We belong to the day

First of all, thank you guys for checking out my blog, I've received so many responses (only 4) about how you've been encouraged about what I wrote and I'm humbled for that. I hope as I journey my life about things I hear or reflect, I hope as well that you guys will too. We'll journey through this together. 

It's almost been two weeks returning back from Shanghai and I'm starting to get back to the daily routine again of returning back to my studies and continuing with the everyday life. Coming back the struggles are real... even though I only have two days of uni (full days) the rest of my week were receiving constant emails, actual emails and work. I felt so overwhelmed with all this information that I did nothing.... rip. 

Anyways I'm not going to rant about my uni life struggles cause I'm sure uni struggles are the first world problems but I wanted to share this idea of belonging. Don't worry, this isn't a essay on belonging... or is it? You be the judge. But why am I talking about it. Well returning back from Asia it did hit me about where I belong too. Why did I feel a sense of belonging to a culture I never grew up in and could embrace with the people, food and culture. Ironically returning back in Sydney why did I feel like a foreigner even though I was born and raised here. I believe that your identity or where you belong too go hand in hand. So let me try to define each concept and try to see how they relate to each other.

Identity defines who a person is, or the qualities of a person or group that make them different from others.

Belonging is the term used when the individual becomes involved in something; it is the feeling of security where members may feel included, accepted, related, fit in, conformed and subscribed, which enhance their wellbeing with the feeling of home.

-dictionary.com

So my question for you is. What defines you? Are you defined by what you do or what others perceive from you? A good test is to see where you belong to, are you involved in any groups- it could be your high-school friends, university mates, family, work colleges, sporting clubs- the list is endless. But a good assessment for yourself as I mentioned in my last blog is to look deeper than the surface but the heart. Where do you feel included? Accepted? Related? Somewhere you fitted in.... You can agree where you belong to defines who you are. So what happens if you don't belong to anything I mentioned. We go searching, We explore. 

During the age of 18-25 we're on a journey to find who we are

On the other hand if it's not belonging to a certain group, where do you place your identity in? Maybe it could your career- that dream job you've always wanted or it could be someone you love- their presences or the amount of time you spend with them, without them you're nothing.. ops that a bit harsh, its harsh but isn't it true? The amount of time you've invented in whether in the relationship or the career- If something goes wrongs, you sink with it. Just like the titanic... This was me during year 12, I'm sure we've gone through this nightmare- everyone in a panic to find something that would defined them- be someone different. The pressures to do well not just for you but for your family- the weight of the HSC was just more than a test. I was depressed- I couldn't eat and I couldn't sleep. I was dreading for each test to go by and finally it was over..... However that was just the beginning of the agony- the results, uni preferences, lost contact with my best friend. Things couldn't get any worse... 

Perhaps without the lows, the highs could not be reached -Stephanie Meyer  

If I didn't experience the lows of my life, I wouldn't appreciate the cost that Jesus had died for me. I wouldn't truly understand the reason why he would died for me... it wasn't my accord that he would died for me but how unselfishly Jesus went to the cross so that the payment of my sin would be paid off. Jesus's death was the key to our longing thirst to where I belonged too. That my constant desire to feel accepted, included, love and all the above cannot to found in this world, but only in God himself. I mean who would die for me? The answer? Its simple.. God himself. God who is rich in love and grace, gave his one only son to die for you and me so that in Him (Jesus) we may have life. How? The payment of sin is death however back during the ancient days an animal sacrifice would atone or pay the temporary payment of your sin. Jesus being the perfect sacrifice- paid it for once and once for all. "For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who being made holy"-Hebrews 10:14. In Christ we are given a new identity, a new heart, new life and that nothing in this world can take or separate us from God. 

To end I found this wonderful quote on John Piper's website- desiringGod that summaries hopefully what I've kinda shared with you guys. He writes that "christian selfhood is not defined in terms of who we are in and of ourselves. It's defined in terms of what God does to us and the relationship he creates with us and the destiny he appoints for us. God made who we are so we could make known who he is. Our identity is for the sake of making known his identity". 

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. -Romans 8:38-39

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. - 1 Peter 2:9