The first day of the New Year didn’t start out the way I had hoped. On the other hand, New Years Eve was awesome: surrounded by my kiddos, good friends, no make-up, comfy clothes and watching the Disney Channel. But the first half of the first day of 2016, no bueno.
Inadequate, anxious, and fearful… Those are the words and overwhelming feelings that marked January 1, 2016 for me. Not the sort of resolutions, nor words, one writes down to “walk in” for the year. Let’s just say those thoughts, feelings and emotions were not in the plan for 2016, yet there they were, physically part of my being on day one.
I had just posted “Positioned for 2016” on New Years Eve and was writing my latest post “What are you waiting for?” when on the first day out of the gates of 2016, it all got tested.
Let’s talk about inadequacy for a moment. It’s often how I can feel when embarking on something new and it’s simply an indicator of what’s going on in my heart. Whenever I feel totally out of my depth, and unable to achieve, perform, or do what I am “supposed to do”(all yuck), I know I’ve stepped out of connection with God, and have started walked into striving and fear. He never asked us to perform for Him to prove our love, yet sometimes we act like He has.
On the way back from ringing in the new year at our friends’ house in the Hampton’s, I started having heart palpitations that literally took my breath away. What’s annoying is that I’ve been having them for the last couple of months. (Don’t worry, I’ll get them checked out) Fear began to creep in because of the palpitations, paired with deep feelings of inadequacy for the year ahead. With several speaking engagements booked for the year, the pressure (I put on myself) to write my first book, the pressure I feel (and put on myself) to love and lead my children “better” (performance is a killer) than I already am, the pressure I feel (and put on myself) to build an even better marriage, as well as the pressure (once again, that I put on myself) to pastor a growing church with love, excellence and strength was stacking onto my shoulders in the form of completely overwhelming and unrealistic expectations. The pressure was causing me to crumble and my physical body was manifesting what was going on in my spirit.
With each heart palpitation, I literally started to picture myself dying (I know sooooo dramatic!). I started to picture the heart palpitations as heart disease and that I was going to have a heart attack and die young, maybe even in 2016. I started to picture my children orphaned and wondering who Paul would marry when I was gone. Whoa! How quickly we can go down scary, dangerous and negative roads… Or is it just me?
Paul asked me what was wrong on the drive home just as the sun began to set. I poured out my deepest fear as he grabbed my hand and held it tightly. We put on worship and as one of my sons began to sing out beautifully behind us in the back seat, we both started to cry.
The truth is, for the last 6 months or so, I had started to feel my heart disconnect from feeling anything, which is really strange for me. I am a feeler to a hilt and always have been since I can remember. I actually used to think it was a weakness, but then I realized God thinks I’m pretty awesome and He made me this way. I feel everything to the depths of my being. I feel a room when I walk into it. I feel the mood and temperament of people when I encounter them. I feel joy and I feel pain in my depths. So when my feelings begin to shut down and numbness sets in, I know something’s wrong. I felt myself going into self preservation mode and not wanting to trust anyone anymore. I even unconsciously shut God out and surrounded my heart with my worries and inadequacies as a makeshift vault.
Later that evening after we got home, we dropped off our kiddos to be with our amazing life assistant/Mary Poppins (seriously, she is like Mary Poppins) for the evening. My husband Paul and I left for Manhattan to go out to dinner with two “heart of our heart” friends, Christa and Lucas Gifford. They had both come into the city at the outset of the year to invest into our worship team and then Christa kicked off the first Sunday of 2016 speaking across our Church Communities.
As we hung out, and made up for lost time, somehow our conversation led to a moment where I began to pour out my palpitating heart. I talked about my huge feelings of inadequacy for the year ahead. Luke and Christa were both squarely looking me in the eyes, and telling me that “I was enough” that “Jesus paid the price for me, and that I was worth the price.” They said this and a billion other things I’m still pondering in my heart. Things that have ruined “my plans” for the year (in a really good way).
