Where Do I Fit In?
As many of you know this summer our family embarked on a journey of traveling and new beginnings. We trekked across Alaska, Canada, and many National Parks in our RV, until we arrived in our new home in Colorado. Every place we move arises a lot of unknowns. Where will we live? Where will the kids go to school? Which school is best for them? Where will I work? Who will be our friends? What church will we attend? What activities will we be involved in? And mostly, will I fit in?
With each new move, I question will we have nice neighbors? Will others be accepting of us? Will I fit into this new life? Do I really have to make a new life all over again? Moving every 3-4 years in the military is just enough time to establish roots, which makes leaving so much harder. I would never trade the amazing adventures our family has had traveling to our next assignment but would do anything to keep the friends and relationships we had, move with us.
As I get my footing in our new house, our new area we live, I can’t really just knock on someone’s door and ask ‘Will you be my friend?’ These things take time. Moving really makes me lean and depend on God more for His provision of everything. This new life reminds me of the parable of the new cloth and old garment.
Matthew 9:16 NKJV “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse.”
Luke 5:36 NKJV “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old.”
In this parable, Jesus is questioned about His actions regarding fasting. Jesus is trying to explain the dangers of patching an old garment with a new patch of cloth. That would be ridiculous to patch a new cloth on an old garment because when a person washes the old garment, the new patch of cloth would shrink and make the tear worse. Jesus was challenging those questioning Him to understand, we don’t just cover up the old with the new. He was offering a whole new meaning and message–we become new when our freedom, identity, and truth, comes from God Himself, not from following a bunch of rules. Jesus was the new message, a fulfillment of God’s law.
Jesus was offering a whole ‘new cloth,’ one that didn’t cover up the old with the new. In this new life I’m living I can’t try to fit my old life into my new one. It would tear and not match up. I can’t travel around with my life in a box and expect everything to match up wherever I go. I have to be gentle with myself and allow for God’s timing and plan to fall into place, not my own agenda. I am so thankful for Jesus’ message, I don’t have to try to fit in and be something I’m not.
When my freedom, identity, and truth are in Christ, I will Fit in wherever I go. Click To TweetFREEDOM
Galatians 5:1 “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
2 Corinthians 3:17 “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.”
IDENTITY
2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
TRUTH
If I waited to find my acceptance and approval in the world, I may never Fit in. Starting over can be difficult but when my F.I.T is found in Jesus, I will always FIT in wherever I go! I don’t have to worry or fear the unknown when my F.I.T is in Jesus. He fulfills my greater purpose, I don’t have to be something I’m not.
God’s love and grace are transformational. We become victorious when His word is alive and active in our lives!
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Love this Heather! Great post!! ♡
Thank you, Katherine!