Years ago, our women’s group did a meeting. It was held in a private home as opposed to being held at church, where we were less likely to let our guards down. The essence of the meeting was that we were to wear masks (they were beautiful and elaborate) for the first part of the meeting. And as we were ‘ready’ to deal with some of the emotional things we had dealt with all our lives, and ready to reveal our true self, we had to take the mask off.
I hadn’t thought about this meeting for years, until a friend recently went to another unmasking meeting and told me about it. I remember that night had been an emotional one for me. There were times in the night that I couldn’t face the group I was with, and went in the bathroom and cried with a trusted friend as I dealt with some of the guilt and shame that I had carried around. In that room had been past hurts that you wouldn’t have been able to imagine had you just seen the person walking around, but, as part of the unmasking, and only if you were ready to address it/or talk about it, that you were to take your mask off.
As I was still very private then, I’m sure I shared one of my ‘safe’ hurts. And I’m sure even after that night, probably well over ten years ago, I wore new masks to hide what I was really going through. Sometimes we wear the mask of ‘I’m fine’ when our whole worlds are falling apart. I know I wore that one for a while. Sometimes we wear the mask of ‘my childhood experiences aren’t affecting my adult life’ meanwhile our hurts are so deep and we need to address them because they will only continue to cause hurt in our adult life.
I’m not sure what mask you are wearing, but God is telling you that He’s the only one that can help you to remove it. Seek Him for His wisdom of how to take the mask off and to finally keep it off permanently so that you can live in the life He has for you. Remind yourself of this passage when you start to struggle, Jeremiah 29:11 NIV: ‘For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord. “Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. God already knows it all. He knows about the past and He knows about the future. I’ve learned that knowing = certainty, especially when God says ‘I know’ but we need to trust Him.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you know us, inside and out. Lord, help us to see the beauty that you created when you thought of and made us. Help us to permanently remove whatever masks we are wearing so that we can come to you in your fullness and joy. Help us not to hide behind a facade of who we are not, nor were ever called to be.