Michele Cushatt - I Am: A 60-Day Journey to Knowing Who You Are Because of Who He Is

When Michele says journey, I start packing up my knapsack, because I know my truth-telling friend has paid a price to know what she knows. I encourage you to join in and encounter your own burning bush on this illuminated path of discovery. And plan on camping out on her brilliant questions. Ill bring smores.

PATSY CLAIRMONT, speaker, Women of Faith/Belong; author, You Are More Than You Know

Michele Cushatt has earned the right to be heard. Period. If youre looking for a couple of months worth of platitudes, youve chosen the wrong book. Textured by Micheles physical and spiritual scars from battles you wouldnt wish on your worst enemy, I Am will both convict and thrill you.

JERRY JENKINS, writer of the Left Behind series

Using vulnerable personal stories, insightful biblical teaching, and soul-searching reflection, Michele Cushatt helped me reframe my life through the lens of who God is and who I am because I am His. Through this powerful sixty-day journey, I found hope and courage to let God rewrite the story I am living and the story I am telling myself every day.

RENEE SWOPE, author, award-winning A Confident Heart

If you ever struggle as I do with the question, Am I enough? this book is for you. Michele didnt learn these powerful lessons from the comfort of an armchair as a spectator of the lives of others. The personal, practical wisdom she shares came from deep, dark places and will bring light and healing to all who dive in.

SHEILA WALSH, cohost, Life Today

On the pages of I Am you will find you are wanted, heard, healed, enough, safe, and that you belong. You will not close this book the same as when you started!

LYSA TERKEURST, New York Times bestselling author; president of Proverbs 31 Ministries

With an honest, compelling, and fun voice, Michele Cushatt invites us into a thorough understanding of who God has made and called us to be. This sixty-day read can make a difference of us, whether were sixteen or sixty years old. Come and see yourself as God sees you!

ELISA MORGAN, speaker; author, The Beauty of Broken and Hello, Beauty Full; cohost, Discover the Word

Michele Cushatt is a beautiful messenger from the deep well of personal trial. I needed her words in this devotional book: to remind me of who I am and of the great I Am who changes everything. Grace and truth are found in these pages. Thank you, Michele, for this most timely wordone I will read over and over again.

LISA WHITTLE, speaker; author, {w}hole and I Want God

When life gets hard, we too easily lose sight of who we are. It seems the world screams lies at us while God whispers truth to our hearts. On the pages of this book, Michele brings a megaphone to Gods voice so we can silence the lies and grab hold of the truth. Let these words soak into your soul so you can stand firm in who you really are.

JILL SAVAGE, founder and CEO of Hearts at Home; author, No More Perfect Moms

I Am

Undone: A Story of Making Peace with an Unexpected Life

ZONDERVAN

I Am

Copyright 2017 by Michele Cushatt

Requests for information should be addressed to:

Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546

ISBN 978-0-310-33980-9 (softcover)

ISBN 978-0-310-33981-6 (ebook)

Epub Edition January 2017 ISBN 9780310339816

Unless otherwise marked, Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, NIV. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.Zondervan.com. The NIV and New International Version are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version). Copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked MSG are from The Message. Copyright by Eugene H. Peterson 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from New American Standard Bible. Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any otherexcept for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.

The song 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) by Jonas Myrin and Matt Redman is copyright 2011 Shout! Publishing (ASCAP) (adm. in the US and Canada at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) / Thankyou Music (PRS) (adm. worldwide at CapitolCMGPublishing.com excluding Europe which is adm. by Kingswaysongs) / worshiptogether.com Songs (ASCAP) sixsteps Music (ASCAP) Said And Done Music (ASCAP) (adm. at CapitolCMGPublishing.com) All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Published in association with the literary agency of Wolgemuth and Associates, Inc.

Cover design: Studio Gearbox

Cover image: Shutterstock

Interior design: Kait Lamphere

First printing November 2016 / Printed in the United States of America

To Loren P. Trethewey,

Papa

(19442014)

You found yourself in Him.

May I have courage to do the same.

Amen, hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

For whoever wants to save their life will lose it,

but whoever loses their life for me will save it.

JESUS (LUKE 9:24)

I t is said that, when asked if writing books proved a hard endeavor, Ernest Hemingway offered up this reply: Why, no. You simply sit down at the typewriter, open your veins, and bleed.

Search further into the history of this near-legendary quote, and youll discover a lengthy collection of other writers whove been given credit for these words. Thomas Wolfe, Red Smith, and Friedrich Nietzsche, among others.

Perhaps it doesnt matter so much who said it first. All of us who put pen to paper feel a bit of ownership. We, more than anyone, know its truth.

I often muse how nice it would be to write books that require lesshow shall I say?surgery. Perhaps a donut pop-up book. A how-to manual for professional nap-taking. Or, maybe, something to do with napkin folding.

Instead, I find myself on the hunt for life-saving, life-giving words, the kind of words that require myself on an operating table, chest split open, and more than a little panic about whether Ill come out of it alive. Lets just say Ive done my share of bleeding as of late.

The names that follow are those who circled up in the OR as I turned the knife on myself and searched for anything of use inside. These men and women held vigil, offered transfusions, and kept defibrillation paddles close by, just in case. A few even took their role a bit more seriously. More than once, their expert hands wielded the knife. Gently, but with precision. Seeing life hidden behind flesh, they dared to force a little bloodletting. For these precious ones, Im eternally grateful. Not entirely happy about the lack of donuts or napkin folding, but deeply in their debt.