A beautiful friend of mine and I went shopping a few weeks ago. We have different styles of clothes. She had said to me,"You are so so-ho, you are so little,yet you cover everything up." Then while at women of faith, I heard one of the ladies speak on layers. It all started to make sense to me. It was a lightbulb moment. I do wear alot of layers. I cover up my hurt with many layers also. When I am really struggling inside, I put on many layers of smiles,laughter, and I even hide behind my writing. I have so much hurt inside,its hard to let go of those layers and be free. Whenever I am hurting I cover it up with helping others, with sending cards, food or not food, shopping, keeping my head in a book. There are many ways to layer ourselves from hurt, to shield us from more pain,we shut down,put on those smiles for others and go home,crawl under the blankets and bask in our emotions. We must learn to take those layers off one by one. One step at a time to unveil the hurt and deal with each one seperately. It takes awhile,it cannot be done overnight. It takes going to the Lord and being honest. Its asking,"Where were you when I needed you the most?" "Why haven't you answered my prayers?" "Why is my life a wreck when I have been trying so hard?" God is here with us. He is with us each step of the way. He knows when we are crying.He knows when we need Him, and He is forever there. We have to trust Him, believe in Him, and know that He is God.He has a plan and a purpose for us. Through the hurt,God can gain glory when we overcome with His power. Sometimes we may cover up by not talking to others, we are quiet, and stay to ourselves. We must not do that. We must surround ourselves with real friends who lift us up, having a close friend pray with you. At women of faith my barriers started to come down,that I didnt even know I held. I could feel the Lord moving,but I didn't want to go there.I didnt want to go to the pain. But to get to the other side, I had to travel through the pain, understand it, grasp it, dig to the root of the problem, face it, and move on.Letting go, and being free from the pain holding you down. It we are covering up with so many layers, how can there be room for God?How can He get to our soul if we won't take off the layers we have been wearing for so long now?We can only hide from pain for so long,before it eats us alive. We begin to loose ourselves and who we really are just by letting the pain take over. The first step is to go to Jesus and ask Him for strength and wisdom,ask for forgiveness of holding on to the hurt, let it go,lay it at the cross, let God pick up that hurt and take it away,and replace it with His love,with His understanding, and allow Him to walk us through the journey. Our eyes will be open,our ears will be open and we can begin to heal, we can begin to let go, taking off those layers, and letting the Sun shine down on us,letting God's love fill us with warmth.If we do,we will find that we don't need layers, we just need grace,and God will give it and give it freely,along with His mercies.Don't be afraid any longer, let the God of Love help you to overcome your hurt...
