Found Barefoot In A Holler

Barefoot – Bare and raw flesh standing in transparency before God

In – Surrounded and enclosed

Holler – A place that is a valley between mountains

Have you ever felt as though you were stripped away of everything and everyone that was a part of you? A part of you that you loved dearly and held on to tightly but yet it was removed from your life? It may be an event that you have prayed for or one that was unexpected.

I’ve been there. Both times. The last time changed my life for the better. God lined up events to take place and to remove people and things in my life to have me BAREFOOT in front of Him. Nowhere else to go and nothing to do, just me and Him. I was stripped of everything that made up my life. Stripped of my flesh and so undeserving clothed by God’s righteousness, grace, mercy, and love.

The process is not easy especially as the depths of your heart and soul are being exposed and revealed. It wasn’t to harm me but it was to bring out the best in me and to give me my best life for His glory.

The good news is that IN the process, we are surrounded, wrapped up and enclosed by the safe, loving arms of our Heavenly Father. His love for us is continual, unchanging and everlasting. There isn’t anything that we can do for Him to stop or change His love for us. In the midst of being bare in front of Him, you will not find judgment or hate but you will find a Father with outstretched hands saying I have been waiting for your child! In Him, we can be free from our fleshly selves. We can be forgiven and made a new creature.

A holler can be a place in the depths of your heart and soul that is broken. A place where shame, sorrow, grief, depression, and sin has led to the death of your life. Ironically, I was literally in a holler and made bare before Jesus. There is good news in this, you are between mountains and there is a mountain that you will be on top of one day. Just because you are in a holler now doesn’t mean that you will remain there. God has a plan and even though the plan may seem like it’s going the wrong way, it’s not. There may be things in your life that need to be removed or lessons to be learned to get you to the top of the mountain. Rest assured that through the ugly, through the pain and through the shame, you are enclosed in His everlasting mercy and love. Sometimes even when you don’t know how or understand, you just have to hold on to Him. Our lowest moments are our most defining moments. Often times our character is developed, we discover what we are passionate about, our gifts and the art of perseverance.

My story brought me to the moment I was found Barefoot In A Holler. A day when I realized that every moment in my life brought me to the exact place God needed me to be and at the right time. I didn’t need to understand the why behind everything because I knew God had every day of my life written perfectly for me. I just had to choose Him.

Xoxo,

Hannah B.