Alive.

"Let yourself be who God made you to be,

without excuses."

God is teaching me contentment--

with myself.

Something I've been desiring is to be

fully alive.

And I'm learning that I can't be fully alive,

set free,

on my way to wholeness,

until I accept myself.

I keep finding myself in this endless cycle of 

being really critical of myself...

which makes me more likely to compare myself to others...

which makes me more critical of others...

and I feel pretty worthless in the end.

I've been asking God to set me free from the lies.
I've been praying Psalm 15.

"Who shall sojourn in your tent?
Who shall dwell on your holy hill?
He who walks blamelessly
and does what is right
and speaks the truth in his heart. 

Who does not slander with his tongue,
and does no evil to his neighbor
nor takes up a reproach against his friend."

And slowly, slowly, slowly,
I've stopped letting others define my happiness,
I've set emotional boundaries.
I've started to laugh again--a real laugh.

I'm living out of my strengths,
I'm inviting God into every little moment,
I feel my dreams coming back to life.
I'm getting healthier.


What if everyone lived out of their true selves,
fully alive?