Secure in Your Skin

We talk a lot around leadership circles about needing to have a tough skin but a soft heart (and not the other way around!). My friend Heather Zempel wrote a great blog post on this called "This One's for the Girls" (http://www.discipleshipgroups.blogspot.com/). 
 
But it’s got me thinking about a related issue. We all get criticized. Justly and unjustly. We all make mistakes. We all have seasons when it just feels like nothing’s going right. 
 
One of the things my husband John and I have been talking about is the need in those times not only to have a tough skin, but maybe more importantly, a secure skin - an identity rooted in Christ - not in our role, our title, or our circumstances . . .
 
Often when I feel attacked or experience loss or failure my impulse is to become fearful or anxious. Without this title, or that possession or the next accomplishment maybe I’m not really ok, not valuable at all. I fear that maybe I’m “less than.” You ever struggle with those feelings? That’s when I need to hold my fears up to the truth of Scripture (2 Cor. 10:5)
 
“The courage to face unpleasant aspects of our inner self comes from feeling deeply loved. It also comes from the assurance that we are safe. Our gaze needs to go back and forth between divine love and our fears” (David Benner).
 
When criticized, are you able to listen, learn, and respond with the confidence that you’re God’s beloved child, secure in Him? 

Laura Crosby serves as Director of Spiritual Formation for The Table at CPC

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