Free to be Me; A freedom story


God in His faithfulness is changing me. But I remain an extrovert. In fact, instead of making me into someone else, he is making me more me. And that is one of the beautiful things about him. That the more His we become, the more ourselves we become...


~Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge


A few days ago I talked about the lies, the ones the world tells us, and the ones we tell ourselves, and how those lies, perpetuated by years of insecurity and rejection can hold us in a prison of deceit.


Today I stumbled upon a wonderful testimony, written by Jo-Anne Of Princess Warrior Lessons about how she too had believed some lies about herself, and how Jesus has freed her to be just that; herself. That's part of the wonderful Journey to Beauty, the ability to accept, love, and be free to be ourselves!



I have always had a flair for the dramatic. I love an audience and like nothing better than to be in the spoltlight. I am an extrovert. I am loud. I will spontaneously break into song and dance routine in a middle of a converstaion. If you come to my place I will throw my arms around you, kiss you on the cheek and talk excitedly and do a little happy dance. I'm that type of girl. But there was a time when I wasn't free to be that way.


Not everyone has appreciated my unique personality. My earliest memories of people not appreciating it, is when I was about 6 years old. I would make up songs about everything. If we were driving in the car and I saw a cow out the window, then I would make up a song about a cow. I loved to sing. The only problem is, my siblings found it annoying.


"Shut up! Mum, tell Jo-Anne to shut up! Stop singing. Arrgh!" my siblings would say. And I would break into tears. My heart was crushed......


.....So then I had come to a point in my life where I looked good with all these other layers and decorative bits from other people's personalities that I had copied. But it just wasn't me.The masquearde was weighing heavy. It was a huge burden to carry. I didn't even know who I was anymore.


In my desperation I cried out to my King and He came. He said, "I have been waiting for you my darling." And slowly he sanded back the layers that I had added over the years. In His tenderness, he would work on a little bit at a time, as the process was often painful and more than I could bear. There was a lot to sand back to get back to the original design that He had created. I had covered up so much that His creation was no longer recogniseable. But He was patient and kept telling me through the whole process," I love you and I made you like this for a purpose. You were made like this because no one else can do the work that I need you to do for me. You are beautiful just the way I made you.

If you'd like to read more of her testimony about freedom or just check out a wonderful, beautiful, Godly woman who writes real, relevant blogs, check out Jo-Anne at Princess Warrior Lessons.

Comments

  1. It is my hope in sharing my heart, and how my King has set me free, that others would come to be set free by the One that loves them more than anything.

    I LOVED Captivating and this book was pivotal in breaking incorrect mindsets I had about our amazing King.

    When I learned how much He truly loves me, all the lies began to unravel, and I was on my way to liberty! xo

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  2. Thanks for the post. Just like "Warrior Princess" I am also discovering that as I come to Him, God is shaping me more and more into myself! Because I know He loves me, I feel more confident to just be "me"! It's ok if someone doesn't quite understand my jokes or that I may not fit into a certain mold. As long as my God loves me I'm free to be more myself -- the woman God created and is creating me to be!

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