I am who I am

I am who I am by the grace of God. - 1 Corinthians 15:10

It was so comforting this past Sunday to be reminded that we do not have to earn God’s love, because it cannot be earned. We are already beloved in all our humanness. Brenna Rubio shared a quote from author Glennon Doyle about a question she was asked along with the response she provided, that being:

Q: “Why do you cry so much?”

A: “For the same reason I laugh so often. Because I'm paying attention.”

Doyle had posted this question and response on her previous tag name, Momastery, on Twitter (now X, apparently…) back in 2015. One follower responded with:  

“This is just what I needed to see today. Why do I admire others who show emotions and cry but see it as a weakness in myself?”

This post was retweeted 541 times! Why do we shun ourselves for showing our emotions? Why do others look down on this? There is so much restriction in how we are allowed to process and simply “be.”

On that note, the simplicity of Sunday’s message was that God wants to bless us because God loves us and we do not have to earn God’s love, we already have it for just being. Owning feelings that come, as I believe Bill White said (paraphrasing): “in order to get to that place of integrity of this is who I am.” 

Owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing we’ll ever do.

• Brené Brown, The Gifts of Imperfection

What might be coming up for you? Thoughts, sensations? How might you be brave in simply being? What would it be like to not resist expressing difficult emotions, and just be?

God loves you and your story matters because you matter.