Powerful People

Lately I've been getting some massive insights into relationships, thanks to some of the amazing people and teaching here at BSSM. Wow! I've heard this said a few times now, but the penny really dropped another level in my heart the other day: good relationships require there to be TWO powerful people involved. I LOVE this! This single revelation has just unlocked some major doors in my thinking and therefore, my ability to relate to others. I have spent much of my life believing (on some level) that relationships often only have room for ONE powerful person (and many times that person wasn't me!) Not that I have always lived as the 'victim' - I hate 'victim' mentality and so for quite a few years now, I've really worked on 'owning' my stuff and my issues in relationships that I'm involved in. I truly believe in personal responsibility and the freedom that comes with choosing to live proactively in my environment and interactions with others. Despite 'owning' my own junk, though, I still have struggled with feeling some level of guilt for having my own voice or for wanting to say 'Hey, that's NOT alright' when someone does something that hurts me. I didn't think I was allowed to say 'Stop! I don't like that' or 'This is how your actions are affecting me in this moment.' I knew it was good and 'right' to deal with MY reactions to any given situation but I've also thought, to be a good person, 'turning the other cheek' meant treat-me-however-you-like-and-I-will-just-sit-there-and-passively-take-it. But now, with this revelation on powerful people, I'm feeling a whole new level of boldness come over me.

As long as I live with any sense of being LESS than powerful, I am still living with some level of victim mentality. As long as my power is in the hands of someone else, I am not able to be fully accountable for my actions because, after all, what can I do if I have no power myself? I have had so many massive breakthroughs in my understanding on freedom, and this is another one.

So, what does this mean for my future? Where to from here? I am going to step out bravely into this new territory of power. and actually RISK making mistakes on the way. Once upon a time, the fear of making mistakes would've left me almost paralyzed with fear and I would have taken any measure necessary to make sure that I didn't mess up, to make sure I got it 'right.' However, that seems to me to be such a 'lesser' way of life. I realized that Jesus isn't as concerned about me 'getting it right' as He is about my living a wholehearted life in absolute trust in His goodness and HIS ability to keep me from falling (Jude 1:24-25.) After all, His finished work on the cross has made me righteous and put my in right-standing with Him - apart from my works! Refusing to step out and take risk isn't noble, it's cowardly - and I'm no coward. I am a powerful person with a powerful voice and a powerful purpose in this earth. Will I make mistakes along the way? Sure! But knowing I have power to make mistakes also means I have the power to clean up the mess and get up again and 'have another go.'

So what about you? Are you living as a powerful person - in your life? In your relationships? Do you truly believe that you are able to make decisions about where your life is going? Or are you held captive by the fear of failure or by the hopeless sensation that others - people or circumstances - hold the keys to your future (and you are just the prisoner of their mistakes or 'bad luck')? If you fall into the latter category, let me just tell you that no matter what has happened in the past, even what has happened 5 minutes ago, only has the amount of power over you that you allow it to have. You are NOT powerless. You have a free will and that in itself is tremendous. You can get up and walk out of the situation you are in. You can choose THIS DAY that you will make that change, get that job, walk in love, take responsibility for YOU. Other people or 'life' may've dealt you a poor hand, but if you are reading this post, God wants you to know that no matter where you've come from, the fact that you are alive today and breathing, the fact that you woke up this morning means that you've been given another chance. As long as you have breath in your body, you have a choice, you have power. What you do with it is up to you. :)