Let Go, My Soul

I believe a lot of lies.  Some days they paralyze me.  They tend to be lots of little lies about my identity or what people think of me, but they all come down to one ultimate lie – that the Lord does not love me and his plans for me are not good.

What that usually leads to in me is some seriously control freak behavior.  Because when I don’t trust the Lord’s plans for me, I obviously have to take care of making my own plans come to pass.  Before long, I find myself spinning my wheels trying to change myself and everyone around me to get what I want.

Sometimes I don’t even see the lies I am believing.  Sometimes I can see them but I just cannot get out of my own head and fight them.  I feel powerless.  I feel destined to just be anxious and unhappy and constantly discontent.

A very simple truth I’ve come to learn is this – the only thing that combats a lie is the truth.  But how do you actually put that into practice?  Here’s something that I do:

I grab my journal, or my phone, or my computer, or whatever.  If I can, I find somewhere private so I can actually speak the words out loud.  (Side note – On the very worst of days, when I’ve let the lies sit in my heart for too long, I am not even capable of doing this myself and I have to call or meet with a friend to speak these truths over me.)

And then I start listing truths.  I write them, sometimes over and over.  I say them out loud.  Sometimes I scream them.  There are usually a lot of tears (I told you, crying is kind of my thing now). Here are some that I love:

• You are a good father.
• You love me deeply.
• You call me daughter.
• I am who you say I am, not what anyone else says.
• You do not withhold good things from me.
• If you are withholding something, IT IS NOT FOR MY GOOD.
• You have not forgotten me.
• You have not rejected me.
• YOU SEE ME.
• I am completely known and incredibly loved by you.
• You love me so much that you did not spare your own son for me.
• I don’t have to be afraid.
• I don’t have to be anxious.
• I don’t have to fear the future because your plans for me are good.
• If <whatever I am praying for or against> happens or if it doesn’t, you are still God and I have everything I need in you.
• One day you will renew and restore every single thing that has been broken – no more death, no more sin, no more pain.  You will crush it all under your feet.
• The cross was enough.
• Jesus is alive!

I always end there, with the declaration that the cross was enough and my Jesus is ALIVE.  That’s the most beautiful truth I could ever imagine.  It stands against every lie.