Celebrate, not compare

Celebrate, not compare

 

If you’ve ever struggled with insecurities, you know they can be a best kept secret. And just when you feel great about your life, you see someone make a post on social media or overhear someone talking and you start comparing.

 

They say comparison is the thief of joy. It’s more than that. Comparison will rob you blind if you let it. A friend and I recently had a conversation about comparison and how for her, just even getting on social media causes her to want things that she didn’t really want in the first place and forget about the blessings she already has. The truth is this: That new house isn’t going to make you eternally happy. That new body isn’t going to fix your internal issues. Whenever you look at someone and then immediately have negative thoughts about yourself, there’s a deeper root at issue.

 

It is a key part of the Kingdom of God that we celebrate one another, not compare. I heard Bill Johnson recently say this and it spoke so strongly to my heart: “Jealousy is the mindset that God doesn’t have enough for you.” When you become jealous of someone or something, you choose to partner with the lie that God doesn’t have enough for you when in reality God has nothing but good things for you. In fact, His plans are so great for you that He has even better than you can imagine. The problem is we so easily want to look at what everyone around us has instead of what we already have in front of us and what God says He has planned for our future. Trust me, I am in no way saying to not have nice things or to choose a life of poverty. I mean to tell you to not get so distracted on what everyone else is doing that you miss what God has for you.

 

We must focus on what we already have and make a choice to live from a heart of thankfulness. Thankfulness is posture of the heart, not an emotion. It is a firm grounding that you live daily from, not a place you sway back and forth. You have to learn to be thankful even when you don’t see the things in front of you. Thankfulness is more than materialistic things. It’s a mindset that whatever God chooses for you, you will trust Him and thank Him for always doing what is best.

 

That girl who has the perfect body: good for her!

That family that just built their dream home: awesome!

That person that just landed that amazing job: great!

 

Learn to celebrate people, not compare them to yourself.

Everyday, choose to have a heart of thankfulness.

Thankfulness comes from being confident in who God is and the plans He has for you.

 

Next time you are feeling insecure and unaware about who you are know this:

 

 Lord, you know everything there is to know about me.
You perceive every movement of my heart and soul,
  and you understand my every thought before it even enters my mind. You are so intimately aware of me, Lord.
    You read my heart like an open book and you know all the words I’m about to speak before I even start a sentence! You know every step I will take before my journey even begins.
You’ve gone into my future to prepare the way, and in kindness you follow behind me to spare me from the harm of my past.
    With your hand of love upon my life, you impart a blessing to me.
This is just too wonderful, deep, and incomprehensible!
    Your understanding of me brings me wonder and strength. Where could I go from your Spirit?Where could I run and hide from your face? If I go up to heaven, you’re there!
    If I go down to the realm of the dead, you’re there too!
If I fly with wings into the shining dawn, you’re there!
    If I fly into the radiant sunset, you’re there waiting!
 Wherever I go, your hand will guide me;
    your strength will empower me.
 It’s impossible to disappear from you or to ask the darkness to hide me,
    for your presence is everywhere, bringing light into my night.
 There is no such thing as darkness with you.
    The night, to you, is as bright as the day;
    there’s no difference between the two.
You formed my innermost being, shaping my delicate inside
    and my intricate outside,
    and wove them all together in my mother’s womb.
 I thank you, God, for making me so mysteriously complex!
    Everything you do is marvelously breathtaking.
    It simply amazes me to think about it!
    How thoroughly you know me, Lord!
You even formed every bone in my body
    when you created me in the secret place,
    carefully, skillfully shaping me from nothing to something.
You saw who you created me to be before I became me!
    Before I’d ever seen the light of day,
    the number of days you planned for me
    were already recorded in your book.
Every single moment you are thinking of me!
    How precious and wonderful to consider
    that you cherish me constantly in your every thought!
    O God, your desires toward me are more
    than the grains of sand on every shore!
    When I awake each morning, you’re still with me. 
Psalm 139: 1-18

Blessings,

Joanna


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