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Howdy everyone! How's your Thursday morning going?

Mine's been a little tough. I just had to drop the hubby off at the airport for a few weeks of intense training on his part. I don't know exactly when I will get to see him again although I know I will at some point. It's always tough for me (or anyone for that matter) to drop someone I love off at the airport. First off, I'm going to miss them. Second, I'm jealous because I want to travel too! I hate saying goodbye no matter how long it will be before I see someone again.

This time however, was a bit different. Today was something that's been looming in front of me for a few weeks now and I would always get sad when I thought about it. Same for Jared. But yesterday we sat down and talked about how were feeling and how we would deal with everything going on. What we discussed coincided with something that we heard this weekend and it really helped. I thought I'd share for you in case you need to hear it.

This weekend we went to Fellowship Church Dallas, our future home church, so that we could see what it was like. Pace Hartfield gave the message. He's someone that I've always looked up to since my high school years since he was the youth pastor when I was attending the Mix. I still look up to him and what he had to say really spoke to my heart.

He talked about how we all need a reminder sometimes. That's why we have things like Memorial Day. In the Christian's case however, we also need a reminder that God loves us, no matter what. So many times, we get caught up in what we do and let that define us. We let circumstances define our identity and what the world says about us define our self worth. It's an outside-in flow of information and unfortunately, it's not the way to live.

I do this all the time though. I mean, if I go look at my Facebook, it's got all sorts of stuff on it that defines me to the world. I'm a Children's Pastor. I volunteer on a weekly basis. I like to craft as evidenced by my Pinterest posts and I am constantly running as exercise. Even my exercise has become a means for me to help others thanks to the Charity Miles app. I like to watch crime solving TV shows and I like to read. I'm married to the most amazing man ever and if you look at my pictures, I'm usually acting slightly goofy. So if we were to define me just by my Facebook page, I'd be pastor, runner, crafter, wife and volunteer.

But you know what runs in my head often? Questions like, "What happens if I can't run anymore?" "What happens if I don't volunteer?" "What happens if my husband is gone?" "What do I become if I ever leave the ministry?"

You see, if I define myself by what I do, those things can change and I experience identity crisis. I've experienced it once before, right after I got married! I mean, when you change your name and move to a different city, it's really easy to feel like you are a totally different person. But what I learned after I got married, and was reminded of after attending church this weekend, was that I am not defined by what I do, but who's I am. This blog is titled "The King's Daughter." That's not by mistake. I am the daughter of the one true High King. God is my heavenly Father and someday I get to spend eternity with him. He loved me so much that even before I was born or learned about Him, He died for me without any guarantee that I would love Him back.

So I feel like I would miss the point if I never shared with my audience, if I even have one, the reason why I do everything I do. I love God with all my heart, more than anything. From that love I begin to love the things that God loves, which includes teaching children about him, helping others in need, taking care of the body he gave me, and enjoying life to the fullest.

As I go into this next phase of my life, changing cities once again and changing churches and learning a new lifestyle as my husband starts his next part of his career, I am choosing to remember the fact that no matter what, I am the Lord's. Instead of the world and what I do defining me from the outside-in, I'm allowing my identity in Christ influence my world from the inside-out. And honestly, it looks a ton more exciting!