stripping...

"Lord, strip this world from me. Let the only weight be your glory upon me, your glory upon me... Let your love be the only stronghold over me, the only stronghold over me." This is my prayer right now. God's been working in my life in the area of strongholds lately. Or maybe the devil's been working in my life in the area of strongholds lately. Three people have made hurtful comments to me in the last couple weeks regarding something about which I am already sensitive. I feel a little like I have been demoralized, like Satan has figured out who, or what, it is that I fear I am the most and set about to confirm that in me. Does that make sense? It's like he knows those things about which I am most insecure and has been working overtime to make sure that I take those things and own them for myself.

The good thing about this is that I am realizing that while peoples' comments do hurt I have not been living in them or dwelling on them like I used to. I am becoming a little more like Lucia in Max Lucado's You are Special. The grey dots and gold stars are sticking less and less often. God is teaching me the special language of living in his abundance. He's teaching me that I am his favorite, that he didn't create me to reject me, that I have his full attention. He's captivated by me. And he's teaching me that it doesn't bring glory to him when I turn away from his opinion of me and that's what I have been doing. He has prosperity for me - prosperity of heart and mind - and he wants to give it to me by me accepting that I am who he says I am. As long as I turn away from that and don't choose to fully accept that I am who he says I am, I experience poverty of spirit.

There's so much I want to say right now but I think I need to sort it all out. This is good for now. God is changing me in very real, almost tangible ways. God is so good. And he is stripping me of this world.