Free to Be ME?

Let me be honest.

A confession if you will.

I'm a simple girl, but there are a few things that I really like. Besides chocolate, I love my comfy jeans. You know the ones. The ones with rips and tears that would send Clinton and Stacy into a tailspin if they saw me walking down the street. But I LOVE those jeans.

AND

I've always wanted an old truck. I envision a dirt road. Me in my ripped jeans, winding up the country road with a truck bed filled with flowers and fresh vegetables.




IMAGINE my surprise when I heard the lyrics for the first time.

"I've got a couple dents in my fender, got a couple rips in my jeans. Try to fit the pieces together, but perfection is my enemy."

I

It's been that way most of my life.

Perfection ~ trying to achieve the unachievable and trying to fit into the idea of what the world tells me just how perfect I should be.

Perfect wife,

Perfect mother,

Perfect size,

Perfect weight,

Perfectly beautiful,

Perfectly intelligent,

Perfect daughter and daughter in law,

Perfect friend,

Perfect employee,

Perfect teacher.

Speaking from experience, it's exhausting trying to live up to expectations of perfection. Especially your own.

Apparently, after listening to Francesca Battistelli's Free to Be Me, I'm not the only one out there.

It wasn't until God got a hold of my heart, beat down the door of perfection that it became clear. Perfection was my enemy. It was the door in which the enemy slid himself in and whispered lie after lie.

The lies led to nothing that was worthy or glorifying. It simply couldn't be. I was too worried about those other things, I had no idea what I was really missing. Listening to those lies led to an eating disorder and an emptiness that I couldn't put my finger on.

It was in finally in deadbolting and locking the back door that the enemy so discreetly snuck in and flinging wide OPEN the front door to my heart that God came.

God came beautifully ready to renew, restore and remake.

The lies surround us. They surround women I know who are well into their grandmothering years. We tend to think that these things leave us.

They don't.

They continue to attack us, those lies continue to discourage us, deceive us and defeat us. Leaving us left with doubt.

The WONDERFUL NEWS is that the lies are simply LIES. Hear me, please hear me, God loves YOU, EXACTLY where you are right now. Not "WHEN" or "IF" or "Sometime down the road", He LOVES YOU, EXACTLY where YOU find yourself at this moment.
The more time we spend believing the lies or trying to achieve perfection the less we are focused on Christ, and that is exactly where the enemy would love for you to stay.

I believe God loves the rips in my jeans.

They tell a story, the story of my life. My mistakes, my joys, my beginnings and my lessons learned. The story of my imperfect life and my need for Him to constantly "mend" me.

As for the "dents in my fender," well, they show that I've delivered three children, all miracles. They show 41 years under my belt. Those "dents" were earned, and are a symbol of the wisdom I've picked up along the way. Lessons learned. The good, the bad and the ugly. Those "dents" are my character, the character that only I possess.

Only I possess.

I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Wonderful are Your works,
And my soul knows it very well.
Psalm 139:14

Embrace those "dents in your fender and those rips in your jeans." God wants to see those dents and embrace the rips and together you'll be "sitting on HIS shoulder, free to be YOU!"

Francesca Battistelli's video is below. If you struggle with perfection, I encourage you to listen to it. It just may speak to your heart.

May you find Peace in knowing you are Free to be You!

Join Lori daily at her personal blogspot, where at the very least, she is embracing the "dents in her fender and the rips in her jeans," each day thankful that she is Free to Be in Him.