Christian Girls discussion

Her ya go Denali!!!

*Here

Thanks!!!

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/fc/8a/...

I love that!

Did you make that? It looks so cool!

Cool!

love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks guys!!!! I found the pic online and then added text. It's on pinterest if y'all wanna steal it! :)

Today begins my first post.
Today has been one of those days where I went to bed planning to be so productive, and woke up only to find that life would not allow me to.
Today has been overwhelming.
Today has been exhausting.
Today has only just begun.
And it’s already somehow the afternoon.

I named this blog what I did because identity is something I really struggle with. Over and over I’ve been told that if I just find my identity in Jesus, my life will be alright.
But what happens instead?
First of all, putting your identity in Jesus is a whole lot harder than popular belief would have it. Believe me.
Second of all, even when you do put your identity in Jesus, your life doesn’t suddenly get easier. If anything, it gets harder.

I’ve been wanting to write about this for awhile, and our awesome mod Avery has afforded me the opportunity to do it here! Thanks Avery!

Earlier, I mentioned how crazy my life has been today. Why did I write that here? Identity and crazy days are at first glance completely unrelated. But here’s why my life has been crazy today, and why it’s related to identity.

I’m a speech and debate kid.

That means I spend half my life writing speeches and debate cases. I spend the other half of my life competing those. Of course, I spend the extra half of my life that I don’t have doing all the other things I love. And you see why I’m stressed out constantly…

But competing for speech isn’t glitzy. It isn’t easy either. And it has a habit of dragging you through the mud until all you want to do is give up. But if you’re me, giving up is entirely beyond the realm of your nature.

Last weekend I had the first tourney of the year. I walked into it expecting to do well. I walked out with the crushing knowledge that once again, I didn’t.

And living with that knowledge over the weekend was too much for me.

Depression is a very real thing, friends.

I apologize. This post is getting really long…

But here’s my point: why do you think I got depressed over not doing well? Identity. Why do you think I walked into the tourney with the expectation I would do well in the first place? Identity.

Misplaced identity, just like depression, is a very real thing.

And it’s something I’ve struggled with for a long time.

I find my identity in a lot of things. Archery, for example.

Everyone knows I love archery. Everyone.

But what happens when archery fails me? Where do I go from there?

That’s the trap with misplaced identity. When you find your identity in something worldly, even if it is wholesome and beautiful, you’re bound to have the carpet yanked out from underneath you.

And that’s what happened this weekend. I got stripped of a part of my identity because I wasn’t finding it in Jesus, I was finding it in speech and debate.

Which is why it’s so important to find your identity in Christ, not the world. He is the only firm foundation, the only carpet that can never get yanked out from underneath your feet because it’s nailed to the floor.

Well, that’s all for now. Congrats if you read all that. :)

😍😍😍

<3333

😎😎😎😎😎😎

YOU NEED TO WRITE A REAL BLOG OR EVEN A BOOK!!!!!!!THAT IS SO GOOD!!!

😍🤩😎😍

Lol thanks!!!!!! I was just dumping, honestly. Boy did it feel good to get that off my shoulders... :)
And don't worry, Liz. I'm writing a book. XD

Denali wrote: "Lol thanks!!!!!! I was just dumping, honestly. Boy did it feel good to get that off my shoulders... :)
And don't worry, Liz. I'm writing a book. XD"

YESS

Thanksgiving is here.

Newsflash, everyone!

I’m serious though. It was the beginning of two weeks ago yesterday. That’s how crazy my life is right now.

Okay, so what is Thanksgiving? When I hear that word, I usually picture my Aunt’s house. We go there every year to celebrate this special day, and it always culminates in an awesome feast of superior proportions.

But what is it? No, Thanksgiving is not just a word. It’s not just a time when everyone eats too much and feels comfortably nauseated afterwards.

It’s a time to remember.

It’s a time to appreciate what God did for us in this land so many centuries ago.

That’s Thanksgiving’s identity, and it doesn’t change. It’s always there, because it came from something, and that something can’t change since it’s in the past.

I think we all feel a mixture of emotions on Thanksgiving, right? I know I do. Usually excitement in moderate proportions, contentedness after the meal, perhaps a bit of apprehension over having to be civil around my entire family for an entire day.

I’m guessing you’ve felt those too.

But here’s a new one, one people feel on holidays quite often but never give voice to: frustration. Frustration over delays, over squabbling family members, over the burnt turkey that sat too long in the oven. Perhaps you’re like my mom a few years back when she broiled rather than baked the turkey. That was a new smell…

The point I’m trying to make, however, is that frustration is a big part of holidays like Thanksgiving too. We don’t give voice to it because that emotion is not socially acceptable, but it’s there.

