You’re the one who walks around every day, a smile on your lips but inside your heart is completely shredded.
You’re the one who just, for once, wants to be liked. You want to fit in. You want to be noticed.
You don’t actually like the people you spend your time with, but they seem to like you – well, the ‘you’ that you let them see. And if they like that part of you, then it doesn’t matter if you like them, because fitting in is all you want.
You’re the one who cries yourself to sleep every night because night time is the only time you can grieve the piece of yourself that got cut off that day.
You think you’re completely alone, that no one even notices that inside you’re dying. You think no one sees that your smile is fake, because it seems like no one truly care about you.
You’re the one who goes out of your way to help others. You do everything in your power to get them to like you, and all they do is expect you to do things for them again and again. There is no thanks; just the expectation.
And yet the one time you need something, no one is there for you.
I see you. Because once upon a time, I was you.
I wore the mask that you now put on every day. I thought it was better that no one ever see the real me because the real me would only get made fun of. I thought it was better to pretend that everything was okay, because it seemed that no one actually cared if I was okay; they just called me dramatic if I shared the truth.
I still struggle sometimes. I put on my mask when life seems to be just a little too much to handle. I want to appear strong and like I have it all together.
But let me tell you: no one has it all together. Everyone who appears to have it all together is just wearing their own mask.
Beneath the mask, we are all hurt and broken people seeking more.
Until I stopped hiding fully behind my mask, I could never find what the ‘more’ was because I could never be real. When I stopped hiding behind that fake mask, I met a God Who is more real than anything I’ve ever known. When I allowed God to see the shredded tatters of my heart, I felt healing for the first time in my life.
Beneath the mask, you matter. Your heart matters. Your life matters.
Remove the mask, my friend.
Because beneath the mask is someone beautiful.
My God is waiting with open arms for you to stop trying to hold yourself together. He’s already got it all together. We just need to remove the mask and say, “Yes!”
Remove the mask, beloved.
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