I was going through some photographythat my friend, Derek, had taken for me.
(By the way, God has given him awesome talent. If you need some pictures, let me know, I'll point you in his direction.) Continuing on now......I came across this picture he had taken of some violets. I always liked violets. Partially because the most prevalent variety is purple....my favorite color. I did a web search and found out that violets thrive and flourish in almost any condition and for this reason it is sometimes pulled like a weed by some gardeners! Then I thought about the term "shrinking violet." It is used to describe someone who is shy or seeks to stay in the background. I realized that over the past years I had allowed myself to become a shrinking violet. GASP! I was misled to believe that in order to be humble, that was the posture that I was to take. In actuality, instead of becoming a shrinking violet, I should have blossomed and flourished as God wanted me to under the care of his hands in any and every situation, place or circumstance where he told me to be bold, beautiful and emit the intoxicating fragrance of the Holy Spirit....to stand out among the rest of the garden for HIS glory ! As I allowed God to minister to me, I realized that true humbleness is being open to the instructions of God. It is willingness to being led by the Holy Spirit without question or reservation. It is being the fullness of the person that God created you to be without thinking more highly of yourself than you should. It is being grateful for every blessing, circumstance and situation, no matter how great or small, knowing that ALL things are working for your good. I had a friend tell me that she saw a renewed boldness in me that she could appreciate. I praise Jesus for restoration of that. I thank Jesus that even as I have allowed myself to be treated as a weed, he continued to plant seeds that are now flourishing into great confidence. The confidence to continue the race and carry out the plans that God has for my life. BE BOLD! BE BEAUTIFUL! BE FRAGRANT! No More "shrinking" violets.
32Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you stood your ground in a great contest in the face of suffering. 33Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. 34You sympathized with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while, "He who is coming will come and will not delay. 38 But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him. 39But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved. ~ Hebrews 10:32-39
I can understand and appreciate that fully! I have built a reputation as the "shrinking violet" it was just easier to be in the background even when God asked me to step out I would opt to sit back. No more will allow how I think others see me or even how I see myself, but to recognize and acknowledge who God sees me as. I know who I belong to and no one else not even my own comfort zone matters anymore. Luv u Shonda! Mika holla@yagurl
ReplyDeleteShonda this was awesome. I loved the scripture...it went perfectly with your writing. This was on time because the Lord is placing my family in the light or shall I say Pastor is ready to put us to work and everybody there knows it!And to be honest it's not so comfortable....because at my last church DWOC we were there to be taught and not so much in the "light" of men but in the right place at the right time to be used outside of the church...now it's time to put all of what we've learned at NBMBC and DWOC to work. The Pastor here keeps bringing up "The Grier Family" during certain times to the congregation and I feel like shrinking because I didn't want eyes on us (though I know eyes are suppose to be on Christ if their heart is in the right place) but still since we are the "new family" it's weird. Another thing that kinda wants us to sorta shrink back is 2 days after being inducted into the new church family the Lord sent a word for us: "Everybody's not gonna like you." Talk about blunt and to the point! So hey we were kind of like "OH LORD!" But you see that word brought humility with it as well as a warning. I thank God cause if I can be real there use to be a time where eyes being on us and people not liking us wouldn't bother me (for the wrong reasons) but because of growth the Lord knows we can handle whatever comes our way and it will be in the way He would be pleased. What you wrote was on time because though I knew the Lord has shown Pastor some things for this family that we probably can't fatham right now...we still wanted to shrink back but now it's time to BREAK LOOSE in Jesus name! amen!
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