Yes. I . Do.

By now you’ve likely discovered that I am an extremely sentimental person. I cry at commercials. Shoot, I cry if the wind blows the right way. Ha!!! So it’s no surprise that Cars 3 (yes, the children’s movie) had me crying like a baby. Literally I was weeping in the theater when we took my son to see it.

It’s not just that it was a good movie. It’s that it’s the story of TWO underdogs. If anything gets me going and the waterworks flowing, it’s a good underdog story. I identified with both characters’ stories for different reasons and man it just spoke to me.

We’ve rented it from the library and it’s been on repeat for days. My kids love it. I was sitting there half listening to it, and it was at the end of the movie where the character Cruz has taken over the big race for Lightning McQueen. The “enemy” character realizes that she poses a threat to his win, so he drops back and starts talking to her about how she doesn’t belong. She’ll never be a race car. She’ll never be “one of them.” Then he leaves her with her thoughts. But Lightning helps her realize that HE didn’t get in HER head, but SHE got in HIS. So she musters up the courage to fight and gets right up next to him. On the last lap he shoves her into the wall and says, “You don’t belong on this track.” And just when you think she’s going to give up, she pulls off the most epic move in the history of cartoon race car movies. As she pulls it off she says, “Yes. I. Do.”

And I started crying. (Actually, I’m crying again right now as I type this. Haha.) Because those words resonated all throughout my spirit and left me in chills. It overwhelmed me so strongly that it leaked out my eyeballs. There are SO many areas of my life right now that the enemy tries to tell me I don’t belong in. There are platforms being built and elevations happening. There is even more freedom coming down the line and the enemy is straight up ticked off. So to try to get in my head he keeps whispering, “You don’t belong here. You’re a fraud.”

But every time the lies come, I’ve been balling up my hands into little tiny (but powerful!) fists and roaring, “YES. I. DO.” I’m no fraud. This is WHO I am. This is my identity. This is me standing up in my AUTHORITY. So you see, it’s not him getting into my head. Ohhhh no. Not anymore! It’s me getting into his by not falling for his crap anymore. I’m not going to allow him to steal from me anymore. Not knowingly. I’m a fighter. I belong here in this rink and I’m not going down. I’ve done my training. I’ve taken a few blows, but I’ve figured out how to come back swinging. I might have been a little scrappy before, but that’s not me now. I’m alllll bulked up and nice and strong. And now it’s ME pulling off those epic end of the race moves. Now it’s me standing willingly in the spotlight and operating in the gifts I have been given. You know why I can do that now?

Because none of it is about me anymore.

Every platform I’m being given. Every advancement. Every elevation. All provision. None of it is about me. It’s all about advancing the Kingdom of God by showing His kids that they are His and that He loves them so very, very much. It’s about taking new ground in my life so that I can live in freedom and show others that it IS possible to live freely. It IS possible to live unbound and untangled and untethered to what has held us back for so long.

So, no more. I belong on this track. And I’m not going anywhere.

And neither should you.

Be brave.
-Nikki