17

Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God... John 17:3

See a theme?

What do you think would happen if we made our primary objective the pursuit of knowing God?

Knowing Christ? Knowing His Holy Spirit?

Would we be totally disconnected from reality? Would we be unable to have normal, fun lives?

What would happen?

I'll tell you one thing that would happen: we'd find ourselves. We'd find the "real" me.

If we pursued Christ (which, by the way, it's not hard because he's not allusive), if we did, we might just find that so much of what pulls us down, makes us feel crappy, feeds our insecurity and/or pride, and pours guilt over us would fall to the wayside. The more of Christ, the less of "Me." The more of Christ, the more we see how much all that stuff doesn't matter.

More Christ = Less Insecurity
More Christ = Less Need for Materials
More Christ = Less Need for Applause
More Christ = Less Need for People Pleasing
More Christ = Less Shame, Guilt, Pain, Loneliness, and Rejection

To know Christ is to know who we really are. And Who are we? Who is the Real Me? Let me see if I can't find some things. Hmm, oh hang on, here's some stuff...

We are people at peace with God. (Romans 5:1)

We are alive to God. (Romans 6:11)

We are a people under no condemnation. (Romans 8:1)

We are controlled by the Spirit of God. (Romans 8:9)

Oh, I could go on and on in Romans, but I'll let you go read it and see all the goodies in there.
Umm, oh, here's some more...

We are people being kept strong by Christ. (I Corinthians 1:8)

We have the mind of Christ. (did you know that! I Corinthians 2:16)

We are daughters of God through faith in Jesus. (Galatians 3:26)

We have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus. (Ephesians 1:3)
Okay, this one right here is one we could stop on for a bit. This one line in Ephesians could be the freedom verse for us. We have every spiritual blessing in Christ. Think on that: what do you need? Freedom? Insight? Strength? Patience? Joy?

What do you need? Do you want to get well? Jesus asked that very question to a man in John 5.

There was a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years and had been at a pool in Jerusalem where people believed they could be healed if they go in the water. Well, being an invalid he couldn't just jump in. So, when Jesus strolls up, he sees this guy and asks him, "Do you want to get well?"

At first glance it looks like a pretty silly question. The guy shoots back, "Sir, I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

I wonder...does Jesus ask the same of us? Here we are surrounded by "healing waters" in Jesus and so many of us go on sick, broken, and bound up in so much stuff that we can't even get in the water, or we believe that everyone else is getting more of Jesus than us, or we just like the broken place because it's familiar. (ouch)

What if we preoccupied ourselves with knowing God instead of knowing ourselves? How long have we hung around in our brokenness and given excuses?

Jesus asks us, "Do you want to get well?"

Do we?

Do you?

I do, and that means I have to get honest and get to know Him. We've been saved and we've been redeemed, but sometimes we keep living like an invalid at the healing waters.

Jesus said one more thing to the man, "Get up! Pick up your mat and walk."

It's time to stop living paralyzed by our own "Me's" and get up and walk in the power and love of Jesus!

I want to ask you again, what do you think would happen if we made our primary objective the pursuit of knowing God? What if we lifted our eyes from our brokenness and looked into the face of Christ? What would He say to us? I have a clue..."Get up...and walk."

I am the Lord you God, who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Leviticus 26:25

Just Try It

Have you considered the love of Christ over the last two days? I have. And to be honest...it's refreshing. It makes me feel relieved and light. Wait. I've heard that somewhere before.

Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden in light.

Matthew 11:28,29

Have we ever considered that our burden might be that we don't love ourselves? Have we ever thought that our heavy yoke is one of legalism, or hypocrisy, or shame? Do we really know what His yoke is? What is He putting on us? More rules? More jobs?

No.

It's love.

I'm a natural thinker, not a natural feeler. I love my husband and kids and I laugh at the drop of a hat, but I'm not really the kind of person who feels her way through much. So, the concept of love has always made me think of sappy stories and puffy hearts.

But, this is not that kind of love. This is the kind of Love that empowers me. The kind of Love that makes me walk a little bit taller even if I'm dragging chains. This kind of Love allows me to say anything, admit everything, and abandon all reservation.

