Change Happens When You Allow It

"Anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. 

The old life is gone; a new life has begun!"  2 Corinthians 5:17

Change happens if you allow it.  I was tired of giving my past the power to bring me down. 

The shift was a learning experience for me.  Not only did it represent a change in me heart, but a significant and permanent shift in my perspective and direction. 

It was symbolic in the sense that I was truly letting go.  No longer would I dedicate my thoughts to all the pain, hurt, struggles, or hardships.  My purpose was now fixed on sharing positive things, both to myself and to other people.  I felt the urge to tell others about what God can do in the life and heart of any person regardless of anything that they may consider "too shameful" or "not good enough"......

He can take ashes and make them beautiful.
He can take what you thought was permanent damage, and turn it into a permanent purpose.

Choosing to accept God's love was HUGE. 
By doing so, I chose to believe that God loved me, that I have a purpose that exceeded far beyond the chaos that I was so wrapped in. 

Through Him, I learned how to love others appropriately. 
This was a game-changer.

Instead of refusing to shift my focus, I allowed myself to believe that there really could be another way to look at things.  I didn't have to stay stuck.  I could choose to look beyond everything that I thought I knew.  My feelings were valid, but that didn't mean that the way I saw the outcome of my struggles had to be the only way.  I chose to trust God. 

All of that pain, the scary times, the uncertainty, feelings of inadequacy, the moments I thought "defined" me as a person.......it all began to look and feel different.

God took the very same things that I hated and turned them into things that I can now say I wouldn't ever go back and change or make different.

The beautiful part is that because of every single one of the experiences that I have lived through, they have left me with a little piece of something that I can use or draw from to help someone else. 

God gives us new lives. Through His Grace, we are given a clean slate. We are no longer tied to the heavy weight of the past.  We are tied to our past and it's okay.  It's finally......okay.

We can turn around and look at all the wreckage with happy tears in our eyes and in our hearts - because that wreckage prepared us for better things.

We are now free.... to appreciate the sunsets, to smile, the friends who hold us accountable, to extend our love to strangers, and so much more.  We appreciate every morning that we wake up one day stronger  - we get to see the world in a whole new way.


....... and all this after we had been people who believed in our hearts, that we were nothing more than throw away people......


That, is beautiful.

That.........is a God thing. 

I Still See You

How you see you:

You see failure.

You see right through yourself.

You feel angry when you see what you have become.

Shame consumes you, blinding you from seeing hope for any kind of change.

You see how far you have fallen.

You see all of the destruction you have created.

You can't see your future anymore. 

You don't want anyone to see the real you. 

You wonder if anyone else can see you at all.

How "I" see you: 

I see your empty eyes that were once full of life

I see your dreams.

I see your tears.

I can see the hurt in your face.

I see the regret.

I also see your potential and all your talent.

I remember seeing your smile.

I recall the light in your being when you talked about your goals.

I can still see all of the life that you have left.

I can still see you.

How God sees you: 

Someone who can be forgiven.

Who is worthy of His kind of Love.

Somebody who is enough. 

Who is worth saving.

Who is precious.

Who is capable, through His Strength, to start over fresh, as a new person.

A person who shines.

Someone with a calling and a purpose.

You are much more than what meets the eye......

(so much more than we can even begin to comprehend).

HE sees you.

I hope that one day YOU allow yourself, to see you.......