"My intensity and energy overwhelm people, so I need to shrink myself to be acceptable."
How it sounds in your head: Every time you get excited or passionate, people pull back. Your friends make jokes about you being 'too much.' Girls say you're intense. You've learned to dial it down, but it's exhausting pretending to be less than you are.
"I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well."
-- Psalm 139:14Source: world - rejection from peers who couldn't handle authentic expression created performance-based relating.
You've literally watched people's faces change when you share what you're passionate about. The pattern is undeniable - your full self causes withdrawal, so you've mastered the art of dimming.
Wore camel hair, ate locusts, screamed in the wilderness, called religious leaders snakes - absolute intensity. Result: ALL Judea and Jerusalem came out to him, and Jesus called him the greatest born of women.
I REFUSE the lie that I am too much for people. IT IS WRITTEN that I am fearfully and wonderfully made - my intensity was designed by God Himself. The same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in me with FULL POWER, not dimmed power. I am not called to shrink; I am called to SHINE. IT IS WRITTEN in Matthew 5:16 that my light should shine before men. The BARAK blessing over Abraham's seed means I walk in FAVOR - the right people are magnetically drawn to the real me. I am not too much; I am exactly enough.
The Father is running toward you with a MEGAPHONE, not a muzzle. He's not asking you to tone down - He's asking you to turn UP, because the world needs your full-volume authenticity, and He's already prepared the people who will celebrate it.