God showed me a vision of a diamond. It was on the ground, covered in dirt. The Holy Spirit immediately gave revelation. The diamond was covered in dirt, but, never lost its value. I say all that to say, sometimes life can deal us horrific blows. We get knocked down, sometimes of our own making, but, yet we don’t lose our value. We are all extremely valuable in the sight of God. No matter how far we’ve fallen, how dirty WE think we are, God sees you as a rare jewel equipped for use.

When your identity is sacrificed at the altar of people’s opinions, it makes suicide after failure not seem so drastic. I had to learn who I was. I had to learn my identity in Christ. The purpose being so that I would no longer need to look at the world for validation, but, so that I would in turn, look to the Word for validation.

You see, obedience is an art form. We must learn to first distinctly hear the voice of God, as he is ALWAYS speaking. This is the first step in obedience. Listening to and gaining a true understanding of the voice of God and discerning the sound of his Spirit. This takes much patience and diligence. While in this place of learning, we may find that we grow distant from the people and things that once held our attention and focus. That is quite okay. God wants ALL of us. He desires for our lives to reflect both his glory and his will.