Her Grateful Heart : Embracing An Imperfect You

Happy Saturday, lovely people! Let me start this by telling y'all how blown away I was by how many people viewed and shared my post from last week. I'm no expert blogger but the comments I received from so many of you were crazy inspiring, so thank you!!

I recently did a super awesome photo shoot with my sister, (very deep and dramatic and weird) but so much fun. After I saw how the pictures turned out I thought, "there is really something that could be said here about our imperfect hearts." What I mean by that is, we are stained with darkness and hidden by beautiful masks that conceal the most secret parts of ourselves, for which we are too ashamed or too afraid to reveal.

There is this ever looming dark side full of sin, regret, lies, and mistakes that latch on to us and show no mercy. We live in a society that often leads us to believe that we're better off keeping our flaws hidden and the mistakes we've made kept secret for fear that someone might judge us, that no one will accept us. So we simply shove the filth deep down and pretend that everything is right in our hearts. As it is often said, we allow ourselves to become "two faced" and we mold to fit the circumstances that we're in. Here's the thing though... I am an imperfect person serving a flawlessly perfect God. He is perfect for me, so why am I going through all of the trouble trying to be something that I will never be?

I recently read a hilarious post in which adults asked children questions about marriage and relationships. One question asked, "What do most people do on a first date?" A 10 year old answered, "On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date." Y'all... a 10 year old. What is going on in this world?! But as sad as that is, it is so true. ((Now hear me out, I highly suggest that you don't unveil the deepest parts of your heart with someone on the first date. That is the kind of material you reveal to someone that you're seriously considering marriage with.)) However, lying and hiding away things just comes so natural that even children understand it. If we don't really ever know each other because people choose to hide behind a false self, how do we even know or recognize our own selves? When you look in the mirror, what version of you, do you want to see?

The truth is, brokenness is beautiful. When we allow Christ to break us of our chains, when we let him to take all of our struggle, the lies we tell ourselves, the things we think people would never understand, he will begin to fill the darkest, most imperfect pieces of our hearts with light and freedom. // My face is stained, my hands are dirty, I am guilty of too many mistakes to count on any of my fingers or toes. but you know what? I am okay with that. I am okay with that because every time I run and hide, God calls me back out of my comfort zone to be fearless and embrace my imperfect heart, and each time I grow and learn to be more like him. Life is tough, we have all experienced it in a hundred different ways and believe me when I say, I know that it is easier to keep the flaws tucked away. We cheat, lie, steal, lust, covet, hate, criticize, we put our identities in everything but God and a million other things on a daily basis, but today I urge you to be brave. Take off whatever mask you hide behind, because although you may not want to admit it even to yourself, you know exactly what holds you back from the perfect plan that is for your life. If you know the Lord, let him take precedence in your heart, and you will be amazed at how he works.

We are called to love him more than anything else, and that is a crazy concept that I struggle with daily. I have put my love and my faith in myself and others more than God for my whole life and the ugly baggage from those things remain scarred on me. His promises are true though, and I would rather let go of trying to juggle two me's, the me that lives by what I want, and the me that lives by what God wants. That will never workout perfectly because I am human, but let me tell you... the joy and freedom in my heart will be abounding when he gives me this new freedom and saves me from the road I've been traveling on.

You might be rolling your eyes thinking I'm just preaching at you, but my intention is to encourage you with this. My blog is called Her Grateful Heart and y'all, I am SO grateful that I am not perfect and even more grateful that God does not expect me to be. I appreciate the pain I've had to feel and the consequences I've faced because of mistakes that I've made. Learn to love yourself and others that way. None of us comes without a past, none of us comes without scars on our hearts, so show people grace and love, even when they let you down. Be real, be you, flaws and all. It's way too complicated attempting to live a "two faced" kind of life.

Luke 12:2 says "Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known"

"Maybe life isn't about avoiding the bruises, maybe it's about collecting the scars to prove we showed up for it."