Today's Unglued Blog Update
As usual...I'm just mainly putting what Lysa has said in her book with some (very little--actually maybe not at all today) of my own insight/thoughts.
There are not 2 me's. There is not the one you see on the outside, & then the one that is on the inside. Nope, God does not see me like that! There is only one me! If I believe that God doesn't accept a part of me, I will in essence believe the lie that God's love is conditional & based on my performance. I will make the outside me try & try & try to perform well enough to earn His love & deserve His grace. All the while trying & trying & trying to quiet the secret me & make her go away.
The secret me yells, feels crazy, or stuffs & stews. She is a spinning tornado, out of control. She is destructive & chaotic & full of bitter rot. It's an awful feeling to know this tornado looms on the edge of the gentle, easy-breezy girl I want to be.
This split is the core struggle of the unglued woman. The woman in 2 parts --one good, one bad. One assured, one ashamed. And though she spends much of her time as the good & presentable one, it takes only a little of the secret one to ruin the whole.
But God's grace isn't in limited supply. The world's economy has limited supplies, but not God's economy.
And the very first woman of the Bible, Eve, can show this truth. Right from the beginning of time, God has dealt tenderly with His girls. Eve was the perfect picture of the unglued woman. Good but bad. Gentle like a breeze, but lured into the tornado of sin.
Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit & were banished from the Garden of Eden. They were not leaving paradise because God was punishing them. He was not disappointed in them. God was not giving them what they deserved. I, like Lysa, sometimes believed God was.
There were 2 special trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. This was the one with the forbidden fruit. The other was the tree of life. This was the one that gave Adam & Eve perpetual life --no diseases & no death.
When they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, sin entered in the world & it corrupted everything. And at that point it was God's absolute love & most tender mercy --not His anger & retaliation-- that ushered Adam & Eve out of the garden.
They had to leave. If they'd been allowed to stay, they would have kept eating from the tree of life & lived forever, wallowing in sin & all the brokenness sin brings with it. And God couldn't stand that for the people He loved. So it was His love that made them leave.
And it was God's love & grace that eventually sent Jesus to invite mankind back. Back from our sin. Back from our brokenness. If only we'll proclaim Jesus Christ as our risen Lord, God's grace will never run out.
Brokenness to redemption, where mercy & grace kiss both sides of our face. Brokenness where we are split open. Redemption where God knits us back together. Mercy when we don't get the punishment we do deserve. Grace when we get the lavish love gifts we don't deserve. So here we are.
Lysa said she has her hands cupped to my face (like my grandmother when she was really trying to tell me something) & is saying: God loves you. God loves you now. God loves you when you're unglued. God loves you when you stuff. God loves you when you explode. He loves you when you exemplify soul integrity, and He loves you when you don't. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you so much that He refuses to leave you stuck in this place. Take His hand, trust His love, and walk in the beautiful opportunity for imperfect progress.
Yes, the great unglued will still call for me to entertain its wild & unpredictable realities. But I have been made new. So, if by chance you see me in the aisle at Walmart (or Kroger or any give place) forgetting this truth & coming a little unglued, just whisper the gentle, hope-filled reminder, It's a choice. Choose imperfect progress, sweet friend," & smile.
There are not 2 me's. There is not the one you see on the outside, & then the one that is on the inside. Nope, God does not see me like that! There is only one me! If I believe that God doesn't accept a part of me, I will in essence believe the lie that God's love is conditional & based on my performance. I will make the outside me try & try & try to perform well enough to earn His love & deserve His grace. All the while trying & trying & trying to quiet the secret me & make her go away.
The secret me yells, feels crazy, or stuffs & stews. She is a spinning tornado, out of control. She is destructive & chaotic & full of bitter rot. It's an awful feeling to know this tornado looms on the edge of the gentle, easy-breezy girl I want to be.
This split is the core struggle of the unglued woman. The woman in 2 parts --one good, one bad. One assured, one ashamed. And though she spends much of her time as the good & presentable one, it takes only a little of the secret one to ruin the whole.
But God's grace isn't in limited supply. The world's economy has limited supplies, but not God's economy.
And the very first woman of the Bible, Eve, can show this truth. Right from the beginning of time, God has dealt tenderly with His girls. Eve was the perfect picture of the unglued woman. Good but bad. Gentle like a breeze, but lured into the tornado of sin.
Adam & Eve ate the forbidden fruit & were banished from the Garden of Eden. They were not leaving paradise because God was punishing them. He was not disappointed in them. God was not giving them what they deserved. I, like Lysa, sometimes believed God was.
There were 2 special trees in the Garden of Eden. One was the tree of the knowledge of good & evil. This was the one with the forbidden fruit. The other was the tree of life. This was the one that gave Adam & Eve perpetual life --no diseases & no death.
When they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good & evil, sin entered in the world & it corrupted everything. And at that point it was God's absolute love & most tender mercy --not His anger & retaliation-- that ushered Adam & Eve out of the garden.
They had to leave. If they'd been allowed to stay, they would have kept eating from the tree of life & lived forever, wallowing in sin & all the brokenness sin brings with it. And God couldn't stand that for the people He loved. So it was His love that made them leave.
And it was God's love & grace that eventually sent Jesus to invite mankind back. Back from our sin. Back from our brokenness. If only we'll proclaim Jesus Christ as our risen Lord, God's grace will never run out.
Brokenness to redemption, where mercy & grace kiss both sides of our face. Brokenness where we are split open. Redemption where God knits us back together. Mercy when we don't get the punishment we do deserve. Grace when we get the lavish love gifts we don't deserve. So here we are.
Lysa said she has her hands cupped to my face (like my grandmother when she was really trying to tell me something) & is saying: God loves you. God loves you now. God loves you when you're unglued. God loves you when you stuff. God loves you when you explode. He loves you when you exemplify soul integrity, and He loves you when you don't. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you. He loves you so much that He refuses to leave you stuck in this place. Take His hand, trust His love, and walk in the beautiful opportunity for imperfect progress.
Yes, the great unglued will still call for me to entertain its wild & unpredictable realities. But I have been made new. So, if by chance you see me in the aisle at Walmart (or Kroger or any give place) forgetting this truth & coming a little unglued, just whisper the gentle, hope-filled reminder, It's a choice. Choose imperfect progress, sweet friend," & smile.
Y'all....this will be the last Unglued Blog Update. I can't believe I've made it all the way through this book, kept blogging about it, & how far it has brought me through my imperfect progress. I know I have more progress to make, but I am still amazed at how much God has changed me since I began this book blogging journey!
So what book blogging journey is next for me? Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl also by Lysa TerKeurst.
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