You Are Mine!

We started The Chosen journey. We don't know how you watched this first video, but we had to get into it. What wonderful lessons you can take from this! We challenge you not to give up. There is much more beauty to come!

Today the story of a possessed woman. In Luke, we read that she was delivered from seven demons. Demons that plagued her life. Her name is Mary.

Seven demons! Not surprisingly, Mary is portrayed as a village idiot. The whole village knows her. She works in a dark place. A place of whoring. Gambling. Addiction. A place of much abuse.

But her life hasn't always been like this.

"Do not be afraid, for I have called you by your name..." These words Mary has heard from an early age. Words she regularly had to speak herself. They were part of her faith education. Words that no longer seem true as Mary grows up into a young woman.

At night she is flooded with dreams and sees the things that happened to her over and over again. Images of abuse and of being used. She becomes more and more frightened. Fear literally overwhelms her.

Yet she picks up those words, as she used to do as a little girl, to experience again that these words are true. But the words don't seem to work anymore. She tears them up - literally. And the words tear her apart.

Life makes her desperate. The images and thoughts racing through her head don't stop. She becomes so desperate that she decides, "I don't want this anymore.” She runs to the edge of a cliff to jump to the end there.

But then something extraordinary happens. Something serene. Something that stops her. A dove passes by. It attracts her attention and keeps her from making the jump. Could the words be true after all?

No idea what words you used to hear and whether they were read from the Bible in your home. No idea what you are going through. But these words, "Do not be afraid, for I have called you by your name, you are Mine," are meant for you too. You, too, are made in God's image. "God looked at all that He had made, and it was very good." (Genesis 1:26-31). He is calling you. Do you believe that, despite the brokenness you may be experiencing in your own life, God longs to be in relationship with you? That you are called, today, to reflect something of Him wherever you are?

Take the following questions to consider:

• What words of truth do you need to hear?
• Are there things from the past that you want to get rid of?
• Do you know yourself to be seen by Jesus?
• What does it take to be in relationship with God?

Prayer:

"Lord, thank You for Your word, Your word of truth. Lord, teach me to embrace Your truth more and more. Thank You that I may be Your own. Teach me more and more what that means as I come to understand Your Word more and more. Amen"