Taking off the Masks

Taking off the Masks is the story of the beginning of my healing process or as I like to refer to it: my journey to wholeness; a journey I began almost 20 years ago. My purpose in sharing the details of my journey is to encourage readers to join me in doing an honest self-inventory to identify any areas of our life where we may be hiding truths about ourselves. Then, to come out of hiding and begin working at taking off the many masks we may have learned to wear, and to allow God to shine the light of His Word into the dark corners of our lives and to heal us as only He can. Many of us either grew up in dysfunctional homes or were impacted at an early age by some type of abuse and/or neglect or other painful incidents or circumstances that severely wounded us and left emotional and maybe even physical scars that we still carry today. And in the process of attempting to cope with our fears, cover our guilt and shame, and medicate and/or deaden our pain, we began to use various addictive agents - alcohol and other drugs, gambling, sex, relationships, excessive shopping, overeating, and more. In the beginning we controlled our usage but after a while we found that the very things or people we controlled were now controlling us - through addictions, addictive behaviors, or other unhealthy behaviors. And all too often, even after becoming Christians we still carry much of the shame, guilt, insecurities and other symptoms of our familial dysfunctions. So now, since we no longer desired to do the things that are contrary to the Word of God, we turned to what I call the legitimate drugs - food, shopping, and others. This book is not a "quick fix" and I am not a professional counselor. I am simply a person who is on this journey and if you are willing to do the work, can share with you some of the things that I have learned that have helped me in "Taking off the Masks" and beginning my personal journey to wholeness. God has used my story to help hundreds of others and wants to do the same with yours. Our story for His glory. Taking Off The Masks is a JOurneY and there is always JOY along a JOurneY. Sometimes you just have to look for it. Taking Off The Masks is also a movement: - a series of organized activities working toward an objective. also: an organized effort to promote or attain an end. (Merriam-Webster Dictionary) I invite you to join me by beginning your own journey on the road to recovery and becoming a part of a movement whose time has come.