{"id":3536,"date":"2015-02-19T20:29:07","date_gmt":"2015-02-19T20:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/merebreath\/?p=3536"},"modified":"2015-02-19T20:29:07","modified_gmt":"2015-02-19T20:29:07","slug":"guest-post-pandoras-box","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/merebreath\/2015\/02\/19\/guest-post-pandoras-box\/","title":{"rendered":"Guest Post: Pandora’s Box"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Please welcome my friend, Alli, today\u00a0as she shares some reflections\u00a0<\/em><\/span>on \u00a0the good work God is actively\u00a0accomplishing in her life.\n

<\/p><\/em><\/span><\/h6>\n

\u2727\u2727\u2727<\/p>\n

It took five years to get to this place. \u201cThis place\u201d is where I can come to God, open, vulnerable, all of my prideful walls torn down, standing before Him and being able to implore Him through the only way I know how to reach Him. By calling out, by praying to my Heavenly, perfect Father.<\/p>\n

My idols all let me down.The old habits have died, and are being replaced. A new \u201cme\u201d is being created. I\u2019ve died, I am still dying, to my old self. I am putting on love, humility, tenderness, kindness, and growing into the woman God desires\u00a0me to be.<\/p>\n

I think I always knew I\u2019d need to change. But I was afraid, who wouldn\u2019t be? I created this identity, this world, this box. I entrapped myself in it. I\u2019d become the monster living in Pandora\u2019s box. What if it someone opened it? What if I exploded? What if someone drove me the wrong way? What if I got ticked off? I had made this illusion that I needed to be this unpredictable bomb. I thought it was mysterious, and in a savage way, somewhat attractive. It attracted the wrong people, friends that wouldn\u2019t stick closer than a brother, traitors, men that\u2019d trample over me, because hey, they were just as empty and unpredictable. We had a lot in common. I\u2019d become the queen manipulator. Cutting myself gave me my escape. It released pressure, stress, hurt, pain, embarrassment, deep shame. The time I knew I could stop was when it clicked- I realized that when God put Christ on the cross, He too experienced the pressure, the hurt, the pain, physical and emotional, he was betrayed, he was stripped naked, NAKED on the cross, beaten, whipped, he was shamed, and rejected countless times.\"Pandora's<\/p>\n

My identity was never in the boys I chased. My identity was not in the drinks, or sex-related things, my mistakes, my sins, or my past. Anyone who says different is bs-ing you. That\u2019s the identity I\u2019d let myself have. But not anymore. The choice to have a new identity was all on me. I had the responsibility to change me, not those around me. My only identity, my security blanket, my comfort, my love, my peace, my hope all now are in God, because of His wonderfully perfect, selfless Son. His son gave Himself, and I deserve it not one bit, but by His grace, through His love, I can walk with Him.<\/p>\n

Ephesians 3: 11-14 says, \u201c<\/span>This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord,\u00a0<\/span><\/span>in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.<\/span> So I ask you not to lose heart over what I am suffering for you, which is your glory.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father,\u00a0<\/span>I rejoice so much that I can come to God without paying for my sin. He has forgiven me. He has washed my scarlet\u00a0sins as white as snow. He has removed my sins as far as the east is\"About from the west. These promises destroyed my Pandora\u2019s box.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Please welcome my friend, Alli, today\u00a0as she shares some reflections\u00a0on \u00a0the good work God is actively\u00a0accomplishing in her life. \u2727\u2727\u2727 It took five years to get to this place. \u201cThis place\u201d is where I can come to God, open, vulnerable, all of my prideful walls torn down, standing before Him and being able to implore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2289,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[91,11098,11100],"class_list":["post-3536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-guest-posts","tag-confessions","tag-help","tag-hope"],"yoast_head":"\nGuest Post: Pandora's Box<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Please welcome my friend, Alli, today\u00a0as she shares some reflections\u00a0on \u00a0the good work God is actively\u00a0accomplishing in her life. \u2727\u2727\u2727 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