Freedom Series
Freedom and Truth - An embedded tapestry
Nothing steals our peace more quickly than our inability to separate a lie from the truth. The difficulty is not actually believing the truth but letting go of the lie.
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Lies are living and active in several dimensions of our human existence - the young girl I left behind believed several of them not because she didn't wonder why but because almost everyone else around her believed them. A lot of the lies we believe are integrated into the fine print of our society, our environment, they form our associations and create a dependency network a lot stronger than we realize. If we are are not careful these lies form strongholds in our minds that inevitably grow us up - predetermined thinking patterns form in our relationship with our friends, in our families and even with our co workers affecting the work we do and limiting us - these patterns which may not be so apparent sometimes result in creating a stronghold over a group of people first and then spreads over a region and cascades down generations. Consequently, an individual who may question some of these "patterns" which are lies is not up against a person or a group of friends, you question a culture and generations of people, that in itself could be very daunting.
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Courage is required to make a separation between the truth and a lie because very often people have become comfortable with the pattern, that particular fine print that has become an unspoken language, a subconscious understanding, a tapestry that has been passed down from generation to generation. It has become a culture which they do not want to change or break away from even though it corrupts the truth.
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We often become aware of a lie because we all have truth living inside of us and there comes a point in each of our lifes where we come back to an aching question, an aching desire that we cannot ignore and we yearn for more. Like a hint of an awakening. We may not completely own the truth yet but a certain level of discomfort begins to set in and we know something isn't quite as it should be. Often it is because you have already been associating with the truth while living a lie. It took me 3 years to admit to myself my marriage was over and all that while the truth of who i really was began to unravel itself until the image became so strong it could not longer be ignored and I could no longer go back to a life that was not mine to live anymore - i would have been going back to live a lie if i did, like going back to muddy waters when my subconscious I had been awakened to swimming in clear blue waters.
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All those years ago, a strange scaly thick skin had formed over the young girl while swimming in the muddy waters and it was a painful process to shred it no doubt but well worth it. Have the courage to explore that discomfort instead of shutting off because you would rather settle with normalcy or what appears safe. There is nothing cosy about that thick outer lining, there is an interior surface that needs to be exposed so that God's light can shine on it and reflect beauty and splendor and yes "shine like a diamond" permit me to sound cliche but that is what you were created to do. Cleaning out a wound can be uncomfortable and sometimes even painful. But we must find the courage to do so.
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Pulling down a stronghold is about stripping lies out of a mindset, it's like leaving a plant without water or sunlight. It begins to withers and if it is deprived long enough it dies. The stripping of lies must be quickly followed by a continual dose of the truth so that a new tapestry is created in your mind. That tapestry becoming more deeply ingrained will lead to the discovery of who you really are.
Freedom and Truth - Own the discovery
The foundation of a fulfilling journey is based on truth. How honest we are will determine the strength of our beginning and I believe this has a correlative relationship with the stability we experience on the journey. Certainly if we do not know the truth about ourselves there is no place for grace or acceptance and none for transformation - TEOS
How would I define truth in a world where so many versions of it exists? I believe “we discover truth.” We may be told the truth but until we know it for ourselves we can never really understand or even accept it as truth. And it is only on the discovery of truth we can then begin to live free.
So how do we discover truth? The real truth.
- You have to want it – there must be a burning need to know it for yourself because whatever anyone passes on to you is second hand knowledge and eventually questions will rise up in you. Questions you must answer to yourself and others with conviction
- Find the courage to do what is necessary
- There are fundamental truths about you (your uniqueness) as a person which you need to hold on to and which will get you through the time of discovery no matter how confusing or uncertain things may get and quite naturally they will. For me, it was my natural determination to succeed that kept pushing me forward and keeping me holding on to my dreams.
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Receiving our freedom is a one-step journey but living it out isn’t.
The pile on of un-forgiveness, resentment, insecurity, shame, greed, jealously which may result from broken homes, relationships, abuse, neglect or deprivation are shackles that often create the limitations in our minds – keeping us from the future God has planned for us, a future Christ Himself has already settled for you and I. It is so important to realize our ability to express freedom is in some way or another linked to our relationship with others which should originate from our relationship with God.
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The extent to which you have allowed God to heal your brokenness will be reflected in your very day relationships. And so when a person mistreats you it is often a reflection of their own brokenness and vice versa – TEOS.
I have dealt with abusive relationships both in my adolescence and in my adulthood life. I have and still deal with self-worthiness and coming to accept how much I am loved by God has been a huge struggle and know the depth of that love is still being discovered every moment. My initial rejection of it I think that was mainly because I refused to forgive myself for a lot of things that had happened to me growing up and things I had done. I blamed myself thinking I was never good enough and not worthy of real love or it was my fault even where it clearly was not and until I came to that point ready to receive love, ready to receive grace, my burden was an enormous weight of unforgiveness, rejection and pain, bitterness and ungratefulness. All these things made me defensive, very shy of my own opinions no matter how brilliant they were and easily intimidated making me unhealthy emotionally.
And in that state of mind, I could not live my freedom out because I carried a burden that was not only heavy but no longer mine to carry.
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When I think back now, I probably only started to identify the symptoms of my baggage as I began to hunger and thirst for answers about what I was really about – I longed for a sense of absolution in this big wide world that was giving me so many different versions of who I was, believing there was something definite about me. Those provoking thoughts caused me to step out of the shadows that had darkened my life for so many years into the light….
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“Do not misplace protecting your heart with being mean to others. Learn to discern the difference and act with courage knowing that what you are guarding is far more precious that the momentary gratification of pleasing a friend who has no appreciation or understanding of your purpose.”