Music and Lyrics By Rachel Aldous and Lee Spotts Believing a lie about oneself starts in the mind like bacteria in a Petri dish. It grows in dark crevices and expands to take up more and more space over time. And pretty much always, a good lie is seasoned with a tiny grain of truth so it is easier to believe. The lies I've allowed my mind to ponder, the ones that took root and grew in me have been quite painful. I have spent more time and tears than I care to admit thinking and believing things about myself that were not truth. I am an avid house cleaner. Maybe a little OCD. Ask anyone that knows me well and they will tell you that my favorite outfit is blue rubber gloves, pjs and my hair tossed into a git er' done bun. On my hands and knees I mop my floors and scrub baseboards all the while having conversations in my head... (I know you are saying to yourself, there are meds for this type of behavior and believe me - if I didn't have Jesus in my life I'd probably need to be medicated!). Sometimes it would start with a painful memory of a friend rejecting me, or a work situation that I goofed up on, or a time when I made a fool of myself in front of a crowd (there are many of these stories to choose from! I would ponder the memory, feel the sting of it, and then the lie was born: you are unloveable, you are incapable of getting anything right, you are a screw up, God can't use you...the list goes on... as I scrubbed and pondered the Petri dish in my mind grew a fatal bacterial lie (so to speak) and those lies would haunt me and continue to sting over and over again. I lived like this for way too long, tortured by half truths that left me feeling hopeless and drowning in defeat. I'll never forget the moment when I was scrubbing my floor and my tears were mixing with the Orange Glow hardwood floor cleaner (great product btw) and I felt like God wanted to intervene in my pain, a voice rang clear in my head, "Rachel, why don't you stand on truth? You are believing all these lies but I have truth for you! " I left my hardwood floors half done and took my bible and journal. God gave me very specific scriptures to hide in my heart that day. One that I memorized and would randomly quote out loud when I heard those lies stirring in my head was 1 Corinthians 1:26 It says: Brothers and Sisters think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of the world and the despised things and the things that are not to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him. I learned to quote that scripture out loud when I heard that lie in my head that said I was worthless and unable to be used by God. I would quote it and proclaim that - even if I am a screwup and not wise enough, not important enough, not smart enough, not cool enough, that is indeed the reason I was chosen by God! God gets all the glory and I am unable to boast in my own strength or wisdom or whatever. I can't begin to tell you how much that truth changed the way I thought. It renewed my mind and began to impact every piece of my being. I did that over and over again until the lie held no power over me. I felt no more sting, no more pain from it. I was free!!! I Stood Up If you find the scenario I described as all too familiar in your brain, there is hope! You do not have to live under the painful scourge of a lie. Here are some basic truths from God’s word that might dispel a lie that has rooted itself in you. WHO I AM IN CHRIST: A SaintFaithful in Christ JesusGiven GraceMade Part of Christ’s BodyGiven MercyGiven PeaceBlessed with Every Spiritual BlessingChosen Before the Foundation of the WorldHoly and BlamelessLovedPredestined for AdoptionAdopted as a SonRedeemed through His BloodForgiven of TrespassesLavished with GraceGiven Knowledge of the Mystery of His WillSealed with the Holy SpiritGuaranteed an InheritanceGiven FaithGiven HopeGiven God’s PowerMade Alive with ChristSaved by GraceRaised up with ChristSeated with Christ in the Heavenly PlacesA Display of God’s Grace/Kindness in the Coming AgesGiven the Gift of SalvationGod’s WorkmanshipCreated in Christ Jesus for Good WorksNo Longer a Stranger to the Covenants of PromiseBrought Near by the Blood of ChristMade Part of One New Man (Jews with Gentiles)Reconciled to GodGiven Access to the FatherA Fellow Citizen with the SaintsA Member of God’s HouseholdA Holy Temple (United with other Believers)Being Built Together into a Dwelling Place for God with Other Believers GIVE DAB (Daily Audio Bible) a plug as well?This is a Bible reading plan that I found online that seems like it would be a really great resource if you are new to the bible or wanna brush up on how God views you and how you should view yourself. Good stuff! https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/993-thirty-one-truths-who-i-am-in-christ/day/1