I remember thinking of praying for what I have now. I remember trying to negotiate with God, if he gave me this, I would do this. If I had this, I would do that.
Truth is you can’t negotiate your way with God nor rush his timing. Funny thing is you think you know what you want until you have it and then you’re like ummm…nope.
I feel like I need to share the 5 mistakes I made trying to live life my way instead of God’s way. Of course everyone has a testimony to give however that is how you learn, through others. O encourage everyone to share their stories, share your struggles, so we can learn from them as well and grow closer to God.
No one is perfect, however if we can help the next person not make the same mistake, well then we’ve done a good thing.
- Relying on yourself – For the longest I went through life doing what I wanted to do and not once asking God what I should do. I would do things thinking it would be ok or it would work itself out. I would base my decisions with the amount of money that could come from it or where it would take me. I was a single mom of 1 son and a dog and they needed me. Higher position meant more money and I could make. I didn’t truly believe that but for the time being it worked. I would later ask myself “why did I do that?” Being able to be independent is great but you need God to show you the way so follow him. I knew money was important, it’s what you need to survive, however the Bible does say he will always provide, and I failed to trust him on that.
- Don’t move before asking – everything isn’t for you. Although it may look good at the time, in may not be what is best for you in the long run. “Everything that glitters isn’t gold.” Never make permanent decisions with our praying first. Ask God and keep asking God until he gives you the answer. I would ask God but I never waited for his answers, and a lot of times it got me in a lot of trouble. Going through life with out following the teachings of the one that matters is a scary thought.
- Never make decisions based on feelings – one of the worst things you can do is make your decisions based on feelings. It took me a while to learn this one. I would always react first and then look back and think, why did I do that? My mouth was quicker than my thinking. Lack of faith and immaturity played a huge part in this as well. At that time saying sorry was difficult. With growth and a lot of prayer, I am not able to think more logically and not react so quickly. Self control is plays a huge part in this. You can only control what you can control. My favorite saying is “I’m saved, but these hands work.” I’m still growing as you can see.
- Thank God for the bad as well as the good – too often we thank god for our blessings but how often have we thanked him for lesson? I remember praying for something and then receiving it and never thought twice about saying thank you. I have also blamed God so many times for my down falls. I forgot somewhere along the way I did make my own choices and it got me no where. Also, for the unexpected times things didn’t go my way, those are the lessons I am talking about. Those lessons make you stronger, they make you wiser and when you come out of those lessons, you see life differently. You’ve gained so much growth from that lesson that you are now at another level to handle anything that comes your way. Learning is leveling up. So keep learning and keep going.
- A negative mind will never give you a positive life – so you listen to the bad before the good. Oh you don’t, name one thing about yourself right now…was it positive or negative? If it was positive, YAHOO to you!! You’ve accomplished what many of us struggle to do, give props to ourselves. If you said something negative about yourself, let’s turn that thinking around. If you think negative of yourself you will soon see the world negatively. It’s not easy to talk great about yourself, it took me more than 20 years to realize I am diamond, let it not take you that long. I am a child of God and he makes no mistakes, I have a purpose and I am a blessing to others. Challenge yourself everyday to say something good about yourself. Then once you have that down, go out there and make others feel that same way. We forget about ourselves and try to help others, but keep this in mind, “you can’t pour water from and empty pitcher.” Don’t be the empty pitcher, take care of yourself so you can take care of others, start by being positive and the positivity will change how you see things, and this will change the whole outcome of the situation.
Enjoying life the way God wants you to enjoy it is a blessing some don’t get the chance to see. I encourage you to look at where you are now and see what you can do to make things easier for you and live the way God wants you to live. Set backs will always happen, things won’t go as planned, however depending on how you look at the situation will determine how you will handle what comes along.
Think positive. Live Positve. Be Positive.
Blessings.
