Seems I’m living in a theme.  Does that ever happen to you? 

For the past several years the ongoing theme has been “Real.” 

The “Real” theme truly started a good while back. God was calling me to just be me.  No one else.  I’d tried  being other people.  It was just way too much work.  God did an amazing work in my life and gave me such a contentment at being me even with all my quirks, issues, and stuff.  I was just happy to be me — a child of God.   

And then God stepped it up — calling me to be more REAL with people.  Umm, no thank you.  I like being funny and I like being passionate about my causes.  I love teaching Bible study and speaking to women’s groups.   Lord, I’m pretty real.    I didn’t particularly see a need to be any more REAL. 

Lord, don’t you just have enough of those really REAL people.  You know the ones who are always telling you a personal story and crying.  Don’t you have enough of those?   And Lord, you know I look like the long lost daughter of Alice Cooper when I cry.  That’s just not a good thing.  People don’t like Alice Cooper.  See, that will put people off and I don’t want to do that.

I’m good at rationalizing stuff — at least to myself.  God wasn’t buying the mascara plea, so I stepped into a journey to be more real.

 Along the way I wrote a book — the one that was sadly orphaned by Thomas Nelson and is now looking for a new home — and met Lisa Whittle.   Lisa is the author of Behind Those Eyes: What’s Really Going on Inside the Souls of Women, a book that is all about being REAL.  Girls, that book stepped all over my toes.   I hihgly recommend it even if REAL is not your current theme.

The theme continued as I dealt with the cancelation of the book — I lived out the joy of selling the book, the process of writing the book  and I lived out my disappointment in a very REAL way.  Just ask Lisa Whittle — she was there for me the day I got the news.

The theme continues as God sends more reminders of the power of being REAL.  I started blogging with  Extraordinary Women and loved the theme for 2009 — Free to Be Real. 

Recently I was ask to speak at the Free To Be Me Bloggers’ Retreat – notice the theme?  Free to be me… yes, that’s being Real!  And the Lord is working out a message for this group.  Oh, is He ever.  I can hardly contain myself I’m so excited about it!

I love how the Lord brings this all together.  In my quest to be the Real Me, I’ve found a verse of scripture that tells me WHO I am.

But you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.   1 Peter 2:9

Don’t you just love that verse!  That’s who I am — the REAL me!  I’ve been called out of the darkness into His marvelous light and dont’ miss this part…. I’ve been called so that I may sing His praises!  Sister, it just doesn’t get a whole lot more real than that.  I belong to Christ.  This is the REAL me. 

So I’ll keep moving along on this path of being REAL.  Another theme may come or this may be the theme of my life — REAL.  I’ll take it.

What’s the theme of your life ?