During my first two weeks here in Nicaragua ( aka the beginning of March) my thoughts often kept drifting back to my time in Beijing. When I lived in Beijing and met up with my friends from church, the very first question we’d ask each other was direct, to – the – point, and simple: “What’s God doing in your life?” Our behinds would not even be on the seats of the chairs or couch cushions we were about to sit on before we’d share deeply about how God was moving in our lives.
I began to ask myself, “Why am I thinking about Beijing so much?” Suddenly, even before I realized I was doing it, I was playing the game that no one can never win: the comparison game.
I had begun to compare my spiritual life as it was in Beijing to what it is now in Nicaragua.
I started to compare the way I talked with my friends in Beijing
to the way I talk with my teammates here on the Race.
I was comparing my time of spiritual growth that I went through in Beijing
to the times I’m facing here on the Race.
My dear friends and readers, I’ll tell you what I heard from a speaker about one year ago: “Comparison is deadly.” She continued on to say that when we compare, whether it’s ourselves to others, or even previous times in our lives to current times, the moment we begin to compare, we take the Greatness that God put in the people or times, and therefore lessen the value of both of those people or times.
After I realized that I was comparing my Beijing experience to my World Race experience, I began to dig deeper into the situation and ask God, “What do you want me to learn from this?”
Here is what I learned:
I learned that in that moment, since I was meditating on the past, I wasn’t seeing all of the greatness in the present moment, and I wasn’t TRULY grateful for my time that God had been giving me in Nicaragua. (It was time for a heart- shift, so I began to thank the Lord for what He was doing to me and through me in Nicaragua.)
I learned that my Beijing experience happened exactly the way, in the exact time that it did for many reasons, and my World Race experience is happening exactly the way it is for many OTHER reasons, and that is ok, and in fact, it is good.
I realized that I used SUPER- direct language to dive into deep, serious conversation, because when my Beijing friends and I met up, we had a limited amount of time (maybe about 1 hour) to have quality time to talk to each other about what the Lord was doing in our lives. Here on the Race, every single day I have the wonderful honor of SEEING and WITNESSING first hand what the Lord is doing in my teammates’ and squadmates’ lives, and so I don’t ALWAYS need to ask “What’s God doing in your life?”
So my questions for you are these: Are you comparing? If so, what things are you comparing? Are you comparing yourself to others? Are you comparing a time in your past to a time to the time that you’re in right now?
My prayer for you is this: Father, I ask in your Son’s name that you would highlight the things that the people who are reading this blog are comparing in their lives. I ask in your Precious Name, Lord, that you would show them that there is no need for them to compare what they are comparing, for you constantly give each person the BEST experiences, lessons, things, and other people for a purpose: to develop and expand your kingdom. I pray that each person reading this post would ask You for help to be more in tune with you, to get a deeper understanding how unwise it is to compare, and that you would fill each of them up with Your Wisdom about their true identity in you, in being a Prince or Princess in Your Kingdom. Thanks, and it’s in your Name Lord, that I ask all of these things, Amen.
Thank you for reading my blog. I have been so blessed to be on the World Race for 3 months so far, and I believe that I will be able to complete all 11 months of the Race, but I need your help to stay on the Race. I still need to raise $4,653 by July 1, 2014 in order to be fully funded. To support me financially, please click here.
Have a great day, and remember, you are LOVED. : ]
