Sweet sister, I see you—caught between who you've become in Christ and the old life still wrapped around you. Like new wine, your heart bursts with life while pressed against old walls. The old container of familiar faces, places, and routines threatens to crack under the pressure of who you're becoming. It no longer fits who Christ has made you to be.
Standing in His Truth
I know the ache when those closest to you still see yesterday's shadows in your eyes. Their whispers and doubts can make you question whether you're really clean, really new, really His. It's a battle of mind and heart to believe the truth of who you've become while standing in spaces that knew you before. Like Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb, you stand made new while others see only who you were.
Permission to Dream Again
Those gossip-wrapped memories others cling to? They're empty grave clothes now. Let them fall away. Do not look back to the old self, the woman you once were. Fix your gaze forward and walk in the freedom of who God has called you to be. Leave behind the fragments of a former life and step into the new. Rejoice in the unique calling the Lord has placed upon you, even if others find it strange or unworthy. It is okay to dream, to believe that the impossible is possible, to be an agent of change for His glory. After all, you’re living proof of it!
To the little girl within us all—innocent, trusting, and full of wonder—let her voice rise again. Shine forth, unafraid. Walk confidently, letting your spark ignite the hearts of others. Allow yourself to dream once more. That childlike spark of faith rising in you is not naive—it's sacred. Your joy isn't too bold; your dreams aren't too bright.
Yes, even when your old world feels too small, too skeptical, too unchanged to hold the new you. Didn't Jesus face the same in Nazareth, where they could only see the carpenter's son? Yet their unbelief didn't make Him any less the Messiah nor silence the proclamation that He lives still. Likewise, your environment may resist change, and ties to your old life may not easily be severed. But today, give yourself permission to be different. Refuse to walk in the shadows of the past. Be the new creation, even when doubt and fear whisper otherwise.
Take Courage
It takes a special kind of courage to live new while still walking through old spaces. Your calling isn't to convince those who knew you before—it's to live so fully in your newness that they can't help but see God's work in you. For you aren't just improved or reformed—you are reborn.
So shine, sister. Let each step in faith tell His story of redemption. Every moment you choose to live from your new heart instead of your old wounds declares His victory. You're not an impostor wearing borrowed grace—you're His beloved, being transformed from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18). Walk free..