But this I call to mind, Therefore I have hope. It is because of the Lord’s loving-kindnesses that we are not consumed, Because His [tender] compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great and beyond measure is Your faithfulness.“The Lord is my portion and my inheritance,” says my soul; “Therefore I have hope in Him and wait expectantly for Him.” Lamentations 3:21-24 (AMP)
The following is an excerpt from my book, Shining Freely (not yet published).
On the coast of California near Fort Bragg sits a rare beauty known as, Glass Beach. The tens of thousands of tourist that flock to this beach each year must find it hard to believe it was once called “The Dumps”. How does something transform from a dumping ground for everyone’s trash and toss aside broken things to a sparkling marvel of beauty? My guess is some things must come crashing down in order to create the opportunity for a new view.
Over the years the pounding of the waves refined the broken glass and pottery into jewelry like quality. With each crash of the waves more and more transformation began to show. It took years for the broken debris to become what it is today, but the process of breaking down the jagged exterior and being sand by the rough ocean bottom is what led to it becoming the treasure tourist now drive hours to see.
Your start in life may have felt much like this dumping ground. Where your early relationships poured into you an image of yourself that made you feel worthless and useless and then you formed a sharp exterior to keep others at a distance. But when we allow God into our messiest places that are jagged and broken He can smooth our edges and turn us into something we were intended to be all along! We must first, however, submit to the process. The process of allowing the negative perceptions of ourselves to come crashing down and the sanding off of our protective barriers. Is it uncomfortable and vulnerable, YES, but without it we remain a dumping ground consumed by others hurtful words and our unhealed hurts stinking up our chances of breathing in the truth of who we really are.
Maybe you’re asking where do I even begin? You begin back at the beginning. You ask the one who created you and knows you by your true name how He sees you. Those broken bottles and pottery pieces discarded along the shores of Glass Beach where originally formed and created with a purpose. Others disregarded that purpose and even shattered the structure so much so that their original identity was un-recognizable. What you came to believe about yourself because of your pain and experiences has shattered your heart and the ability to recognize the original purpose God designed you for. We have to go back to the one who designed us in the first place and understand how He sees us. Then as He transforms piece by piece, we can start to see ourselves differently and walk out our true identity!
God wants us to understand how He sees us because then we will finally realize the impossibility of all the other names we have allowed to settle into our heart. God calls you: Loved, Redeemed, Desired, Chosen, Accepted, Free, Blameless, Clean, Pure, Forgiven, Equipped, Marvelously made, Cherished, Treasured, A Masterpiece, Designed with a Purpose, and in all things more than a Conqueror. Start now by confronting the destructive view of yourself that has piled up within your heart and realize that the names you’ve accepted from those who hurt you have penetrated so deep that you falsely accepted them as your identity.
Allow His transforming power to re-name and re-claim what your pain has stolen. This new view of yourself will feel foreign and untrue at first, but speak it over and over until it takes root. Be relentless in pursuit of the realization of who you are in Christ. Ask God to reveal to you the damaging messages you have believed and accepted and then ask Him to speak truth into your heart. You have a decision to make that can change the entire course of your life. Will you choose words that lead you to your destiny or far from it? Only you have the power to allow a new name to be written on the tablet of your heart.
It is my prayer that the “eyes of your heart [will be] flooded with light, so that you can know and understand the hope to which He has called you”…Ephesians 1:18. I pray your heart is opened today to allow the planting of God’s truth to take root in you. I pray you will find the strength to toss out the names, labels, and lies that have shattered your view of all you can be. May God “…grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation [of insight into mysteries and secrets] in the [deep and intimate] knowledge of Him” so that your mind will continually throw out the trash and hold tight to the treasure of who He made you to be (Ephesians 1:17). May you go forth from here refusing to blindly accept any and all false names thrown your way by others or your experiences, and instead weigh every word spoken over you against the truth of God’s Word and how He sees you.