As I have shared with you before, I have been blown away by the community that I have found as part of the For The Love launch team. Many of us are aspiring writers, so we have decided to encourage and support one another by introducing our readers to one another. I told my new writing friends to send me their favorite post about being brave, my theme for this season of my journey. Here is the “brave first” in this series of guest posts from my talented writer friends.
Friends, meet Andrea. She blogs over at Empty Plate, Full Heart because she believes that hearts are filled when stories are shared. She is kind, encouraging, funny, generous and beautiful. She is also a Texan! Please enjoy this beautiful piece from my new friend Andrea about being brave. Then go check out her blog!
Half of the Moon by Guest Blogger, Andrea Stunz
“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” ~Mark Twain
The moon is always a whole moon but it’s never fully exposed. When it reveals itself in what we call a full moon, it’s still just half of the moon. We only see one side of it. It’s impossible for us, on earth, to see the moon fully. Fully exposed. Fully known. Fully vulnerable. Only God can see it fully.
We are a moon. We are a whole being but we don’t expose ourselves fully. We may reveal more to some than others but there is a side to us that only God can see.
It takes so much courage and trust to share ourselves in all of our fulness. Fully exposed. Fully known. Fully vulnerable. Many of us try. Many of us don’t. Many of us can’t. We’ve been burned from past exposure, often repeatedly, and closed off that part of our soul that no one could ever love enough to protect. This is why we need grace and the Giver of it.
God sees our other half. He sees the dark side. The hidden parts. He longs for us to share that with Him. He waits for us to tell him about these parts even though He already knows. Because He knows that in the telling that we will see that He is trustworthy and we will find our brave.
We are the moon. He is the Creator of it. He sees us fully and loves us anyway. So so much.
On the dark side of the moon there is a sun. It covers the darkness with light. It brings freedom. It brings hope.
So there’s that.
Hallelujah!!
~Andrea
We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 1 Corinthians 13:12 (The Message)
Originally published on Andrea’s blog: Empty Heart, Full Plate
Really well done!
Beautifully, thoughtfully written! “He sees us fully and loves us anyway.” Such a hard truth to embrace.