Bustin' out

I give up. I'm buying this book: Waking the Dead by John Eldredge. I subscribe to his "daily quote" thing on his website, and I have been inspired and encouraged countless times at just the right moment. But lately all the stuff that makes me stop and think is coming from this particular book. So I ordered it today to read on my trip, which is an ideal time to ponder more of this subject of coming back to life.

Here's a quote that has really helped in my freedom process of coming out of the
suffocating shadows and learning to be confident in what God is doing with me.
It's actually a quote by author Marianne Williamson (not Nelson Mandela), followed up by Eldredge.

"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 and 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 were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us . . .
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

"When I first read this quote, I thought, No, that's not true. We don't fear our glory. We fear we are not glorious at all. We fear that at bottom, we are going to be revealed as . . . disappointments. Mandela is just trying to buoy us up for a day or two. But as I thought about it more, I realized we do fear our glory. We fear even heading this direction because, for one thing, it seems prideful. Now pride is a bad thing, to be sure, but its not prideful to embrace the truth that you bear the image of God. Paul says it brings glory to God. We walk in humility because we know it is a glory bestowed. It reflects the Lord's glory." (Waking the Dead , 87)


Those quotes are so awesome that I printed them out and taped them to the bathroom mirror. Every morning, baby. Every morning I read that and choose to live it to the hilt. I'll never look back.