My dad should be a blogger

I have the best dad in the world…He sent me this email today and I wanted to share it in hopes it would help someone else like it helped me.

Hey…it's a journey. Look at the things most important in your life and start with them. You are a good person, trust in yourself, and believe in yourself. Be trustworthy to everyone else so that they know that you can be trusted. 

 You aren't perfect. You have frailties and flaws. You have to learn to love and to trust and to believe that if you can love yourself then you can love others.

  Look at the important people in your life. They still have flaws and failing but they have been there for YOU when YOU were down, now be there for them when they are hurting, even if they've failed or made a mistake. You loved them before, love them more now and help them.

  Take another look at the story of Jesus. His followers doubted him, how could this person love them and trust them so completely with all their faults and failings. He taught them to believe in themselves and then to spread the word to others. He taught them Faith when they had no faith, by believing in HIM. He showed the ultimate love and trust by enduring the most excruciating pain and suffering so that they could see how great was His love for them.

  He asked for them to believe in Him, to trust in Him….to have Faith. Have faith in YOU, faith in HIM, and like Him show your love and trust, even when others can't or won't do it. Jesus was betrayed and yet forgave. So, if you truly forgive then you truly free yourself of all the negativity, doubt and hurt that betrayal brought you. You give yourself more space inside to give more love. It's not easy, we do it because it's hard.

   Giving trust is a risk. You risk being hurt, let down, disappointed and heart broken. On the other hand giving trust and being trusted in return is a wonderful love that you both offer, share and receive. There are no guarantees except the sure knowledge that YOU gave YOUR best and your full heart. Jesus gave you ALL he had as a man to show you that if you can find that level of faith then you will also find that level of love. The more you can trust the greater the love.

  The greatest trust I ever give someone is to trust them with the life of someone I care about deeply.

Trust is love. Love is sharing your heart. You share YOUR heart with God, your family and friends. They all share in the love you have to offer. Trust is opening your heart to share your love. That someone fails to accept your offer, or does something unworthy of it, doesn't detract from the wonderful offer you have made.  You might feel hurt, but you'll never hurt as much as Jesus hurt for you. So you in turn would be unworthy if you failed to honor Jesus's love for YOU by not being able to fully offer your love to others. Jesus gave everyone a chance, and even a second chance, and then forgave those that betrayed him. That kind of trust is hard to comprehend. Everyone deserves a chance to show you that your trust in them is worthy.

Emotional Patterns

I tend to repeat the familiar, how about you? It’s just what I KNOW how to do, it feels safe, I know the outcome, and I have control over the hurt that I will allow myself to experience.

But sometimes God wants you to stand in that unfamiliar place, where you have no control, where you don’t know the outcome, and where you may get crushed.

One thing I do know…He is there.

He tells me in Psalms 34:18

“The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”

Yet we tend to run away from where HE is standing to meet us.

I am reading a book at the moment called “You are already amazing.”

I read a paragraph that really made me want to stop and dig in a little more.

“What matters most is recognizing emotional patterns, testing them against what God says is true, and proactively choosing what to do about them in our lives. Otherwise we just naturally repeat the familiar.”

I recognize that my emotional pattern is to shut down or run when things get hard.

When something happens & my emotions start rumbling, I panic and think I don’t know how to handle what may spew out, so then I choose to shut down or walk away all together.

I had a situation with my parents yesterday that led me to write this blog. I failed miserably and let my emotions get the better of me, all I wanted to do was get out of there because I didn’t allow myself some time to stop, breathe and remind myself of Gods truth.

My dad told me to not be so hard on myself, easier said than done when you feel like you failed, right? But life is a process; you may succeed one time and fail the next, that doesn’t say anything less about WHO you are. Your worth is not tied to your actions.

But we also don’t want to stay repeating the same destructive patterns. It causes hurt not just to ourselves, but also to others around us.

So what does God say is true about this emotional pattern.

James 1:12 says (even when you want to run) to remain steadfast:
“Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.”

We can’t do this on our own, because we feel weak and incapable in that place, and our first instinct is to go to what we know, so again, what does God say is true about this?

2 Corinthians 12:9 ~ But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

When I want to shut down, as I don’t know what to say, I can remind myself that God will give me the right words in that moment. I don’t have to let my emotions be the voice.

Jeremiah 1:9 says: Then the Lord put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.”

God gave us a powerful ability, the ability to CHOOSE.

We can CHOOSE to stand, and not run.

We can CHOOSE to speak out of truth, and not out of emotion.

We can CHOOSE to praise Him, even when we FEEL hurt.

Our emotions don’t have to dictate our actions.

It’s not easy and that is why it is a great reminder that we were not designed to do this life on our own. God allows these situations to show our need for Him.

So the next time something pops up, lets consciously CHOOSE to stand and let Jesus walk us through that unfamiliar place. He will be there waiting.