Freed to be YOU

Is there a secret to being YOU???

We've all said and heard another say it too, "I like being with you, because I can be myself."

That was something I either said or thought of as I interacted with people.  It was something that either set me free or paralyzed me to be me.

A few questions/thoughts that I roll around are:
Being yourself, Is that always a good thing?? (Sometimes myself needs to be refined... it's not always a good thing to let loose :))
Can I be myself, even if I am misunderstood or not gotten?
Do I reject someone just because I can't be myself with them?

When we hinge 'being ourselves' with someone, then the people around us, control us...
But when we hinge our self on Someone, then we are controlled by a Force and Love greater than ourselves, and we can be our true self wherever we are.

Yes, there are people who we can relax with more than another.
Yes, there are people who we are more comfortable with and enjoy us.
Yes, there are people who 'get us' where another may miss us.

And THAT, is a gift!  I love being with people like that.

But that is not the case with all people and I don't think it's meant to be...

So, how can you can be you wherever you are?
What's the key??  Is there are key?
And why do I say, "secret"?

Because I believe it's in the quiet of our connection with Jesus that our selves are truly found and secured.  It's alone with God, that we find out who we truly are.

The secret to being YOU is secured in the secret places with God.

We are loved.
We are beautiful, created perfectly by God.

Sin has marred that perfect creation.  And we may feel like the daisy pictured below, missing petals, scarred among others who we think have it all together.
So, it is that when we are with Jesus, we re-member who we are.  We are put back-together.  We are put back together by the One who put us together.

Let's look at the life and story of Jesus...

The Son of God.  The Man who lived in perfection, created perfection.

He left perfection for brokenness and pain.

Why??  Why would anyone want to enter a world of pain and brokenness??

For YOU.  For ME.
To set us free from the bondage that grips our hearts.

His earthly story begins when He entered the womb of a virgin.  Mary.
His earthly story begins with the shame of a virgin bearing a child and is riddled with rejection, death, denial, and being misunderstood among the people who got Him, among the people who loved Him.  (It's easy to focus on the negative instead of the positive)

Yet, He didn't withhold Himself or love to anyone.  He gave in the midst of pain.  He loved in spite of the rejection.

We find Jesus, many times, being intentional in His time alone with His Heavenly Father.  I believe it was in those times alone that gave and kept His perspective and mission clear and He was reminded of Who He was. (if Jesus needed reminding... I believe the man of God needed it...)

It's not the absence of pain where we can be free to be, but it's in the middle of it and knowing Whose we are.
He did it for YOU.  for ME.
He knows and understands our pain and when we turn to Him He sets us free from the bondage and fear that grips our hearts, to set us FREE TO BE in spite of and in the midst of heartache and misunderstanding.

Jesus, is the component needed to be truly YOU!  Not the validation or lack thereof of people tangible.  It's so easy to wrap our identity in what people around us are saying or not saying because that's what we see and hear.

But it's by faith that we please God.  It's believing His Truth and going back to His Word when we need reassurance that we are love.
It's in Him that we remember who we are.  It's in Him that we are re-membered.
It's in Him that we remember our mission and gain eternal perspective.

Being rooted and grounded in His love, you can soar and grow to heights you aren't aware of.
Being rooted and grounded in His love, you are FREE TO BE YOU!
Ephesians 3:17-21