Good day friend! I’m continually fine-tuning the purpose God has for the Beautiful You devotional, website and overall message. I want to be right in the center of His will for it. You’ll see a little change in the appearance for the devotional this week as I believe this to be our direction going forward. Check out the website too for these updates! ~Crisie

Beautiful You Devotional ~March 2021 / Volume 22

In our culture there is a strong emphasis on standing strong, fighting for what’s right and being a warrior. Giving up is not an option. Ever. But what would you say if I told you that sometimes, for the right reasons, giving up is exactly what’s called for? Let me explain.

Saying goodbye is never easy. Whether you’re waving farewell to a close friend who’s moving away or giving up on a lifelong dream. It’s almost impossible to give up. I think God wired us this way for those times when giving up is not an option. But there are some things we do need to give up on and say goodbye to:

-Old mindsets that no longer serve us

-Ties to relationships or behaviors that are causing us great pain

-Identities that keep us stuck and damage our relationships

Giving up on or letting go of a life that no longer serves us or God well, to follow after true life and joy, like Jesus offers, is the call he’s issuing to us in the passage in Matthew 16.

It sounds simple, but it’s anything but easy. Our old man, or flesh, hangs onto things for dear life, but the Spirit in us is always calling us to live in truth. This is actually what it means to worship in spirit and truth (John 4: 23). Worship is not about a song, it’s about a life that says goodbye to our old way of living to walk in new life filled with the Spirit and governed by the truth of God’s Word. To give up our own way and follow His way! That is pure worship.

Wow, even as I read that back to myself, I remember this was a great goodbye I was saying. A death I was dying and that was, did I want to stay in an identity of pain that had been mine all my life or did I want to give up my own will and hand it over to God. That process is a daily thing. It’s not a “one and done”. Paul said, “I die daily”. (1 Corinthians 15:31)

The woman at the well came to draw water like she’d done probably hundreds of times, but this time, she was met by the Living Water! He acknowledged her present condition, but did not condemn her. He invited her into a redemptive story that didn’t ignore her past but would cleanse it and redeem it to walk in a brand new way of life. It wasn’t about a sinner’s prayer for her, it was about transforming all she’d ever known about who she was to live in a brand new reality. Don’t you just love this image. Our beautiful Savior embracing a woman who was rejected by men and most likely many women and calling her beloved. What she gave up that day was nothing compared to what she found.

Giving up is not easy, but it is worth every tear and sorrow it takes to do it. This week, ask God if you need to give up on something, no matter what it is and then write about it in your journal. This is ongoing. I recommend that you ask God that question frequently. Sometimes the angst and frustration we experience at certain times in life is because we are hanging on to something that we need to give up on!

To help you and inspire you along this process of giving up and saying goodbye, I have a motivating read below. A poem/spoken word about being forged in the fire.

[DISCLAIMER: I am not a licensed counselor or therapist of any kind nor is this devotional an attempt to provide those services. The contents and suggestions in this devotional are results of my own personal experience with these issues and are not meant to be professional advice or therapy. This devotional is not a substitute or replacement for regular therapy or the use of mental health resources. If the content here causes triggers, please see your regular mental health professional. Any content applied to your life along with any consequences is of your own volition.]

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