A few times a year I plan on hosting a guest writer here on The Cookie Exchange.  Today, I’d like to introduce you to my dear friend and fellow teacher and writer, Amy Craighead.  One year ago, she published a Bible study available on Amazon.com entitled Courageous Faith: Claiming Your Promised Land Through the Book of Joshua.  This study digs deep into the book of Joshua and is very applicable to our lives today.  I gained new insight and the courage to better understand and take hold of my God-given purpose.  You definitely should check it out!  Amy and her husband also have a u-pick berry farm, Danamay Farm, north of Fulton, MO.  You can learn more about Amy and her blog at AmyCraighead.com.  Here’s Amy…

Be. Do. Have. Standing alone, these three little words don’t seem very powerful, or even make much sense. However, when put together in this particular order, these three little words can provide immense power and clarity in our lives.

For much of my life, I felt disjointed and fractured. My heart was constantly pulled in multiple directions amongst divorce and fissures in friendships and circumstances. It seemed safer to be reserved and comply with what I thought others wanted. Holding much in, I compartmentalized my entire life, family included. It wasn’t until some deep heart work and a tool called Be-Do-Have that I began to grasp a truth – I am a complete woman! For me, ‘complete’ is part of my ‘Be’; who I am. To me, complete is whole, healthy, and holy.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been studying Jesus’ “I am” statements in the gospel of John, I think of these as his ‘Be’ statements. However, I have one favorite note in the symphony of God’s Word that kicks it all off.  It is a place where God fully presents himself in Exodus 3:13-15. Moses asks, “If I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what should I tell them?” God replies in Exodus 3:14, “I AM WHO I AM.”

I am who I am. This statement may seem a bit underwhelming, but it holds complex simplicity. Essentially, the Hebrew means to be or become, come to pass, and it is always emphatic. Essentially, God is exclaiming I BE who I BE, or I will be who I will be. I feel as though it’s God’s way of saying that he is self-existent, steady, always the same, and true to himself no matter what. I am who I am; this statement is our guide as to who God is. To me, this statement confirms that lesson and hard heart work in Be-Do-Have.

The “complete” part—that’s my BE. When I remember and believe that I am a complete woman, I DO life as a complete woman who is not fractured and disjointed, but whole and holy. From there, I HAVE a life reflective of completeness, often seen in the fruitfulness of real and genuine relationships.

The sequence of these words, Be-Do-Have, is vital. They often and very easily get mixed up. For example:

There is a tendency to believe we must first DO in order to HAVE, so that we can BE loved or accepted, valuable, confident, etc. We must first do a better job, so that we can have more money, and then we can be a successful person.

Or, perhaps we must first HAVE before we can DO, and then we will BE happy or secure. We must first have the fancy new car so that we can do things to impress friends and then we will be accepted. No amount of material wealth will ever fulfill who you are.

Grace is hard to give and receive in the DO-HAVE-BE order.

Comparison thrives in the HAVE-DO-BE.

First, we must get the BE portion. The core of who we are—who we BE. When we get the BE down, it will drive and direct what we DO and then in turn we will HAVE what we want, which I believe usually boils down to relationship and being known.

As we go throughout the week, would you be brave and take some time to examine who you “be”? Not who others say you are, and not the scripted Christian response of “I am a child of God”. It should be something that challenges and pushes you forward. The idea of being a complete woman really made me uncomfortable for a while, simply because it wasn’t how I felt or acted, but it was genuine and challenged me in the direction I felt called to go. So, who are you? As you work through it and something starts to resonate, state what you discover in the form of “I am a … woman/man!” Then, live with that for a while. Does it bring new awareness to your life?

Along with focusing on who you are, would you join me in really focusing on who God is? Who he “be”? Those seven ‘I am’ statements from Jesus in the gospel of John are rich places to start.

I am a complete woman! Who are you?!

Scriptures for this week: The 7 “I AM” statements:
John 6:26-58 v35
John 8:12; 9:4-5 (1:3-9; 12:44-46)
John 10:1-10 v7
John 10:11-18 v11, 14
John 11:17-44 v25
John 14:1-11 v6
John 15:1-17 v1