Monday, February 27, 2006

Extreme MakeUNDER

This weekend I got to hang out with and speak to over 900 teenagers at the Oklahoma Dist. Girls retreat. There's nothing like walking into a room with almost a thousand wild women of God.

The theme was Extreme Makeover, but my topic was Extreme MakeUNDER.

My message was "get naked".

What??

I'm serious. That was my message. Get real with God. Take off all the stuff that gets in the way. Remove the labels. Remove the mask. Climb over the walls and be real.

There are thousands of girls across the nation (also guys and adults) who are marked with destiny. God created and fashioned them in his image with his nature, with a desire to know purpose.

But stuff gets in the way. Stuff gets put on you that hides who you really are.

People drop labels on you like rain -- stupid, lazy, sexy, nerd, hot, loser . . .

Where do you get those labels? Not from God. Coz when he first created man and woman, he called his craftsmanship good, very good. God doesn't see the labels. He sees you.

What about masks? Masks hide the real you, putting out messages to the world: I'm tough. I'm okay. Everything's peachy. And yet it's a facade. Masks get in the way because your faith becomes all about pleasing people or putting a false message out there instead of dealing with the real issues.

And then there's walls. Built a brick at a time. Hurt me once, shame on you. Hurt me twice, shame on me. Get back. You can come in, but you can't. But if I let you in and you mess up -- you're outta here.

Walls are a defense mechanism. They work fairly well, except it gets lonely in there all alone. Besides, my Bible says that we are meant to fly, to run a race, to be a part of building the kingdom of God.

It's hard to do that with a brick wall in your way.

Letting God help you in your Extreme MakeUNDER is hard, wonderful, amazing, and tough. But it's also a place where God can heal you, direct you, and give you a glimpse of yourself through his eyes.

That's when the REAL extreme makeover begins.

You throw off masks, labels and walls as God covers you with strength, confidence, purpose, and direction.

Now that's a makeover I'm signing up for. . .

What about you?

1 comment:

Shannon said...

Suzie,

This is an awesome way to explain it! I love it!! Thanks for sharing. I am sure many lives were changed over the weekend...

~Shannon