Rise Of The Truth Teller By Ashley AbercrombieSample

Day Four

The Body Never Lies

Scripture: Psalm 73:26

As forgiveness becomes a daily practice, a natural rhythm of our life with God, we begin to reckon with the words abiding on the inside of our souls. We have to face the fears lying beneath the surface that we often expend energy trying to deny, run from, or wallow in. 

Through this process, I have come to realize that my body is my first truth teller.

People often talk about the vicious cycle of guilt and shame, but for me, feeling tired and alone is my endless yo-yo. Feeling alone in any struggle makes me tired, and when I am tired, isolation soon follows. My belly is where I first feel it. Then the stress moves to my neck and back. When something’s not right, my muscles tense, my legs stiffen. When a person is unsafe and I sense danger, the hair on the back of my neck rises and a sense of dread fills my stomach. The opposite is true as well. When something is right, I feel my body relax and I more easily release the pressure to protect, pretend, or perform. 

Sometimes, I want to hug myself in the fetal position because I have spent so much of my life resisting my own body, ignoring her warning signs, giving people and situations more time, effort, and energy than they deserved, risking my heart, soul, body, future, and talents, all because I didn’t listen to myself. I’m realizing now that even in my brokenness, the times when I’ve been wrong or judged someone prematurely, my body would still respond appropriately, and most of the time, if I was willing to work through the fear, I’d find myself in spaces and with people I loved. 

When I feel tired and alone, I have to be intentional not to ignore or bury what I know is true. Do you deal with this too? The struggle to own the truth, to push past the pain of the past and enter the necessary process of transformation? Our bodies are much less likely to lie to us than our minds are. Becoming aware of our bodies is one of the first steps toward being the truth tellers we are called to be.

How does your body tend to react under stress? What could you do to become more aware of what your body is telling you about the present or the past?