Saundra brought out an interesting point in the interview.  She wasn’t aware of what was happening on the  inside.  Can I see a raise of hands of all the “me too’s” out there.  Ok, you didn’t raise your hand and you can honestly say that you have never arrived at work and didn’t know how you got there and wondered how many cars you may have run off the road or how many red lights you cruised through without stopping.  That is what I thought.  Raise your hand you are a “me too.”  Or maybe you have had someone else take a personality test as if they were you and the way they answered the questions didn’t exactly match yours.  Truth is none of us see ourselves completely accurately all the time.  So it is critical that we all go here: 

“God, I invite your searching gaze into my heart.  Examine me through and through; find out everything that may be hidden within me.  Put me to the test and sift through all my anxious cares.  See if there is any path of pain I’m walking on, and lead me back to your glorious, everlasting ways-the path that brings me back to you.”  Psalm 139:23-24 (TPT) 

This scripture testifies that we don’t always see.  It also testifies that God sees the hidden things.  I have prayed this scripture countless times and walked away unchallenged and unchanged.  Why?  I didn’t linger for the answer.  Even as I write this I am convicted of all the time I spend completing a personality test, the enneagram, strength finders but won’t linger with the one that knows me best seeking His wisdom.  I am not condemning any of those test, not even saying we shouldn’t take them, but what I am saying is that if we want to know the real truth we go to the One that created us and linger.  I can’t leave this point without pondering the “why.”  Why would I choose to spend more time and energy on studying and gleaming knowledge about these test instead of lingering in God’s presence waiting for the answer.  Is it:

• I don’t truly believe He knows
• I don’t trust Him enough to believe that He will tell me the truth
• I don’t believe that He will answer
• It will take to long and I don’t have time
• It’s easier to take the test and read
• I don’t really want to know
• It is painful and confronting
• It may require change

Is God speaking to anyone besides me on this topic?  Honestly, even as I typed the words of the scripture tears streamed down my face because there’s some stuff, stuffed down stuff, that needs to be settled before it flies all over some unsuspecting innocent soul.  I have never been brought to tears by any of the test I mentioned.  They aren’t convicting.  They may be telling but not convicting.  Though they reveal some truth, they don’t know me which brings me to the next point.

Ever have anyone walk up to you and ask, “You ok?”  Or maybe it is someone saying that you don’t seem to be yourself.  How many of you, if honest, would say yes there was something going on but instead of discussing you said, “No, nothing going on.  Everything is fine.?”  Often if someone is asking, there is something we aren’t owning or acknowledging that is bleeding through our mask.  If we are thinking thoughts or doing things that we would not want anyone to know about, it is an indicator.  Pay attention. 

Other indicators may be that we are isolating, ill and snappy, tired all the time, lack joy, words and thoughts are critical and negative.  Maybe we have become disinterested in life or angry.  Maybe we are wrapped up in blaming others for everything that is wrong in our life or there is no growth occurring.  We are the same this year as last and cycling back through the same stuff and having the same recurring problems in relationships as last year.  As I was writing this God brought this scripture to my attention:

You perceive how God sees you in the mirror of the Word, but then you go out and forget Your divine origin.  But those who set their gaze deeply into the perfecting law of liberty are fascinated by and respond to the truth they hear and are strengthened by it-they experience God’s blessing in all that they do!  James 1:24-25 (TPT)  

This is key to our health and the health of our relationships.  Sit down with God and allow Him to show you what He sees.  Write it down and share it with a close friend.  Revisit this often and look for gaps and set steps for closing those gaps.  Identify what is causing those gaps and start a plan for closing the gaps.  Have a friend walk with you and hold you accountable.  Set a time to meet with them on a continuous basis.  Give them permission to speak into your life when they see you moving away from the person God sees in you.  Ask them to pray for you.  I promise you and your relationships will be so much healthier if you take these steps.  If you decide to take me up on this challenge I would really like to know and hear how it is going.  We can all use a 

 R e S e t