I want to ask you a question. Do you wrestle with loving yourself? If so, tell Him. If we cannot love ourselves enough to expose all things and be healed, then what are we doing? We offer the Savior to a dying world, but do not let that Savior raise us to life.

This is your assignment over the weekend: Take inventory (again) of all that makes you cringe, all that charges you up or that fuels your flesh, and then, talk to Him. It's such an amazing feeling to say to Him, "Lord, I have such a hunger for the applause of man. Help me hunger for your love so deeply that the lust of my heart would die!"

There is so much freedom and peace in knowing that Jesus loves that we come to Him broken. Yes, we will be changed, but we cannot be healed in places we do not expose.

Try it. Expose yourself to the love of Christ and tell me you don't feel loved.

Love in the Now

If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us...There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. I John 4:16 & 18

Those are some power-packed words. Words that will help us with our Impostor. Words that will enable us to come under the authority of love in Christ, accept who we are where we are, and believe that this love will free us from what has a stranglehold on us.

If you believe in Christ and have made Him your ruler then you have the very Spirit of God IN you. With that being said, you know House the Love of God. You house Love. And in that love there is no fear and no punishment and no condemnation (Romans 8:1).

There is no fear.
No punishment.
No condemnation.

And here's why. When Jesus died, He took all of that. The fear of separation from God, the punishment of sin which is death, and the condemnation we deserve. He drove out fear because when we fear we are wincing at the possibility that we are going to get smacked by God--punished.

So, what do we do? We try and try to get it right. We fight ourselves, our lusts, our desires. We chastise ourselves for all our issues, attitudes and imperfections and wait for the hammer to fall. But the only hammer that falls is the one we use on ourselves.

Now, now, before you hear me sayin' that God doesn't "punish" us, I'm saying that the punishment of sin is taken care of. Discipline is a whole different issue, but still, discipline from God come out of Love.

I've said this a bazillion times: If you walk around in condemnation (guilt, shame, pity) you are not hearing from the Spirit of Christ. However, if your heart is panged in conviction for a particular action or attitude, then you are hearing from Christ and you need to humble yourself to His leading and authority, repent, confess and get on with it.

Condemnation is not of Christ. Conviction is. There is a difference. Ask Him to help you differentiate between the two.

So, where does this leave us with our Impostor? Where does this leave us when we look in the mirror and see the Ugly and Prideful? It leaves us at the feet of Love. Great and merciful Love.

Even now, I can sense the Father's approval and the nod of God as I type this. He is not out to "get you!" He is not out to check off the list all the good and bad you did today. He is not offering you your world on a platter. He does not bow to your needs and desires and greed.

He will envelope you in His love.
He will give you the applause of His holy hands as you humble serve Him.
He will lift your gaze and kiss your face.
He will guide you into all truth.
He will transform you by the Living Spirit in Him as you humbly offer all things to Him.
He will shatter your idea of what is the best plan for you and give you a better plan in Him.
He will rebuild your broken places.
He will fulfill every desire.

He will do it because He loves you. All of you. Your inability to "get it right." You overwhelming need for the applause of man. You desire to please every one. You pain. Your shame. Your dreams. Your envy. Your self-loathing.

He loves us.




He loves us.




Rest in that.



I want so much to say, "He loves us enough to not let us stay where we are." Well, yeah, okay. But, does He just love me for me? Not where I am or where I've been or where I will be? Doesn't He just love me right now?


Yes. Right now.


And in that moment of "right now" there can be no other time for Him to love you. Now is the time of the Lord's Love. Now is the only time there is. In that love we can't help but be changed.

In that love we love ourselves and our "Me's" disappear into the darkness. Oh, she'll peek back out, but when she does just rest in His love again...and again...and again...until Me cannot take over again.

Rest in His love....now.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

Get REAL

Welcome back to week Two of Living with Me. If you're new, or didn't get to all of last weeks posts, please scroll down and read them. They're not long, but in order to keep going here, I want you to take a look at them.

To start us off this week, I want to give you a quote.

The Impostor must be called out of hiding, accepted, and embraced. He is an integral part of my total self. Whatever is denied cannot be healed. -Brennan Manning, Abba's Child

Remember that big long list of things that we quizzed ourselves on to see if we listen to our Impostor? 'Member that? Yea, I do. But, here's the deal. We can keep going on and on about how broken we are and we can keep beating ourselves up because we don't live up to par; and we can snub our noses at those who don't fit our mold; and we can love Jesus while we struggle with with materialism, greed, anxiety, lust, envy, and fear and we will still be saved.

