J. Lynn Thomas
Believer. Dreamer. Storyteller. Jesus Girl.
Welcome, Ransomed Beauty!
If you don't already know it, I am here to tell you that you are an Absolutely Perfect, Uniquely You, Ransomed Beauty in the eyes of an enamored, wild-at-heart Jesus Who loves you like crazy.
Beauty is that elusive quality that makes one desirable. Lovable. Confident. Sought after. Valuable. Did you know that Beauty is one of the four innate longings of the human soul? But if we only knew it, as God's creation and the intended Bride of Christ we already are. Yet in a survey of one hundred women, 83% will say they hate their body. What's up with that? Beautiful women, who carried babies, stayed up all night watching over a feverish child, cared for aging parents, prayed all night for a prodigal teen, fed the poor, and listened hours on the phone to a hurting friend, actually hates the vessel that carries all that Love. Friend, it ought not be so. We are made in the image of God, bone of His Bone, flesh of His Flesh.
As Christian women we want to be perfect, but guess what? We. Already. Are. Somebody needed to say that. Because it's true. We are actually walking, talking, exact replicas of a perfect Jesus in the earth. You don't look in the mirror to get that revelation. It's something you have to receive, believe, and get your mind renewed to, and that's the work. But even before you believe it it's true. You and I were born into perfection. We were "in Christ" as He was reconciling Himself to the world. And His righteousness is our new, bone-of-His-bone and flesh-of-His-flesh DNA. In Him, we ARE absolutely perfect -- blood, bone, breath, and brain. And that is the mission I am on. Just as each individual cell in your physical body is unique to you, so are you in the Kingdom of God. No one else can fulfill your assignment. No one can walk in your shoes. No one can bump you out of line and successfully take your place. No one. Because no one else is you. Beautiful, brilliant, one-of-a-kind, hand-crafted absolutely perfect you.
So relax. Go be you. Awaken to the fact that YOU are absolutely perfect. As my mentor, Linda Potgieter says, "Get up, dress up, and go be a bold light on a hill" -- then walk it out as an Ambassador to a hurting, bleeding, bruised, confused, and needy world that desperately needs your part. Together we will "work out our own salvation" and grow in grace "from glory to glory," ever-transforming on the inside and shining His Light on the outside.
Grace and peace.
Lynn
LYNN'S BIO
J. Lynn Thomas is a Believer, Dreamer, Storyteller, and Jesus Girl from Richmond, Virginia. Lynn experienced a life-altering encounter with Jesus at the age of seven, but it was not until she was seventeen that He so captured her heart and swamped her with His overwhelming love that she gave herself completely to loving Him and serving His church. With a mandate at twenty-seven to "Get to know My Church," Lynn devoted much of her career to serving on staff and as a "Mach 5 hair on fire" volunteer in local churches, national ministries, and mega-churches across the United States for over thirty years. And although she holds a degree in Theology, she credits her real education to “... the board rooms and the back rooms” of these churches and para-ministries. She describes her career path to the flight pattern of the Peanuts character, Woodstock, " -- upside down, sideways, and all over the place" -- an adventure in getting to know Jesus in a way that never would have happened on a conventional path. One thing is certain: Lynn knows church.
Lynn is the author of several children's books, one published by Grace Publications and others by Hardwired Global, Inc., an international organization that promotes religious freedom. For many years she was a member of Jerry Jenkins’ Writer’s Guild and student of the Jerry Jenkins Novel Blueprint Course. Recently she decided to pursue the Masters in Theology at Oral Roberts University. Her current work, Slave Trade, Ransomed Beauty, Rescued Bride, explores the post-resurrection relationship of Jesus and His Bride, for whom he gave " . . . beauty for ashes . . . "; the ultimate “slave trade”.
LYNN'S INTERESTS
A published author with “a string of words in the pipeline,” Lynn enjoys writing daily in her 1930s original Craftsman “Writing Cottage,” in her hometown of Richmond, Virginia. Among other interests she enjoys reading, studying the Word, and entertaining friends with good food, good music, and great conversation in her cut flower and herb kitchen garden. And somewhere along the way, there is sure to be torn paper, paint, glue, puppy dogs, mud pies, kid-size humans, and other messy pastimes which she shares with her sweet and sassy yellow Lab, Sugar, affectionately known as "Shugacookie".