Lorna Faith: Surrendering All Of Who You Are

Everyone's Story welcomes back with much affection the amazing Lorna Faith. Ever since I've started this blog three and a half years ago my aim has been to uplift and encourage others, especially rejoicing in God's love for all of us. That's why I'm glad Lorna is once again appearing here and at the end of the year when, sure, we're facing the joys of Christmas but what follows is the New Year. At this time many of us tend to look back and wonder if there's a lesson to learn as we advance into the young days of the new year, not wanting to make the same mistakes or stay in a rut. If you can relate to this, then you will also appreciate Lorna's words. Also, check out her BookGiveaway--for 2 lucky winners. Both Lorna and I look forward to hearing from you.

May you each have a joyous Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

BookGiveaway:

Lorna is offering 1 e-version of her novel ANSWERING ANNAVETA to 2 randomly drawn commenters. The winner will be announced here on Friday, December 26th between 5-6 PM EST. To be entered in the Giveaway, please leave your contact information within your comment. 

How The Impossible Becomes Possible by Lorna Faith

I bought into the myth of perfection for too many years. In other words, I put unrealistic expectations on myself, got stressed out and basically did all I could do to show myself as perfect to the world. That’s how anyone wins in life.

As a result I ended up with what life coach and author Christine Hassler calls “Expectation Hangover.” She defines it as “...when our reality does not match the expectations we are so attached to, we experience a crash - similar to a hangover from too much alcohol.”

Somewhere along the way we’ve all had expectations either handed down to us or we have created expectations. You know the usual ones: be successful, make a lot of money, get married, have children, look good, make a difference and many more. This is where the pressure comes in—to get it right. Or else we feel like we fail at life. I went for a few years like this—living in this pressure zone and constantly feeling like I was failing. It was this past year, where I finally had an epiphany that this was what I was doing to myself. 

Sadly, it took getting so stressed out my hands started shaking and my mind felt like it was closing in on itself from burn out, before I finally got the hint that something needed to change. I realized that somewhere along the way, I had exchanged my original childhood innocence of trusting God and feeling like I was whole and complete and living a life of love , to living everyday full of fear and distrust. 

Courtesy Google Images

I had moved into a fear zone for a few reasons: someone criticized me; I only was appreciated for what I did well; I got yelled at or slapped for simple mistakes; my heart was broken; I was told that my dreams were impossible; I felt incredible pressure to succeed; I got rejected; I made a mistake and judged myself as a failure; I compared myself to others and in someway believed they were better than I was. If you can relate to even one of these disappointments, you might also have moved into a place of fear in some area of your life.

I realized that when fear grips a person, they experience a sense of disconnection and emptiness. Other people’s voices become much louder than our own and we find it almost impossible to hear the Spirit’s voice in our lives.

This is what happened to me. It was time for me to stop obeying the voices of fear and uncertainty that was crowding my mind, and to have faith.

Yet living with faith, means conflict. You can’t get away from it. Faith is that invisible essence that drops it’s weapons of mass destruction and leaves craters in our soul, as we struggle to become what we hear on the inside of us.

My big aha moment was that all those fears and uncertainties had lulled me into a comatose state where I was afraid of the wrong things. I realized that the greater fear was to have lived and died and not found out who I really was... than to put my head in the sand worried about everything else. It was time to give all my wrestling to God and surrender to grace. To let go of all those hurts and painful moments from my past... from things that I had lost.

In my heart I feel like God is saying something like this to all of us: Now I’m going to let you do what you couldn’t do before. What you failed at and could never get to happen, will happen now. You were angry with Me because I didn’t let it happen before. You thought I said ‘no’ but I really said ‘later.’

Most of all surrender all of who you are to God and let His grace and love envelop you. You’ll be amazed by what happens in your life. Suddenly, like Mary experienced, grace will make the impossible, possible.

Visit Lorna on previous Everyone's Story segment: What To Do With Life Changing Moments

Lorna's Ah-hahs To Tweet:

Everyone has a story: Learn why author & #SocialMedia guide @lornafaith wants to help others (Tweet This)

Check out Lorna Faith’s @lornafaith exciting #BookGiveaway (Tweet This)

Lorna Faith: do you obey the voice of fear or faith? (Tweet This)

Author's Bio and places to connect with Lorna:
Lorna Faith loves all things romantic, historical and filled with adventure. A graduate of the University of Lethbridge with a degree in Music, she teaches students by day and scribbles away on her next novel by night. Lorna enjoys helping others tell the stories they love on social media. She and her husband have 2 College age children and 2 teenagers and live in Southern Alberta near the Rocky Mountains. Answering Annaveta is her 1st novel... with Book #2 coming in May 2015. You can chat with her at one of her two blogs, Lornafaith.com orRawStoryLife.com or on Facebook or Twitter.