For the past year or two, I have been on a journey of loving myself better. More recently, God has been affirming me in who I am and who He made me to be, which is helping squash the comparison trap.
The second greatest commandment Jesus gives is Matthew 22:39: “Love your neighbor as you love yourself.” I think a lot of people do not treat others well, because they do not love themselves well. For example, I can be impatient or not gracious with others, and the root of that is that I am not patient or gracious to myself.
I read the book “Heart Made Whole” by Christa Black, and she talks about how we seek from others what we have not given ourselves. For instance, going into any relationship seeking to extract something in return, ie acceptance, approval, love, respect. While that can be good, going into any relationship specifically seeking something in return leaves a lot of room for unmet expectations and places a lot of pressure on the relationship. So in order to not be continually let down by unmet expectations and depending on someone else, if I give myself what I am looking for (ie. acceptance, love, affirmation), then I am not going into relationships out of a place of need or wanting to get something in return.
Also being on World Race has offered many opportunities for comparison within my squad, especially the women. It’s been good to see the strengths in others and actively choose that I am not going to feel inferior to someone else or be threatened that they have different strengths than me. Seeing strengths in others and myself and having the mindset of ‘you’re a badass and I’m a badass, let’s be badasses together.’ Kind of like superheroes with different superpowers coming together lol.
I’ve had plenty of chances to compare or go into relationships wanting something in return. I’m trying to remember to stand firm and continually love myself and give myself what I want.
Galatians 5:1 ‘For freedom Christ has set us free, stand firm then, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.’
I challenge you to ask yourself: do you love you, do you completely accept yourself with your strengths and weaknesses, are you patient with yourself? Just some things to think about. 🙂 ——————————————————————————————————————————- Thanks for reading and following my blog. Thank you again to all of my supporters. Without you, this mission trip would not be possible. God bless you abundantly.
Merry Christmas!
Love from Malaysia,
Amanda
Disclaimer: I don’t encourage profanity. God can handle it though.
