Declaring Freedom
I want to share with all of you the most powerful, transformative, affirming and beautiful secret to boundless energy, confidence, self love, approval and solid identity that I’ve discovered over the last twenty two years of my parenting career. It’s so simple, so real and so available that it seems almost silly to have to write about it, but when you’re in the trenches of service and intense, day and night pouring out, when you’re just attempting to get through your day positively without losing it on your loved ones, colleagues or strangers (my particular Achilles heel), it’s not a tool that comes naturally or easily to most. Using the Word of God to speak and declare truth to my inner and outer man changed my life.
Having five babies over the course of eleven years, and the constant body and hormone changes that took place in my body and brain resulted in a crazy skewing of my perception of my own beauty and value. I was terminally exhausted and lost in the cycle of never quite catching up or measuring up. Knowing that loving and guiding my kids was definitely my chosen career and purpose and taking so much joy in them didn’t satisfy or speak to the way in which I was able to love and appreciate myself as a crucial and beautiful creation of value. I medicated my tired body and mind at night with treats and built an unsustainable habit of rewarding myself with sugar and junk. I felt unseen and misunderstood. My relationship with my partner suffered. I saw myself as a lazy and unenthusiastic follower of Jesus, apologizing to Him every Sunday for missing the mark in ignoring our relationship and treating Him like a stranger.
Guys, even in the midst of doing right by my kids and loving them so fiercely, intensely and wildly, even while providing them with experiences, conversation and nourishing food, interactions and displaying the beauty of the world, I was mired in my own self pity and sadness about my body, resulting in a critical and unkind way of seeing myself.
Enter DECLARATIONS! My wise and always spiritually on time Mum turned me onto a tiny book by Patricia King, in which she collates and categorizes Scripture into laser beams of Truth to aim into and over very specific nooks and crannies of body, soul, spirit and experience. Seeking out Inner Healing seemed a time consuming and unattainable pursuit, and it’s not my idea of a good time, either. ‘Decree’ was full of strategies for me that launched me into searching the Word for the beautiful breath of God to craft heavenly laws that would declare wisdom, healing and appreciation for the gift that is my body, my face, my identity, my work and my purpose. I decided to let Him into my innermost parts and give permission for Him to begin to change my ways of seeing myself and healing my reactions. Declaring the Word of God over myself was the springboard for realignment in my interior world. I was able to begin to believe that ‘I am made in the image of God’, that I AM ‘fearfully and wonderfully made to do amazing things, planned for me specifically in advance.’ Because He gave me the skills and the proclivities for meaningful work and the power to speak them out made my days...Meaningful! I began to declare energy, stamina, strength and joy for the day set before me! I reminded Him of all of the things He says about me, and lo and behold, it worked! My hunger for His voice increased, my curiosity about His character steadily grew and I began to see what everyone else claimed to see: Beauty, Power, Strength, Intelligence and Ability. I am a leader and I matter, God says it and I believe it. My work is deep and world changing. I have been handcrafted, hand selected and placed with outrageous intention in time and space to do incredible things. Quiet, secret things, loud, outstanding and also very regular things.
Speaking The Word, Jesus, into my interior ecosystem changed my life. It impacted our families’ interactions and environment. It elevated my relationship with Tyler into a confident and solid place, and even now, when I instinctively think I’m going to be reactive and combative...that part of me seems to have changed. I have mercy for strangers, no more road rage! God, You are such a Transformer of hearts and brains! I want an awake, tender, inspired heart. I want an alert, flexible and calm brain.I claim inspiration, zeal, passion and purpose for all of you, in Jesus’ Name. YOU MATTER. Your story matters. The way you speak to yourself matters, and there is healing in the Words that have been and continue to be breathed over by the One who thinks about how beautiful and able you are constantly. Access Truth that is transformative and speak it out confidently. You are reinforcing Heavenly laws that apply to you! I challenge everyone who reads this to select a verse that resonates, speak it out loud to yourself as though you were issuing an edict every day and be amazed by transformation. You are a pearl of great price and He longs for you to see yourself the way He does. Grab hold of the Power that raised Jesus from the dead that you have free and clear access to and live from it. Say it out loud and believe it’s personal. It’s real, it belongs to you, and it never returns to Him having accomplished nothing. Take it like it’s medicine and receive the healing, life, beauty and energy that is your birthright.
