Do I Know Who I AM?

There are thousands if not millions of people out there looking for the relationship that will give them that warm feeling of being something and someone special. Only to realise, the relationship we seek is peace with ourselves and with God. As simple and childish as this may seem, I love to sing love songs to myself. I love Selena Gomez "Love Song" and I apply it to myself..NOT imagining that my husband (or God forbid , another man or woman) is singing it to me. I tell myself I'm beautiful, a dream come alive, incredible...etc. and it feels better than any compliment I've ever gotten...EVER. An arena of fans couldn't replace the deep down love I feel for myself as I look in the mirror, jump around like my 13 year old (maybe more than her) and sing a love song to myself..and guess what, I'm less self-centered that way because I have the foundation that is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to love and care for others.
The other side of this "coin" is dismissing the voices that lead to feelings of worthlessness, shame, neediness, helplessness, etc.

I have found myself feeling bombarded by conversations and voices when just one child asks me something. I asked myself why I should feel so overloaded when just one person talks to me.The answer was that there was too much chatter going on in my head. So yesterday I spent an hour emptying the voices out of my head. I feel much more sane now! Oh my goodness, there must've been over a hundred extra tapes, influences, and "others" voicing their opinions and concerns at the same time.Whether they are voices in your own head, or Kirk Duncan's (of 3 Key Elements) "dot people" we all know we argue with "ourselves" at times. Have you ever stopped to realize that the voice in "your" head that you're arguing with has a different feel, a different flavor than YOU. For me, the most critical step is seeing that "they " are not ME. You know how we can loose a pencil and find out it is hiding right by our eyes, tucked into our ear? What better place to hide than in our own mind, masquerading as our own brain!I admit there are times when the "voices" are parts of me asking questions of me, but I know without a doubt that there are also times when those voices are energies and influences of others, "they" are there. I believe the spirits of the deceased are all around us helping or hindering our journey into closer communion with pure light and love, even God- according to their preference. Not always in the negative. I have been comforted by my deceased grandmother, great-grandmother, etc. Yet I have also been harassed by the spirits of the unknown, and the baggage of the known.
There is true freedom and power in knowing where the thoughts are coming from.

If they are our own, they need to be addressed with truth, light. If not, no amount of reasoning will relieve us of the harassment. The only defense that works is to opt out of it, tell it to go away.
Address lies with truth.
Dismiss voices of fear, anger, resentment, and worthlessness.

You can say, "Thanks for your input, but I chose to listen only to light and truth, leave." or more agressively "You're FIRED, leave me permanently!" You can call

on the God of your understanding to remove them. You can know whether the voice is part of you or someone else. Just ask "Is this me?" you can feel whether it is or not. This is one reason knowing who we really are is so important.

I know that I am a daughter of God, that a part of Him exists in me, in EVERY cell of me. I know that means I am a being of light, truth, and love. The thoughts and feelings that come that are out of harmony with that are lies and come from liars. I know that as a daughter of God my abilities are limitless in God's grace, and that I am accountable because of the divine gifts I inherited from my Father for everything I do, say, think, and feel. Any voice or influence that tells me otherwise is seeking to limit my power to create in my life. Any voice that keeps me focussed on another's behavior seeks to keep me

trapped in my own actions and inactions, even if that voice masquerades as having compassion for me. As I look for someone else to fix things, accept me, love me, take care of me I make them the power and source for change in my life. As I embrace my gifts and my strength as a daughter of God, I embrace my responsibility as well.

I know who I am, in knowing this I become powerful. In the book "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom, Corrie and her sister are taken to a concentration camp for hiding Jews during the Holocost. This true story illustrates so clearly the importance of knowing who you are and the truth that you are always free to choose your attitude, your perspective. In fact, it might be the only choice no-one can take from you. I love the story from the Old Testament of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abedenego. The knew who they were and what God expected of them. Even at the peril of their lives they refused to eat what God had forbidden them to eat because it was not in harmony with the TRUTH in them. Knowing who I am empowers me with the knowledge of what is for me and what is not for me, how I am to be treated and how I am not to be treated, what I am to do and what I am not to do.

I remember running into a friend from highschool about 10 years into my marriage. It brought back the memory of the girl I had been, parts of me I had somehow lost or burried while seeing to the daily needs of my family and fitting in with friends and extended family members, trying not to make wave, trying to gain acceptance from them. I remembered being energetic, fun, and open and loving. That day propelled me on my journey to truth. We seek not the truth that is "out there" but the truth that is within, that is why when we recognize truth it resonates IN us, it matches something within, and we rejoice over having found more of ourselves and our divine life with God. In revealing Himself, God also intends to reveal OURself, the self that is just like Him, divine, powerful, full of truth, light, love, virtue, and honor, even royalty in a Godly realm.

Knowing the truth of who I AM helps me to better identify who I am NOT. Most of us are on our guard to resist temptation to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc. How much awareness are we putting into staying out of the temptation of denying the truth of who we are? In the New Testament (Matthew 5:22) Jesus says that even to call someone "fool" puts us in danger of hellfire.
Who and what we really are matters.

Knowing who and what we really are matters, and what we say to others and believe along these lines matters.

People say knowledge is power, I disagree. Knowledge of TRUTH is power, especially the knowledge of the truth in us, even the God in us.


Liz King Bradley