Perfection….? Please. Part One.

Wow! It’s been a while since God has led me to write a post and can I say, I’ve missed it!!!! However, one thing I promised myself and God when He gave me this vision – I wouldn’t do this my way but His!! I can’t give anyone anything while God is working on me! He’s the potter and I am the clay! This season that I’ve been in – it’s been so uncomfortable! It’s been trying! It’s been hard! It’s been overwhelming! It’s been exhausting! But man has it been exhilarating! It’s been eye opening! It’s been beautiful!!! God showed me some things that I have been hiding since before I was old enough to understand what hiding was! Things I didn’t know ever bothered me – came to surface! I’ve asked Him to show me myself so that He can fix me, and I’ve been completely naked before Him! Although it’s sometimes been extremely hard to come to terms with some things that I had to face – I am extremely grateful that God loves me enough to show me myself so that I can get better in Him! There are so many people every day struggling, and they don’t know why – they point fingers at everyone else! “it’s my mom!” “my ex-boyfriend” “my so-called BFF!” “The worker at the grocery store…” but sometimes you have to sit back and realize… No. It’s YOU! Sometimes the hidden things can cause behavior that you don’t even realize is connected to something buried deep within you! That’s what God showed me! Ki, it’s you! You still have some things you have not faced that need to be fixed so that you can grow and go into this next season with no baggage!!

Now for those of you that don’t know – this next season is a big one! On November 30, 2019 in front of some of my closest friends and family, the most amazing man asked me to be his wife; and after cheers, tears, and shock…. I, of course, said YES! And in NINETY-NINE DAYS, Lord bless, we will say our “I DO’s!” and begin our journey as one! So of course, reality set in! You know us girls – this is the moment we dream of our whole lives!!! And it came and it was not at all like I expected! Why you ask? Because reality set in! God had to make me realize…. After the wedding, you have a whole marriage that will have to be taken care of EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!!!! Now, I am not marrying just any kind of man! I am marrying a SAVED man. A preacher. 😐 (insert fear here!!) Although I didn’t realize it at the time, my grandmother taught me a lot about being married to a preacher (my grandfather) all of my life by the experiences she discussed with me privately and during Sunday school class! One thing I KNOW – marrying a preacher is not an easy task and I’ve heard that from MULTIPLE preachers’ wives!! It requires so much strength. Patience. Endurance. Obedience. Love. And most of all: HUMBLENESS! This meant, I had to really prepare myself to not just be a wife but be the wife that my husband will need to do the work God has called him to do! On top of that – God has called me to a ministry of uplifting and helping women, so I have to balance being a Wife. A mother (when we’re ready). Support my husband in his full-time ministry. Work on my full-time ministry. Work a full-time job. Make sure dinner is on the table every night and look good while doing it!?!?! JESUS HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did I get scared? I know I can do these things, right? Why are you worried??? Because. It’s not about making sure I do all these things – my fear was doing all of these things and not be perfect in EVERY. SINGLE. CATERGORY. EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!

I don’t know if you suffer with the idea of perfection! Me. I’ve suffered with it my entire life! I felt that I had to be perfect to get friends. I had to be perfect for a man to love me. I had to be perfect for God to use me. Perfection! Ugh! It completely consumed my entire life! I have found myself posing in general, everyday life so if someone glanced at me, they’d think “wow. Look at her perfectly arched back and pointed toe. Her profile is so beautiful.” – don’t laugh! (okay, I understand if you do!) but seriously! I could never be found NOT in perfect condition! I used to wear makeup EVERY day because the idea of showing an imperfection was scary to me! Take pictures – oh I’m standing wrong, delete it because everything isn’t lined up! Staying in the mirror to fix one piece of hair that isn’t laying correctly! I can’t come to God until I have the appearance of having it all together because He won’t want me like this, right? UGH! UGH! UGH! It was exhausting!

You may wonder – what started this idea of you having to be perfect? Well – my dad was never there – it must be because I wasn’t perfect right? I was molested at a young age – why? Maybe I didn’t act like a good girl or I did something not childlike that made him feel like it was OK to do that?? Never had a lot of female friends – is it because I’m a tom boy? Or I’m not girly enough for them to like me?? Every time a problem happened in my life, I blamed myself! (I’ve explained this before but heyyyyyyy newbies!) Something was wrong with the way I talked, looked, acted, something! It was me! Now I know – that was the devil all along – he hoped that I’d spend the rest of my life in that unhealthy cycle (BUT GOD! We’ll talk about that later) Sidebar: It is so important that when they are YOUNG, speak life into your children! Talk to them! Love on them! Teach them to do the same!!! Don’t wait until the adult problems come to treat the problems that started as child! It’s much, much harder then!!! Okay, so yeah – I always pointed the finger at me even when it was clear that I wasn’t to blame! It had to do with somehow, I wasn’t perfect enough!

So, this idea of being perfection started to taint the process of planning my wedding! The first couple things we did in regards to the wedding, I ended up being in tears! Why? Because they didn’t go as I had planned them in my mind! My mind would absolutely leave no room for error! If there was the slightest hiccup, I felt it didn’t go well instead of enjoying those bits of imperfection because you know what those are called?? LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so focused on perfection I wasn’t enjoying the smiles around me of the people that loved me and that I loved the most! I was just in my head – beating myself up or holding back tears trying to pretend like I’m enjoying myself! Ugh! SO MISERABLE!!!!!!

I had a talk with my fiancé! “baby! You’re struggling with wanting everything to be perfect and it’s not going to be! Stuff is going to happen! And it’s OK!” I felt better! Then my auntie booboo had a convo with me as well! “Kiesha! You have to get over this idea of perfection; everything doesn’t have to be perfect!” Then here comes my Buddha (my uncle Jon) – “Niece! Everything is going to be OK! You gotta know that and believe that! We got you! God got you! You gotta go in that room and pray and give it all over to God! Stop worrying!” My best friend, “It’s OK! No matter what, It’s OK! We both struggle with perfection, but we have to remember, it’s OK!” OK! It’s clicking! It’s really clicking! But I am still struggling because this thought process is something, I’ve had FOREVER, so it’s a one day a time a time type of thing!

I had to start to reexamine myself! The root of my fear of not being perfect was this: if I am not perfect and if everything connected to me isn’t perfect, I’ll end up alone! But with those 4 people on top of God – a light went off over my head: I’ve NEVER been perfect and look at who is surrounding me!?!?! I had God – numero uno! And He KNOWS that I am not perfect but yet, everyday – He’s right by my side forgiving me, loving me, teaching me! I had an amazing fiancé who knows I’m not perfect but has made the commitment to spend forever with me and all he asks is for me to be me and to make sure his onions on his steak are golden brown & crispy – but not burnt! 😊 I have my amazing aunt and uncle who took me in when I lost my home and love me and help me every single day despite my flaws! My best friend who will call just to see my face and tell me how much he loves me and how pretty I am! They know I’m not perfect! I have several close girlfriends who know me know me and they still love me and check on me and are ready to be there for whatever I need – they’re here and know I’m not perfect!!! I have family, church family and friends – they love me and know I’m not perfect! KIESH! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was so caught up in the lie that I couldn’t see the truth in front of me!

Stay tuned for part two!

With Broken Beautifulness –

Kiesh💕