Liz's Letters

WE ARE COMPLETELY FLAWED YET FORGIVEN COMPLETELY Chapter 9 Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Romans 4:7 NLT I cannot describe in words exactly how wonderful I feel when I read that scripture. I have been a believer for over 20 years. I did not come to accept Jesus Christ as my Savior until I was 24 years old. And it was not a decision that was easy for me. If you were able to ask the ones who knew me during this time, especially my Christian girlfriends who were praying for me, they would assure you that I was a tough nut. It took me nearly 5 years to make that decision. But when I did, I knew I was flawed and forgiven. Time moved forward. I played all the parts that we have looked at in the earlier chapters, Ms. Perfection, Ms. Confidence, Ms. Happiness, and Ms. Spirituality. And then I rebelled. When life was more pretend than it was real, I decided I didn't like it anymore. I had seen things that I didn't want to see....

Happy Tuesday! It is time for the weekly thoughts on the book study Behind Those Eyes. Check out Lelia's blog for more information and look up the author, Lisa Whittle . Good stuff on both of these blogs! Chapter 6 is entitled, Cosmetics for the Soul. Lisa shared a story about working a part time job at a cosmetics counter. A woman approached, covered, hat, sunglasses and all, because she was hiding horrible scars from burns. Lisa spent around an hour concealing the woman's scars with cosmetics until she felt a little better about what she saw when she looked in the mirror. She used the story to illustrate how we, as women, try to conceal things about ourselves in order to hide the truth and escape rejection from others. This hit home with me when I read it. I will do almost anything to avoid rejection! Lisa say in chapter 6: We use concealer - cosmetics for our souls - that will camouflage those places in our hearts that are uglier than we want to see. I understand....

An entire year has passed since God had me working on authenticity. If you were to read many of my blog entries from last fall, you would know that He was giving me quite a lesson on being rea l. I do think it is rather ironic that it was almost exactly a year ago, and He has brought me right back to the same lesson. Now I think it is because I have gone over the edge...I have not been respectful as I have spoken very honestly which has brought pain to others. So, when I saw that my blog friend, Lelia, was hosting the book Behind The Eyes by Lisa Whittle for the Blog Bible Study, I checked out the author's blog ( Check it out here ), liked what I saw, and signed up on Lelia's Blog. I am looking forward to reading this book and learning more about Godly authenticity. I yearn for relationships that are real, where honesty is priority, and love like the love of God is what is exchanged. Why is it so difficult to be who we really are? Why does it seem that when we are, we a...