you have been called.

happy tuesday  
gosh. life has been busy, but interesting as always! :)

recently i've been finding myself in situations where i begin to doubt my work and whether or not i am talented enough. i find myself faithless at times and consumed by doubt, fear, excuses, comparisons, etc..

A dear friend reminded me of the following verses: 
“Make a careful exploration of who you are and the work you have been given, and then sink yourself into that. Don’t be impressed with yourself. Don’t compare yourself with others. Each of you must take responsibility for doing the creative best you can do with your life. Be very sure now, you who have been trained to a self-sufficient maturity, that you enter into a generous common life with those who have trained you, sharing all the good things that you have and experience.
Don’t be misled: No one makes a fool of God. What a person plants, he will harvest. The person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others—ignoring God!—harvests a crop of weeds. All he’ll have to show for his life is weeds! But the one who plants in response to God, letting God’s Spirit do the growth work in him, harvests a crop of real life, eternal life.” 
Galatians 6:4-8  
“For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10

I know that as believers we are gifted and unique in our own ways, but I will be honest and say that I do
find myself wondering if I am truly using the gifts that God has given me. I worry that I am just hiding them away and pretending like they don't exist. However,despite these feelings of insecurity, I know that God is good and that we are each called and gifted. 

Satan will try to manipulate our thoughts and steal us away from believing in ourselves, 
but we must remain bold and strong. We should be rejoicing over the fact that we are loved, cared for and we are created uniquely with special talents. So, let's put away the doubts, the fears, and the comparisons. Let's rejoice in this TRUTH! 

notes to self:

• stand firm in the Lord in the challenges of your everyday life!
  
• you can not live a courageous life, without having a concentrated mind.
• an unfocused mind will break your faith.
• fear and faith are both powered by focus. fear is a result of focus. faith is a result of focus. do not focus on things that cause fear, what we cant do, what we cant have.
• faith is the by product of correct focus.
• the opposite of success is unfaithfulness, not failure
• if you are faithful in God to what you are called to do, even your failure will work for your God.

2 corinthians
we demolish anything that contradicts what God says.
we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

I pray that I truly seek His face and continue to dive deep into His word when I feel paralyzed by fear. 
I am His and I am called <3 
We all are :)

xo,
pegs