None of Me, All of YOU

As a blogger and a creative, my mind never stops running. I am grateful for the Holy Spirit who plants ideas for certain posts in my mind at all random hours. These little ideas, seeds if you will, are planted in me in the form of titles or snippets, sometimes even scripture. I usually never have an entire post planned out and it isn't until that seed is cultivated that it becomes the final product you read online. The process takes a minute, but I don't rush it. I was given this gift and I was also given this platform, and I don't want to just post anything. Now this blog is fun and all, but I don't write and publish these things for myself. I mean, truthfully I am already living it. I'm weathering the storms I write about. Everyday I'm striving to be more like Jesus and sometimes I do fail. I'm using the word of God as my sword and the shield of faith to protect me against the devil's attacks because Lord knows Satan likes to try me. And the last thing I will do is fall back into my old ways. So I don't need a stage. For real, for real, I could just be writing all this in my journal. It would be A LOT easier than creating an aesthetically pleasing website, adding all sorts of different elements that align with my passions and how God can get the glory out of every aspect of my life, and putting myself out there on social media to get people to read these posts. I am not the one who is just naturally comfortable being all, "Hey, check out my page and read my blog and follow me and subscribe". Shout out to the ones who have the personality to do that. I am growing to embrace the feeling of doing so because I know the Lord gives me messages that he wants to be put out in the world. But what is most important to me with this blog is that I am not trying to attract readers to like me and praise me, I am wanting to attract them so that they can love Jesus and praise the Most High. My "intro" has been a little long winded but there were just some things I had to get off my chest and one of them was all the pressure I had been feeling from the world. I release it in the name of Jesus.

I say all that to say that's why the first time I released this blog it was not profitable in the way it should have been. Now on one hand it brought a lot of attention to me. I can honestly say I had 10x more readers earlier this summer than I do now. I had way more people talking about "Kristin Nicole", but not enough talking about Jesus. I have grown to realize, I don't want the attention. I no longer crave the fame because it is at a point where you get to be so "popular" that people begin to look at you in a higher position. You are held to a higher standard. They begin to put you on an undeserving pedestal. So when you slip up, and we are human so we ALL will, the same ones who praised you are quick to question and switch up on you. So ignore me, if you will. I've come to tell y'all and even myself, there is no one higher than Jesus Christ. He is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. The way, the truth and the light. Yes, I know you all come to "IAMKRISTINNICOLE.com", but I am only Kristin Nicole. I am a follower of Christ. I am just evidence of his grace. I am just an empty vessel. This website, it's just a platform for me to spread the gospel. I am truly far from perfect but what keeps me going is seeking His perfect heart. Now what I really want when you come to this meeting place is for you to hear a word that speaks to your spirit and ultimately you make the decision to accept Christ as your Savior. Now that we are refocused, let me share a quick word with you all.

This post stemmed from me studying the book of John when a small but powerful scripture struck my heart.

"He must increase, but I must decrease." - John 3:30

Now honestly, in the beginning I took this scripture in a whole off the wall way of understanding. I had this "seed" written down for a while, like weeks, but it was not time for me to plant and water until this moment. I'm going to share with you all that the original title of this post was called "Less of Me, More of You". I truly had my thinking all wrong. I took "increase" and "decrease" like you would a measuring cup but there is no such thing as a 60/40 deal with God. Even 80/20 won't cut it. Nope, 99/1 still will not suffice. It wasn't until my recent revelation that I learned that I just don't want more of Jesus and a little bit less of myself, but I wanted ALL of Him and none of myself. Now I know that's a word for somebody so I'm going to say it again. We need ALL of Him and none of ourselves. This goes in saying we can't be saved in a few different areas of our lives and living the way we want to in others. Instead in all our ways we must acknowledge Him. That includes our jobs, our businesses, our educational studies, our relationships and the list goes on.

Let me go back to when I shared with you I am only a vessel. A vessel in the context in which I am speaking in by definition is a "person regarded as a holder or receiver of something". So that means I am only a holder of the word of God. I am a receiver of a message from the Holy Spirit. And to add on, I try my absolute best to be obedient in sharing when I have such things bestowed upon me. Now the second part of this is just as important. Being empty. The original title wouldn't have worked and the Lord wouldn't even have let me preach it to you in that way. When I say I am empty, it is because I had to choose to give EVERYTHING over to God. I didn't want to keep anything. All my fears and insecurities, the self doubt and the worry. Everything I thought was good about me. The physical features I liked, the ones I wanted to change. Literally everything. I released it all and laid it at his feet. There was a point in time I had mentally given up on the blog. I felt I just couldn't do it. I didn't like the feedback. After awhile I REALLY didn't like the attention. I didn't feel like putting in the exhausting hours of working on it and maintaining the website. It was just too much and I didn't think I was getting enough out of it. What rings in my head even now when the devil tries to sell me his lies is to be faithful with few... (See Matthew 25:21). Although I used to think to myself that I can just quietly go through these storms instead of publicly declaring my weaknesses and I didn't believe I was good enough or strong enough in my faith to share His word, I never chose to accept that in my heart because I know there are others out there with a cross they feel is too heavy to bear so they live in hiding and shame which is unnacceptable. So as I grow, this blog grows with me. What used to affect me the most was that I was always concerned about what the world would say about what I put out there and the whole time Jesus was nudging me to only seek approval from him. So, like always, in these weak moments I am gently reminded by scripture.

"If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Romans 8:31

I want to leave you with that scripture. Just know that in anything you set out to accomplish, with Jesus at the forefront, you can do it all. Nothing is off limits. Deliverance is not off limits. Redemption is not off limits. Salvation is not off limits. Grace is not off limits. His love for his children is LIMITLESS. Alone we are powerless. We can't do it all with our own two hands, but with Him anything is possible. In all these things I give thanks to my everything. Until next time.

With all my heart,

Kristin Nicole Robertson