God created butterflies with the ability to pollinate, fly, and be beautiful. But you don't see a butterfly trying to swim in the water because it believes it should be a fish. No. The butterfly knows it's purpose and it glorifies God in fulfilling that purpose. Why should my life be any different? If I live my life believing I should be something I'm not, and ignore what God has given me, am I any different than a butterfly trying to be a fish? I am free to be who God created me to be. I find that a comforting truth.

What Do I "Glory" In?

Galatians 6:14 ~

"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (KJV)

I often glory in my own "good works". I think I've done something amazing if I sacrifice what I want to do in order to do something more important, when in reality that's nothing special. 

The God of the universe gave His only Song to die on the cross for my sins! Now that's a real sacrifice. 

So why am I proud of myself for making small sacrifices that really don't mean anything in comparison to the greatest sacrifice in the history of mankind? Christ had to be absolutely selfless to be willing to die on the cross for all humanity. He died for every single person on this planet, past, present, and future. He died for those would would never believe on Hum; even those who reviled and blasphemed His holy name. Even those who desire nothing but the destruction of all true Christianity. He died for them, too. God is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9b) That's true love. That's true sacrifice. Who am I to be proud of my own frivolous good deeds? Who am I to glory in my own flesh?

My prayer - and every Christian's prayer - should be to seek His glory above our own. 

Glory in Him. 

Finally Back

So...I know it's been quite some time since I last posted, and I do apologize for that. Every time I've tried to write a new post, it has fizzled out to nothing.

Therefore, I'm going to try doing something different.

I have started using the drafts in my email app on my kindle as a journal. I have different drafts for different areas of my life, and one is for writing out my thoughts on different verses, or sometimes just thoughts on areas of my personal walk with God in which I need improvement. Or whatever I want, really.

So, instead of trying to write out nice long blog posts, I'm going to start posting these 'thoughts'. I'm not sure how often I will post, but hopefully weekly. Knowing myself as I do, that probably won't happen. But maybe I'll at least get monthly posts in. We'll see how it goes.

The purpose of these thoughts are to spur you - and myself - to actually give more than a passing thought to an area of life that may need improvement. And some will be encouraging, others, just food for thought.

I'm really trying to wholly give my blog over to the Lord so that it can accomplish what He desires. I'm hoping that this will help keep my focus right, not only on my blog, but also in my daily life.

Feel free to comment and let me know what you think of this idea, or if you have suggestions for improving my blog, I would appreciated it very much!

Myers & Briggs Personality Test

My view on it

For the longest time, the Myers and Briggs test really bugged me.

The reason for this, primarily, is because I'm a very free-spirited and independent person. I don't want anybody telling me who - or what - I am or should be.

In short, it felt to me like people were letting the test results define them.

And this rubbed me wrong.

Now, I realize that probably seems like a silly assumption to you, the smart person reading this blog post.

But I'm being real here, folks.

People squishing themselves into a mold goes against everything I feel about being your own person.

I can say that, because I've been there. Okay, not squeezing myself into a mold as such; but letting other people define me as a person. Until very recently, I've based almost all my likes and dislikes off other people's opinions. I would try to fit in so that my friends and family would...I don't know, like me more.

Of course, if I hadn't been so concerned about conforming myself to fit with their views on everything, I would have realized that they will love me even if my likes and dislikes don't line up exactly with theirs.

That's what love is: setting aside differences and choosing to get along anyway. I've heard that love is a choice. And that is so, so true.

But I digress. That was not this post's intended topic.

I just got hung up on the whole "Problems only ENFPs will understand", "INTJ problems", etc., etc. I was just like, "Okay people. Okay. Maybe those are problems that people with that personality type experience. But seriously. If I try hard enough, I can understand, too. It doesn't take just someone from that particular type to understand." When someone says or suggests that I can't understand something, it irks me.

Not to mention every time I took the test it got me wrong.

"You are INTJ." No, I'm not. "You are INFP." No, I'm not.

Etcetera.

I got so tired of it, I just gave up.

And then recently my friend took it, and freaked out because the result was so accurate.

So of course, I decided to go and take it again. The first couple times, it was still wrong.

Then I finally hit it....

INFJ.

Boom.

In your face, Michelle.

Of course, there were some things I didn't agree with. But some parts were so accurate, it wasn't even amusing.

So now I can see what I didn't before...not everyone that pinned Myers & Briggs were letting the test define them; rather, they were defining themselves by the test.

I'll use my own experience for example.

One creepily accurate section:

"INFJs indeed share a very unique combination of traits: though soft-spoken, they have very strong opinions and will fight tirelessly for an idea they believe in. They are decisive and strong-willed, but will rarely use that energy for personal gain – INFJs will act with creativity, imagination, conviction and sensitivity not to create advantage, but to create balance." (Source: INFJ Personality)

And it wasn't that the result defined me. It was that the result put into words what I knew and felt, but couldn't express.

And I felt understood.

I was really beginning to think that I was just a total werido, that I was a broken person that no one ever knew exactly how to deal with.

So you can imagine, finding out about this personality type sure helped me. It was lovely to read some of the comments and see that there were others out there who were like me. 

It was, as the good Doctor would say, "Fantastic!" I was so happy to see I wasn't alone.

That being said, there are still aspects of this whole personality test deal that I dislike. But if it can help others like it helped me - well, that's a blessing, then. 


So, be your own person, please. If some test can help you figure out who you are, great. If not, great. Don't let something as frivolous as a test answer guide your life and your interactions with others. You will find it is so much more freeing to live your own life, rather than always trying to copy someone else's. 


Lastly, here's a great Dr. Seuss quote for you:

From Pinterest, cropped by me.

What do you think of the Myers & Briggs test? Feel free to leave a comment below!

Please keep the comments clean as you never know what age group may be visiting this blog. Thank you.

Greetings!

Here's where I tell you a bit about what I would like to accomplish with this blog.

First and foremost, my desire is to honor and glorify my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, in every area of my life, which of course includes my blog. I will likely have some posts on what I am learning in my day to day walk with Him.

Also, I will probably generally just post about my life, my views on different matters, and my life goals.

There will likely also be some DIY projects, and recipes when I'm feeling foodish.

Eventually, I hope to do some posts on writing; but right now, I don't feel I know enough about it to give much helpful advice there. 

So, we'll see how long this blog survives. I know I'm pretty excited about it, and I hope you stick around to see some future posts.

Thanks for visiting!