When I was in either 4th or 5th grade, I got my first ever B on my report card. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but to young Riley who strived for good marks, this shook my entire world. Immediately after receiving this report card and seeing the results that disappointed me I shoved it in my bag and decided that I would not be showing this to anyone. If no one sees it, it isn’t real right? So I ripped the report card to shreds and tossed it in the trash never to be seen again.

Unfortunately my theory of “If no one sees it, it isn’t real” proved me wrong and I was not able to hide my disappointing mark for long. You are probably wondering why I am telling you this but this week God reminded me of this moment in life.

Doing things “wrong” and “broken” has been something that has haunted me for a long time. I strive to succeed and perform. I want to be seen as highly capable, I am peoples go to girl right? Yeah well you are until you aren’t.

God made us with a purpose and a plan, but this plan never involved becoming a high-performance machine. God calls us to communion with Him, and then from that relationship He calls us to go out and spread the good news.

Upon this realization part of me began to break. God have I been spreading your word and love or have I been pumping out products in hope that I will be seen as worthy and highly competent? Sadly I have been doing the latter.

The thought of writing this blog terrified me. Because what makes me worthy of your time and why would anyone want to even read this? Especially considering the fact that I don’t have a perfect piece to give.

In that moment I heard three words, “do it broken.” My response was “I am sorry you want me to produce a product that might fail? You want me to do something that I feel too broken to even try to write?” Apparently Gods answer to that was yes.

When you’ve feel like you’ve given everything and you have nothing left to give, that’s when God is just getting started.

A woman in the New Testament who was believed to have been broken and far from worthy of the attention of the townspeople, let alone the Messiah came to Jesus. She broke her jar of perfume at his feet. She knew once the jar was broken there was no going back. It would never be the same. But she did it anyway. Because opposite of what our culture may have us believe, Gods’ eyes are on all of the broken. He doesn’t use metrics or means to rank us. His heart is just deeply in love with his daughter and wants to watch as she pours out an offering, surrenders the past, and let’s go. He wants our broken and when we do things broken He looks at us with such pride. Because even when it’s hard, and no one else agrees or understands, we keep showing up.

So with all that being said I want to encourage you to evaluate your actions. Are you allowing yourself to do things broken or are you forcing yourself to seem capable while truly neglecting your genuine self and the version of you that God so delicately wove.

You in your most broken form, when poured out at the Fathers feet is worth way more than anything you could ever produce. You have what it takes to stand tall, be courageous and do it broken.

You are more than enough.

-riley

We have the power to set ourselves up to experience the peace and joy of the Lord constantly. The resources are at our fingertips, we just need to know how to utilize them.

Let’s be honest, we have so many sources and voices in this world who are putting out podcasts, books, self improvement tips, and messages telling us what is right or wrong or keeping us up to date with what is going on in the world. None of these things are bad, however they can become overwhelming and with time they silence our ears to the most important thing we could ever hear, the Word of God.

Here at Identity we want to dive deep into the Word of God together. Devotionals are an amazing way to do this. They not only give us insight and encouragement that is based in scripture. But they also help us navigate a part of the Bible and read deeply into what God wants to say to us.

I once heard this piece of advice that went a little something like this, “get into the Word, before you get into the world because if you don’t the world will get into you.” WHAT A SAYING! Upon hearing this I felt the urging of the Holy Spirit. He was asking me to draw near to my Creator daily.

God didn’t create us to be His reality tv show that He merely observes. He created us with the desire to truly know us!

He is a relational God. His heart is that we walk with Him in every step of our day, for every day of our life. God wants the good, the bad, and everything in between.

My hope is that through these devotionals you get closer to God with every single step. Dig deep into His Word and He is faithful to reveal Himself.

I cannot wait to see the things God does in our lives and the JOY that begins to fill your heart daily, and overflow into every situation you walk into.

Keep your eye out for our first devotional to kick off the new year!

You are so loved my dear friend,

riley peters :)