The Real Me

It is so easy to pretend to be ok, to pretend to be something that we're not. But what's the point of pretending when God sees the real you any way? We can fool each other, but there's no way to fool God. He doesn't care what you've done, where you've come from, or who you are pretending to be...no, He loves us ALL just as we are!

We need to be able to just open up our hearts and let Him in; to let Him heal our brokeness. He knows what we're going through, He knows that life isn't always going to be easy...but then He never said it would be. God has a HUGE heart and His love can soothe the hardest heart! We need to realise that unless we can be true to ourselves, God can't use us...He has a significant plan for each of our lives, but He can only use us if we let Him...we need to stop hiding ourselves and let God into EVERY part of our lives...otherwise we're just pretending...we're fake, and most of all...we're missing out on all that God has promised us!

I love the song by Natalie Grant called "The Real Me". I've posted the lyrics here, and you can listen to the song through my music player at the bottom of this page.

THE REAL ME

Foolish heart looks like we're here again

Same old game of plastic smile

Don't let anybody in

Hiding my heartache, will this glass house break

How much will they take before I'm empty

Do I let it show, does anybody know?

But you see the real me

Hiding in my skin, broken from within

Unveil me completely

I'm loosening my grasp

There's no need to mask my frailty

Cause you see the real me

Painted on, life is behind a mask

Self-inflicted circus clown

I'm tired of the song and dance

Living a Charade, always on parade

What a mess I've made of my existence

But you love me even now

And still I see somehow

That you see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause you see the real me

Wonderful, beautiful is what you see

When you look at me

You're turning the tattered fabric of my life into

A perfect tapestry

I just wanna be me

Cause you see the real me
Hiding in my skin, broken from within
Unveil me completely
I'm loosening my grasp
There's no need to mask my frailty
Cause you see the real me

And you love me just as I am

Wonderful, Beautiful is what you see

When you look at me

Don't Limit Yourself!

‘He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.’ Luke 19:3-5

Here we see a man who was so desperate to see Jesus that despite his own limitation he still went out of his way to make it possible. Often we can let limitations in our life prevent us from spending time with Jesus. We can let our busy lives dictate to us how much time we get with Jesus. Also, when Zacchaeus made a decision to push through the limitations before him, it results in a unique opportunity where Jesus came to his house for dinner. This was an opportunity that no other person in the crowd had. When we choose to go after God with everything we have, God will honour our efforts.

Prayer
Today God I want to go after you and not let anything hold me back.. I make a decision now to push past anything that will try to limit me and stop me from experiencing all of you.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As I read through this devotion today, I realised that I need to be more like Zacchaeus and push through the things that I am allowing to limit me.

I've been struggling to get through the past few weeks, and worrying about how I'd get through the next 15 weeks. I've allowed myself to be convinced that it's just all too hard, and I began to question my competence and purpose. I mean, I've never worked in mental health before, and I really don't know anything about it. But it's not only that...I've allowed myself to get anxious about all the reading, all the assessment, and all the learning that I need to complete over this time, and how I'd never be able to understand any of it. Then, I went and let it seep into other areas of my life...I began to question my place in this world, my true purpose, where do I fit in, why am I here?

I found myself becoming more and more obsessed with the fact that I had nothing to offer, that I wouldn't ever get through, that I was useless. I reflected on the fact that I wasn't able to conceive a child, so therefore I had nothing to offer my husband; I was always getting sick, so therefore I'd never be able to work full time and would be a burden on my family, etc, etc, etc...noticing a pattern? Yeah...I was convincing myself that I was completely useless...I was speaking these words over my life and declaring them as truth, when in fact it is all lies. Lies that I've been telling myself. Lies that I've allowed to dictate my thoughts, my actions, my emotions...me!

But then after the 9:20 prayer session, the sermon at church today, and this devotion...I realised the truth. I am a child of the most high God. I am wonderfully and fearfully made! I have been placed on this earth and in this prac placement because it's exactly where God wants me to be. He has chosen me for such a time as this. He loves me for who I am, and what I have to offer. He is calling me to His side, asking me to draw near to Him, so that He can be my comforter, my counsellor, and my best friend!

The following one of the most inspiring, encouraging, uplifting verses that I know, and it has made me realise that God is definitely for me; He's in control and looking out for me, always:

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you." Psalm 139:13-18

I've also found these scripture to help me get through this time of pushing through my limitations; and, to remind me of God's great love, and of His purpose for my life:

• For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:11-13
• "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phillipians 4:6-7
• "Come near to God and he will come near to you." James 4:8
• "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." Phillipians 4:13
• "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5