The REAL You

I lay on the floor, snuggled up inside my bright red, bandana printed sleeping bag. I meticulously folded down the top, plopping my chubby chin over the fold, revealing the denim print on the inside of the bag. I was very little, very sleepy and very happy. Sleepovers at my grandparents’ home were always a treat.

I lay there, warm within and without, waiting for Grandmommy to finish saying goodnight to my three older siblings next to me in their own sleeping bags on my grandparents’ champagne-colored, sculpted carpet. Finally, she knelt over me and said goodnight. That’s when it happened. As she knelt, she bent over and whispered a few words in my ear. They were words of hope and belief and encouragement.

As is true for all of us, there was a war being waged over my childhood heart and mind: Whose words would I allow to shape and mold me in my formative years and even in my adulthood? I believed the words of others. I accepted the labels others plastered onto my identity. In the process, I betrayed myself, my true self. #Identity #TrueToYou

Quickly she was gone and I lay in the darkness, eyes now wide open, and marveled at those words as they ran over and over in my mind. They seemed to course through me like brilliant sunlight piercing dark corners suddenly lighting up expectations for my life that had never been awakened.

I would need those words in the years to come. As is true for all of us, there was a war being waged over my heart and mind: whose voice would I listen to? Whose words would I allow to shape and mold me in my formative years and even in my adulthood?

All too often I believed the words of others instead. I gave in to the temptations of comparison, of trying to measure up to the expectations and judgments of others. I accepted the labels others plastered onto my identity. In the process, I betrayed myself, my true self.

There was a purpose in my creation, just as there is in yours. There is a “true you” that God created that can live freely, unhampered by the restraints of short-sighted naysayers. He looked into the time and place He wanted you to live in and He created you to fit, to be His agent of change and love and hope in His world.

Who were you designed to be? Have the voices of others blinded you to the reality of the real you? Have you buried yourself behind a prison of facades and masks you thought might protect you? Have you so thoroughly accepted what was never meant to be you that you have forgotten who God created you to be?

You were created by God to be His agent of change and love and hope in His world. Who were you designed to be? #YouDoYou #GodsCreation #LifeQuotes

Don’t fear! Even if you never had the loving whisper of a family member speak truth over you, God remembers who He created. He can bring the full spectrum of your personality to light as you conform to His likeness. Allow the Lord to remove those masks and facades from you, precious Friend. Allow your true identity, the one God saw the world needed, to shine through.

Finding our identity in Christ and conforming to His image never dilutes our uniqueness; it enhances our uniqueness! It never makes us into clones of fellow believers; it moves us each into the calling specifically designed for us. God isn’t about sameness; He loves the diverse nature of His beautiful creation – and that includes the uniqueness He created to express His glory that resides in you. Your uniqueness is needed and wanted!

Don’t rob the world by being what you weren’t designed to be. Let God reintroduce you to the real you.

“And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Genesis 1:31

For more on how “You May Be the Answer,” click HERE!