Who's Writing Your BIO?

Have you ever attended a church service, program, etc, where someone who was introducing a speaker read their bio, and when the person got up they said something like, "I was looking around trying to see who they were talking about!"  Because even though that is them, and even though they did accomplish and do all those things, and more, when they heard someone else say it, it sounded too good to be true, and it sounded to good to be...them.  It really did sound like they were talking about someone else!

That's what just happened to me when I read the draft for my BIO someone wrote for me.  This young lady has had only two conversations with me but because of the gift that works in her and what she saw and learned from those two conversations with me, she was able to draft a bio for me that makes me feel like I have to live up to it!  It almost makes me want to say, "Take some out! It doesn't sound true!"  Oh, but it is true.  That's all me!

It's the enemy's job to downplay everything about you that will bring glory to God, and make major impact on others.  He wants to downplay everything about you that will help break bondage, bring enlightenment, breakthrough and understanding to someone. It's his job to bring thoughts to your mind or use others in a way that may cause you to second-guess yourself, even though you are operating in that which God has called, appointed and anointed you to do. It's unfortunate that for too many of us, it's so much easier for us to agree with and be side-tracked by what he's saying about us than it is for us to agree with and continue walking in what God has said about us and to us! 

Other people often see so much more in you than you see in yourself.  Have you not been complimented and found yourself having a hard time accepting what they say?  That has happened to me more than once.  I've been complimented on things that I don't even think about, like my stature, or my confidence in my height and stature.  I've been told on several occasions that I carry myself like a queen.    I thought I had ugly feet until I was about 35 years old when a young man told me I had pretty feet. That one compliment literally changed the way I saw my own feet. But you know why it was a shock to hear such things about myself at first? Because I've spent so much time listening to  the devil downplay my beauty and stature by pointing out how much weight I've gained, the shape of my nose, or the imperfections I see in my skin and hair.  I know we're not supposed to be affirmation junkies, but sometimes a good sincere compliment can be just the booster shot you need to get back to looking at yourself and seeing the beauty and strength God gave you!

I believe this is why it is so very important for all of us to fight with everything within us against becoming stuck in a rut, stagnate, or locked into a comfort zone.  That which is comfortable and familiar can be the death of you and everything God has called you to be!  Those who "know you best" may be  the very ones who will resist your stepping out into the greater possibilities that God and life have to offer.  I've personally known people who live in Kansas City, Kansas but won't drive to Missouri, even though it is literally, down the street!  Or who will hardly ever even leave their county to shop or eat in another county, even though, doing so would only cause them to drive a few miles.  They fear the unknown, looking out of place, people who look differently, or they simply fear the interstate. They've either heard a few horror stories or made up a few of their own and use them as the perfect excuse to not expose themselves to anything outside a 5 or 10 mile radius.  This is exactly what the enemy wants us to do! Not just in driving, but in life in general.

But all it takes is one encounter with someone you've never seen before, and to see and hear that person's response to that which God has placed inside of you to rebuild that portion of your self-esteem that the enemy has been chipping away from you with his lies.  All it takes is for someone to hear your testimony, or listen intently as you passionately describe what you feel God calling you to do to reignite that fire in you that the enemy blew out with the wind of his verbal abuse.

All it takes, is for us to allow someone else to write our bio. I couldn't write my own bio because, although some people are,  I'm not good at  "tooting my own horn". But what I had written was so downplayed and generic that it did not sound professional, and it did nothing to present myself to the world as someone having something of value to offer.  As an author  my bio may be the only tool I have to draw people in to purchase my books.  So if my bio sounds like someone who  who doesn't know who they are, or doesn't feel like they  have much to offer, because I feel guilty about complimenting myself, I'll never become the best-selling author that I know I'm capable of becoming!   My  bio could actually hinder my own book sales! While I was writing my own bio, my problem was, even though I was doing the typing, I was letting the devil do the talking!  (My God!)  I was writing bad bio's because without realizing it I was actually allowing the devil to help write my bio. I was trying to advertise my gift but I kept falling prey to his idea that I didn't want to build myself up too much, or come across like I thought I was "all that".  But truth be told, I, you, we ARE ALL THAT!  We are ALL THAT God has said we are! 

I can think of a few bible characters who presented God with a devilish bio of themselves when He called them out to do something great.  Moses said that he was slow of speech.  (stuttered) God called Gideon a mighty man of valor while he hid, and even before he went and did what God told him to do he needed a few signs, just to be sure. Even Paul said he was less than the least of all apostles, as if one who was born out of time.  These people spoke and thought of themselves as less than what God could or should use.  How pitiful was the bio they wrote about themselves.  But look at how mightily God used them!  And then there was David's own father who took it upon himself to write David's bio to Samuel by not even acknowledging that he had another son.  It wasn't until the prophet asked the question, "Are these all your sons?" that he said, "Yes there is but he's outside with the sheep". But Samuel asked because he knew what God had said to him and the oil had not yet flowed, even though the other brothers looked like what he thought God should anoint as king. There had to be another son because God is not confused about who He chooses. So even though David's father had his own version of David's bio, God had already written His own and spoken that David would be king.

I will honestly say that some of the greatest compliments I have received have been from people I'd just met for the first time, or sometimes, from strangers who stopped me in public to compliment me. Those who know you and aren't jealous hearted can also speak to you about the great and awesome things God has placed in you. But you can tell when someone is a messenger of your enemy because even a compliment can be followed up with some type of criticism or something to downplay who you are.  These are not the people you will want to have a say in the writing of your bio! And the things they say are not things that you will want to include when writing your own bio.

Try something for me.  Choose a way to ask people you know what they would write about you if they were chosen to write your bio.  You will probably be presently surprised at how highly people think of you.  And if they think so highly of you, how much more highly do you think your heavenly Father thinks of you? How much more highly should you think of yourself?