Living in the light of honesty

My friend Peterson Toscano was recently featured on the Montel show, talking a bit about his struggles trying to reconcile his faith with his sexuality. Peterson touched briefly on honesty and being truly honest not only with all around you, but being honest with onesself.

I understand exactly where Peterson is coming from because it wasn't until I started being honest with myself that I started seeing true healing and health come into my own life. Determining to be honest, no matter the cost (which is sometimes quite severe), brings benefits even if they aren't seen in the short term. Hiding behind who we wish we could be; who our friends want us to be; who our church thinks we should be is nothing more than hiding...period and turns us into crippled fragments of what we were intended to be. If we are constantly hiding, then we aren't really living the life that we were created for.

In my own life, it wasn't until I was honest with myself, that I was able to be honest with God, my family and friends. Even though God knows all there is to know about me, in my humanity, I attempted to keep certain things veiled in the hopes that He would overlook them. Walking out of the dark and into the light was blinding...not just for me, but for those around me. But allowing my life to be sanitized by the light of honesty, has allowed me to grow spiritually and emotionally.

Whitney sang that learning to love "yourself" is the greatest love of all. But that truly can't happen until you are honest with yourself. I can't say that walking into the light of truth was all that easy because it wasn't. But when I look at the life I'm blessed with now and look at the life I had as I cowered behind who I hoped I might be, I can say with absolute clarity that the difference is as stark as the difference between black and white.

Thanks Peterson for your friendship and for continuing to allow your life to be lived in the light of honesty! Your testimony of honesty, grace and growth is reverberating around the globe to an ever widening audience that need to hear it. Blessings to you my friend!

j.