Well, God has decided to blow open the doors of opportunity and our 2018 ministry schedule is full and 2019 is starting to fill up, but that is not the best news I have for you today!

Before I show you what the calendar looks like I have to tell you what the most exciting part is to me. Are you ready? The most exciting part is, I don’t need any of it!

So we have all these speaking engagements that we have been asked to do and we have prayed about and accepted each one, but I can honestly say, if every single one of them fell through today, I would feel the exact same peace, joy and confidence that I am feeling right now.

How is that possible? It is only possible because my peace, joy and confidence isn’t rooted in anything that I accomplish anymore, but instead it’s rooted in the fact that I’m a child of God. I’m God’s girl!

The only thing that would take away my peace, joy and confidence is if I stopped being God’s girl and that is never going to happen!

This is such a place of security and is the place that God wants every one of His children to live in. When we know our completeness comes from who we are in Christ alone, we literally cannot be pulled out of this wonderful place of security. It really is the best feeling ever.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. 10 So you also are complete through your union with Christ, who is the head over every ruler and authority. Colossians 2:9-10 (NLT) 

I was studying this scripture passage this morning in preparation for this blog post and I just love Andrew Wommack’s Living Commentary notes on this. Check these out!

Notes on Colossians 2:9

“Everything that God is and has is in Christ (Colossians 1:19), and we are in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Therefore, everything that God is and has is ours for the believing.”

Notes on Colossians 2:10

Remember that Paul said in Colossians 2:4 that he was saying these things to keep the Colossians from being deceived. Recognition of our completeness in Christ is a tremendous safeguard against deception. Prior to salvation, we are incomplete, and there is a constant striving in all of us to satisfy that hunger. Through the new birth, however, we are complete in Christ, and our hunger should only be for more revelation of what we already have in Christ. Total satisfaction with Christ disarms Satan’s lies. A big part of all temptation is dissatisfaction.

Adam and Eve would not have eaten of the forbidden fruit if they hadn’t been made dissatisfied with what they had. Through Satan’s lie, they were led to believe that they didn’t have it all (Genesis 3:5) when the truth was they did. They were more like God before they ate of the fruit than after eating it. Their dissatisfaction was a preliminary step to their action of sin.

Satan tempts us in the same way he came against Adam and Eve (2 Corinthians 11:3). Therefore, a full revelation of our completeness in Christ will keep us from chasing after all the things the devil has to offer. If anyone tells us that Christ isn’t enough, that we need something more, then that’s the devil trying to turn us away from our completeness in Christ.

This is so good! You see, if I didn’t know who I was in Christ (and this is something we are all growing in on a regular basis), I would have started getting arrogant when the speaking engagement invites began to roll in because I would have been deceived into thinking more engagements made me a more important person.

When I stated above that I don’t need them, what I meant is, I don’t need them to feel more important. I already feel extremely important – invaluable really – because I’m a child of God.

That is it. That’s all we need. We’ve already reached the highest place by being invited into relationship with God and accepting that invite. Seriously, we don’t have anything left to try to get because we already have it!

Now my family and I can go out and minister at these engagements just because we love the people and love to share the good news of the gospel.

If you look at our 2018 ministry calendar you’ll notice there is not more than one speaking engagement/ministry opportunity per month. Steve and I prayed about it and felt we should keep my engagements to no more than one per month in 2018.

This is another thing that happens when you get to the place where you are not getting your worth and value out of what you accomplish – you don’t have to overbook your schedule when what you do/accomplish is not part of your identity. Instead, you are free to hear from and follow the Holy Spirit’s lead.

Steve and I certainly don’t always handle our schedule perfectly, but we totally believe and talk about this often, that if we are truly following the leading of the Holy Spirit, we will not feel overwhelmed schedule-wise.

Now, 2019 may be totally different. Maybe we will feel ok to take more engagements than one per month and maybe we won’t. The Spirit will lead us. We just have to be willing to follow and that is so much easier since we don’t need these events to feel good about ourselves. WoooHooo! Freedom!

I know what it’s like to live the other way. I did it for many years and an identity crisis can affect every area of your life.

I was sitting in the stands at my daughters’ track meet recently and began to wonder how many of the parents sitting around me were trying to get their identity through what their kids accomplished that day.

I could relate though. It wasn’t all that many years ago when the pre-grace revelation Sandra wanted her girls to be competitive in gymnastics for the same reason.

They never did get to a high enough level in gymnastics to be competitive and now, because of what Jesus has done in my life, the post-grace revelation Sandra could care less!

The third point I want to highlight in this post is that when your security is in who you are in Jesus and nothing else, you won’t even care about trying to force open doors for yourself or your kids in your own strength.

I’m not kidding when I say I have merely been resting in Jesus and enjoying my relationship with Him and then all of the sudden, within a two week period of time, all these doors start opening. It was effortless! And when God decides to open doors, no one can shut them. It’s a totally different experience than us trying to plot or scheme or get in with “the right people” or make our own way. I have zero interest in doing that.

My faith is in the grace (unmerited favor) of God for both myself and my family. We only want to walk through the doors that Jesus opens for us.

I was so proud of my girls, Angel and Starr, last night as they brought home their school yearbooks and sat with us for over an hour to look through them together. They pointed out person after person after person in that yearbook who are their friends and they kept saying, “Here is so-and-so. She got a scholarship and has been signed by such-and-such college. Here is so-and-so. He is so good in track. I bet he’ll get a scholarship. They spent the whole time talking about how proud they were of their friends instead of comparing themselves with the other students. This non-competitive, no-need-to-compare attitude in them is proof that they are understanding their true identity in Christ more and more and growing in God’s grace. It made me smile!

This momma is convinced that her girls are greatly blessed, highly favored and deeply loved by God and I cannot wait to see what HE has in store for them! Thankfully, they are learning for themselves that they do not have to strive and struggle to push down their own doors of opportunity. God will take care of that as they rest in Him!

Thank You, Father, for opening these ministry doors and allowing my family and I to travel wherever You send us with the singular goal of making Jesus famous!!!

This song has become one of my favorites. I think I’ve listened to this at least one time every day for the past month or two. This is what it’s all about, my friend. We are His. We belong to Him. He is everything we need.

If you have not yet made Jesus your Savior and received the wonderful joy that His finished work on the cross has provided for you to live in, please visit my page here titled Jesus In The Driver’s Seat. On this page I explain the good news of the gospel and you will have the opportunity to pray a prayer of salvation, making Jesus your Savior! Jesus loves you and His arms are wide open!

Sandra McCollom

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