Come and See

Hey gorgeous! How are you? Are you ready to go a little deeper with me again this week and talk about a fancy Christian term that will deepen your understanding of who you are as God’s Chosen and Crowned? Let me set up today’s teaching with a little story.

A few years ago, my family and I vacationed in the quaint town of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. While there, we visited a nearby community that boasted of their restored train station and locomotive. We got there just in time to hear the train whistle bellow and the engineer yell, “Aaaaall aboooooard!” We ran from the parking lot to the train as fast as our kids’ little legs could carry them and jumped on board the beautifully restored passenger car. It was like stepping back in time.

The open air car was decked out with leather seats, maroon walls and gold detailing. The engineer, dressed in his engineer hat and well-pressed uniform, welcomed each of us with a warm smile.

As the train pulled out of the station, our eyes feasted on the beauty and detail of this restored train. All the dirt and broken pieces had been stripped away. Great care had been taken to restore it to its original magnificence.

Magnificence. If we could step back in time before sin entered God's creation, we would see that magnificence was humankind’s reality. Sin marred creation's magnificence, but God had a plan to restore us.

Friend, God bought you, broken and stained, with the price of Jesus’ blood and put his Holy Spirit inside you. You now belong to him. He has set you apart from everyone else to accomplish a specific, holy purpose that is unique to you. Day by day, he is transforming you into his glorious image, which was his original design for you. He is molding and making you into the magnificent woman he created you to be.

This is called sanctification.

Here is my own paraphrasing of the New Compact Bible Dictionary’s definition:

To separate from the world and consecrate unto God. To sanctify anything is to declare that it belongs to God and has been set apart for a holy purpose. It is the means by which a believer is progressively transformed into the image of Christ or the process by which a life is made holy. Sanctification begins the moment we say “yes” to Christ and is completed when we see Christ face to face.

Second Corinthians 5:17 tells us that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has gone, the new has come!”

Friend, out of your ashes God will bestow on you a crown of beauty. Out of your ruins and the devastated places of your life, God will restore you completely, even if those places have been devastated for generations. In place of your shame and disgrace, he will give you blessing and honor. He will bind up your broken heart and set you free from your darkness. He will pour out his favor on you in such abundance that your life will be a display of his splendor (Isaiah 61:1-7). Praise God for his goodness and mercy to his Chosen and Crowned!

Anna Frye is a speaker, author, television host and founder of the Chosen and Crowned tribe. She invites moms and wives to celebrate imperfect progress fueled by the grace of a perfect God. She helps women bravely talk about the messy places of life, instead of hiding shamefully under them. She believes that lasting beauty comes when women courageously surrender their ashes to God and allow him to do something mind-blowingly amazing with them. If this resonates with you, then you belong with the Chosen and Crowned tribe. Connect at www.ChosenAndCrowned.com/blog