The Princess Life

"Lord, You are the King, and You are also my Father. This makes me Your Princess. Help me to always remember who I am today and to act like Your Princess, wearing the invisible crown of Grace on my head."

I have been praying this prayer, or similar prayer, every morning for a while now. I find it crucial that I remind myself who God is and who I am in Him. Everything about my life rests on those two foundations, and so I remind myself that I am a Princess, but not just any princess, God's Princess.

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What would my day look like if I lived knowing that I am a Princess? Would I let insecurity creep in and steal my joy? Would I let anger or frustration ruin the precious moments of each hour? Would I lower my head and not think and create and dance, but get caught in the mundane of life? Would I complain about the training I go through (aka, school)? I don't think that God's Princess would do those things. So that is why I pray to God to keep me focused on Him and secure in my identity.

The Princess life captures my imagination, it always has, it always will. The idea of balls, princes, and glass slippers makes me smile.I have always wanted to be a princess, to live that adventure, to find my Prince Charming and fall in love. But I left those dreams in Disney movies. They couldn't be real, not for me. I know that Mia Thermopolis found out that her Grandmother ruled an obscure European country, but not very many Mia's live in this world.  Not very many princess live in this world.

Or so I thought.

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" (1 John 3:1a) God is not only our Father, he is "the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords" (1 Timothy 6:15b) That means that every woman of God is a Princess. Every woman of God wear His clothes, which are better than anything that world has to offer (to learn more about the clothes of God's Princess, see my previous post, here) God gives His Princesses a much more exciting and wonderful story than that of even Frozen. He gives us a more complete and perfect love through the cross, a sacrificial love that beats all other love stories. What more could we want?

So, daughters of God, live like Princesses.Wear the crown of Grace on your heads. Never forget who you are. Never forget who God is. And act like God's Princess. That will change everything. That is where we find true beauty and joy.

You are a Princess.

Say it out loud.Tell everyone you know! We are His Princesses! We are His Princesses!

This makes me so happy!

Hannah Princess Hannah

No Condemnation

Last night I realized that there may be something in my life that the Holy Spirit wanted to change. The church-y word for this is conviction. I felt convicted over my self-centeredness.

My natural response to conviction is condemnation. Now, I know that "there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1) I know that God doesn't condemn me, but sometimes I condemn myself. "Oh, Hannah, you should have seen this coming. How could you be so selfish? How can you give God the glory if you're always thinking about yourself?" But Romans 8:1 says there should be "no" condemnation, either from God or myself.

I think it would be wise to define condemnation right here, to fully understand the impact of Romans 8:1. The dictionary defines condemnation as "the act of condemning," with condemning meaning "to express an unfavorable or adverse judgement on; indicate strong disapproval of; the pronounce to be guilty." Condemnation is ugly. It had to do with punishment and sin. But we have no condemnation if we are in Christ. How? That's where the next verses come in.

"Because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life had set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned the sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." (Romans 8:2-4)

I struggle to find words to express myself here! I am free! There is no condemnation for me, not now, not ever, because Christ has taken my punishment and given me a new Spirit! Who am I to condemn myself when God had declared me righteous through His Son? That is putting myself above God. But because of His grace, I can give myself grace too, something I can struggle with.

So when God points out an area of my life that He wants to change, maybe He isn't saying: "Hannah, you have disappointed me. This sin problem you have must be taken care of. You need to work on it and fix all of your problems." Maybe He is saying: "Hannah, I love you too much for you to keep on living in the flesh. I have given you my Spirit to lead you in a better way. It will be hard to change the sinful nature in you, but I will be with you, and I will give you the strength and the grace to transform your life into something even more beautiful."

So I invite you to let go of any condemnation that you've been feeling. Because if you are in Christ, then there is not one bit of condemnation on you; Jesus had taken it all away! Stop trying to be "okay", to have it all together. Because we weren't "okay"; we were dead. And because of God's grace we are much more than "okay"; we are His. We are without blemish, holy in His sight (Colossians 1:22). So live in God's grace. Live in His freedom. Live in Him.

I know that I'm still going to struggle with self-centeredness and perfectionism. That isn't something that will disappear overnight. But I also know that I have a strong, loving God helping me every step of this journey. My hope is in Him. And He will never fail!

Hannah