Moving into the kingdom of God, under His rule, is the most amazing move I’ve ever made. What an exciting journey!! AND a journey not without its challenges. Reorganizing my life within the context of this kingdom takes time. It takes time to learn a new culture and how to speak a new language. There are things I’m familiar with but other things are new to me. I can imagine God (as Apostle Phil would say), “in my sanctified imagination” gazing down on me with admiration like a mother watches her toddler, as they try to put a square peg into a round hole; struggling to figure out which hole the peg will fit into.
My heart, thoughts and actions are changing. However, the more I grow and change, the more I feel stuck in the relationships most important to me. You see, they know ME. The real me. They know the good, bad and the ugly things about me. I’m so used to living within the confinements of these labels, I no longer know how to show up in these relationships. How do I blend these two worlds. How do I blend the new me and my old relationships?
I remember something similar from my childhood, as a biracial girl, living in a segregated city. I had my black friends, around whom I “acted black” and I had my white friends, around whom I “acted white.” My greatest fear was for my white friends and black friends to be in the same place at the same time. Who would I be? Who is the real me?
This struggle comes with a fear of rejection. What if they don’t like the new me or think I’m a hypocrite? I’ve only recently realized how much this fear is holding me back. There are things God is asking me to do in the relationships most important to me and I can’t bring myself to do them. I can’t show them the new me.
The fear is so strong, it blocks my steps of faith. As I was discussing this issue with a friend, she told me,”Just do it. You know the fear is based on a lie. You know these people love you and will accept you. Just do it.” As I explored that option, I realized that I really can’t do it, unless I believe the truth. I’m paralyzed in fear. I know from experience that until I RECEIVE the truth from God, my actions will not change.
But I’m hopeful because I’ve been here before. I know from experience that once I get to this point, receiving the truth is right around the corner. It will take a little while. I’ll wrestle with these thoughts. I’ll ask God to show me the truth and help me believe it. I will receive enough to step out in faith. I only need faith the size of a mustard seed to take a step out of my paralyzed state and God will do the rest. It will be more than I could ever have hoped for. So much so, that I’ll wonder why I lived in fear so long.
I’m smiling now. It’s coming – Freedom!
Mark 9:24 … “I do believe; help me with my unbelief.”
John 8:31-32 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
Matthew 18:20 … “Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”
I’m excited!
Hi Lauren, all I can say about this one is … it is my journey almost to the T…wow. I thank you for your courage to be real and in being real you give me courage to be real as well. God knows our frame and He is so proud of all of us that have decided to pursue Him in a way we have never done before. This is a hard season but I truly believe it will be filled with such a deepening with and in Christ that, like childbirth, the pain will soon be forgotten as we gaze in the mirror and behold Christ in us shining in a way we have never seen before.