Last week, I opened myself up a bit and revealed a part of me that I was scared to show. My insecurities. My lack of love…for myself. My hardness. Not to those around me, but being too hard on myself. I went to a talk last week that was given by Jo Naughton. I didn’t know what to expect and I was scared of going. Why? I was scared that God might actually meet me there and do something. Secretly, part of me was hoping that He would.

I was sitting there, listening intently, hoping for a song that would speak to me, or a word that would pierce my heart. I wasn’t sure what I felt really. Part of me was a little angry. I could feel myself holding back. I wanted this big revelation that everything was going to be ok, and that my life would start to have a meaning. Everything that I had been through in my life would all be worth it. When it came to the point of coming to the front to ‘hand things over to God’ (so to say), about 95% of the women went forward. Me included. I knelt there, still hoping that God would touch me. I could feel this surge inside me. It wasn’t a feeling from being touched by God, but it was a sense of anger. Why was I not feeling anything? Why do I feel empty? Why did I not get this thunderbolt-lightening-revelation from God? People were crying tears of relief, tears of happiness and tears of sadness around me. Me? Nothing.

I then asked a friend to pray for me. It was hard for me to convey to her what I was feeling, but she got the picture. Whilst she was praying, she had this vision of me standing in front of a big chest of clothing. I was trying on each item of clothing. Each one so beautiful, but not one of them looked right on me. I wasn’t happy with whatever I tried on. She revealed to me that God loves me for who I am and not what I wanted to try to be. I just need to be happy with that revelation. I need to be happy with who I am and the moment that I am in.

What is happiness though? How do I get to be happy? How do I accept myself and be happy with who I am? Will my life start to mean something if I find this “happiness”? Well, I hope so! To help me find this happiness, I’ve done something a little bit daring. I have challenged myself to find this true happiness, and I am doing this with the help of someone. Jennifer Dukes Lee and her amazing book called The Happiness Dare. To say that I am scared is a bit of an understatement. Trying to break out of a cycle of where you are so use to feeling something is so hard. But, I owe this to myself, and to my family to do this.

Over the next few weeks and months, I will be involved with a team of people working through this book and being part of a launch team. (The book is not out yet, but it will be soon…2nd August to be more precise! You can pre-order it here though). As well as helping to launch the book, I am also hoping that this will be the answer I need to all my earlier questions. I mean, if this REALLY does do what it says, and you see this really transform me, then I am going to be living proof that you HAVE to get this book. So, I guess I’m going to be writing a lot about my journey through #thehappinessdare and mentioning the book a whole heap!