Good Girl.
Before you start, do yourself a favor and play "Good Girl" by Carrie Underwood while you read.
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"Good girl" is the banner held high over my head.
My daily check list consist of anything to make reality meet ideal.
I'm supposed to be sweet, kind, have a clean home, cook delicious meals, and be a strong, hard-working, independent leader within the community.
I'm supposed to be confident in who I am as a woman
despite the patterns of comparison thrown about
and the turmoil I've experienced.
I smile a lot and hide behind fine and good far too often.
I'm supposed to trust men and accept their words as truth,
even when all I've known are those whose words became lies.
I'm desired to please and meet others' needs.
Expectations can run my days,
controlling disappointment or satisfaction,
and are based entirely on how I decide to set them each day.
When I reach them, others applaud,
yet I turn their encouragement into standard I must continue to reach.
When I fail, I maintain the mask of indifference of other's opinion of me.
Under this banner, emotions are either good or bad,
so one should only choose the good ones (happy, joyful, thankful)
and never the bad (sad, mad, disappointed, confrontational).
Good girls hold it together, so that's exactly what I did.
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Sitting by the dock on the bay.
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Given the choice to please God or to trust God, the good girls go wrong.
Perfect example being Martha's desire to be the "hostess with the mostest"
over worshiping at Jesus's feet, trusting he, not she, would meet the needs.
Jesus sweetly responses with,
"Martha, Martha. You are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her."
(Luke 10:41-42)
What are our many things??
Above, I only listed the themes, the broad topics of my many things.
It'd take days to specifically write out all the expectations, the day-dreams, the to-do lists, the prayer request that I strive to accomplish.
What would happen if I gave that list to Jesus, even just for a day?
Who would I become without the facade? What freedom would I experience?
"Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscious and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
Who would I become without the facade? What freedom would I experience?
"Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscious and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."
