Comparison

Comparison was never meant to define you. 

I believe that looking at someone else's life is a good thing. You can use it as a guide or an encouragement or even an example, but we find out identity & purpose in the Book! God wants to build your specific life according to His plan for you, not through the plan He has for someone else's life. 

Your road is different than someone else's. It has different hills & valleys, different turns & potholes. Using someone else as a map will only cause you to get off course. 

I've used a few different women as examples & as encouragement as I navigate this bump in the road called grief. It's so encouraging to see that others have made it out stronger & more like Jesus than when they started, but I also know that He's the only one that can actually do the work in me. So I keep my eyes on Him & His plan, and just allow other people's lives to be like a billboard advertising encouragement as I go along. 

There's a whole lot of driving analogies happening in this blog today, but I think it gets the point across! 

Keep your eyes on Jesus & His Word & what His plan is for you. Don't try to live your life based on someone else's road map. 

For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, 

thoughts of peace, and not of evil, 

to give you an expected end. Jeremiah 29:11

happiness

There is a happiness in His presence & no circumstance of life is able to cast a shadow on it. 

It wells up inside of you & carries you forward. 

The longer you remain in His presence, the deeper the well goes. 

It's Him & only Him that causes me to grow.

He calls us to prayer & to His word because He knows the result. He understands the process. He has all the answers. He is the answer. 

In all that life throws your way, find yourself in His presence & you'll find yourself covered. 

Life affects us all, but He is our shield & our buckler. He is our foundation & our source. He is our stay when everyone else fades away. 

Being a Christian doesn't make you exempt from bad things in life, but it does make you invincible. You can be hurt & knocked down, but you know your future is secure. You can go through the trials of Job & know that your end will be better than your beginning. You can go through the persecutions of Paul & know that even if they take your life, you have eternal life with the Master. 

He chose you for this time in eternity, trust that He knows what He's doing & live in obedience to whatever He says. That is where your happiness is. 

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High 

Shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. 

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress; 

My God, in Him I will trust.

Psalm 91:1-2