Multi-Faceted

There are many sides of me:
Happy Jessie
Productive Jessie
Insecure Jessie
Ungrateful Jessie
Grateful Jessie
Competitive Jessie
Generous Jessie
Scared Jessie
Not confident Jessie
Sweet Jessie
Creative Jessie
and the list could go on and on.

There are sides of me that I don't like and there are  obvious sides that I do like.  Course, doesn't everyone like the good, positive ones?

I've come to realize that some of the not so pleasant and good sides are coming to the surface.  Some I have suppressed, consciously or unconsciously.  None of them I like; I want nothing to do with the yucky ones.  And yet, here they are in all their ugliness for me to deal with, to drag others through along with me (not recommended), and to get rid of, hopefully. 

I want them gone forever.  I wish that want was all it took.  I wish becoming more like Christ was a lot easier.  It is hard work/discipline.  It is not fun.  It is ugly.  It is sometimes very ugly.  It is refining.

The bad ones like insecure Jessie, for instance, are not dealt with gracefully.  But something must be done about them.  I can't keep suppressing or not wanting to deal with the bad.  And some I thought I had dealt with a long time ago yet are raring their head again, wanting to beat me.  However, I want to destroy them with truth.

God's truth.  Truths like: I am secure in Christ; I am the righteousness of Christ Jesus; I am strong in the Lord; God has not given me a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind; I have the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control.

Further, I have to come back to the fact God loves me despite all the bad and no matter the end result.

I see more often the effects of leaving sins and shortcomings to be dealt with later, to be swept under the rug, to be suppressed, etc.  It's not good for me, by any means, and it's most certainly not good for those around me, who are affected.

Whether you understand what I saying or not, I think we can all relate to being refined in some form or fashion.

We are all being refined, right?  I know I am being refined by God and because He loves me, and I can only be refined because sin, all my sin, has been dealt with on the cross by Christ.

That's always the answer even if the path seems difficult to such a simple answer.