"My energy and passion exhaust everyone around me. I need to be quieter and smaller."
How it sounds in your head: Every time I get excited about something, people roll their eyes. My coach says I'm 'too hyper.' My dad tells me to calm down at dinner. Even my friends seem annoyed when I talk too much about what I care about. Maybe I just need to shut up.
"Then I said, 'I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.' But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not."
-- Jeremiah 20:9Enemy assignment to silence the voice God gave you before you discover its power.
You see people's faces when you're passionate—the sighs, the 'okay buddy, relax' comments. You've been told to 'use your inside voice' or 'tone it down' so many times you believe something's wrong with your wiring.
John wore camel hair, ate locusts, screamed at religious leaders in the desert, and called them snakes to their faces. He was so intense people thought he had a demon, yet Jesus said no one born of woman was GREATER than John.
I REFUSE the lie that my passion is too much for people. IT IS WRITTEN that God's word was like a burning fire in Jeremiah's bones that he could not hold back. That fire in me is FROM GOD, not something to apologize for. IT IS WRITTEN that I am blessed coming in and going out, and that includes blessed when I'm EXCITED and ALIVE. I am Abraham's seed by covenant—the BARAK blessing protects me even when people don't understand my intensity. I don't need to shrink. I need to BURN with what God put in me. The right people will be FUELED by my fire, not exhausted by it.
The Father doesn't roll His eyes when you get excited—He LEANS IN. He's not waiting for you to calm down; He's saying 'TELL ME MORE' because your passion reflects HIS passion for you.