“For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord...” Jeremiah 29:11
How could a God so vast and perfect love someone like me? That question left me at a loss for words. At 22 years old I was still in the infancy of understanding Father God’s love towards me. There was a particular moment I found myself crying into the shoulders of a man who had decided that I was someone worth pouring into. The emotions coming out of me were more than I could understand. I now see that that moment of vulnerability began a 20-year journey of rebuilding my personal identity and finding my place in my Father’s world.
Maybe your life is similar to mine. I was like a plant in a sturdy pot with good soil, but the roots were dry and the plant was wilted and curling over in the noonday sun. I had a lot of questions at that time, “Why is my life going in this endless cycle of sin and shame; Why does it seem that victory and confidence always belong to the next person and not to me; Does my Father in Heaven really see me?” Maybe you have asked these same questions. Like myself, maybe you have spent years trying to perform for others and to please others.
Of course, I hid behind a mask. My extroverted “happy” personality conveniently covered up years of shame and fear. Unbeknownst to me, however, the walls I had built over time, to protect myself, were beginning to crack. God was placing men in my life that began using words of affirmation and encouragement. That was something altogether foreign to me. Every word they spoke felt like fresh water penetrating deep into the dry soil of my heart. The focus was beginning to shift my attention off my own performance, to a Father in heaven who loved me without fail. He was rebuilding me for a new purpose.
“Many are the plans of a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevail.” Proverbs 19:21
So here I am today, a changed man. More than ever, I have clarity of who my Father in heaven is. It has taken me all these years to grasp more fully. So, what now? What are my next steps? What are your next steps? I go back to what saved me—the voice of another person who cared enough to listen and provide words of hope. You and I can reciprocate the process that was started in us by pouring words of God’s loving truth into the soil of other hearts.
“They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8
God has a purpose and plan for you and I, more than we could ever imagine. Our community needs a Savior. Our Father in Heaven is waiting in great anticipation for us to turn our focus away from ourselves towards him so that our faces may radiate his glory. As sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven we’re EMPOWERED to bring Jesus’ hope to others. That hope has the power to change the script inside their hearts from “No one wants me” into “He Loves Me.”
Tags: love, encouragement, purpose, performance, lies, vulnerability, affirmation, mask
