N8tivegirl

Becoming: Free From Old Narratives

(What I Had to Unlearn to Believe)

As time has passed—and as I continue to evolve and release the past—I’ve come to realize something important:

Sometimes growth doesn’t come from learning something new.

It comes from unlearning what we were taught to believe.

I had to take God out of the box.

As believers, many of us grow up with a limited idea of who God is and what He can do. We reduce Him to rules, boundaries, and fear—never realizing that God was never meant to be contained.

One of my favorite scriptures to share with my kids is this:

“You have not because you ask not.”

But I’ve learned there’s a difference in how we ask.

Are you asking in lowercase—carefully, timidly, afraid to want too much?

Or are you asking in all caps—bold, believing, trusting that God is able?

My God is a big God.

He moves mountains.

He pursues me patiently.

He is not confined to boxes or limited by lines—because He lives outside of them.

And yet, many of us were taught to fear God in a way that made us afraid of Him.

Fear without explanation.

Fear without relationship.

Fear that felt more like punishment than reverence.

Old belief systems taught condemnation before love.

Rules before relationship.

Distance instead of intimacy.

I had to unlearn the God of my parents—and learn the God of my present.

Not because God changed—but because my understanding did.

I’m not saying God shouldn’t be revered.

But reverence is not terror.

And fear is not meant to separate us from love.

God is about relationship.

He is about love.

And perfect love invites us closer—it doesn’t push us away.

Becoming free meant releasing old narratives that no longer reflected His heart.

It meant believing again—not from fear, but from trust.

And in that unlearning, I found freedom.

I am becoming free.

Still becoming.

Reflection Question 

What beliefs about God did I inherit that may need to be lovingly unlearned?