I’ve never been to a Mardi Gras party or a costume party as an adult. It sounds like it would be fun. The excitement of attending a party where everyone is wearing those beautiful jeweled masks over their eyes. I always envision the event with everyone wearing beautiful long dresses and their dates looking handsome in a tux. I think it is always fun to dress up. And how fun would it be to wear a mask and not even recognize the other people around you? I can see my husband and I laughing and attempting to recognize our friends from behind the masks. I think that we would have an enjoyable time trying to determine who people are.
It sounds like a fun party, right? How many of us, though, wear a mask as we live our day-to-day lives? The masks may even be jeweled and glittered so that we can feel beautiful and all put together for whomever may be watching. The mask we put on may look pretty and may even allow us to feel good for a time but it isn’t real and doesn’t last. If we are wearing a mask in our daily life, we aren’t wanting anyone to know who we truly are.
Mask vs. Identity
This mask then can become our identity. We can even wear multiple masks, switching them out as we interact with our coworkers, our spouse, family or friends. It can become very burdensome and weary to be sure that we have the right mask on at the right time. Then the question comes around, “Who are we?”
I’m not pointing a finger at anyone because I wore a mask for quite a few years. The mask wasn’t just for the people around me, it was also for me so that I could hide from the pain and the truth that I believed about myself. We can get so used to telling everyone else that we are okay and everything is good that we may even begin to believe that it is true. I know I did. I learned how to stuff the pain and the memories down deeper and deeper so I could pretend that it really wasn’t there. We can become great at believing that it’s completely behind us and “we are over that.”
Or can we? All it may take is a comment or even a look and that pain can come right back up to the surface. I know how powerful those arrows are because of how I experienced them in my own life.
I also know from experience that the masks don’t come off until we receive the healing power of the Lord Jesus in our heart.
A beautiful story in the Bible that reveals the power of Jesus’ love setting a person free is the Samaritan Woman at the well. The complete encounter that this woman had with Jesus can be found in John 4:4-34. Click Here for the keys to receive healing based upon this woman’s encounter with Jesus!
There may be moments that you feel beautiful and accepted as you wear your mask but my prayer for you is that you will experience the powerful love of the Lord so that you will:
- Sit with Him and willingly lay your mask down,
- Receive His healing love and truth to the area of your heart that hurts,
- Replace the lies with His truth for your life, and
- Leave your mask at His feet so you can run in the freedom that He has for you!
Remember to click here to receive the keys from Jesus’ encounter with the Samaritan Woman. Your freedom is only one click away!
Blessings my friend,
Elle Stahlhut Roetzel