Or,

We can be all those things and stop for a moment, realize it, examine it, accept it, and love ourselves in spite of it, just like our Savior does.

Like it or not (and we clearly don't like it) we are who we so hate being. Our Impostor IS us. My Impostor IS me, but you have

...taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator...Christ is all and is in all. Col. 2:9, 10

It's time to do something about, and with, and for our Impostor. The enemy has lied to us long enough that we are either not worthy of the blood and forgiveness, or we would be desperately better off with the ways of the world. It's time to get REAL.

R-Recognize that you have "Me" to live with. Just be strong enough to say, Yes, this is me.
E- Examine what things, ways, attitude and lies are set up against the Truth.
A- Accept that, yes, this is me. This, Lord, is me.
L- Love yourself enough and trust Christ enough to be transformed.

He did not free us so that we would walk ourselves into more bondage.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. Galatians 5:1

Man, this is hard for me. I have such an appetite for applause and such a fear of being over-looked that I forget that my full identity, peace, and satisfaction is found in Christ! He set me free from what would hold me captive to this world and I chose to burden myself with it!

Oh, people, we have got to get REAL. If we aren't, then we are fooling only ourselves. He knows the struggles. He knows the lies. He sees the hypocrisy. He hears the foolishness. He feels the pain. He understands the doubt.

He cannot transform what we do not bring to His feet.
He cannot heal what we do not let Him touch.
He cannot free us from what we hold so dear.

Go back to the Quiz. Look over your lists of what whispers in your ear. Think about what is in the deepest places of who you are and then...tell Him. Get real with Him. Lay it all out there. He is your best friend, your greatest lover, your biggest fan, your softest teacher, your Most Honorable King. Tell Him. He is not surprised and welcomes your honesty. Remember what Manning said at the top up there: Whatever is denied cannot be healed.

Do not deny yourself the opportunity of complete healing, freedom and finding the Real You. Watch as your Impostor bows to the King and His authority. Watch as You find yourself in Him and He lives Himself in You.

Pray for each other this week. It could be a hard one for some of us.

The Beloved

Well, how ya doin'? Been thinking much? Again, let me express to you this: I am so humbled and thankful that you keep coming back to this blog. It is my prayer that we all discover what has become our Impostor and what we can do about.

If you're just joining us, please scroll on down and see what we've been talking about. We are uncovering, er, admitting that we might have a tiny problem called "listening to Me" or, in other words, "listening to a bunch of lies!"

For those of you who commented on Wednesday's little quiz, I'm a bettin' that you're not alone. Those of you who didn't comment probably nodded your head, maybe even sighed, or thought "Blast!" If you didn't, that I praise God for you and the victory you have....or....you're a liar.

After reading those comments, I want to make a proposal:

Yes, we are those things. Yes, we behave badly. Yes, we struggle and fight against that which displeases the Lord. Yes, yes, yes.

But, what if--what if we take a moment, look at her in the face, look at yourself in the face and all that you dislike, all that you find irritating, all that you find out of place, sinful, hypocritical and annoying and tell yourself that regardless of all that and all you think of yourself...

You are the Beloved of God.

Your Impostor IS you and YOU are the Beloved of God.

We might separate our beauty from our ugly, but Jesus does not. He sees us whole, a whole person with weaknesses and strengths; with pain and joy; with frailty and strength; with sin and holiness.

Over the weekend, every time you hear the voice of condemnation or commendation, tell yourself, "I am the Beloved." Every time you fear rejection or welcome applause; every time you are envious or humble; every time you are rude or gracious; every time you desire money or desire holiness tell yourself, "I am the Beloved." See if you don't begin to see yourself differently.

This is the challenge: If Christ's accepts all of us with all our imperfections, why don't we?

Next week we'll unpack that giant piece of baggage!

Identity Quiz

I got to thinking about all the different ways that we could discover whether or not we are controlled by our other "Me" and, quite honestly, I believe there are as many Me's as there are as many individuals reading this post. What I'm trying to say is that not all of us will exhibit the same weaknesses, the same failures, the same narcissistic ways, but we must at least look and see if there is indeed another voice, another Me calling some shots in our lives.

