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No More Hiding

-->Au Naturel: in a natural state; without anything added. Bare: devoid of amplification or adornment; lacking tools or weapons. Raw: not treated or prepared for presentation, marked absence of refinements, unprotected. Nude: without conventional covering; having a natural appearance. Naked: devoid of concealment or disguise; lacking embellishment.

In the beginning, God’s children came into this world naked and naked they remained while in close communion with Him. It was only after Adam and Eve had gone against their Father’s wishes and partaken of the forbidden fruit that Satan pointed to their nakedness and shamed them for it, pushing them to hide themselves from God.

It has been the story ever since.

Death is a separation of our spirit and bodies. Eternal death or spiritual death is a separation from our Father in Heaven. This is the Adversary’s sole focus. And since the beginning he’s known just how to push us away from God. He villainizes our divine origin, our naked and raw state we are sent here in. He convinces us that we are too broken to be of God, too unrefined, too unadorned to be in His presence. And too often, we believe that great liar. We look down at our nakedness, our unfinished, non-embellished being and feel unworthy. And we hide.

The problems with hiding are many, but first and foremost, we are committing a spiritual suicide of sorts, denying ourselves communion with our Father. We hide in many ways, through concealing, altering, and disguising our true selves. All the while, being false to our divine nature, cutting ourselves off from who we are, denying a loving relationship not only with our God, but also with ourselves.

We listen to Satan and his minions, the many voices of the world and culture we live in, and we create a façade, a woman to hide behind, to conceal the woman we wish we could be openly and without fear.

Women of God have no need to hide from themselves or from their Father. We may feel like broken, soiled vessels, but in truth we are His most lovely creation, the last life placed on the earth, the crowning jewel. President Gordon B. Hinckley words it so perfectly: “Having looked over all of [His creations], it declared it to be good. He then created man in His own likeness and image. Then as His final creation, the crowning of His glorious work, He created woman. I like to regard Eve as His masterpiece after all that had gone before, the final work before He rested from His labors.”



That is why this year I’m working on embracing my nakedness, that raw state in which I was created. I’m working to bare myself, my thoughts, my feelings, my dreams and the desires of my heart to myself and to my Father. After all, I am His daughter. I’m striving to be comfortable in my own skin, to allow myself to walk into the world nude, au naturel, unprepared for presentation to my peers. To accept myself for the woman I am, to resist the urge to conceal myself behind worldly ornaments and trendy disguises. After all, I am loved just as I am.

As President Dieter F. Uchtdorf so beautiful said:
“You are loved. You are dear to your heavenly parents. The infinite and eternal Creator of light and life knows you! He is mindful of you. Yes, God loves you this very day and always. 


He is not waiting to love you until you have overcome your weaknesses and bad habits. He loves you today with a full understanding of your struggles. He is aware that you reach up to Him in heartfelt and hopeful prayer. He knows of the times you have held onto the fading light and believed—even in the midst of growing darkness. He knows of your suffering. He knows of your remorse for the times you have fallen short or failed. And still He loves you.

And God knows of your successes; though they may seem too small to you, He acknowledges and cherishes each one of them. He knows everything about you. He sees you clearly—He knows you as you really are. And He loves you—today and always!

Do you suppose it matters to our Heavenly Father whether your makeup, hair, and nails are perfect? Do you think your value to Him changes based on how many followers you have on Instagram or Pinterest? Do you think He wants you to worry or get depressed if some un-friend or un-follow you on Facebook or Twitter? Do you think outward attractiveness, your dress size, or popularity make the slightest difference in your worth to the One who created the Universe?

He loves you not only for who you are this very day but also for the person of glory and light you have the potential and the desire to become.

More than you could ever imagine, He wants you to achieve your destiny.”

So, I’m dropping the tools and the weapons I’ve been handed by society to prove my womanhood, and instead I’ll be utilizing the means God has given me to reach my full potential. I'm choosing not to hide myself away. Instead, I choose to seek my God, and myself, in every moment of every day from now on.

Originally, I named this blog This Side of Invisible to give myself the courage to share all that is hidden. This year, I hope to stop hiding.

Let 2015 be the year of the Naked. 
  

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