"Yet a time is coming
and has now come when the true worshipers will worship
the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the
kind of worshipers the Father seeks." - John 4:23

My Heavenly Daddy is healing
me from the inside out.

Transparency is Real.
Many times painful.

Daddy let me be secure in You only!

Saturday, October 03, 2009

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT


My journey is taking me through many twists and turns of self-discovery. Striving to put away my many masks and just being myself, exposed, uncut and ultimately confident!

Joyce Meyer’s devotional, shares what we can have. How the pressure can be off of us when we finally realize that we need not be anyone else but our self! That each and everyone of us is uniquely made! It is not easy to believe, I know. But, it is true!! Courage plays a big part in being different. Accepting who we are. Joyce asks the penetrating question, “Are we people pleasers or God pleasers?” Unfortunately, at this time, I can honestly say I am more of a people pleaser. But, I am praying daily for the strength as I heal in my mind to reverse this cycle, however long it may take. People pleasing is a debilitating lifestyle which takes so much energy from oneself. This is a fact in my life!!

The encouragement of the devotional is that if God says we are worthy than we are. We just need to believe it!!

There is so much more to the devotional, just read it and absorb it into your being the best you can.


Are you tired of playing games, wearing masks or trying to be someone other than yourself? Wouldn't you like the freedom to just be accepted for who you are, without the pressure to be someone you really don't know how to be? Would you like to learn how to embrace your uniqueness and resist the pull to be like everyone else? God knew what He was doing when He made you. You are a unique individual—God created you the way you are! It's time that we dare to accept ourselves as different and stop being insecure about who we are.

If you’re going to overcome insecurities and be the person God’s called you to be, you must have the courage to be different. Unhappiness and frustration happen when we reject our uniqueness and try to be like each other. If you’re going to be successful at being completely you, then you’re going to have to take a chance on not being like everyone else. You must ask yourself, Am I a people pleaser or a God pleaser?

Becoming a people pleaser is one of the easiest things we can do...but it can ultimately make us very unhappy. When we begin pleasing others, we begin to hear comments that make us feel good about ourselves. That’s okay as long as we don't derive our sense of worth from it. People are too fickle for us to place our sense of worth in their opinions. We’re worth something because God says we're worth something—not because of what people think or say about us.

People pleasers allow others to control their lives in order to gain acceptance and approval. But God doesn't want us to be easily manipulated or controlled by others. We shouldn't let other people's opinions of us control our actions.

At the same time, we must walk in love. We can't just do anything we want, whenever we want, with total disregard for the feelings of others. We can't say, "I'm going to do this, and if you don't like it, that's tough—that's your problem!" The Bible commands us to love others, and love doesn't behave that way. However, we must not allow people to manipulate and control us to the point that we’re never free to be who we are. If we do, we’ll always try to become the person we think others expect us to be.

The world (those we know and deal with on a daily basis who may be family, friends, people in the neighborhood or even in the church) is continually trying to conform us to its image. The word conform means "to be similar in form or character; to behave in accordance with prevailing modes or customs.” Romans 12:2 says, Do not be conformed to this world (this age),…but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind…It’s then that we find the good and acceptable will of God for our lives.

People will always try to fit us into their mold, partly due to their own insecurity. It makes them feel better about what they are doing if they can get someone else to do it too. Very few people have the ability to be who they are and let everybody else be who they are. Can you imagine how nice the world would be if we would all do that? Each person would be secure in who he is and let others be who they are. We would not have to try to be imitations of each other.

God wants to take us, with all our weaknesses and inabilities, and transform us, by working from the inside out, to do something powerful in this earth. If we’re going to overcome insecurities and succeed at being ourselves, we can't continue to be afraid of what everybody else may think. We can't continue to allow others to fit us into their mold. We are different! We are unique! God created us this way to accomplish His purposes here on earth.

17 comments:

  1. Sorry, I want to be just who I am, but also want everyone else to be just who I think YOU should be. Yes I am working on this...daily, and great progress is being made...so long as YOU toe the mark -ooooops, er, OK ummm--I mean, oh well...whatever!

    Truthfully, I did not see much "Let's Be Real" in my comments here.

    Peace!

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  2. Hi JBR, it so odd, I was just over Janice's blog, she is your new follower. I kinda commented the same thing you just posted. Hope she comes by to read this. God Bless you. Hugs again.

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  3. Just being myself is so much better than being a people pleaser. Setting healthy boundaries is a big part of not being a people pleaser. I am better but still need some work on setting healthy boundaries.

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  4. I am clearly a work in progress, but very thankful that GOD has grown me in a profound way closer to the mark....I inch my way there daily.

    Blessings, andrea

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  5. This is lovely. You write beautiful. !!!

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  6. I love this sweetie. Please continue to just be real.

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  7. Thank you, what a blessing!!

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  8. Great post of encouragement! Love the owls.

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  9. Beautifully written, definitely from the heart. Cute photo, by the way.^^

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  10. If we will be ourselves then we will truly be who He designed us to be. Do I have that right?

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  11. Daring to be different! Great post great meaning. God Bless.

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  12. Loved the picture and this blog shows a woman "just being real". God blesses that journey.

    PG

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  13. Thank you all for your comments and encouragement to one another. Blessings.

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  14. I love this post. We do need to be true to ourselves--and it isn't always easy.

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  15. I think it was the apostle Paul who spoke about how we ought to strive to please God, rather than be men pleasers.

    I've struggled with this all of my life. Growing up with abuse backed me into the corner of doing what was expected of me, whether or not it was the right thing to do, in order to not further the abuse. I've spent a lifetime trying to overcome my tendency to simply take the easiest route, do what others want, and hope that maybe God won't notice what a coward I am.

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  16. Thank you for sharing this. I can so relate to being a people pleaser - even when I can see the self-destructive path it leads me on. Working on it though, and this post brought me closer! Blessings!

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  17. Amazing. This is exactly the season that He has me in now. Learning that we were known before time, knit together in His image, pieces put exactly where He wanted them in exactly the right quantities ... and get this, ... FOR HIS PLEASURE. He wants our insides out, wants us to shine and show the bits of us that are like Him, wants us to be open and real and unashamed of who He made us to be, wants to enjoy us, enjoying Him, enjoying us .....:}

    Don't that just blow you away? Doesn't that just reek freedom?

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