Confession: Growing up I never knew what those silly signs were in the football crowds on TV. They held up a D and then a picket fence… I thought “How strange. It must mean something.” Not knowing anything about football I had to ask my dad. He went on to explain all aspects of the game and I can honestly say I enjoy watching football today because of his explanation.

But I’m not going to be talking about football defense. Today, I want to talk about another kind of defense. I want to talk about the attitude of being defensive as it relates to insecurity.

Show me a defensive person, and I’ll show you a person with lots of insecurities.

Let’s get a working definition of the word defense: Defense: noun serving to defend; protective: resistance  against  attack; protection:

Someone who is always on the defense doesn’t feel safe in who they are. Being defensive means you will protect yourself against anything and everything, even if it means missing out on something great.

Here are a few examples of a defensive person:

• No one can joke with you because you take everything literally.
• No one can (or even wants to) give you suggestions on how to do something better because they know it will end up in disaster.
• You hold almost everyone at arms length, afraid of any real, caring relationships.
• You are always more talk than action–you believe if you paint a good picture, no one will really know what’s going on underneath.

Ask yourself: Do you know a defensive person? It is almost impossible to have a real relationship with them because they always seem to hold you at arms length.

Are you a defensive person? Does almost everything other people do look like an attack to you? What are you really protecting yourself against?

Defense is a vital part of a good football game, but it will ruin the relationships in your life if you allow it to control you.

Don’t allow defensiveness to control your behavior. In the end living free from defensive behavior is a much better way to win the game.

I had breakfast with a chic last week who has been freed from much insecurity. She has allowed God to reveal to her the lies she believed about herself, and accepted His truth instead. This woman shines with freedom. No longer does she live under the shadow of bondage. She’s captivating, encouraging and full of the love of God.

But there was something troubling her. Ever since she stepped into her new found freedom, the other women in her life have treated her inhumanely. Some of the exchanges my friend has had to put up with, are just plain childish. Cut-downs and negativity. Hurtful words and hateful attitudes. My friend asked me, “What did I do to get this kind of response?”

Nothing. Except get free.

As women, if we’re not careful, we can struggle with petty jealousy. I call it Freedom Envy, caused from not being content with who we are.

We see another woman walking in the freedom we wish we had and something rises up in us. Discontent, depression, obsession, anger, jealousy, hatred… these emotions take control of our attitudes and we lash out causing our insecurity to pull us even tighter into bondage.

I used to struggle with this very thing. There was a girl I grew up with who seemed to have it all: beauty, encouragement, full of life and everyone wanted to be around her. I found myself wishing I had her life, thinking that if I was like her than maybe I wouldn’t hate who I was so much.

Then I realized this truth: I wouldn’t make a very good, her. But I would make an excellent me. No one else could be me. Through this, and many other realizations of truth I found my identity and rested in the security it brought. Not too long after I started walking in my freedom I got a call from another girl confessing her jealousy of me. She told me, “I find myself thinking that if I could just be like Anna, then I will like myself. Then, maybe people will want to be around me.” I told her the same thing God had revealed to me: “You wouldn’t make a very good, Anna. But you make an excellent you!”

See, it’s not the person we envy, but the freedom they have found that we want for ourselves. A quote I heard yesterday brings a lot to light:

“It is the things no one sees that results in what everyone wants.”–Craig Groeschel

No one knows what someone might go through to overcome their insecurities. No one can appreciate the pain, tears, doubts and questions that go into finding your identity in Christ. No one, but you.

So ladies, I beg of us, let’s not allow jealousy to steal another sister’s joy and freedom. Instead, let’s start our own journey to discovering it for ourselves. After all, you’ll never make a very good “someone else.” But you’ll make an excellent YOU!

Sometimes we all need a quickie.

I’m talking about a quick reminder of who we are and what we’ve been called to do. Come on, really??

• You are NOT who other people say you are.
• You are NOT what the enemy’s lies tell you.
• You are NOT defeated.
• You are NOT worthless.
• You are NOT ugly.
• You are NOT overcome.
• You are NOT alone.

What are you?

• You ARE who God says that you are (Forgiven, Set Free, Changed, Chosen, Blessed, Accepted.)
• You ARE strong against the enemies lies.
• You ARE a Conqueror. (Ro.8)
• You ARE worth more than gold.
• You ARE beautiful in God’s eyes (Ps. 45:11)
• You ARE full of power to stand against anything, (Eph.1)
• You ARE called to focus on others, building them up with words of encouragement. (Col. 3:16)

Now, believe it. Walk in it. Be changed by it.

#TRUTH

They’re definitely not for me! But I’m not talking about the sugary cereal we grew up eating as kids, I’m talking about different kinds of trix. I’m talking about the tricks and lies of the enemy.

None of us, not a single person, is exempt from the enemy’s tricks. If he can’t get you down one way, odds are he’ll try a different approach–probably one you weren’t thinking.

I am not unaccustomed to falling for the enemy’s tricks. I’d like to think I get better and better at dodging them, or having the wisdom to see them coming, but there are times when I look up from a self-degrading thought, or a feeling of depression, and I realize I fell for one again.

How can we become knowledgeable about the enemy’s schemes to try and take us out? How can we fight offensively to protect ourselves before an attack ever comes?

We have to know our trix button. Think of it as a weakness, a little crack in the windshield of your life that if satan could make bigger would cause more and more problems for you.

Mine? Food of course. If you know my journey you’re familiar with my struggle to stay fit and healthy. It is an everyday choice to honor God with the things I put in my mouth. The enemy knows this, so if he can wiggle his way in there just a bit he can wreak havoc in my thoughts and actions often before I even know what happened.

What about you? What’s your Trix button? Maybe yours is pride, or lust, or discontentment with your life. Maybe you compare yourself to others, or have a problem with negative words and thoughts. It’s important to know where you’re weak so you can put some extra armor around your vulnerable spots.

Silly rabbit, trix aren’t for me. Don’t fall for the enemy’s trix. Know your weaknesses. You can bet he does.

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.–Paul

A couple weeks ago, my friend, Vince Parker posted a blog about a run called the Jail Break. After little thought he, my husband, a friend of ours and yes, I joined the team as well, signed up for it.

It’s September 18th and 19th in Fort Worth Texas. Basically, the Jail Break is a 3.8 mile run over cars, through mud, and all the different obstacles around the maze. The idea behind the Jail Break is “to break free from the daily grind, from old habits, from your typical (boring) races.”

I like to think of it in a different sort of way. I am running the JailBreak for every woman, man,  girl, boy, child, and person who battles with insecurity. I will run for freedom in a different sense. I will run like I’m breaking free from a different kind of jail.

Keep posted for my own pictures and stories of this amazing experience.