The love in their eyes for me, without agenda was like looking into the eyes of Jesus. My husband squeezed my hand (lots of hand squeezing that day) and nodded with a big smile on his face in agreement and adoration for me right where I was. The love from these three people was almost too much to take, but I liked it and I received it. That “moment of honesty”, even in the depths of my inadequacy is what caused a moment of truth and connection to happen. A moment of truth that I’m still marinating in.
Before 2015 had ended, I asked God what the word for our Church was for 2016. Instead I got two words, LOVE and CONNECTION (more on this in an upcoming article). You see, when we are all SEEN and KNOWN, and deeply LOVED even after we’re fully seen and known – warts and all (which can be scary), then we have true CONNECTION. And God is all about connection, it’s why Jesus came! To invade our hearts with His love and in turn connect us back to the heart of the Father.
So this weekend when Luke and Christa came and dropped love bomb after love bomb through countless meals and conversations, not to mention the investment and encounter they gave to our worship team Saturday night, and personally sitting on the front row hearing the same message three times over this last Sunday while getting totally wrecked each time, let’s just say something started stirring in me. My heart is slowly thawing out. The numbness is leaving and I’m feeling like myself again. There is still work to be done, and you better believe I will do it because I’m so worth it, and so are you for that matter. You and I are worth His blood.
As a church we entered 21 days of fasting and prayer on Monday January 4th. On the first night of the fast, I laid my kiddos down and started an internal dialogue with God. I was pottering around the house getting insignificant things done, almost to avoid slowing down and processing more of what was going on inside of me.
I felt God ask me, “What are you afraid of?”
I really thought about it… “Am I afraid of what I’ll find in my heart? No… I’m actually afraid I won’t be able to find anything or even figure out what’s going on and then I’ll be stuck here in numbness. I’m afraid that this “feeler” has been disconnected too long. Yeah, that’s it.”
So what did I do?
I slowed down on purpose, stopped cleaning the house as a petty distraction, sat in the presence of God and listened to what He had to say to me. Not surprisingly, He had good things to say to me because He’s a good father like that. Then, I sat down and wrote this blog to process a bit further. I needed to be honest with myself and I truly hope my honesty has somehow empowered you to be honest with yourself. Then I trusted a few people God has placed around me to talk things through in more detail than I would share publicly on a blog. We all need a few true friends who love you where you are, but won’t leave you where you are. Lastly, I have put a couple things in action to continue on the road of sanctification and wholeness, because it’s a life long journey. God wants your whole heart always, so continue to do what it takes through every season for Him to have all of it’s real estate.
Remember, Responsibility is your ability to respond…
So how will you take responsibility for your heart and life this year? We’ve got to stop waiting for others to do it for us and respond to God love and goodness that is always available to us.
So stop for a moment and ask yourself a couple of questions.
When you start to feel yourself disconnecting, slow yourself down long enough to ask why. Where are you self protecting and self preserving? Why are you isolating yourself? What pain has crept in that you have tried to shut off so you don’t have to feel it? What lie are you possibly believing? Are you even aware that you’re connected or disconnected?
Stop, ponder, journal, listen… What do you hear?
I just know God so deeply desires for us to receive His love to the depths of our being, and out of us being loved right where we are, by the lover of our souls, we can once again find ourselves connected back to Him and His heart. He has never left us. We may have drifted, grown dull or numb of heart, but it’s okay. He’s got you and He is the greatest heart physician there is, so consider putting your heart back into His hands.
Now to get practical:
After you get honest with yourself about where you’re at just like I had to on the first day of the year, why don’t you consider having a listen to the podcast from this past weekend by Christa Black-Giffordhere – “Love Yourself” – based out of Matthew 22:38-39. Listen as many times as you need to, so you can marinate in it.
Think about pre-ordering Christa’s book – “Heart Made Whole“ (P.S. She doesn’t even know I’m writing this article and has not asked me to do this. She’s a friend and I believe in her and what’s on her life). Invest in the healing of pain you may find in your heart to “turn it into one of your greatest strengths.”
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…
Loved people love people and make the love of God known…
I just know it’s going to be a great year even though I wasn’t so sure it would be on January 1st. My hope is that you will be able to say the same. Oh how our God loves to turn things around in a moment if we’ll just go on the journey with Him and get honest with ourselves.
xoxo
Andi