I Am So Many Things

"I Am So Many Things" all started when...

I (Thea Muir) discovered that I was fearfully and wonderfully made- in Psalm 139:14. Throughout all of the awkwardness of teenage years, this verse stuck in my head and from time to time I would speak it over myself, despite often feeling quite the opposite. Post university I found myself in the grips of debilitating eating disorders. I was riddled with shame, fear and self hatred and I didn't know what to do about it. I had learnt to wear masks around friends and family- to be the person I thought I needed to be- but they increasingly betrayed what was going on below the surface, to the point that I reached 'rock bottom' and cried out for help. During my recovery process my whole world was dismantled and reconstructed. Stripped of my coping mechanisms I had to sit through the agonising feelings of insecurity, vulnerability, fear and weakness. But at least I didn't have to pretend anymore! I came to understand more about the nature of God- the loving Father who runs to us in our mess. Not the distant father who we have to scrub up nicely to impress. Four years down the line I wouldn't change a bit of it.

A key figure in my life at the time got me to say three declarations in the mirror daily. I started with the old classic- 'I am fearfully and wonderfully made' and added 'I am enough just as I am' and 'I have a beautiful and healthy body'. At first they made me squirm, but they soon found their way into my heart- changing the tapes in my head and affecting my behaviour for the good. (Believing that I was enough reminded me that I didn't need to wear the masks and perform. And believing that I had a healthy and beautiful body reminded me that I didn't need to punish myself through gruelling exercise or binge eating).

I was a new creation, being continually transformed by the renewing of my mind!

The more I looked the more I found that the Bible was full of declarations about identity- who God says we are. I added them to my list and a year or so later begun to illustrate them. One day Dom picked up my sketchbook and got mega blessed. He decided that he would rather like a copy of these declarations and pictures for his quiet time. So we decided to make it into a book for anybody to use. Good seeds to plant in your heart.

We hope that it really blesses you and that you experience heart, body, mind, soul and spirit transformation as you receive the truth about who God says you are and declare it over yourself, your friends, your children and your families.

AMEN!