Have you ever believed a lie? We all have at one point or another, right? But I’m talking about believing a lie about yourself? Think about it for a minute. Have you ever believed you weren’t smart enough to achieve something? Maybe you believe you aren’t a good parent. I’ve had those thoughts.
The lie I believed about myself dictated my behavior for decades. One of the things I discovered about myself in therapy was that I believed I was a bad girl. I made decisions based on what others, particularly my parents, would think. I wanted to be seen as the good girl. This might not sound so bad, but let’s play it out a little further. Yes, getting good grades in school was a high priority. However, there was this little voice in my head that kept saying I wasn’t good enough. I believed it.
This voice continued to get louder and more believable as life went on and I wasn’t achieving my degree and career like I thought should. The voice got even louder when I wasn’t the parent I thought I should be. I was living out of shame. Even after therapy much of this remained.
Lies like this take root in our lives. They take on a life of their own. We believe them to be true, so we live our lives as if they are true. Neuroscience tells us that we live out what we believe. We don’t give it a second thought. We believe it to be who we are, our personality, the way we were created. But, that’s not how God created us. The enemy would love for us to continue to believe these lies. It keeps us from living into all that God has for us. We have a choice. We can continue to believe the lie or we can lean in to the Holy Spirit for guidance and live out everything God has promised.
“I still have many things to tell you, but you can’t handle them now. But when the Friend (Holy Spirit) comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. He won’t draw attention to himself, but will make sense out of what is about to happen and, indeed, out of all that I have done and said. He will honor me; he will take from me and deliver it to you. Everything the Father has is also mine. That is why I’ve said, ‘He takes from me and delivers to you.’ John 16-12-15 MSG.
God promises through the Holy Spirit to show us the truth of ourselves and the truth of Him. We can be free of the lies. Let me tell you, it feels amazing. A huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I no longer worry about being good enough. I’m free to be the person He calls me to be. Letting go of the lie has changed my life professionally and personally. The Holy Spirit revealed the lie in therapy. I didn’t let God remove the lie from heart until recently. Don’t wait like I did. I gave it to Him and stay laser focused on Him, not me.
What lie are you giving up today? Share it here and we can encourage each other.