Exposed: From Hiding to Healing

By Jo Anna Mike-Simmons

You do not have to hide your hurt any longer. You do not have to hide your painful past anymore. You do not have to feel like something is wrong with you. God wants to take you from hiding to healing. Exposed is an invitation to move forward in life with God. Say goodbye to being stuck in the past and all

• Language: English
• Publisher: ReadersMagnet LLC
• Release date: May 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9781954371743

Jo Anna Mike-Simmons

Jo Anna Mike-Simmons is the author of From Empty to Full, published in 2017. She spends her days and nights helping others connect to God through His Word. She is suited up to use the power that God has given her to launch a legacy that will help and strengthen others to receive encouragement, healing and deliverance. In every assignment God has given her, you will find Jo Anna using the dominion of His light and His fullness to fight against the enemy's darkness to see God's victory prevail in those He loves.

Book preview

Exposed.

Copyright © 2023 by JoAnna Mike-Simmons. All rights reserved.

Published in the United States of America

ISBN Paperback: 978-1-954371-75-0

ISBN eBook: 978-1-954371-74-3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any way by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the author except as provided by USA copyright law.

The opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily those of ReadersMagnet, LLC.

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Cover design by Ericka Obando

Interior design by Mary Mae Romero

Table Of Contents

Introduction

Exposure 1

Exposure 2

Exposure 3

Exposure 4

Exposure 5

Bibliography

EXPOSE POEM

Reveal the hidden secrets, dispose of the cover-ups

Remove the fake clothing

Quit hiding your true self

I lay bare before you, tell me who I truly am

No more hiding in the caves of uncertainty

Posted is an eviction notice on the door of insecurity

I propose to leave myself uncovered

Rip my shelter away as I lie unprotected from the elements

Vulnerability is my objective

Allow me to be subject to the light

Develop me, processed like photographic development

Let my image change in clarity and visibility

Transform me, lead me to discovery

Put me in your public eye, introduce the real me

Acquaint me with me

Make me known

Bring my life, my heart, me into the open

I allow you, now, to expose me

I am giving all of myself to you

You will give yourself to me

The secret is out: I have nothing to hide

I come now before you to view me and use me

I am---Bare, unadorned, EXPOSED

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever just wanted to hide and stay hidden? Your willingness to stay hidden is a smokescreen. Do you think the world masks you? Do you believe that everyone does not know that you are hiding? They know. You know. You cannot run from yourself!

Through the years, I have tried to major in the fine art of hiding. I entertained frequent thoughts of why I must hide. I would allow them to bombard my mind, creating a residue of massive, senseless negativity. I decided in my mind that everyone will not like me if they found out who I was. I toiled with, why can’t I be my true self? I asked myself, Why am I so unusual? I could not understand the answers to these questions because I was running from who I was! Are you concealing the real you? Are you a master of disguise? God wants you to stop hiding. God is not hiding or camouflaged. Why are you?

CAMOUFLAGE

Did you know animals can master the art of disguise? When animals conceal themselves, they are trying to protect themselves from their surroundings. They can blend in or resemble their surroundings to survive. Some animals have this special ability. They are all unique when using these tricks to hide from predators. When we feel threatened, we do insane things to pull away from people or even the things of God as a defensive mechanism. While breaking away from the wrong people is especially important, breaking away from the right people is far more dangerous. The deep-sea squid uses an interesting defensive mechanism to break away from its predator. It attacks its opponent, breaks away, and then rips off its arm as a distraction. When the arm glows and twitches, the squid can get away due to its unusual trick. How many times have we done something that seems farfetched to hide our identity? We change our personality, isolate ourselves, disqualify ourselves, and rip off pieces of our real identity, only to hide and stay in the safe zone. We will never move forward in the things of God using this as a distraction to break away from God and others. We will even hurt ourselves, allowing hurt to be a distraction to break away from people. Breaking away from the people and situations that harm us is the correct thing to do, but do not self-sabotage yourself by hiding your uniqueness from the people you are supposed to be in connection with.

I have done this many times. Just when I think I will move forward, I pull back and get stuck. Friends, I am telling you right now, it is time to break the cycle. I remember hearing the Lord say something interesting to me in the summer of 2018, when I was at Discovery Camp in Columbus, Texas. At camp, all the leaders have a certain bench where they spend time together as a central location when the children have free time. This way, if a child needs a leader, they know where to go. I avoid this bench at all costs. The leaders tell me all the time, you can sit down and hang out with us, but they know that I am walking around praying. While doing so, I can keep my eyes on my kids the whole time. I do not want to avoid my leaders. I feel like I need to walk the premises and use this time as a secret defense mechanism to spend extra time with God. I walk and pray the whole time. I remember walking in the heat of the day, and I heard the Lord say to me, Pay attention to your surroundings, it is time to break the cycle; are you ready to be exposed? It was strong in my heart, so I just continued to walk and pray about it.

Negative cycles of behavior are stunting our growth in God and paralyzing us. A wonderful friend once told me that the Holy Spirit asked her an imposing question. He said, Why do you want to stay crippled and blind? Wow, that was a hard question to mull over! I do not know why God asked my friend that question, but I know that there must have been a solution. God does not want us to stay disabled in any way — physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually. There is always a way of escape. If there is a way out and you have the answer, what prevents you from getting up to walk from a crippling problem or a blinding situation?

THERE IS ALWAYS A CURE!

God is the author of the impossible. If we read through the New Testament, we can see Jesus going up to countless people, and as they believed in Him and His name, they were healed and set free from a crippling condition, time and time again. Yet, we do not believe this or believe that He is able. We dismiss the fact that His promise allows us to walk or get up from something that cripples us. He will always give us clarity and allow us to see things that we could not before. There is always a cure. A cure is always available! When God asks us a question like, do you want to be well? If we do, we should dig deep to find the answer, exposing ourselves to the inward fear, hurt, sickness, and pain that we are experiencing and have experienced. Then we are to find those crippling life suckers, give them to Jesus, and allow God to make us whole. But the real healing comes when we rise and walk in our healing and allow God to remove the scales from our diseased crippling past. There is a full provision for our cure, but we are the ones that must attend to our healing. Yes, you. God provides, but you are responsible for the change. God is placing healing before you; will you rise and walk in what He wants for you? Will you stop making excuses and go for it? God knows how long you have been disabled in your condition. He is keeping an account. Now is your time to become exposed before Him. Hand over your hidden and get His visible idea of what and who you are destined to be. He knows what needs to become clear for you in order to see what He sees about you. For each of us, that is different. Let us seek God and find out what those things are. I encourage you, friend, today, STOP HIDING! God wants you healed, whole, and free. EXPOSED.

TENDENCY TO HIDE

Why do we hide? Is it fear? Is it rejection? Is it failure? Is it hurt? Only God can truly reveal what the reasons are and who you truly are. His Word can reveal who you are and what you are called to do. God does not hide from you, so why are you hiding from Him? Why don’t you allow God to expose you, every part of you, down to every area, every thought-everything! When you allow yourself to come into God’s light, the light of His Word and