A girl who is going to do big things cannot let small things get to her. A girl who is ready to live the BIG life she was created for, ready to step fully into her potential, ready to live in divine partnership with the Almighty, that girl cannot be shaken by little things. She cannot let an off day become an off month. A girl who is rising up to a higher level of living can’t fall victim to petty nonsense and disruptions that simply won’t matter 5 years from now.

Is that girl you? Are you the one ready to rise up, level up, elevate, and become more?

Yes, yes you are. You are THAT girl.

That’s you. A girl God started something in. A girl primed for good works. A girl who has been prepared for what is next. A girl filled with the power of God who cannot be shaken by these little things.

There was a day when running out of coffee would ruin your entire morning. You were a straight up she-devil without your caffeine, and everyone knew it! Why people be trying to talk to you before you drink your coffee?

There was a day when a kid with a bad attitude would stir up your bad attitude. Then everybody is mad and nobody really knows why, but you’re the maddest, so you win. If it were a competition of bad attitudes, you take home the gold!

There was a day when sharing the road with a bad driver would bring out the nasty Nascar in you.

There was a time when a stressful day at work would follow you home and create a tense night where you’re on edge, oh girl you are snippy and your family is just trying to stay out of your way. You’re like that little half blind 15 year old little dog biting at everything within 10 feet. Everybody stand back, mama’s had a bad day! Let’s just put the monster to bed and hope she wakes up nicer in the morning.

Oh, there was a day … but God’s been doing something new in you! Oh yes he has!

He has been working on you from the inside out. He’s been shifting your perspective. He’s been building you up, stronger, more grounded, and aware of your priorities in life. Convicting you of what’s not right and where you can get better.

Now you know better, so you can do better.

I have a friend who has radically changed in the past few years. She was once difficult and negative, always playing the devil’s advocate. It’s just who she was, she would say. BUT THAT’S NOT WHO SHE WAS CREATED TO BE.

God didn’t create a single one of us to be a difficult butthole. He didn’t say, “this one … well, this one will be difficult, this one will be unbearable in the mornings, this one will be a grouchy bear in the afternoon, and this one will be a complete jerk all the time.”

No one is a jerk by design. But we can become a jerk by default. No one is a nag from birth. But we can become a nag out of habit.

My friend changed. She’s not who she used to be, she’s more like who she was created to be. How did that change happen? God helped her see a different way.

We see a different way when we’re no longer surrounded by people doing the same thing as us. God places us in an environment with people who aren’t settling for just “good enough”. We see, through their example, there is a different way. A way to be positive. A way to be happier. A way to get better. And you’ll know it when you see it because something deep within you says “gosh, I want to be more like that.”

You know what that is … that’s who God created you to be speaking up! That’s what’s really inside of you, beyond the bad habits and default pattern, this is who you really are. That’s the Christ-like character in others calling out the Christ-like character in you. This is calling out greatness.

Colossians 3:10 says “Put on your new nature, and be renewed as you learn to know your Creator and become like him.”

If you want to know your Creator, you can hang around his creation. We are his creation. We have been given the responsibility of showing off our Creator in the way we live our lives.

Oh snap, how well are you showing the heart of your Creator? How well are you displaying his love and his power in your life?

Galatians 1: 15-16 says “God was pleased to reveal his son IN me.”

Christ in me. Christ is in you. We are to be a reflection of Christ. His spirit is alive in us. DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT? DO YOU TALK LIKE IT? DO YOU ACT LIKE IT? Can others see Christ in you? Can others look at you and recognize, ahhhh yeah that’s the Almighty in that girl! That’s the spirit of God strengthening her to live like that! That’s the Jesus in her empowering her to handle her struggle like that! This is God revealing his son IN her.

If I live like that, with Christ ever changing and improving me, then it calls out the divine in others. And if you live like that, with Christ ever changing and improving you, then it calls out the divine in your family, in your co-workers, in your circle of friends.

So girl, put on your new nature like a new pair of jeans and own who God is calling you to be. You are his beautiful creation, and he didn’t create you broken. He created you whole and worthy. He created you in his own image. Remove the layers of habit, routine and patterns that have caused you to REACT to life, and start intentionally responding.

How many of us know there’s a big difference between reacting and responding. When we react, we let the impulsive ugly come out. We blow up. We default right to that witchy with a B, that negative Nancy. That’s reacting.

Responding looks completely different. Responding gathers the best within us and represents Christ with intention. Responding walks in grace and lives in love because of His son being revealed in us.

Check out Colossians 3:10 in the Message translation, and I’ll put a little emphasis of my own here and there:

Girl, you’re done with that old life. It’s like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you’ve stripped off and put in the fire. Now you’re dressed in a new wardrobe. (Showing up as the real you God created you to be.) Every item of your new way of life is custom-made by the Creator, with his label on it.

This is you, a girl doing big things no longer letting small things get to her. A girl created for a BIG Life and not shaken by little things. Not reacting, but intentionally responding. Representing the Spirit living within her and calling out the greatness in others.

You are that girl. This is the real you. The best you. Let her show up and put that other lesser than version of you in the corner.