The Rest of Your Story 21: What's the real low down?

To start from part one, click here.

When I began this series, I knew one post would be about our strengths. They're essential to our stories.

But I avoided it. Why?

The "good Christian girl" voice inside kept saying, "But that's not humble."

Finally, I had a little chat with her...

"Girl, what's your definition of 'humility'?"

"Being insecure, thinking everyone else is better than you."

Something about that didn't sound quite right. So I decided to check out God's definition of humility. And the happy tears started.  

Y'all, "good Christian girl" may be a sweetheart but she is so wrong on this one.

Get ready, I'm about to go Greek on you. And I thought that was done when I graduated college (Zeta-woot!).

Moving along...Most of the time, the word "humility" is from the Hebrew word "Kana" which implies submission to another's will.

In the New Testament, it's a Greek word formed from two others - "Tapeinos" (low to the ground) and "Phren" (our hearts/minds). Put all of that together and humility means bowing our hearts to God.

Or in other words, submitting to His will. And what is His will? That we agree with what He says and live out...including what He says about us.

He says we're loved, accepted, and wonderfully made in a way that's just right for His purposes to be fulfilled in our lives.

And what does God do after we humble ourselves before him?

Humble yourselves before the Lord and He will lift you up. James 4:10

Here's the process: We come before God and say, "I bow my heart before you in love. I embrace that you are God and I am not. All I am, all I have is yours."

Then He takes our hearts by the hand, lifts us up, and says, "Stand tall, my daughter. You are loved. You are of great worth. Do my will."

(When our hearts beat with God's, then we also stay in rythm with others and "love them as ourselves." Speaking unkindly about each other or ourselves is the same in His eyes. Either way, one of His girls gets hurt.) 

Whew, who could use a chocolate break right now?

It's time to see ourselves differently in our stories. We're going to look at our strengths tomorrow. For today, enjoy a big, gooey, wonderful piece of humble pie. With whipped cream AND a cherry. Yes, ma'am.

It just may be the sweetest thing you've ever tasted.

 

p.s. If this message connected with you like it did with me, will you consider serving up some humble pie to the women in your lives by sharing it? 

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TODAY'S QUESTION: What's your heart saying in response?

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Comments

[Mari Larkin]

Amen, Holley. That is what God spoke to me late last year as I was feeling like a total failure and nobody. God spoke to me through Isa. 43: 1-4...I am precious to Him, honored and He loves ME! I truly think that God is so happy when we live out our lives confident in how He made us...not proud in us, but proud in our God. Humility truly is bowing our hearts to God, but as you said...allowing Him to lift us up. Are we willing to do that? That my dear sisters, is the true test?
Thanks...great stuff.

[Kristen@Moms Sharpening Moms]

Holy smokes, Holley, this is my favorite post in the series. So far! :)

My heart is telling me that if I am going to live in His will, then I must believe those truths about me. I am fearfully and wonderfully made, created in His image, loved, and His treasured possession. When I fall into the He-must-be-talking-about-others-but-not-me way of thinking and don't accept these truths, then I am being disobedient. I am not living in His will.

This really struck a chord with me today, Holley. Thank you for this!

[Patty]

What's your heart saying in response? ~ I am thankful. Humbled by His love. I want to do His will, confident in Him to complete in me what He desires. May He do so daily.

[Quiltokie]

This message was so beautiful and inspiring. Just what I needed and wanted to hear. My heart says, "Thank you God for loving me!! I love you too."

[Becky]

Dear Holley,

Thank you. I needed all of that just now. I'll be coming back to it throughout the day, I'm sure. I do have a habit of putting myself down too much. Or, I should say, I DID have a habit of doing that because now my heart is saying, "Don't hurt 'one of his girls'."

When I thought on that some more, some parts of a quote I read once started coming back to mind. I had to go look for it as I wanted to read it again. You've probably heard it before, too, but I just thought I'd share...

"...Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." --Marianne Williamson

For sure, God is telling me: "Stand tall, my daughter. You are loved. You are of great worth. Do my will."

Thank you, God, that is my desire.

Blessings, Holley!

[Natalie]

"And we know that in all things God works for the good for those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose."...

"What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? (Romans 28, 31)

May we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love others as ourselves.

And be in courage(ed) to do so.

