By
Tammy Miller
on
May 29, 2020

Never in my life, more than now, have I felt compelled to share my heart so fully. There are definitely moments I have felt afraid to speak up and boldly declare what I believe to be true because of fear of rejection. Who likes rejection? I don’t think anyone likes rejection, however, I found that the times that I did, I shrunk into myself because of fear of criticism I was receiving for sharing my beliefs and convictions, I wasn’t being true to myself and more importantly I wasn’t being true to my Father in Heaven who was asking me to share my heart with those that would listen.

My blog is called Cultivating Authenticity. Why, you ask? It’s because living an authentic life is so important to me. I grew up learning to put on a happy face even when things were far from happy. I learned to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn’t. I learned it wasn’t okay to use my voice because I was told I was worthless and had nothing of value to share.

Now, I can that those are all lies and all of that kept me from being who God created me to be. However, God can take the harshest storms and create something beautiful from it. This is WHY authenticity is so important to me. It’s important for me to fulfill my purposes here on earth and that means being bold and sharing my heart and helping those that Heavenly Father places in my path. Those people aren’t going to show up if I don’t use my voice. I refuse to shrink to people pleasing. Like I’ve said before, people pleasing is futile and you end up feeling empty, discouraged,  not enough and a myriad of other things – and the reality is you end up feeling like a shell of yourself.

In contrast, when I follow my heart as I ask my Father in Heaven to guide my paths and how to show up in my life, I am filled with joy beyond measure and my cup literally overflows with indescribable happiness because I’m living in alignment with Him.

For those of you that follow me, you know that I am a lover of quotes. I love this quote by Brene Brown regarding authenticity:

“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.”

Oh wow, just read that again, and let those words sink into the deepest parts of your heart and mind.

I KNOW who I am; I am a beloved daughter of God. I KNOW what I stand for. I stand for love, liberty, kindness, loyalty, equality, truth, compassion, freedom and so much more. My values and principles guide my life and they are things that I hold dear to my heart. Here’s the harsh truth, when you choose to be authentic and you choose to bold in sharing your values, your heart, your beliefs, there will be people that will malign you. This is the reality of it. There is nothing wrong with sharing your heart. There is nothing wrong with being you. This is how you are intended to show up. Let yourself shine!

Like I mentioned earlier, people pleasing leaves you feeling empty to the core because it’s impossible, and what are the rewards for people pleasing anyway? To get more likes and comments and win a popularity contest?!

My mission in life is to fulfill my purposes that God sent me here to earth to accomplish. I know that I make my share of mistakes, and thank goodness He has provided a way for me to repent of my sins and my shortcomings. He’s not asking me to show up perfectly, however, He’s asking me to follow Christ’s example and to emulate His character.  This means living by my values and principles always.

I seek to follow my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ. When I leave this earth and return to my heavenly home, I want to hear my Father tell me “well done, thou good and faithful servant.” This is what is important to me.

For me, this is the reward of showing up authentically as my Father created ME to BE.

You be you.

I’ll be me.

xoxo,

Tammy

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