“You should be seen and not heard”, this is a statement that you may have read or even heard in your home as you were growing up. This world has many distortions and twisted truths. Some of the most detrimental can be our own unconscious vows, “what I say doesn’t matter,” or “I’m unimportant, so I’ll stay invisible.”
You may have lived your entire formative years covered with an “invisibility cloak,” as I did, keeping your peers at arm’s length. During my teenage years when I looked at my reflection what I saw was “I’m weak” and “I’m less than”. I didn’t like what I saw in myself, so I was convinced others wouldn’t either. Do you fear the thought of man and what he may be saying about you?
Often, keeping silent can seem like the best option, so we live our daily lives alone, not letting anyone in.
I reached a breaking point in my life and realized that I needed help. But where would this help come from? I didn’t want to continue living this way, alone and filled with negative self-talk. For too many years I believed the lie that my life didn’t have much purpose. Why would anyone want to listen to what I had to say, I was meant to be “seen and not heard.”
The turning point in my life came when those who loved me began to speak truth into my soul. The truth spoken over me, and in me, was like a breath of fresh air! It began unraveling the many layers of pain and hurt. That is, of course, a journey. The mountain of my past was before me, I couldn’t do this alone. God in his mercy brought a community of people into my life that held me up and gave me space to heal.
From the very beginning of time God’s plan was for us to be in relationship, surrounded by a loving community. “Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11).
Here is the reality that I had to come to grips with, I needed loving relationships; a community of people who cared about me to the depth of my being. Not just any community but one that knows the depths of my longing. A group of people who would ask the question, “what do you need?”
This journey for me began in a small group. Joining a close-knit community gave me a space that was safe to share my deepest secrets. The group allowed me to bring up those things I never felt safe to allow out into the light. That’s where I began to taste freedom and have my mind renewed. That same experience is also available for you too.
God was using the very people I once was afraid of to speak truth into my soul, replacing my ungodly beliefs with the truth of God’s word. This longing from the depths of our soul to be nurtured by one another is installed into us by our heavenly Father at birth. Being in a small group community that loves you for who you are, that is essential! We were created for relationships! The enemy knows that and is trying his best to distort that Godly truth in our lives.
You are not alone. God has created you with a purpose and a destiny to be connected to others. Let each one of us be the voice of God that other people are seeking, encouraging one another, speaking truth in love as God has commanded us.“Be completely humble and gentle: be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2). This truth will direct our heart and soul on a path to freedom and allow us to live out the plans and purposes that God has destined for us.
