Free from Me.

May I be really honest with you all? I remember looking in the mirror & saying "you're stupid". I remember beating myself up terribly after making a mistake. I remember hating everything about Jamilya. Everything about me was wrong. I never did anything right according to myself. I allowed myself to tear me down. Nothing I said or thought about me was positive. No one knew my struggles. I was a really insecure girl. I hated myself. 

 Then, I had an encounter with Jesus.

We hear the story about Jesus dying on the cross all the time. It is the greatest story ever heard, but the mindset of "it's just a story" has caused us to be blind to its power. Once I grasped the power of what was done on the cross, I realized how special & important I was to God. He loved me so much that He gave His Son as a sacrifice for my sins. He knew I would mess up. He knew I would make dumb decisions, but that didn't & it won't stop Him from loving me!

God loves me flaws & all!

And He loves you the same! You don't have to be perfect! Stop beating yourself up. Stop verbally abusing yourself. You are going to make mistakes, and that's okay. Please know that there is a God who is willing to help & accept you. He desires to be close to you because He adores you!

All of our flaws & mistakes were crucified on the cross when they nailed Him to the wood. When He rose, we gained the gift of grace, which allows us to live daily & be forgiven.

 Now, there are days when I just want to walk around & throw a pity party because of the unwise decisions that I have made, but He won't let me. It's all a lesson. Daily, I'm learning to love myself & my flaws. We all have to learn to accept our flaws & mistakes, place them in the hands of Jesus, and keep going. We can't keep holding ourselves down!

So, here's to being free from ourselves. Never again will we look in the mirror & say "I hate you". Never  again will we beat ourselves up. We won't forget that God loves us regardless of what we've done. We won't allow feed into the silly thoughts the enemy places in our heads that will cause us to crumble. No, our minds are free! We're free from our emotions. They will not control us & make us feel worthless. We will believe & trust in what God says about us. We are not defined by our flaws.

You are beautiful. You are unique. You are His.