So, I devised a test. Because there are so many things in us that could stand against the truth of Christ, I tried to narrow it down a bit. Here are 15 things for you to read over. Chances are every one of us can nod our head in agreement to some of them.


Now, all I want you to do today is read over the 15 things and be very honest with yourself. If you can say yes, to I'd say three or more of these, chances are you listen to Me. Ready?

You might be Living with Me if you:

1. Feel annoyed by your actions....often.
2. Belittle and condemn yourself for not being able to maintain a Christ-like attitude.
3. Feel the rush from the applause of others.
4. Feel the pain of failure when others succeed.
5. Feel the shame when you step on the scale.
6. Desire popularity.
7. Fear what people think of you.
8. Feel the need to please others even if it's destructive.
9. Find purpose in busyness.
10. Define yourself by what you do.
11. Preoccupy yourself with what you have and don't have, do and don't do, feel and don't feel.
12. Lack real times of solitude with Christ and real intimacy with His Spirit.
13. No one makes you happy.
14. Can't forgive yourself.
15. Hate yourself.

Remember, this list is not exhaustive, although it may be exhausting. Where are you going with this? you ask. To a place of healing, not judgement. To a place of acceptance, not rejection. I want you to take the time to identify the pain, the reality that yes there is duplicity in our thinking. Yes we struggle with self-hatred and self-loathing. Can we at least admit that the struggle is real, but is it right? Is this duplicity something to hate? Or, is it something to embrace?



I dare say....we'll find out.

Living with Me

My house has all the normal things, living room, bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, office. There's nothing fancy, no extreme bells and whistles. There's five people who live here and often times there is (as Brennan Manning calls her) my Impostor walking right next to me.

She will follow me from room to room doing many a mischievous thing: a critique, a nag, a reminder of what I don't have or what I think I need, a jab, an applause, a telling of an old story of what I used to do. She's not my friend. She's my Impostor, but I live with her and she with me. We cannot be separated...or can we?

I wonder, dear reader, do you ever struggle with the voice of yourself? Do you ever find that you want more than you have? Do you ever struggle with wondering why you're not noticed? Do you find that you crave the applause of those around you even if it's just a small golf clap? Do you struggle with feeling significant? Beautiful? Pleasing? Pure?

I do. I have.

And so, what do we do with all these things? Are they supposed to be of people who claim to follow Christ? On the one hand, I am to be pure and humble, self-sacrificing and meek, and yet I want to scream "NOTICE ME!", but not too loudly because we don't want to be First when the First with be Last.

Aren't we to be holy as God is holy? What happens if I think really poorly of someone or consider that that other man might be better than mine? What if I really like her house or her figure?

Bad me.

Bad, bad me.

I'm a Christ follower! I'm not supposed to think all this! Feel all this! Shame. Shame on me.

And so the chastisement goes. Your thoughts might be different. Your chastisement of who you should be might be a whole other set of lines. What are they? Can you identify them? Do you even know you're doing it?

How do you live with the other "Me" in your life? Do we all struggle with "But I died in Christ...why do I still feel like this?"

If so, then please, come in to my home for awhile, I have someone I'd like you to meet. Her name is Natalie, and she's my impostor, she...is me.

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Over the next few weeks, we'll be talking about living with all the lines in our heads about ourselves. We'll look at the struggle between who we are, who we should be, and who are really are. We'll discover that maybe, just maybe, the impostor can be someone we look at in the eye, accept and bring hand in hand to Jesus. Sound impossible, even sacrilegious?

Good, it's time to shake up the religiosity of our lives a little bit and meet the Love of Christ.

Stay with me through the month of February every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as we learn about "Living with Me."

Do you sometimes wonder why you do what you do? Do you ever feel like, as a follower of Christ, you'll never get it right? Well, join the club! This study will help you discover how we all can survive Living with Me!

Week 1

Introduction

Identity Quiz

The Beloved

Week 2

Get Real

Love in the Now

Just Try It

Week 3

An Invalid at the Pool

Sorting Through It

How to "Win" or "Lose"

Week 4

Would the Real You Please Stand Up

Saying Good-Bye

Final Thoughts