There's so very much I could write about "Lost and Found." In so many ways, this book opened my eyes to my own issues. The way I've allowed myself to be too caught up in the world's opinions. The way I've maneuvered my life to try and become who I am expected to be.
If there's one thing I've learned over the past five or so years, it's this.
Truth is power.
I think we have a tendency, as humans, to hide our mistakes, our sins, our evils, and then they become the thing that plagues us. The thing that could easily take us down.
But when you speak them out, when you confess your issues or shed light on your sins...a funny things happens, they can't hurt you anymore.
Light and darkness cannot co-exist. So, when you pull something out of the darkness, it's filled with light...and while the process can be painful, the truth of it brings power.
Once there's light, there's hope...and that thing you've been hiding can't hurt you anymore. It's no longer a weapon that can be used against you...
In Ginny's book, there's a paragraph I circled:
It is so like her to act as though nothing has transpired between us. To move forward without a backward glance. An apology. An acknowledment of any sort. These are the times that leave me feeling crazy.
And that's how it can be when you're unsure, when truth isn't prominent in your mind. You allow other people to dictate the things you believe, regardless of what you know to be true.
Why do we do that?
Why do I do that?
Reading the words in this book opened my eyes and helped me realize that while I've felt like something was wrong with me all this time, in reality the only thing wrong is that I wasn't allowing the truth to have the power in my life.
Like I said yesterday, I feel like this book was a gift to me. A way for me to fully embrace the things God's told me to do and allow them to be the only thing that matters.
And the scary part is that I expect to be tested with this again. And again. Until I get it down. Until I can fully embrace this revelation.
To that end, here's what I know:
1. I'm first a wife and a mother. My family is my #1 ministry. Anyone who tells you differently (in word or in action) doesn't have your best interest at heart.
2. I'm called to be a writer.
3. Not everyone in the world is going to like me. And that's okay.
4. I can't worry about the opinions of others...because if I please one person, I'll likely not please another person. There are, after all, as many opinions as there are people.
5. God has a divine purpose for my life. (And yours.)
These are some of my truths. I have to stay focused on these and not get diverted watching enemy missiles firing at me.
In a few short months, I'll be walking back into familiar territory. The place where people know me as the person I always was, and I'm tasked with the trial of staying true to what I now know. And it may be difficult not to let myself get tied in to the things that used to be such a huge part of my life.
You know, it's kind of like trying to change your personal style...if I started wearing dresses everyday, would people think "Who is she trying to be?"
Maybe.
But the fact remains that the hard lessons I've learned over the last two years are in me now. They can't go away just because I'm shopping at the same Target store I used to shop at. And I think, in many ways, Lost and Found taught me that.
That it's okay to seek the truth.
That it's wise to hear God's voice and act accordingly, regardless of what anyone says about it.
That sometimes speaking your mind, when done with grace, isn't a bad thing.
This is my truth.
What's yours?
By the way...you can visit Ginny on her website/blog HERE.
And you can buy your own copy of her incredible book HERE.
