When we only post the positive, picture-perfect images and snapshots of our lives we're neglecting the valleys. The valleys are what help us to further our testimony without even really calling it our "testimony." Whether it is still having a relationship with God when things are not going our way and trusting Him, or not articulating the situations that we're in and allowing God to take the glory when He pulls us out of them. We can reach others who maybe don't know the story of the Gospel or know what a relationship with Jesus looks like without labeling it as a testimony with flashing lights saying “Look here! Look here!”. We can sometimes disguise it and before they realize that we're hitting them with the truth of the Gospel, they're already sucked into a story of how our lives have been changed by God. I am absolutely unashamed to share my testimony, and will proudly exclaim about my love of Jesus to anyone who will listen, but I know all too well that there are people who will shut down if they believe they’re being preached to (I know because I used to be one of them).
One of my recent goals is to be more transparent with people in my life; whether that is about my anxiety, whether that's about parenting, whether that's about my household. I think it's important that since we've been extended grace from God, we also learn how to extend grace to ourselves. If all we see from those around us are perfection, clean houses, perfectly behaved children, filtered and touched up photographs, we feel like we're behind. We feel like we're less than. We feel like we may be the only one who doesn't have our life together. And that's just not the truth. We're all struggling. Some days a victory looks like both of my children being healthy, fed, and in bed before midnight. We have to be honest with one another because when we hide behind filters whether that's our photographs or are selective social media postings, or a facade that we hide behind, we're selling ourselves short about how we can get through struggles or bad days and we're unintentionally alienating those around us who may be going through the same things unknowingly.
Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” As Christians, we need to walk the walk and talk the talk at all times, not just when things are unicorns and rainbows for us. Sharing both the peaks and the valleys with those around us helps to paint a better picture about the grace extended to us and that Christ is with us always; in the ups and the downs.
I’m being more deliberate about what I post on social media and what I share with the people that I know. It’s a balance that I’m working on every day. I’m challenging myself to be more transparent every day, and little by little, learning to eliminate the filters (who has eyelashes that look like that in real life anyway?).
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