Don't Be Labeled - Guest Post By Christy Krezman From Rosette Ministry

Happy Friday all! Today I (Julie) have the pleasure of introducing you to the beautiful Christy Krezman who blogs over at Rosette Ministry! Christy and I attend church together and she spoke in my mom's group this week. I believe she has some really inspirational words to share with all of you girls of Gods heart! To learn more about the Rosette Ministry and Christy, check out her blog and her Facebook page. Without further ado... here's Christy!

I'm Christy Krezman, wife to Rick for over 20 years and mom to son, Seth, age 18, and daughter Katelyn, age 16. I'm also a member of NorthPointe Church.

I love Thrifting...I love to spray paint items (over and over again forever changing my decor)... I love to craft... I love to decorate... I love fellowshipping with women and becoming fast friends...I love devotions... I love to speak at events... I love to share my ideas, thoughts and encouragements with others... I love coffee, but most of all I LOVE JESUS! Because of Him I have been witness to what started out as just making fabric flowers for myself, turn into something I could have never dreamed up. He used the ordinary and turned it into EXTRAORDINARY! This is how Rosette Ministry was birthed. The purpose of this ministry is "Repurposing for the Glory of God... transforming the discarded and unwanted into beautiful things just as Christ does for us."

Don't Be Labeled

   Who are you?  Really, really you.  Have you stopped to think about what makes you...YOU?  Why are you the way you are?  What makes you act in the way that you do?  Are you concerned about what others think of you?  Are YOU one of the ones that put that pressure on someone to be concerned about what others think?  OUCH!  Tough questions, but things that we must ask ourselves in order to dig deeper into whom we are and whose we belong.

Image is huge in today's society.  We are trying to reproduce or imitate things that "society" says is 'hip' and 'cool.'  By living this way, labels are developed and slapped onto people that do not "fit" in the current image society has set or they're slapped on so that we can "fit" in.  There are so many labels that the world puts on you...too many to list.  Not all labels appear to be in negative form.  Some may set such unrealistic expectations for you that it is impossible to ever be that.  Others are very much ugly and hurtful.  Ones that exclude, isolate and set you apart from what is considered 'living the life!'  Are you striving to live up to those labels?   Maybe not so much on purpose, but perhaps it's just been said of you for so long that you begin believing it for yourself.  So you begin living according to the label or labels that have been slapped onto you.  Is it true of what's on the inside?  Positively...NO!  I have an analogy that I had the opportunity to share with a young lady just about 4 years ago about how we do not have to live according to what the world has labeled us with.  Here's what I shared with her...

I asked her what her favorite canned food was and she replied with, "Peaches."  OK.  How do you know how to buy a can of peaches?  She said, "By seeing the label."  Of course that's how we know that, but do we absolutely believe that to be true by just the label?  What if I took a can of peaches and took off it's true label slapping on a "not so appetizing" one...say dog food.  "Eeeewww, gross!" she said.  Of course it's gross but stick with me.  I take that can of mislabeled peaches and put them in their rightful place on the shelf at the grocery store.  How many people will judge that can by its label?  Probably... most likely... every person who goes to buy peaches.  That can will be pushed aside, reached over, scooted with dislike to the back of the shelf.  Is the contents of that can of peaches any different than any other can of peaches?  ABSOLUTELY NOT but no one knows this until the contents are revealed when it has been opened up.  Then and only then the truth of the can is discovered.  The trueness of the peaches are pleasing and enjoyed.  Why, peaches were you hiding behind a label that contained you to a point that you were not able to enjoy or be enjoyed?

We are very much like that can of peaches.  We get stripped of who we are through hurts and/or disappointments in our lives and we feel very vulnerable in a weak way.  The world, which always has its label maker handy, begins to slap different labels on us.  Labels that are not true of us.  They hide what is truly inside.  But if we allow God to take us, go through the process of label removing with Him then our trueness begins to be revealed.

God's Imprint

You have a creator who designed you just the way you are and YOU ARE ENOUGH!  Psalm 139:14 declares, "I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."  You are a unique expression of God's love in this world.  Nowhere on Earth is there anyone with exactly the same bright eyes, loving arms that hold, hands that do, feet that go, life to live. You...are...uniquely...you!  Every physical quality...or flaw as we sometimes call it,  is absolutely designed to fit just you.  Inner qualities are also very much designed specifically just for you!  These are what make you special and different.  The way you laugh, the tenderness of your heart, the care and concern that show through your bright eyes as you listen to others, your smile alone...warms and welcomes others.

You do not need to be labeled to be like anyone else.  You do need to be YOU just as God imprinted Himself all over you to be just YOU!  Absolutely no one else can do that except for YOU!  You are an original, which is priceless...YOU are priceless!  Be the wonderful YOU that God has designed for you to be, being confident in yourself through Christ.  2 Corinthians 7:16 says, "I am glad I can have complete confidence in you."  And Jeremiah 17:7 says, "But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in Him."

We will be blessed by God when we allow Him to remove the labels from our lives so that His Perfect imprint on our lives will be exposed, seen and able to be lived out.  God's imprint is not removable.  It does not come off.  It is YOU.  He created your inmost being; He knitted you together in your mother's womb (Psalm 139:13.) He knew you before You were YOU!

You are wonderfully, uniquely, fantastically, wonderously...YOU!  Live it.  Only you can!

Take Care and Be Blessed,
Christy Krezman
Rosette Ministry