Find Your Place and Flourish

I just finished reading “In the Middle of the Mess” by Sheila Walsh. If you’ve ever struggled with depression and faith, it’s a very candid look at how this well-known minister of the Word who traveled with the Women of Faith team and was on the 700 Club for years made peace with her diagnosis and now seeks to help others do the same.

This particular quote resonated with me because, as a woman, I believe we tend to identify ourselves by the roles we are assigned in society, whether we are comfortable with those roles or not. We assume them because “people” tell us we’re good at something and the role becomes familiar to us and we can fulfill the attached duties mindlessly.

Are we fulfilled? Well, no one ever bothered to ask, did they? We just do what’s expected of us until one day we fall apart...Could this be what they really mean by “familiarity breeds contempt”?

You have a voice and a right to speak your truth. If you don’t want to do something, you have to say so. Look at it this way: You might be blocking someone else's blessing by filling an assignment that was never meant for you. I’ve done a lot of things in my life that I didn’t really want to do just because I assumed someone else knew better than I did what I should be doing.

Think about that for a minute. What that really means is that I had low self-esteem and no boundaries, which is probably why I work so hard to help others learn how to establish them now! No one else knows what’s right for you better than you. You have to learn to advocate for yourself or you’ll be a doormat for stronger personalities, and there are plenty of them out there.

Don’t get pushed around and don’t bully anyone else. It’s a crowded world, but there’s room enough for all King’s Kids. Find your place and flourish.