Genuine Transparency.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.

2 Timothy 2:15

 

I have a tattoo.

If that makes you nervous, hold on to your seat, because you just might slide right off of it before this is over.

It was a lonely Valentines Day…

I called my dad, which is basically the way I’d started any major decision in my life.  I reminded him that, aside from an abnormal amount of childhood broken bones and talking virtually nonstop throughout middle school, I’d caused him very little parenting pain… And now I’d like to get a tattoo.

Seeing I was going to argue my case endlessly, he gave me rather reluctant permission — with 2 conditions:

1. It must be located somewhere that would not be regularly visible.
2. It could not be larger than the size of a quarter.

That night, one of my favorite friends and I marched ourselves down to the sleepy Main Street of our Christian college town and darkened the doorstep of “Squirrelies” (I can’t make these things up).  The kid took a quarter, traced it on a piece of paper, drew a daisy bloom – EXACTLY – the size of that quarter, and set to work on my back.

5 Days later, I started dating the man that is now my husband and, as luck would have it, he HATES tattoos.

Some of you are big tattoo fans.  Others are currently praying for my soul.  But I didn’t hesitate sharing this story. I’m not afraid of being honest.  If the Lord wants to use something from the private places of my life, it’s His to take.

With that said, I believe He’s asked something of me today that will require a new level of Brave:

GENUINE TRANSPARENCY.

Jesus said:  For all that is secret will eventually be brought into the open, and everything that is concealed will be brought to light and made known to all.  Luke 8:17

A criticism of this age is often “too much information”.  Overload.  Ironically, we still get half the story.  My Instagramed picture of our awesome cauliflower pizza crust makes me look super health-conscious.  But the handful of M&M’s I ate while posting it tells a different story.

Being transparent isn’t about sharing the reality series version of our lives.  It’s about matters of the heart.  It’s about saying to the Father, I’m not hidden from you… and the parts of my life that you want to use as a vessel to reveal yourself to the world are a humble sacrifice I’m going to boldly bring.  And then, we wait for His signal.

When the moment comes, all we can do is trust His plan…  And it’s in the spirit of trusting Him that I’m sharing with you today.

We are fearfully and wonderfully made.  I have great confidence in who I am and the value of the Father’s design in His creation.  But I made a decision 12 years ago to have a nose job and 7 years ago to get breast implants.

Is plastic surgery a choice I’m advocating for anyone else?  NO, it isn’t.  But after much consideration (and, yes, even prayer) it is a choice I made for myself.  This is not a shameful admission of guilt.  It’s an honest door leading you to a side of me, as of yet, unopened publicly.

It’s a part of my story that I’ve awkwardly tried to keep separate from the side of me that fits a little more neatly into a typically Christian box.  But, in looking around, I realize that none of us really fit there.  And let’s be honest, God is not the one who drew those lines.  You know what mold I want to slip perfectly into?  The one Christ created for me, by grace, on the cross.

Overarchingly, as Christians, we live our lives picking and choosing the parts we think are “useable”.  We decide what pieces God would have most success with, and then we pat ourselves on the back as we offer them to His service.  What would happen if we laid down our pride, our reputation, our disguises?  What if when we said, “Lord, use me“, We actually let him use the ME we are?  THAT is what can change the world around us.  THAT is how redemptive history has been accomplished through broken people from Adam and Eve right down the line to you and me.

I have complete assurance that the truth of who Heather Lynn Yoder is will allow God to take my choices and formulate them, by His great grace, to do MIGHTY things in His kingdom.  No one will be tempted to give me the glory, because I’m telling you – from my own mouth – that Christ is THE shining light in me.  And what He loves most about this child, is that she is unafraid of man and fiercely devoted to Him.

Maybe there are parts of you that you have hidden under your bed (Luke 8:16) as you’ve protected your heart or the heart of those you love.   Maybe now is not the time to bring them to light.  But then, maybe it is.

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.  1 John 1:7

God uses our lives in many ways to help heal, encourage, lead, empathize with, and instruct one another.  But He can’t use it until we make the offer.  I have no idea how He plans to use my story, but I have full confidence that He certainly DOES.

Whether you see it now or not, you have great purpose.  Not despite who you are, but absolutely because of who God wants to be through you – and that includes all of you… and all of your choices.

Do not live in fear of what others think of you.  Live in the light of what the Father already KNOWS.  Let’s work on being brave together. ♥