Be Confidently You

But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence.  (Jeremiah 17:7)

Lately, God has been speaking to me about confidence.  It’s a message that He is speaking to me internally and one that has been echoed all around me in this season.  Confidence is not something I have had a lot of in my life.  No matter how well I performed or how many friends I had, I never felt like I was quite enough.  I would jump through hoops and do my best to be perfect to prove to myself and everyone else that I had worth and value.  Yet, I always came up short of what I felt I needed to be confident and truly accept and love myself.

This season is different.  Throughout the last several years of my life, God has been peeling back all the layers of the image I have strived to create to reveal the truly authentic me.  The real me is not perfect but is awesome.  The real me can be quirky but is fun.  The real me has had struggles but has come a long way in healing and growth.  The real me has faced some tough challenges in her past but has amazing things to look forward to in her future.

What I am discovering is that I can embrace and be confident in the real and authentic me.  I don’t have to develop amnesia towards my quirks, weaknesses or failures.  I don’t have to make sense out of all the parts of me I have struggled to figure out.  I don’t have to put a bow on everything in my life that has felt messy, ugly or out of place.

Part of what makes me, me, is the way I have handled all of these things throughout my life and how I have grown in the process.  And while I am still growing, I can be proud of who I am and how far I have come.  When I show up, I can show up secure.  I can show up confident, knowing that I am valuable and worthwhile, not because of what I do, but because of who I am and whose I am.

I think this is a message not only for me but for all of God’s sons and daughters.  The time has come for us to be confident in who God has made us to be and what He has called us to do.  The time has come for us to recognize that God has given us unique gifts, strengths and voices that are meant to be shared and to be heard.  The time has come for us to stop disqualifying ourselves and hiding behind our pasts and our shortcomings.

The time has come for us to show up in the room with confidence.  The time has come for us to step out in our passion and calling with security and authority.  The time has come for us to believe we are who He says we are.

Be confident.  Be free.  Be you.