Why do we feel frustration? To quote one of my mentors, “Frustration comes from feeling like you have no control.” Think about that. It’s true, isn’t it? We feel fine until someone else does something we don’t like.

“But wait!” you say, “where is it coming from when I’m frustrated with myself?"

Frustration does that. It doesn’t stop at just being mildly annoyed with other people. I get more frustrated with myself and my abilities than I ever do at other people. Okay, maybe not. But the point remains the same: you have control over yourself, don’t you?

Not really.

This post is getting really long. I’m sorry…

Anyway, here’s what I’ve been trying to get at for so long: frustration comes from misplaced identity. Why do you think it is that you get more frustrated on days when you didn’t have quiet time in the morning? Why is it that frustration is so acute those days when you put your trust in yourself, not God?

Our strength pretty much amounts to a lot of weakness.

I’m right, aren’t I? You try to be strong for other people, for yourself, and what usually happens? You end up feeling really weak.

You put your identity, how you view yourself, in your own strength, not God’s, and you’re going to lose control. Where does frustration come from? Feeling like you have no control.

Mic drop. :D

Okay, so I’m sure you were very done listening to me preach at you from the very beginning of this post. Why on earth did I say all that up there?

I have a story about misplaced identity and frustration, and it happened less than an hour ago.

I’m the youngest in my family as a whole, and I hate it.

My Aunt came to my house this year.

You know who doesn’t hate that I’m the youngest? Literally everyone else in my family. Insert frustrated groan.

Here’s what happened: my aunt needed to go somewhere today and she couldn’t bring her dog along as the people she was going to visit have a pit bull, and those two dogs would tear each other apart faster than you can say “stop.”

She was trying to figure out what she was going to do with the dog.

I told her she could leave it at my house, as my dog was being very polite to her dog.

She said something along the lines of, “well, they can’t fight and since your mom is cooking, I don’t think I should leave him here.”

Wow. Thanks, auntie. I guess I’m not mature enough to take care of your dog who literally just sits on the couch all day unless he’s eating.

I told her I could take care of him. She gave a cute little laugh and walked away.

The only thing preventing me from attacking her was the fact that that would have made matters a lot worse.

So I put on my best stone face. No one would ever guess I was seething to no end behind it.

Okay, what on earth does that have to do with anything?

Well, I have a bad habit of placing a lot of my identity in my own assumed maturity and my ability to handle enormous stress levels without crashing as hard as a lot of people I know.

So when someone assumes I’m not mature? I take it as a personal offense. And when they write me off as a child, which, in fact, technically I still am, I get so frustrated.

Why? Well, I think you can guess.

I’m so sorry that this post got so long. I really meant for a short, sweet little vent time. Wow.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!!!!!!

Great post!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

Great post! So true!

I love thiss

Aww thanks!

YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TL START AN ACTUAL BLOG!! SERIOUSLY, I WILL HELP YOU IF I MUST BUT YOU NEED TO MAKE AN AVTAL PUBLISHED BLOG!!!!!

Lol!!!!!!! I appreciate the enthusiasm, Liz! I shall have to see about making time in my life to do that...

I think it's great that your doing a blog about finding our identity in Jesus, it's something that a lot of teenagers (and other people as well) struggle with a lot. We tend to find our identity in material things such as, money, clothes, or what other people think of us, when all we should care about is that God thinks about us. So great job Denali, I'm really glad you're doing this blog.

also that message was longer than i thought it would be lol

Denali wrote: "Lol!!!!!!! I appreciate the enthusiasm, Liz! I shall have to see about making time in my life to do that..."

yes. You should.

Thanks so much Ava! That's actually really encouraging. I struggle with this on a major level due to my personality type lol (and life), so writing the blog helps me personally and I'm glad it's helping other people too.

Denali wrote: "Thanks so much Ava! That's actually really encouraging. I struggle with this on a major level due to my personality type lol (and life), so writing the blog helps me personally and I'm glad it's he..."

You're so welcome! It truly is a wonderful blog

✨ava✨ wrote: "Denali wrote: "Thanks so much Ava! That's actually really encouraging. I struggle with this on a major level due to my personality type lol (and life), so writing the blog helps me personally and I..."

Thanks!!!!!

Your blog is amazing Denali! Keep going at it, I want to see more of your work!!

This blog post was so good!

Thanks guys!!!!

All the amazing people of this group who are currently reading my blog:
You may have noticed that I'm going on hiatus due to life issues and various other things.
I just wanted to let you know that I will still be posting to this topic!
Don't worry. I'm not disappearing, I'm just kind of, you know, disappearing... XD

We'll miss you Denali! <3

We'll miss you but we totally understand!

We'll miss you💕

I’ll miss you Denali!!!! I hope you’re doing ok! I love you ❤️💕

We'll misssssssssss u ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