One of our children struggled for several years with chronic anxiety and went from being a vibrant, happy, bubbly child into someone who for several years was so timid and fearful she couldn’t go anywhere without us and had a panic attack if we left her, to the point of making herself physically sick. We watched as her personality was completely skewed away from who God had created her to be. My husband and I did all we could to work through this challenge, sought the Lord for wisdom and got her some professional help. Over the following months our child appeared once again and now she is an independent, confident, beautiful, young woman who is blossoming into the person God always intended her to be.
A lot of the time who we portray to others and even to ourselves can be very different to who we truly are on the inside and were created to be. The more experiences that we don’t process properly or the negative thoughts or relationships we can have, the less transparent and vulnerable we become. Our personality, the image we project, the way we move, speak and act can be skewed away from our true self, especially when we don’t deal with issues or life’s circumstances. It takes facing those things to remove the layers of protection, habits, mindsets and the vision and version of ourselves that we have become.
Unfortunately we can spend a lot of years not being able to see past that skewed image, when underneath there is a completely different person waiting to emerge. A person who is whole, complete and filled with a passion and a God given purpose for their life. A person who is full of confidence, life and colour.
There is a song I often listen to called “Sails” by Pat Barrett which has a line in it which says, “It’s hard to be honest and keep our hearts open and be who we truly are. Without the excuse, without the façade.” Really, I believe we actually need Jesus to set us free to be who we truly are. To experience and understand that we are loved unconditionally, and that someone will always be patient with us so that who we truly are can emerge and shine forth.
I encourage you to look at yourself in the mirror today. Is the person you see actually who God created you to be or has life and your journey caused you to become someone very different from God’s original design? Because underneath the layers, the self protection, behind the closed off sections of your heart their will be the real you; who you were born to be, waiting to step forth.
Today allow Jesus’ hand to rest upon you and His words about who you really are bring healing to your heart, mind and emotions so that He can heal, transform and reveal the real, amazing, beautiful you.
“I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”(Psalm 139:14-16)
“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”(2 Corinthians 3:18)
Prayer: Lord please help me to look honestly at who I am and to listen to what you have to say about me. If there is anything in me that is not how you designed me to be, would you please help me to deal with the root cause, so that I can be transformed from the inside out and be truly who you say I am. In Jesus name Amen.
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