We talked last year about the most important thing about us being, how we see God. How we view God is the most important thing. Second, is our relationship with God. Reading the Word, praying, listening for His voice in all the ways He communicates with us, is our relationship with God.

On today’s episode we are going to talk about the third most important thing about us… our identity in Christ. We are given this identity when we receive Christ as our Savior. The Holy Spirit then grows and sanctifies us within that identity. We are the Beloved of God. The Bride of Christ. We are all blood bought, much loved children of the God of the universe. We are co-heirs with Christ- siblings if you will with Jesus who defeated sin and death and gave us resurrection power. If you are a man- you are God’s son. If you are a woman- you are God’s daughter.

That is our identity as believers in Christ. The more we press in, the more we become his disciples and then His intimates.

In the Light Bearers Series, Sarah is clearly an intimate of the Light. I remember years ago that our pastor talked about being intimates of God. That there are people who are closer to God because of the deep faith His has given them. They crave God and want to live their entire lives for Him. I believe that all believers can be God’s intimates, but so many believers sell themselves short, by just having God be part of their lives instead of what their whole lives should be about.

As a Light Bearer, I desire to be an intimate of God. I want to be as close to Him as I can get. I want each and every blessing He wants to bestow on me. I want to interact with His people in the love that He has for them.

Lord, I want more of you, healing water rain down on me. Lord, I need more of you, living breath of life come fill me up. (We Are Hungry)

Years ago, a friend of mine was speaking at a women’s conference. She talked about how we must remain plugged into the tree of life in order to operate out of our identity. When we plug into the tree of knowledge or self- we decide who we are, we let the world tell us who we are. But if we are plugged into the tree of life, into God as our energy source, we can live and operate out of our identity in Christ.

My friend’s name is Donna Winship. Her wisdom on God given identity has shaped much of my walk. One piece being the Daily Prayer of Affirmation she gave me. For years, it has been a part of my daily prayers, and I want to share more of it with you here. Donna and her husband Jamie have a ministry called the Identity Exchange. I will leave the website in the show notes as well as the link to the Daily Prayer of Affirmation. Daily Prayer of Affirmation

Last week we talked about having intentions instead of resolutions. Our church has moved away from doing our yearly fasting at the beginning of the year so that we can separate spiritual discipline from resolutions as well.

Were you surprised by any of your 2 Things answers? On today’s episode we are going to talk about an answer that surprised me.

I shared last week that I was surprised by how many things the Lord did in and through me last year. I went back and looked at pictures from 2025, and I had even more surprises. One of which was that my husband and youngest son both achieved their black belts in Taekwondo this year. I am now surrounded by black belts, so don’t mess with me because I’m literally protected on every side!

One of my highlights from 2025 was the story of myself and my mentee. Normally, as believers we can look back on our lives and see how God was working. This year He gave me a unique seat to see how He was working as the words of His story were hitting the page, metaphorically speaking.

Happy New Year my friends. New year resolutions are all around us, but I disagree that a new year should equal a new you, no matter what messages you are seeing on social media or in your email because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Jesus already made you new when you received Him as your Savior.

While God is big into offering fresh starts, in fact, Lamentations 3:22 reminds us that His mercies are new every day, His gift of turning to a new calendar year doesn’t need to be met with the harsh criticisms and standards we inflict upon ourselves. Whether it’s losing weight, starting an overambitious Bible reading plan, 10 habits we are going to drop or pickup- all of that is too much to handle. Instead of seeing a positive change in our lives, our “resolutions” usually end up as a weight of shame around our necks come February.

On today’s episode we are going to take stock of 2025, rejoice in the things we accomplished, and start the year on a high note. We don’t always give ourselves enough credit, looking only at the things we didn’t accomplish or didn’t do up to our high standards and then comes the new year where we stack even more expectations upon ourselves.

What if, instead of putting more weight and pressure on ourselves to fix each of our flaws and the world at the same time, we set “new intentions” for the new year?