Speaking (and Believing) the Truth
As I was getting ready to write this article on growing, I felt led to look up the definition of the word grow. The one that stood out to me the most was: “to be able to grow in some place or situation” found in the Merriam-Webster dictionary.
When we are born in the lies of this world or how someone has defined us, we have to retrain our thoughts to grow into the truths of who we are; NOT what others or the world has taught us. In order to do that, we must recognize the lie and replace it with a truth. It is definitely easier said than done if you have ever been abused in any sort of manner, as I myself have and I know many others of you have as well. It took me a long time to be able to grow into my truth and I am still working on it. Growing is a process. These four keys were important in my growing:
1. Recognizing the Lies
Recognizing the lie is a sense of surrender and it awakens a true sense of self growth. Something inside of you is saying it doesn’t feel right and is always bringing you down. A lie will deplete you and tear you down, a truth will uplift you and help you move forward. Most people living in the lies have no growth and are stuck. When I started recognizing the truth, I began to wonder what needs to be done to change it, because I was tired of being stuck. The first step is uprooting the lies and planting roots of truth into yourself. The more you root yourself with truth, the truth uproots the lies you believe. Your roots of truth grow deeper into the ground and you start standing and growing taller into them. Your confidence will start to grow, and you will be recognized for the first time who you truly are. Just like anything that grows, you will need warmth and light and that is exactly what truth does, it warms the seed and helps it grow. But you have to be willing to uproot the lies, it's not easy but necessary to grow into your truth.
I have learned the importance of recognizing lies that others speak over me through my own story. I was trafficked by both my parents, abandoned by my family, and told so many lies by abusers. I was rooted in their truth and knew nothing about my own because at such a young age, there was truly no light shining on my roots or truths, just roots of abuse, rejection, neglect, violations, innocence taken. So, as I grew up in those dark roots I believed “their” truth. When I recognized those roots weren't who I was in my heart I started to look inside no matter how painful and face them to find a truth to replace it. It was truly one of the hardest things I had to do because truth was a foreign word in my world of hurt. Recognizing the truth is the first step of growing, and then you must root yourself in truth.
2. Replacing Lie with Truth
If you are rooted in lies you will stay stuck, but as lies are recognized and the roots of truth start to grow, it uproots those lies. This is the hardest part, because if you have experienced trauma or abuse of any kind, you haven't been told the truth, so they don’t feel normal or comfortable. Replacing the lies with truth starts to get easier to grow into once you start recognizing the lies and finding a truth to replace it with. When other people acknowledge your truth, you will find it hard to believe, because there are still roots grounded in the lies. It will be hard to take compliments, believe me I know, but even if I say thank you it is helping uproot that lie, each time I say thank you I'm not giving power to that lie. It is the beginning of a new root to grow in truth that people are seeing in me what I can't see in myself. Another challenge will be looking in the mirror saying these truths to yourself and believing them. It took months for me to even look up without tears in my eyes and believe them. I felt unworthy of my truth because I was rooted so deep in the ones given to me. It's going to take work, tears and others you trust and speak life into you to get there, but it is necessary. Doing this on a daily basis will help you lift your head a little higher, believe your truth, believe you are worthy and look yourself straight in the face without tears in eyes believing more in those truths, because your roots are growing deeper into the truths. You're starting to grow, looking at yourself and life from a whole different perspective. Eventually it will feel good and empower you to keep going and growing.
3. Find someone you can trust to remind you of your truth when you don’t have it in you to believe it yourself
Finding someone you can trust to remind you of your truth when you can't find it is another important step in growth. Plants can't grow without warmth and light, the people you start to trust are going to be just that for you. I struggle with PTSD from being trafficked and abused, so I was self-reliant, that is a trauma and survival response. When I started believing my truth it was hard to let people in at first, my guard was still up, those roots of abandonment and unworthiness were still there, this is exactly why we need those in our life we can trust. Because in any process of growing not everything is uprooted yet. So in those times of unworthiness I had people to shed light on the lies and fill me with truth and helped me grow into the truth I am worthy. Until we can completely uproot the lies, which takes time, these people that speak truth are important and vital for growth. Just like a flower blooming, if it doesn’t get enough sun or water even if the roots are planted, the flower withers and fades. So, think of them as your watering can and let their warmth of truth fill you back up until you're strong enough to root yourself back into your truth. I learned from being super independent that I needed these people in my life because without them in my healing I was very susceptible to withering and fading away and re-rooting myself in the lie's others gave me. You’ve worked too hard to get to this point in growth, keep going and growing. You have a team now! They are cheering you on and so am I!
4. Owning your truth.
Owning your truth is what makes the roots stand strong. Once you have recognized the lies, then replaced them, and you've found others to help encourage you in your truth you are ready for the next step! When others start recognizing the truth you worked so hard to see in yourself it now becomes yours! Own it! Stay rooted deep in that truth and keep feeding yourself on a daily basis with more truths. Start your day speaking truth into yourself, and once one of those old roots tries to sneak in, uproot that thing with your new truth. The more you do this the easier it will be for you to grow and flourish into everything you were created to be. It’s a process to get grow and heal, but worth it.
I encourage you to grow into your truth and once you have it in your grasp, own it. Keep growing, you are worthy and your testimony of growing will be the seed planted for the person needing to know how you got through and grew through it. This is how you speak and believe the truth in order to grow!
