When You Find Yourself in the Messy Middle: Questions, Doubts & Who God Says You Are
The morning sun streaming through the dining room window hits her fingers just right as she’s molding the fairy godmother to help Cinderella get ready for the ball. She has sculpted her head and arms and is now working on her wings. I see her head bouncing back and forth between her creation and the box standing upright in front of her face. Every color of her new playdough set is opened. Lumps of blue, green and yellow are lined up perfectly across the table ready for their debut. I can tell which colors have been hard at work. Pieces of pink and purple have already stuck to the carpet and more are knotted in her hair. I hate playdough. The mess it leaves behind has me turn a 180 and head straight to the bedroom closet where I hid the Valentine’s chocolate.
Before I can make a beeline for the bedroom, my 3-year-old daughter exclaims, “Mom, I need some help. I can’t get it just right and her arm keeps falling off.”
A quick glance at her weary face, I tiptoe around the fallen pieces on the floor and sit down next to her to help form the fairy. As I begin to pull and tug, her voice shrieks, “Mom, you’re not doing it right! It needs to look like the picture!”
“Who told you it has to look exactly like the box? That’s just a picture. You can make it the way you want to make it.”
Unimpressed with my answer, she starts pulling more pink from her lump of playdough and uses all her strength to pound the wings into existence. Pieces start flying and the poor thing is looking rough. In the middle of her mess, she sees that her fairy has one arm, no wings and is missing her big dress. Frustrated with the outcome, she stomps away crushed and defeated.
This is what the world does to us.
We’re created in the image of God. He molded you with a purpose in mind and an identity that supports it. But life brings messes. Lots and lots of messes time and time again. Right in the middle of those messes where your anxiety keeps you stuck in 4-day-old pajamas, or you’re hiding in the closet for a moment of kid-free silence, or you don’t understand why your resume isn’t getting any traction, we get insecure. Questions begin to arise of who we are and what are we doing with our lives, and a fog of doubt blinds our judgement making decisions with uncertainty. Your mind quickly begins to fill with negativity and lies. The truth of God’s identity is being chipped by what others say.
Because it might seem easier or more enticing, we allow ourselves to be identified by the world’s standards and what the package says searching for validation through spouses, friendships, co-workers, children, and even social media, desiring what they have and conforming to their thoughts about you and your current situation. What was to be beautiful and unique and special, the world redefined it, ultimately leading to more brokenness. Even in the midst of every day ordinary life, we lose sight of who we are and how God sees us.
I come back to the aftermath of that morning’s playdough catastrophe and see that the half-formed fairy has hardened. I pick her up and her arm falls off. She’s not a loss cause, though. Cinderella’s godmother can be fixed.
Your arm mangled? God can grow you a new one. Your head is a little chipped? God can fix it. No matter how many pieces are missing or broken, God can mold and form you to his original design of who you are created to be. Your identity may have been tarnished throughout different messy seasons, but God is not done with you yet. Don’t believe the lie that you cannot change, that your situation cannot change, that your thoughts cannot change. Trust that God is bigger than your circumstance, He is making all things new, even you.
Your story does not end here.
I am remaking you into my daughter, says the Lord. I am calling up the beloved warrior buried inside you. Watch – she is about to rise. Listen to who I say you are instead of the lies the world/culture/enemy/self would whisper into your ear.
I am not…
A failure.
Unworthy.
Damaged goods.
Alone.
I am…
God’s ultimate masterpiece.
Victorious.
Strong & Able.
Chosen, not forsaken.
Loved.
I am who He says I am.
Personal reflection
1. Write about your current season. What lies have you or others been whispering in your ear hindering your growth and confidence?
2. Now, replace those lies with truth. Write those out. Next, what steps do you need to take in order to remove toxicity from your circle (ex. social media, relationships, environment, etc.)?
3. Where are you in the Created Woman process of fulfilling God's purpose for your life? (Dreams, Healing, Identity, Health, Purpose, Inside/Out/Fashion)
Goal setting and sharing
List 3 goals that you would like to accomplish (at home, at work, with family, etc.) that will allow you to live out your purpose during messy seasons of building your confidence in who Christ says you are:
1.
2.
3.
