What Does the Lord Want to Say to You in the Morning?

The Story

She looked at me with compassionate eyes. As if to say, “I know you want to get it. And I know you don’t yet. And that’s okay.” 

We sat on bar stools in Carrie’s big, rustic kitchen that’s become my home over the last two months. Most days, this is what our lives look like: sitting at the bar or at the kitchen table, working or talking. She’s my boss but she’s also my mentor. 

Before I came in the house and plopped down on the bar stool, I had been visiting a dear friend. She’d asked me a question that triggered tons of shame, and I was so unprepared for the wave of grief that followed. I tried to hide it and stuff it, like I always do, but on my drive home I was drowning with guilt and shame from past mistakes and losing people’s trust. A thorn had pierced an unhealed shame-wound that I’d ignored and forgotten.  

UGH.

So when Carrie asked me how it went, I could hide nothing. I was exposed, clutching my shame, my wounds, and my unforgivableness. I told her everything. Our conversation, the shame that it uncovered, and the guilt that I feel obligated to carry around. 

She saw my issue: unbelief. She saw that I struggled to forgive myself and believe that Christ has made me His own. I struggled to believe that He’s forgiven me and that I am forgivable.

So she asked me a question:

“What does the Lord want to say to you in the morning?” 

And she made me answer it right there, through tears, in the middle of the kitchen with middle school boys running around. 

I delight in you…

*sniff*

You can’t do anything today that will make me love you any less.

I am your glory. 

You are forgiven and forgivable.

*more aggressive sniff*

I surround you with steadfast love.

I am for you.

You are not perfect, but you are loved. 

The Baby Steps of Renewal

I don’t know about you, but when I struggle with identity or shame, I shut down. I get overwhelmed and discouraged and quit. I know I’m supposed to dive in and do the work of renewing my mind, but in the middle of an identity crisis, that feels like redirecting a freight train. 

But Carrie’s question gave me a baby step. I may not be full of zeal about my worth all the time, but I don’t have to shut down either. I just have to take the baby steps of faithfulness and allow the Lord to renew my mind over time. 

And that starts with asking myself a question first thing in the morning: 

What does the Lord want to say to me? Where does He want my mind to go first thing? What is true this morning?

Dwelling on that question is a beautiful, non-overwhelming way to begin the work of training our minds. It may not immediately deliver us from our next identity crisis, but it will sow seeds that reap transformation.

So I’m starting there. First thing in the morning. Before the Insta is grammed, the toothpaste is squeezed or the toothbrush is brushed. I wrote my truths on a card and put it on my mirror and my steering wheel. 

I’d love for you to join this journey of baby steps. Let’s be faithful to surrender our minds to truth one step at a time. Let’s direct our minds to truth first thing in the morning, until one day, we wake up and believe it. 

And let’s raise a coffee mug to sanctification and how it’s never over. Here’s to the work in progress, to the hard work of belief, to the power of Jesus to make transformation a reality.