This is the second installment of a two part blog series I felt led to write about my identity in Christ. If you missed the first part, you can still read it here: http://libbybliss.theworldrace.org/?filename=my-identity-part-1-i-am-his-dwelling-place
Over the past three months, God has changed the way I view Him, myself, and others.
He has opened my eyes to just how integrated the mind, body, and soul are in the Spirit, and how He activates spiritual growth through emotional and physical changes in us (and vice versa).
In my own life, He has been actively healing me from the inside out, and along the way He has led me to take all this healing and newly acquired knowledge on my identity and, once and for all, live it out!
Two of the more tangible ways in which I have lived out my new identity have been through (1) my hair and (2) my participation in “No Make-up November” with the women on my squad.
(1) My hair:
Like many Audrey Hepburn fans, having a short and elegant pixie cut has been on my lifetime bucket list for as long as I’ve had one. Once I joined the Race and a “World Race bucket list” started to form, the cute hairdo quickly was added to it as well. Having my dear friend Raven, an extremely gifted hair stylist, on my team was all the confirmation I needed.
However, as soon as I got on the Race – and good hygiene, healthy food choices, and the ability to exercise became rare treats – I instantly felt my womanhood being attacked. Lies kept creeping into my thoughts about my beauty, and even as I lived out each day with the intention of bringing Jesus to others, I wasn’t bringing Christ’s love into my own heart to rebuke those thoughts with truth.
Midway through my time in Australia, when my identity in Him really started to sink in, He showed me an infinitely deeper, more awe-inspiring beauty than anything in this world. It was Jesus. And I wanted more and more and more of Him! I was ready to take the plunge and cut off all my hair, no longer for all the worldly reasons that had drawn me to the ‘do in the first place, but to express a fresh start, a new beginning, and a commitment to finally BELIEVE that I am His Beloved!
A month later, I can say that a simple change in my physical appearance has challenged me spiritually and emotionally. Feeling entirely exposed and vulnerable without my hair, the Lord has been my covering. He has covered me with His righteousness, humbling me while giving me boldness and confidence in the Spirit like never before. And in the times when I have felt attacked, believed lies that I look like a boy, and fallen into the all-too-easy temptation to think I am at war with my body and my appearance, He has lifted me up. He has romanced me and shown me once again just where my identity, worth, and beauty lie: in Him, my God, my Savior, my Redeemer, my Bridegroom, my Friend, my Home.
(2) No Make-Up November:
At the same time that I have been grappling with these identity issues, God provided me 30-some-odd other women with whom I could share this journey. It had been placed on Celeste’s heart, in particular, to live out her identity in Christ by not wearing make-up for the entire month of November. And before long, a group of us committed to going make-up free as well.
I have never been one to wear much make-up. Usually mascara is as far as I go. However, I’ve learned on the Race that it isn’t WHAT we do that matters most to God, it is WHY we do it; it is the posture of our hearts and our motivations that determine what honors Him and what does not. I realized that my new haircut was triggering me to turn to that quick coat of mascara, not God, in order to feel pretty and feminine. And I couldn’t wait to be free from that!
Going make-up-free with my sisters this month has been a blessing. It has not only propelled me to new levels of freedom and fullness in God, but it has brought about intimacy with Him and unity among my sisters. It has reminded us that we are not alone, that many of us listen to the same old lies over and over and over again until they start to seem like truth. It has brought us back to the reality that we are not one another’s competition, like the world wants us to think, but that we are our sisters’ keeper. He has placed us in each other’s lives to bring us back to the reality that is found in Him. He has given me a voice to speak life into my sisters’ hearts, to delight in their beauty and the way they uniquely glorify the Father, and to encourage them when they cannot see it themselves.
I’ve learned this month how much the Father delights in each one of us and how, if we allow what He says about us to become the way we see ourselves and the people around us, we would finally understand what LOVE really is and what it looks like.
So, my challenge for you (and myself) today (and every day) is to ask God to show you just how much He loves you and the people around you. Ask Him for a reality check. He’ll give you one.
