In a world where everything we do can be put under a microscope and analyzed, sometimes we forget we serve an audience of One. We can feel under another person’s microscope, but often we’re the ones over-analyzing too. How can we find freedom from the need to “perform” for the people around us?
Susie talks with fellow author and good friend Becky Harling a speaker and author who is passionate about helping women find hope. They discuss her book, Freedom From Performing.
Becky explains that she was raised in a high-profile ministry home. Her father was a pastor and president of a Bible college and the underlying message, both the unspoken message and the spoken message, was that she and her siblings needed to uphold their father’s image, they needed to constantly be performing.
“Because I grew up in this home where we were really expected to be perfect in every way my perfectionistic tendencies were off-the-charts.”
This was very difficult for Becky since, during the week, her father was abusing her and her siblings.
“It created a lot of anxiety for me and I was really raised to protect his image rather than to bear the image of Jesus Christ.”
Becky discusses one of the messages she learned as a child, the message that she needed to be perfect for God to be happy with her. Realizing that this message was unbiblical and keeping her in bondage was freeing according to Becky.
She explains that seeing the messages we’ve been fed, especially as children and examining them in the light of truth is the first step to rewriting our emotional scripts and not performing for others.
She explains how each individual ought to ask the question, “What was I told?” and encourages listeners to see where these actually line up or don’t line up with Scripture.
Key Scriptures: Ephesians 3:20-21, Colossians 2:16, 3:23, Psalm 34:4-5
