I’m not pretty.
This is the lie I believed growing up.
You may think it’s not much, that a lot of girls believed this, but I couldn’t see beyond the pimples and plump and stubby pigtails. I couldn’t see that complexions change and weight and hair can, too. One day when I was overwhelmingly blinded, I struggled through my faucet of tears and jerky heaves to tell my mother “I’m ugly.” She almost laughed, but pulled that in and me onto her lap, wiped my tears and cuddled me, and I suppose she told me how ridiculous what I said was. I don’t remember. I just remember that when she loved me I didn’t think of pimples and plump or pigtails; I thought about my mother’s love and that cradled me. Whether I was pretty or not or could change or not wasn’t the real issue (though most girls do want to be pretty). It was the ‘therefore’ that caused my fountain to flow.
When we embrace a lie we live in the therefore, which often is the lie or a bigger lie than what we initially believe.
And in each instance someone was there to give them another ‘therefore’ to push them on to defeat and to not cease and to overcome. We need those mamas and daughters and angels and God to minister to us to help us forsake our ‘therefores’ and live in the truthful ‘therefores.’
I am fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14) therefore
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1. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength (Philippians 4:13).
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2. I can stand against the wiles of the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18).
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3. I can redeem the time (Ephesians 5:15-16).
4. I can mature to the full stature that Christ intends for me (Ephesians 4:13).
5. I can walk in the Spirit so I won’t fulfill the lust of my flesh (Galatians 5:16).
6. I can love my husband and my children (Titus 2:3-5).
7. I can lay aside anxiety (Matthew 6:25-34; Philippians 4:6).
8. I can witness to others (Acts 1:8).
9. I can love my enemies (Matthew 5:44).
10. I can forgive (Matthew 18:15-35).
The time is now to forget our ‘therefores’ and believe God. Happy New Year as you seek to live in God’s ‘therefores’ and make 2011 a year of healing truth.
Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith
Good word!
Thanks, Flynn.
With tears, I thank you.
Abbey
Tears? Really?
A lie is a lie, and effective if believed. I believed a different lie, the one that said I was not allowed. I was not allowed to be sad, to be hurt, to fail, or to feel. Feelings weren’t real or tangible anyway. The frightening part is that I didn’t know until I was in my 30’s.
The Ten Therefores manna was timely because, that very day, I was suffering from an accute pounding of Menopause. The Devil had a new set of lies for this season. The “Ten Truthful Therefores” slapped, muzzled, chainned, and immobilized the Devil’s efforts to kick me when I was emotionally down.
Thanks
Abbey