Most days I don\u2019t wear makeup. But Sundays are special to me. My Sabbath days finds me with extra family time without the hustle of the school week. I like dressing up for church even though my church is a \u201cCome As You Are\u201d type of place.<\/p>\n
Sunday is the one day this busy mama of 6 takes time to put on more than Eos on her lips. So Sunday dress up and make up put a little extra pep in my #momlife step and I feel good about me as I eagerly head out for a time of corporate worship.<\/p>\n
But not today. As I was getting ready for church today I had this feeling.<\/p>\n
I took out my makeup bag<\/strong><\/p>\n Sat on my bathroom sink<\/strong><\/p>\n And said to myself\u2026.<\/strong><\/p>\n And it\u2019s not like this had really come on me all of a sudden. Since before Valentine\u2019s Day I\u2019ve been suppressing it. Like Atlas trying to hold up the sky, I had been buckling under the weight of the issues of life.<\/p>\n We\u2019re supposed to be STRONG they say. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you they say. But I also know that the Word says when I am weak, His strength is made perfect. And I was weak.<\/p>\n But I tried to be strong. Be strong for my spouse, strong for the women I minister to, strong for my children, strong for my friends, strong for my Dad.<\/p>\n It came to my attention that I was suppressing it when I found myself standing over the kitchen sink washing dishes (side note: I happened to do a video a few weeks ago called My Washing is My Worship). Something about washing dishes causes a stirring in my spirit. So I\u2019m washing and I feel it welling. It\u2019s coming up\u2026up. When it gets to my breastbone, I force it back down as I look over and see my children.<\/p>\n Stuff the tears. Force them back down. Make everybody think everything is okay because you are ok right?<\/p>\n Well, maybe not. [bctt tweet=\u201dIs it okay to not be okay? Will we grant ourselves permission to feel pain, to grieve, to lament?\u201d username=\u201dinspiredfully\u201d] Because there is a season for everything under the heavens right?<\/p>\n I was reminded of a teaching I had done just 2 weeks ago and the title was \u201cPermission Granted\u201d.<\/p>\n So I granted myself permission for the ugly cry. No makeup on I headed into the sanctuary at church with an open heart. I presented myself before God as the WHOLE me. The whole me including the broken<\/a> me. Not just the me that dresses up and puts on makeup but also the me whose arms get tired. The me whose patience runs out. The me who has come to the end of herself and come to the beginning of the resurrection POWER.<\/p>\n And when the choir proceeded to sing one of my new favorite songs<\/a>, I was completely UNDONE. Feel free to picture the most hilarious ugly cry GIF you can think of here. Go ahead and laugh \u2019cause I\u2019m laughing with you. If someone turned my cry today into a GIF I wouldn\u2019t even be mad because it was a classic.<\/p>\n So what does the Word say about crying?<\/p>\n \u201cYou number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle\u2026\u201d Psalm 56:8<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThen they cried out to the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them from their distress,\u201d Psalm 107:6<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cJesus wept,\u201d John 11:35<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n There is beauty in the UGLY CRY my friends. I pray you too grant yourself permission to pour your heart to before the Father. Grant yourself permission to be vulnerable. Should it happen while in the arms of a loving friend, in the arms of your spouse, alone in your prayer closet, at a worship service or over your kitchen sink with the children looking on, you will not only cleanse your heart but it can show others what healthy expression of emotions looks like.<\/p>\n When is the last time you had an ugly cry? Are you due for one? If yes, permission granted because there is beauty in the ugly cry.<\/p>\n As always it is my prayer that you\u2019ve been Inspired To Live Fully<\/em>!<\/p>\n Happy to join these friends sharing the Good News Mommy Moments<\/a>, Purposeful Faith<\/a>, Chasing Community<\/a>, \u00a0Grace & Truth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Most days I don\u2019t wear makeup. But Sundays are special to me. My Sabbath days finds me with extra family time without the hustle of the school week. I like dressing up for church even though my church is a \u201cCome As You Are\u201d type of place. Sunday is the one day this busy mama […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,14],"tags":[811,810,93,353,812,784],"class_list":["post-4977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-real-life","category-spiritual-life","tag-cry","tag-crying","tag-emotions","tag-release","tag-ugly-cry","tag-vulnerability"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4977"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4977\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5047,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4977\/revisions\/5047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.inspiredtolivefully.com\/staging\/4119\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\u201cGirl, don\u2019t even bother. TODAY you\u2019re gonna do the ugly cry.\u201d<\/h3>\n
\u201cShould I let them see me cry?\u201d<\/h3>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want them to worry.\u201d<\/h3>\n
\u201cWill they call my husband and then he\u2019ll be worried?\u201d<\/h3>\n
That cry was CLEANSING, CATHARTIC and FREEING.<\/h4>\n