Thank you Holley, I Thessalonians 5:11

[Stacey]

I think false humility actually draws more attention to ourselves than if we just live and work out of our God given strengths and celebrate how He made us. I know that I can be used by the Lord in big ways when my gifts and strengths line up with opportunities He gives me. If I am aware of how He made me and looking for those opportunities, then I will bring glory to Him!

I spent about a year really discovering the keys to how God has made me. Not only did it help me step out and serve Him in the way He ordained me to, it also helped me say no to things that were not in my strengths and causing me to be drained emotionally, spiritually, & physically!

Blessings,
Stacey

[Marilyn]

Great post Holley. It's just good to know that in humbling ourselves to the Lord....He will lift us higher and higher. Can't WAIT until I am lifted so high that all I can breathe is GOD!!! AMEN!

[Brenda]

What is His will? The hardest part for me is "waiting" for God. I'm a "get up and get going" type person and waiting, especially for a long period of time, is not one of my virtues.

Today Lord, I ask that you give me peace in the "waiting period". I know you are working all things for my good and that you haven't forgotten me. I know this in my heart...but sometimes my brain gets in the way. Thank you Lord.

Several years ago I heard this saying...I place myself on the altar...however...self keeps crawling off.

Thank you for this word today.

[Sylvia]

One day after I was "being healed",... a progressive healing, I heard God speak to my spirit and say, "I'm going to teach you how to take care of yourself." I went for my first pedicure when invited by my daughter-in-law. The massage of my feet and legs was phenomenal. I went out for lunch with friends one on one for soul talk. I also heard God quietly nudge me not to speak about myself negatively and to treat myself like I would a family member or friend...because "love covers a multitude of sins." It all felt like the words you expressed so well today. "Stand tall my daughter. You are loved. You are of great worth. Do my will." Yes!!!!

[Maura]

"Speaking unkindly about others or ourselves is the same in His eyes." That was the clincher Holley. Why is it so hard for me to love me? when my heart believes His Truth, I simply want to cry.

[Faithful Pen]

I've been having the same recurring dream off and on for years. Hadn't had it in a long time when I had it again just prior to waking this morning. It was still very, very fresh on my mind when I opened your email. It has to do with my "foundation." I think it is wonderful when people raise their children up "the way they ought to go." And when those children's parents, grandparents ... were all from Christian backgrounds, all the more wonderful. But I'm not one of those people. Humbling myself before God and submitting to His will has been an ongoing, learning process for me, but not one I learned as a child. Accepting all that the Word says about me was hard to really grab hold of when the world around me said something SO different. But what I am reminded of every time I have that dream is that my foundation is NOT in my childhood, NOT in my past, NOT EVEN in this world. My foundation is the one Christ lays for me and there is no foundation more firm than the Solid Rock. In walking humbly before Him, acknowledging my need for that Rock in my life, submitting to His will and His hand, He raises me up and sets me on the high hills, regardless of that which is behind me. I am truly loved ... and truly BLESSED! 3X Phi Theta Kappa even. Woot-woot-woot! LOL

[Tamara]

Wow! "...He says we're loved, accepted, and wonderfully made in a way that's just right for His purposes to be fulfilled in our lives...." There is freedom in that ... now to just grab ahold of it! So now Lord, just show me who and how you made me (I am confused by all my efforts and mixed messages), and as Mari said let me live confidently (and yet humbly) in that. May I daily "bow my heart before you in love. I embrace that you are God and I am not. All I am, all I have is yours." Thanks Holley

[Joni]

The first thing that came to mind was the question, Lord, what is your will for me? There are a few different options in front of me at the moment and I've been a "little" paralyzed at the forks in the path. The old "I'm not good, talented, experienced enough" refrain has been playing in my heart and head.

Thank you for reminding me of Isaiah 43. God is doing a new thing in me.

My reply? "I delight to do Thy will, O my God..." Psalm 40:8

[Cindy Lou]

I don't know why humility is such a scary thing for us humans. For many it is the one barrier to emotional freedom. After my husband and I went to counseling at caringfortheheart.com we thought, 'Wow! Everybody wants this!' But as we started trying to share it, we discovered that everybody DOESN'T want it. Humble pie is not chocolate mousse (chocolate is a mixture of addictive chemicals that turns on the pleasure center of the brain) humble pie gives eternal pleasures forever more. But there are not many people, even Christians who like Moses are willing to suffer affliction rather than to be called to worldly honor. I want to be someone who is willing to forgo the chocolate mousse and say, "I delight to do Thy will oh my God, yea Thy law is within my heart."

