Our Cinderella Story: What Do We Really Want?

Have you ever found yourself living in the feet of Cinderella’s stepsisters? You know their story. Big feet. Tiny glass slipper. Desperate to make the shoe fit but knowing deep down it never will. 

I’ve been there. Maybe not with my feet, but certainly with my heart. Like those two girls who try to squeeze their big uglies into that delicate slipper, I find myself trying to fit my heart into the lovely picture I fantasize it to be.

Just when it looks like the stepsisters and my delusions could possibly become a reality, the light of truth steps in making it crystal clear we will never come close to achieving those impossible dreams. The slipper flies off their bulging feet, and the Cinderella-like qualities—loving, kind, loyal, faithful, forgiving, and seeing the best in everyone and in every situation—I had hoped were in my heart, are sadly lacking. For when it comes to living it out, I see all too clearly what is the real me.

When I get those glimpses of how far from true north my heart really is, it’s quite easy to beat myself up with the darkness and hopelessness that tries to seep in. Those words in Psalm 42:5  of my “soul being downcast” is where I begin to live. They start to become my home.

I forget that Jesus loves me. 

I forget that He has saved me. 

I forget that I cannot possibly fulfill every nook and cranny of the law. And with that…

I forget the reality of His grace.

Thankfully, the Lord has a far different perspective. 

With His mighty last words of love spoken on the cross, “It is finished,” He is telling us that every jot and tittle, every letter of the law has been taken care of because He has fulfilled it for us. When we ask Him into our hearts, that which He did on the cross becomes ours. 

If we are walking in and by the Holy Spirit, the Lord tells us in Romans 8, there is no condemnation when we do stumble in sin. 

In 1 John 3:20, He reassures us that though “our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.” In other words, even though He knows who we are and how much we fail, who He is, is greater than all that. When with humility we admit we can’t possibly make our hearts pretty or the shoe to fit, we open the floodgates for His love to enter in and fulfill what we cannot.

It’s not about our abilities. It’s ALL about Him and what He did when He took our sins on Himself. The shackles that bind us start to fall away, and we begin to live fully alive in the Good News of the Gospel and in the joy of the Lord! (See John 8:32.)

So how to begin? Don’t take yourself too seriously but take the Lord at His Word. He is our Savior. We aren’t, can’t, and never will be. 

• *When He tells us to “come to Him and He will give us rest,” run unabashedly to Him letting Him into the deepest recesses of your hearts. As the Holy Spirit peels back the layers, confess to Him everything He reveals. Ask Him to give you Godly repentance. Only then will you find peace. 

• *When He tells us, “Today when you hear His voice, don’t harden your heart,” ask Him to soften your heart so you can receive and do what He is speaking to you.

• * When you sense changes the Lord wants to make in your heart, don’t rely on yourself to see that happen. ONLY the Lord can do those things. After all, if we could fix all that is wrong in our hearts, then why did Jesus die? (See Galatians 2:21.) The stark reality is, we are completely helpless without Him. 

Jesus IS the only Way. 

He IS Truth. 

He IS Life. 

He IS Purity. Excellence. He IS beautiful beyond words. 

There is none like Him.

Our feet may never fit into Cinderella’s slipper, but Lord willing, the hearts we yearn for—way beyond Cinderella’s—will begin to be filled with the Lord’s mercy, compassion, forgiveness, grace, and love. As our hearts are transformed by Jesus, they will look more and more like His.

When those around us see the beauty of the Lord in us, they will be drawn to Him. What better way to show His glory. 

Jesus is the Good News of the Gospel.

With love,
Kimberly