{"id":268,"date":"2019-11-05T13:02:11","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T18:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/?p=268"},"modified":"2020-01-18T11:45:15","modified_gmt":"2020-01-18T16:45:15","slug":"a-truer-version-of-ourselves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/","title":{"rendered":"A Truer Version of Ourselves"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">I had the\npleasure this last weekend to volunteer my time serving at a women\u2019s conference\nput on by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/deepwaterwomen.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deepwater\nWomen<\/a>.\nDeepwater Women is an impressive organization run by Donna Beverly, Patti\nGordon, and Amy Consoli, covering our deeper identity with Christ, growing a\ndeeper intimacy with Him, and creating a more profound impact because of Him.\nAmy made a statement that grabbed me. \u201cWe are being remade into a truer image\nourselves.\u201d That sentence screamed at me. It summed up my struggle. As I move\nfrom who I made myself into being, toward what God made me, I am transforming\ninto the actual person that God has always wanted me to be. What an incredible\nthought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\"><strong>Jeremiah 31:3<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cThe\nLORD appeared to us in the past, saying: \u201cI have loved you with an everlasting\nlove; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">We struggle\nfor our identity, and yet it is already within us, we need to find it. Years\nago, I wanted to hike the Estelle Mine Train trail in northeast Georgia. I\nwanted to travel it because it followed the route of an old narrow gauge mine\ntrain that when from Pigeon Mountain, through seven tunnels, to what was once Estelle\nGeorgia. I thought it would be neat to hike the tunnels. Once on the trail, I\nstarted to realize that this \u201cright of way\u201d hadn\u2019t been used since 1924. The\ntunnels shrouded by time had their entrances partially covered by rock slides\nand overgrowth. Finding the tunnels took some effort and determination. I had a\nmap, and I had the stories from the internet of the hike. Even with all of\nthat, some were almost impossible to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">God gives us\nthe map, and He gives us the stories in the Bible, but finding our true self is\nstill hard to achieve. In my case, I try too hard. I feel that God\u2019s actual\nplan for me is massive and mysterious. It is the grand puzzle that must be\nsolved. To get the prize, I must endure, overcome, remain steadfast, all the\nsuperlatives we hear in church. Finding my one true self is the ultimate goal\nof being a Christian and following Christ. Without sacrifice, it has no value.\nThat\u2019s crazy talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\"><strong>Psalm 143:10<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cTeach\nme to do Your will, For You are my God; Let Your good Spirit lead me on level\nground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">The tough\npart is to be calm. To be immersed in scripture and in prayer, to listen for\nGod\u2019s voice. It is a whisper in the night. It is the nudge that will not go\naway and the itch that needs to be scratched. There is a variation of a great\nquote from CS Lewis that I love: \u201cgive me the longing the scent of a flower I\nhave not found, the echo of a tune I have not heard, and a grace so powerful it\nchanges all the lives I touch\u201d CS Lewis\u2019 quote ended with \u201cand news from a\ncountry I have not yet visited\u201d in place of \u201cand a grace so powerful it changes\nall the lives I touch\u201d The quote I use here came from a Christian work of\nfiction that I no longer remember and can\u2019t find a reference . I see in my mind\na grace so powerful it changes all the lives I touch as supernatural radiation\nof pure white light that illuminates everything upon which it falls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">Think of the\nimagery: the scent of a flower I have not found\u2026 the echo of a tune I have not\nheard\u2026. the struggle we feel finding our true self. The struggle is in the\nunquenchable desire to be that person. Every fiber of our being longs for it.\nIt is what God made us before we existed. And yet we know it not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">Part of\nfinding and living our purpose is quieting our minds so that we can hear God\nspeak. He gives us all bread crumbs through passion, skills, opportunity, and\nresources. But to apply all of this to His kingdom takes direction. That\ndirection comes from God through scripture, prayer, and council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matthew\n11:30,<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cFor\nmy yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\">You don\u2019t\nhave to reinvent yourself. It is not a monumental task that takes years to\nachieve. God has made you to be that person. He has instilled greatness in each\nof us. But it must be His greatness not ours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-justify\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How to we find, understand and live the life that we were intended to live?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[10,12,11],"class_list":["post-268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-motivation","category-purpose","tag-business","tag-christian","tag-happiness"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"How to we find, understand and live the life that we were intended to live?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tomme Stevenson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tomme.stevenson\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"tommestevenson@gmail.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@TommeS\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"tommestevenson@gmail.com\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"tommestevenson@gmail.com\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1acd55338acf0053e486db30d415843\"},\"headline\":\"A Truer Version of Ourselves\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":757,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81\"},\"keywords\":[\"Business\",\"Christian\",\"Happiness\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Motivation\",\"Purpose\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/\",\"name\":\"A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Truer Version of Ourselves\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/\",\"name\":\"Tomme Stevenson\",\"description\":\"Looking to the Future\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81\",\"name\":\"Tomme Stevenson\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1\",\"width\":772,\"height\":528,\"caption\":\"Tomme Stevenson\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1\"},\"description\":\"Over forty years of running Christian intent businesses in the technology sector. I have had the honor of working many years with High Technologies Ministries, Bill Glass Prison Ministries, Roswell Day of Hope, International Mission Connection and International Micro Enterprise Development.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/tomme.stevenson\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1acd55338acf0053e486db30d415843\",\"name\":\"tommestevenson@gmail.com\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"tommestevenson@gmail.com\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/TommeS\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/tomme-stevenson.com\\\/website\\\/author\\\/tommestevensongmail-com\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson","og_description":"How to we find, understand and live the life that we were intended to live?","og_url":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/","og_site_name":"Tomme Stevenson","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tomme.stevenson","article_published_time":"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00","author":"tommestevenson@gmail.com","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@TommeS","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"tommestevenson@gmail.com","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/"},"author":{"name":"tommestevenson@gmail.com","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/d1acd55338acf0053e486db30d415843"},"headline":"A Truer Version of Ourselves","datePublished":"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/"},"wordCount":757,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81"},"keywords":["Business","Christian","Happiness"],"articleSection":["Motivation","Purpose"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/","url":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/","name":"A Truer Version of Ourselves - Tomme Stevenson","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-11-05T18:02:11+00:00","dateModified":"2020-01-18T16:45:15+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/a-truer-version-of-ourselves\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Truer Version of Ourselves"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#website","url":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/","name":"Tomme Stevenson","description":"Looking to the Future","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/3a12f81da0d71e3d8514df06b99bdf81","name":"Tomme Stevenson","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1","width":772,"height":528,"caption":"Tomme Stevenson"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Head-shot-2-102119.jpg?fit=772%2C528&ssl=1"},"description":"Over forty years of running Christian intent businesses in the technology sector. I have had the honor of working many years with High Technologies Ministries, Bill Glass Prison Ministries, Roswell Day of Hope, International Mission Connection and International Micro Enterprise Development.","sameAs":["https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tomme.stevenson"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/#\/schema\/person\/d1acd55338acf0053e486db30d415843","name":"tommestevenson@gmail.com","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1df08c7164557ec664d212e87b1a7ea2373e814630cb5963407375df8a9d9cbc?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"tommestevenson@gmail.com"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/TommeS"],"url":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/author\/tommestevensongmail-com\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbhbma-4k","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":436,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268\/revisions\/436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomme-stevenson.com\/website\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}