To be vulnerable and authentic is to lay open one's heart for the process of refinement. Each time we share the condition of our hearts with a trusted friend or group of friends, we are inviting change. We are saying out loud that we want to be held accountable, we want to see something real happen in our lives that will make us different than before.
Recently I shared my heart with some friends, asking them to pray for me and my family. We are in a place of growth~ one of those places where I am uncertain of what specifically lies ahead, yet I know that change of some kind in inevitable. But I welcome it.
I love authenticity and I am okay with sharing the true condition of my heart with those trusted few who act as the iron that sharpens this iron. I do not like complaining. So finding the words to share authentically is sometimes a struggle for me. But two of my sweet friends said two profound things to me. Simple, yes, but their words have had me thinking for the past few days.
"Don't ever stop sharing and being transparent, because then I don't feel like I can be transparent with you." Wow! I had not really ever looked at transparency under this light. But isn't this true? There is such a stigma on women to "have it all together" and pressure to keep the plates spinning. Our struggles are real, but we set one another up for failure if we are not honest about where we truly are in life. Struggles are where we grow and I have found where God is most often so very real to me. He reveals Himself in ways that cause me to see my desperate need for more of Him and less of me. So in sharing with those around me, my words need to be honest. I also feel that it is important to share what you know to be true of God in light of the struggle you are facing. To me this is the strength in vulnerability. The place where I can let go of it all by clinging to the hope of who I know God is and what it is that He can accomplish in me.
"Prayer is real, so when we ask others to pray we should be expecting real results." This is something I whole-heartedly believe, but I do not think I have put to words so well before. Just a few days after I had asked some of my dear friends to pray, there was a change within me. Outer circumstances had not changed, but inner ones definitely had. Which was refreshing to me. I was not putting parameters on how God needed to change things, but just desperately praying that He would. Starting within my heart has been a great start! Knowing that my friends are praying for me, carrying me to the throne of God ~ this strengthens me for the journey.
I don't have to do it on my own. I don't want to do it on my own. It is often hard for me to share things that weigh heavy on my heart when I know others are in a hard place also. I don't want to add to the burden already on them. But the more I walk and grow and learn, I see that this kind of authentic sharing between hearts is what helps us to be rich in mercy and abounding in grace. This transparency allows us to see God at work in one another and be a tool that God can use to spur one another on in Truth. Therein lies true wealth. Love that is honest and real and sometimes heart-wrenching.
Transparency allows me to be nothing and God to be everything ~ all glory to God alone!
My silly Luke:
My growing little man Evan:
We are finally getting into a new routine with first grade and K1 for Luke. Evan is still a quiet and happy little boy. He is busy all over the house and thinks he can walk....hence the bruise on his head, which stays there most of the time! He is 18 pounds and 8 months old! He does this adorable "bear crawl" where his knees do not touch the ground at all! I am so blessed and I am loving each day with my three little men. Have a great day!
