Courage and Confidence: 5-Days to Unbox the Woman God Created You to Beनमूना

When we were little, the adults around us were often trying to hide things from us. “Big- people business,” my parents would call it. Grown-up details were shared over whispered phone calls, and conversations were moved to more private rooms so they would not be heard. But what they failed to realize is that many of the things the adults in our lives tried their best to keep us from hearing or seeing, we still heard and saw. These conversations and experiences, like many of the others we would soon absorb on our way to adulthood, were shaping us.

If we are going to have a fighting chance at living a purpose-filled life, we must begin reflecting on and unpacking the encrypted messages we’ve observed throughout our life—the messages that have shaped our curated self and the box many of us find ourselves living in. More specifically, I want us to drill down and allow the Holy Spirit to awaken the subconscious teleprompter that feeds us lines and shapes our construct of purpose, function, and identity. I am not asking for an exhaustive list of all the encrypted messages you’ve encountered. You don’t need one. We are deep diving for those messages frozen in time that, without even knowing it, we have hung our reality on and called it truth.

Words cling to the soul. They form memories and don’t always go “in one ear and out the other,” as the saying proposes. Some words have a way of resurfacing and locating you years after they have left the lips of the messenger. They find their way into your thoughts, emotions, perspective, and identity, speaking not only to you but for you. Almost twenty years ago, I overheard a conversation, and I can repeat it word for word all these years later. This was someone I trusted. Almost twenty years have passed, and I can still remember the words that were said that day. The most painful part is that I remember how those words made me feel (betrayed). Those words became feelings (distrust). Those feelings became a message I started to live my life by: Do not ask for help because it will be thrown in your face. That message became a stronghold that would affect my ability to allow others to help me, even to the detriment of my physical and mental health, and I’m still unboxing it.

What have you heard that is now speaking for you? Conversations and indirect messages that have resurfaced and interject No, Can’t, Won’t, or Not possible before you can even process what is happening and make a sound decision for yourself. It’s time to reclaim your voice and become reacquainted with the voice of the Holy Spirit.

REMEMBER: If we are going to have a fighting chance at living a purpose-filled life, we must begin reflecting on and unpacking the encrypted messages we’ve observed throughout our life. I want to encourage you to challenge those messages and prayerfully allow the Holy Spirit to guide you in doing the work to let them go. You can do it. I have confidence in you.