Shakespeare wrote in Hamlet, “To thine ownself be true.” Therefore you must become acquainted with ‘ownself’ first!   A friend, who lives her life praying more and loving abundantly, shared an online personality test.  It was free.  It was easy.  So I took it.  Here are my results.   INFP=Healer Definition

In short, I hate convention and adore creativity.  I am crushed by others expectations but live to raise others of themselves.  I abhor routine and work best in a creative and flexible environment.  My values are solid and the main rudder with which I navigate life.  Cue the irony, but writing is at the top of the list for professional and personal pursuits for an INFP.  Most surprisingly, I seek to heal others.

To be called a healer took me a bit by surprise.  In recent years I’ve been working so hard to keep my own head above water, I rarely peeked out from beneath my blanket of misery to notice others.  Recently, however, I’ve had a moment or two where someone asked me to speak into their life or situation.  Surprisingly, with each conversation to lift others I found my own spirits to be raised.

Someone very close to me recently brought his broken heart and lay it in my lap.  My dearest love bared his bruises and asked me for an ice pack.  His heart was slashed by familiar blades.  I pulled my sleeves down over my own, similarly shaped scars.

My first reaction was to crawl back under my blanket of misery and hide.  After crying, quite a bit, one of those ugly cries which would never be seen in a movie, I realized something.  I was healed.  I was no longer the broken one in this particular area.  My scars are a badge of honor, not a scarlet letter.

I am a healer.  I am a healer because I have overcome much.  I know what it is to be the victim.  More importantly, I know what it is to be the victor!

Therefore, armed with the grace poured out through prayer, I’ll be true to my own healing.  I’ll help my dearest love to find his own healing.  To my ownself I will be true, scars and all.