Domesticated Elephants! Yes, this is really gonna talk about domesticated elephants!! Ha Ha ! …. I bet that peaks your curiosity, huh? When an elephant is still young, the trainer will put a metal band around the elephant’s ankle and attach it to a stake in the ground with a huge chain. After the elephant grows up a bit, the metal band and chain are removed, yet the stake remains. By this time, the elephant has learned that he can only move a certain amount of distance from the stake. He will never move out of that circle unless led by a trainer. When I first heard this, it was huge to me… how many stakes in the ground are we circling in our life right now?
How many times have we heard, or even told ourselves, “She can’t do that, she’ll never make it. She’s not _____ enough.” Fill in your own blank… smart, rich, wise, pretty, skinny, whatever….
It hurts to hear those things, but the real injury comes when we start to believe them. The Bible tells us that “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” There’s a saying I tell my boys all the time, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re right!” We have heard things in our life that have damaged us, placed a stake in the ground of our life, and there we are… circling that stake time and time again. “He can’t ever be more than he is, he came from an ugly background.” “She wasn’t wanted. She was actually put up for adoption so she wouldn’t be a burden to her mother.” “They have never been able to handle money or any other responsibility they’ve had. They’ll fail this one too!” “He doesn’t have any education, he’ll never make anything of himself.”
We have to find ourselves in this world… find our true identity. My life changed when I learned there was someone who is bigger than me, someone who knows all my ugliness and loves me anyway. Most of the relationships I’ve had in my life, whether it be with my family, friends I’ve met, co-workers, whatever… I always have somewhere in the back of my mind a feeling that one day they might find something out about me and walk away. But when I met Jesus for real, I found out that He knows my everything!! All my ugly business, all my messes, all my faults. AND… He chose me anyway, chose to die for me, chose to pour out His blessings on me! I am a daughter of the Most High God and not an elephant! (*smiles*) The only stake in the ground I will be circling is the cross my Savior died upon. I am The King’s Daughter!
I am a new creation in Christ—2 Cor 5:17
No weapon formed against me shall prosper and no tongue shall condemn me—Isaiah 54:17
I am the head and not the tail – Deut 28:13
My Father owns the cattle on a thousand hills – Psm 50:10
God will supply all my needs according to His riches – Phil 4:19
I am blessed with every spiritual blessing—Eph 1:3
My sins are taken away and I am forgiven—Eph 1:7
I am God’s work of art 🙂 — Eph 2:10
God delights in me! — Psm 18:19
My help comes from the Lord – Psm 121
God is with me; He will strengthen me and help me! – Isaiah 41:10
I am redeemed and called – Isaiah 43
“Just keep on declaring that you belong to Jesus and no matter how you feel about yourself or how others have made you feel, if God says you are amazing and beautiful, then are you! Your righteousness is Jesus and what He has done for you on the cross.” –Tammy Trent
22Thrive! 