On one year anniversaries and honesty....

He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.

Job 12:22

I've got something to confess. I make mistakes, a lot of them. For most of my Christian life I've stood in bondage to bad definitions, particularly that being Christian meant seeming perfect.

I'd go to any length to create and further the illusion of perfection. I thought if people knew I wasn't perfect, they wouldn't like me. In fact I was completely petrified of being rejected.

But all this really did in the long run was perpetuate my world view. All it really did was do me harm. Fearful of rejection, devoid of authenticity and vulnerability, I stonewalled anyone who tried to get in, which in turn made people reject me. Who wants to be friends with someone whose surrounded themselves with a wall the size of China? How do you hug a porcupine? The answer is, you can't.

The most freeing part of my journey to beauty is that I'm free to be myself, and that means not being perfect. That means admitting freely to my weaknesses and foibles, and relishing my strengths. That means living in authenticity, vulnerability, and most of all sincerity. That also means being honest.

So here I am, out of the dark and into the light. I'm a beautiful mess, and I'm okay with that. The last thing the enemy wants is for us to know how valuable, beautiful, and treasured we are right now, right in our mess. He wants us to keep sitting in the dark, wearing our facade of perfection and hiding under a bushel, but God is all about bringing things into the light.

Let's cast of our masks of fakery and stop hiding in the dark! It's the only way God can work on us, it's the only way to freedom, and it's the only way to true beauty.

A whole year later, I'm still on the journey to the kind of beauty God's really after, and what a journey it's been! Care to join me?