IMperfect: An Inspirational Guide on the Highway of Holiness

By Tiffany Rose Tighlman

Take a journey spiritually on the highway of holiness as you are led by the word of God in the inspirational guide, IMperfect. Challenge your beliefs and grow in knowledge of the truth as the Holy Spirit renews your mind to change the way that you see humanity. God created everybody perfectly on purpose for their own purpose to serve his purpose so that he will get all the glory. Learn how to think more positively about who you are truthfully in the eyes of our Lord God Almighty. Grow in your relationship with God and others by learning how to love as God loves you. IMperfect will take you to new levels by transcending popular beliefs and breaking religious barriers. Explore the possibilities biblically on gaining a new view of the life God has given you. Be restored and reconciled back to God as the truth sets you free mentally so that you can be one with God in mind, heart, spirit, and body. IMperfect will show you how to expand your vision and help you to see more clearly who God has ordained you to be. After reading this book, you will be inspired by God to share the treasure that you discover within to change the lives of those around you and trust that God will do what only he is able to do.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Mar 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9781098000172

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IMperfect

An Inspirational Guide on the Highway of Holiness

Tiffany Rose Tighlman

Copyright © 2019 by Tiffany Rose Tighlman

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

God Made Us Perfect

The Perfect Husband

The Perfect Wife

The Perfect Marriage

The Perfect Children

The Perfect Family

The Perfect Church

The Perfect Life

In loving memory of my mommy

You will always be special to me as I remember the love that you gave selflessly, always helping those in need, preparing meals for the hungry. You feed the soul with your warm embrace by touching the heart with mercy and grace. I hope to see you again, face-to-face, because nobody is ever going to replace you. I value all that you taught me how to do, how to be, how to live my life more abundantly, and how you shared your generosity with everybody. In my heart, you will live eternally simply because you raised me to be who I am currently, and you will always be the best part of me. My hope for you is to rest peacefully and enjoy eternity with the Lord God Almighty.

Introduction

A highway will be there, a roadway, and it will be called the Highway of Holiness.

—Isaiah 35:8a

There are many paths through life that we are free to take, but when we gave our life to God, we made a decision to take the best path by following Jesus. On my journey of self-discovery, God has not only taught me about who he is to me but who I am to him and how he made me to be. I was inspired to write the book IMperfect to share my personal testimony on our journey and love others as God has loved me truthfully in hopes that it may uplift, encourage, equip, and edify the body of Christ so that we may grow together in the unity of the faith into a perfect man (see Ephesians 4:13). Being made perfect in Christ means that we are spiritually mature and secure in who the Lord God Almighty created us to be, but there is still room for us to grow in our relationship with God and the rest of the body as we walk more closely with Jesus daily.

When my children were born, it was often said of them that they looked like an old soul. They were extremely advanced for their age and did things as if they already knew how to because they have lived another life. We stared at them in awe and wondered how they could be doing stuff way before it made logical sense for them to be able to.

I knew and choose you before I formed you in your mother’s womb. Before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you as my prophet to the nations. (Jeremiah 1:5)

We declare that they’re wise beyond their years, believing that God sent them back from heaven as a good and perfect gift with an extremely important destiny to fulfill. IMperfect challenges many traditional religious views that declare everybody is born as a sinner, since God sent Jesus to prove that there is the possibility of being born free from sin, like him. God has given us the gift of eternal life, and his will is done on earth as it is in heaven. Although we have been born again, that doesn’t mean we will forget all the time that we spent with him. In life, we may feel like we meet people that we have known our entire life although we may be complete strangers in this life. IMperfect explores the idea that soul mates, kindred spirits, and destiny exist within humanity because God has the ability to create everybody for his glory. Although our physical body may waste away, the very essence of who we are will live on eternally, and with God, the possibilities are endless for all eternity.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters. (Colossians 3:23)

God gives us the freedom to choose how to serve him, and when we are called to do something for God, it doesn’t feel like work because God gives us the choice to serve him. This morning, I knew that I wanted to start editing my manuscript, but first I wanted to make sure that I was in the right space mentally to focus on the task God has given to me. The longer I meditated, the more I felt the desire to get up and get started; it was a consistent thought. It got to the point where I finally gave in and told myself, I will just print it out, and I will edit it later, but when I printed the manuscript for IMperfect, I found out that the toner in my ink cartridge was low. After removing the ink cartridges, I realized that I really wanted to go to the store to finish what I started. With each step I took, I noticed the passion for this project growing within, driving me to continue to do what God has called me to do. When we are on the right path, our service should not feel like work. It’s so fun and exciting for me to see what God is doing through me as all the pieces of the story are coming together for his glory.

Chapter 1

God Made Us Perfect

For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

—Hebrews 10:14

It’s easy to go through life believing the worst about ourselves and others, but it takes true faith in God to believe the best. The enemy has convinced the majority that God has made humanity imperfectly, but not everybody will see the glass half empty. When we think positively, we have the ability to look at the exact same thing differently. For example, on a Rubik’s cube there is a different color on every side. Sometimes it’s a solid color, but the colors can also be mixed together. This is how it is in the body of Christ. Our diversity gives us a unique perspective that is for the edification of everybody. God made each person in the body perfectly to serve our purpose and fulfill our destiny.

When we look at each individual piece of a puzzle, they may seem to be shaped irregularly, but they are only a part of the big picture. As they are connected with the proper puzzle pieces, we are able to see what the image is going to be more clearly. In the body of Christ, every part is necessary, and we must trust that God made each person perfectly for the body to function properly.

You are Christ’s body and each of you is an individual part of it. (1 Corinthians 12:27)

Sometimes in ministry, certain people try to connect themselves to places that they do not belong, and they may feel like they do not fit in. This is the reality for many as we grow individually in our Christian identity, which gives people the negative perspective that nobody is made perfectly. Of course, if we try to attach the hand to the ankle, it may seem all wrong, but that is because God did not make it to be a foot. On the contrary, some will try to change themselves or others into someone they were never made to be to connect to a particular ministry within the body, but when we stand in faith, believing that God made us perfectly, we trust that he will lead us to where we are supposed to be. It may seem right to try and trim the puzzle pieces in order to make them fit into place, but when we have faith that God made us perfectly, we will see that is not necessary because each piece was made to connect to another piece seamlessly.

All our choices, trials, tribulations, and experiences have made us into who we are destined to be. Our identity helps us to connect with the proper parts of the body. God does not make mistakes, and he definitely didn’t make a mistake when he made you and me. The caterpillar and the butterfly were made by God precisely as they were supposed to be. We don’t look at the caterpillar and declare that it is imperfect because it has not yet become a butterfly, so in the same way, we need to distinguish between who we used to be versus our destiny.

Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy. (Ephesians 4:23–24)

By no longer identifying ourselves with our past in the present, we are free to live our life victoriously, spread our wings, and fly like a beautiful butterfly.

For those who are still being made holy, rest assured that even God’s work