Testimony Tuesday- Brooke

[So here is one of our last Testimony Tuesday's for a while!  This girl is honestly the most honest, most reliable and most real person you will ever meet.  She has been my best friend since I can remember, and has been there through all my ups and downs (as I have her!).  It is so exciting to be able to have her share a part of her story- and really if you have time check out her blog- so Meet Brooke (a.k.a. Brookie)]

Hey, I’m Brooke. I usually blog over at Living as a Single Gal, but today I’m sharing a bit of my story on Meet the Marshall’s. I’ve known Bre pretty much since we were toddlers – so pretty much FOREVER. I don’t think I have a single childhood/ adolescent/ teenager/ young adult memory that Bre wasn’t a part of. I am very excited to share with you all a little bit about myself and what God is teaching me.

 

Little Brooke & little Breanna – weren’t we cute?

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I struggled all throughout my early school days (didn’t we all?!). Like many young people, I was bullied – not to the extent where I went home and cried about it every night, but enough for it to slowly eat away at my self worth. So often, I was deceived into thinking that I wasn’t good enough. I constantly believed what others labeled me as: too big, too tall, too ugly, the list goes on and on. The labels stuck inside my head for so long, that I began to believe them myself.

Flash ahead several years. For so long I thought of myself in terms of how other people saw me, so when I got to a place where negative labels ceased, I had trouble figuring out who I was. It wasn’t until I learned to discover myself through the eyes of Our Lord that I found (or started to find) who I was designed to be. Now, don’t get me wrong, I still don’t have it all together. Who am I? I’m still trying to figure that out. But I do know who’s I am, and that has made all the difference. As I dove into God’s word and learned more about our Creator, I found myself becoming more and more confident in who I was, because true self-esteem comes only through our Lord Jesus Christ.

“You are altogether beautiful, my darling, there is no flaw in you.”

Song of Solomon 4:7 (NIV)

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            Last year, I was honoured with the position of designing and leading a girl’s empowerment group at a local pregnancy centre. When the position was initially offered to me, I almost declined. How could I teach girls about self-worth and loving themselves, when it’s something I’ve been struggling with for the past 21 years? But I must have had a mini brain lapse, because I said yes. To say I was nervous would be an understatement. I was terrified. But, in spite of that fear, I took this project to the Lord. I wanted Him to optimize this experience, not only for the girls, but for me as well. And did He ever?! I had three lovely teens (no, you didn’t misread…..there were 3 girls in my group) that signed in to do this 10 week journey with me. We may have been small in numbers, but we were mighty in power. At first I was disappointed that God only sent 3 girls my way, but in the end, it turned into a total blessing.

The Lord made something beautiful come out of those 10 weeks. He took all of the pain and ugliness I endured as a young kid, and turned it into something empowering for those girls. This experience was probably one of the most challenging in my life, but from what I got out of it, and what I hope the girls got out of it, it was definitely well worth it. The Lord is so good, so, so good.

Feel free to stop by and see me at Living as a Single Gal - I’d love to hear from you!