[Valerie]

Humility---bowing our hearts before God. Well, I must admit that I have SOOOO often felt insecure around other women---other people in general. I suppose much of the insecurity came from my childhood, facing the world as a cross-eyed girl unitl the age of 12. That's A LOT of insecurity! Consequently, EVERYONE was always better than me....even the bum on the street. That's just the way I felt. BUT, I am love, accepted, cherised!

Sometimes, I get the idea that I can't shine because, like Holley, suggested, I'm afraid I will make someone else feel insecure like I did for all those years. However, I want to shine in a way that brings freedom to others, in a way in which I take the hand of the woman standing beside me who feels insecure and say to her, "Come with me on this adventure of knowing the greatest Love in the world!"

[April]

My heart says....I am being lifted up now...I have been felt like I have been in a season of deep personal growth. In September, I really started began working through a book called "Lord Heal My Hurts" and God revealed much in my heart that I hadn't acknowledged and it was so humbling...I have worked with Him and and feeling like though I was doing it to further my relationship with God, He was preparing me to be able to love and BE LOVED!! He's so amazing!!

[Tammy Luccioni]

It seems that every time I open my mouth and stick my foot in it, God has an encouraging (hard truth) word for me to feast on.
Just yesterday i was whining about something someone spoke to me over 18 mths ago. I did confess my negative talk and thanked my Heavenly Father for His mercy. It does hurt Him to hear His daughters speak ill of one another. I want to keep that upfront in my mind. As Jan Silvious says: BIG GIRLS DON'T WHINE.
Thank you Holley for giving your time for me.

[Bonnie]

I've experienced both...the Holy Spirit within me, filling me with peace, joy, flexibility, (recently on Christmas Day-it was the best being around everyone). Then, I've experience being full of pride, dead men's bones, getting me no where but miserable. It IS nothing short of a mighty strength to walk in Him, not sweating the small stuff, preferring others, giving honor, serving. In both situations, you get back what you give, one in a frustrating, vicious cycle, lose-lose way; the other in a priceless, amazing, life giving way. His ways are higher, more productive, easy, encouraging...but it's taken me a desperate, hitting bottom faith to get there. He is so kind, caring, and faithful.

[Margie McInroe]

Thank you for the reminder Holley. We beat ourselves up to much, God wants more for us than that.

[Peggy Schafer]

What does my heart say? Wake up and smell the coffee!! This is a 2nd "slap in the face" with a truth from God about being humble. I too am not the quiet, wait for it type. I am a fixer as most moms and grandmas are. But the Lord is reminding me to just wait. Wait on Him. Wait on healing. Wait. But He is also telling me its not a ho-hum wait, but an active wait, as much as I'm able. Right now I'm not physically able to do much. (Wait patiently) So He has reminded me that prayer IS an act of service to Him. "Be still (wait) and know that I am God." A God who hears the prayers of His elect.

[Melissa]

Thank you!! What a wonderful reminder that the self-depricating, insecure tendencies I have cannot be supported by my calling myself humble. I have been struggling lately with being confident in the giftings God has blessed me with. I'm ok with saying I'm responsible and even with saying I'm hospitable. But I'm having a hard time saying outloud that I'm a communicator. I want to write and speak and I can feel God moving me in that direction after years of denying that I'm creative. Putting myself out there and asking people to take me seriously in this area is freaking me out! I so needed this reminder that God created me perfectly for the plans He has for me and that my denial of that is essentially telling Him that He's wrong and I need to be different.

[Valerie]

Where is my journal? I am going to write that down. =) I always thought humble meant to not think too highly of oneself. Thanks for the insight. Right now,I am wanting to have some Humble Pie with my Savior.

[PSM]

I'm thinking of my Dad and how he died of heart disease. I'm thinking of my younger brother who is just beginning his journey as a newly diagnosed heart patient. My dad loved to eat sweets and he would often break out in singing little ditties, such as: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!" Screaming (silent screams count)and eating characterizes our lives. Yet God still whispers to each one of us to come and dine with Him.

[Lo]

We are loved, accepted and wonderfully made...wow! Did I know that because I've read it in scriture? Yes but I don't think I've ever really believed it in my heart. So with humbleness I fall to my knees, ask forgiveness and for His divine help in being all that he wants me to be.