As a young girl, I loved the story of Cinderella.
The outcast girl who’s future doesn’t look too bright until she finds herself rescued through relationships making all her dreams come true.
And she lived happily ever after.
Once upon a time, I believed I could be healed through people.
Fully exposing myself with ever encounter.
Friendships. Romantic Affairs. Family.
Throughout the years, searching for the one person to heal what I couldn’t seem to fix.
In life, we are allowed a certain amount of time.
The harsh reality is people can only offer something temporary.
Leaving us incomplete: it’s not up to them to heal us.
Whatever we suppress will find it’s way back in our lives.
In January, the church I attend went on a fast together called ‘The Daniel Fast’.
It was a time for everyone to push away distractions and listen to God’s voice.
Whether it was food, social media, television, we set time away from our typical norm strictly for prayer and fasting.
We were doing this fast together to learn how to hear what God planned for us and experience obedience through surrender.
So, it didn’t come as a surprise when I felt God tell me it was time to allow Him to heal me: emotionally.
I felt so relieved!
There was a part of me that strangely felt incomplete.
At the time, my boyfriend and I were discussing plans for the future.
Deep down I knew in order for us to move forward in love, I needed to be healed emotionally first.
Therefore, I would have to revisit my past to truly experience freedom.
Was I nervous? Of course!
Yet, I was ready because I knew I would have God with me.
It didn’t take too long into the fast for me to discover I needed to finally meet the one person who caused the genesis of emotional trauma in my life, my biological mother.
That’s right, I had never met her.
After years of knowing of her existence, I’d convince myself I didn’t need to meet her because I felt there wasn’t anything she could teach me now as an adult.
I had already forgiven her, yet God kept telling me I needed to go not just for me but for her.
Reluctantly, I told God I would consider visiting her, I just needed a sign.
Hey, don’t judge me.
Over the next few weeks, He didn’t just give me a sign, but an entire series of sermons titled “All Strings Attached”.
The sermons were strategically centered around allowing God to heal all areas in our lives, detaching from trauma, and experiencing liberty in God.
Everything that I needed to hear was wrapped in one shiny bow for me to visit my mother in confidence!
We can learn from anyone, even those who’s hurt us!
Two weeks ago, I took the trip to visit my biological mother.
I must say it was one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Not only did I receive everything I thought I needed to hear about my past, but she shared so much knowledge on how I can move forward.
She shared with me the title of today’s post, “The Cinderella Effect”.
She stated, “Breonna, you have the Cinderella Syndrome.”
At first, I was taken back by her comment.
Part of me wanted to lash out like a five year old, but God instructed me to listen.
She continued, ” You feel every person you meet is meant to be. Every person you meet isn’t meant to experience your happily ever after. People are meant to be in our lives for a certain amount of time. You don’t have to expose all of you to everyone.”
She was right.
I also learned she was experiencing her own journey of healing.
And, I too, was able to share knowledge about life and God’s ability to heal us.
Talk about divine timing! Stay tuned to see how our relationship will turn out to be ☺️.
Healing Nuggets
We all have different versions of ourselves.
There are different attitudes we express to different people.
Exposing ourselves to everyone will not heal the trauma.
We can’t save ourselves!
Going back to the root of the hurt helps to not only reveal but heal all of the trauma.
God is the one person who can take and recreate a better version of us.
Most important, it’s never too late to be healed from any hurt.
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