permission to rediscover your character
Hey there, friend!
Let’s jump right in, because I’m totally stoked about this topic. Rediscovering your character. It’s the next conversation in our Deeply-Rooted podcast and blog series, and it’s an important one. Last week we talked about God’s character — and the beauty of it is, what’s true about Him says everything about what’s true about you.
He is King, you are Daughter of the King (I just can’t bring myself to say Princess). He is Forgiver, you are forgiven. He is Love, you are loved. I could go on and on. But there’s one point I want to make today.
To discover or rediscover your character — your truest child-of-God self — will take a little more work (and pain) than anything we’ve done so far. Why? Because before you can really grow this root of the truth about you, you’ll have to uproot all of the untruth that has been spoken over you, around you, within you. You’ll need to do some investigating, deep down, with God, to see what you need to unroot and unlearn about yourself.
I’m talking all the way back to childhood here, continuing through this very minute. Somewhere along the line, one or several people or situations told you something about yourself that wasn’t true, but stuck. Without realizing it (likely) you became that version of yourself.
Not the child-of-God version, but the child-of-abuse, child-of-divorce, child-of-bullies, child-of-misplaced-identity, child-of-loneliness, child-of-misunderstanding. Again, I could go on and on. And I’m not a trained counselor or licensed therapist, but I am a woman who has experienced this same thing. The painful identifying, the uncomfortable uprooting, and the terrifying and glorious freedom that comes from healing.
Are you up for this work?
If so, there’s really only one place to start. In silence, with God. If you already know some of these pain points, great! Ask Him to begin the process of uprooting. If you don’t, invite Him to do some digging with you. He will. It can sound as simple as, “God, will you reveal to me one thing I’ve believed about myself that isn’t true?” And He will lift a memory or a phrase.
And then it begins. The question-asking (where were You?!?) the healing, and then, finally, the re-rooting. Once you pull that ugly root, you’ve got to replace it with the truth about who you are. And get to work on growing that root deeper and deeper into those wonderful streams of Living Water that will never run dry. The streams that become your overflow. The overflow of your truest, child-of-God self.
Listen, this may bring up some past trauma for you. You don’t have to walk through that alone, certainly not if each time you remember, you get retraumatized. Call a counselor. I’m serious. It’s the very best investment you can make in yourself and your healing.
You are worthy of this work AND the outcome of it. Which is YOU. Which is freedom. Which is rest, peace, and strength.
Check out this week’s podcast episode for more on this, and don’t forget that you can get your very own copy of the Deeply-Rooted 12-Day Devotional to go along with this series.
Questions? Comments? Talk to me!
xoxo,
Lisa
