My Life Story My Way Day 49

Some lessons in life are hard! No one is immune to them and each has their own type to learn from! Some have struggles with alcohol, drugs, sex, theft, lying, manipulation, covetness, money, and much more.

I have my own issues I struggle with but I do know for a fact that those issues can be overcome. I have never been addicted to drugs or alcohol and something more hard core if you will, but I have my own personal struggles that I have tamed and one in particular that I have defeated.

If you have been following along with My Life Story My Way, then you have probably heard me say that in my past, mostly before the age of 30, I struggled with the concept of “wanting to fit in” and there is nothing wrong with wanting to feel like you fit in, but there is a problem with HOW you go about fitting in.

Mine was wanting to be the center of attention and voicing my opinion about what others said. Mostly, it would occur with a few individuals who I felt was better than myself and that everyone loved! These things get you in trouble real fast! And also, I learned quickly how even though the other individuals would be the first to say something, it would fall back on myself and I was always the “bad guy.”

For example, I really looked up to a certain individual who I knew was loved by everyone! When I was around that individual, I would join in on the conversation about other people and their issues. Basically it was gossiping and I would in turn voice my opinion to someone else when a conversation came up. I was fitting in!

The people I spoke about would come to confront me and many times it was not very pretty. I eventually began to understand God’s Word about not having anything to do with evil and that included gossiping. The more I aged, the more I read and the shades over my eyes lifted inch by inch!

I learned to distance myself from some individuals. Those who I thought were more important than myself were really not. Everyone has their issues and we should love all as He says, but He says basically to stay away from evil less we get bit and the evilnness spreads through our veins.

I learned that I had to take responsibility for my own actions and to quit repeating what other’s said even though I felt it was wrong. But that lead to another issue! God says to gently instruct those who are sinning so to prayerfully save their soul and exonerate yourself from the same wrongdoing. In other words, gently correct someone to save them and if we don’t, we ourselves become guilty of that sin because we are basically allowing sin to continue and not correct it.

Confrontation was not my forte! Even if I knew something someone did was wrong and I was confronted by them after I said something to another individual, my error was not only following along and gossiping, but it was also allowing a sinful behavior to continue. I should not have worried about what anyone else would say or think if I was honest.

Why couldn’t I just say it like it was and tell the other individual to stop gossiping as well? I’ll tell you why: my faith was not strong enough yet – YET! I love the parable in Matthew 20 about the owner of a vineyard who hired individuals all day long at different time periods yet each got the same pay.

This parable is about God as the owner and we as His followers. Some may understand and have their hearts filled by His truth way earlier than others. Some come into His light at an earlier age than others. Some find Him in their older age! I was not ready yet! I had a lot of growing up to do.

But God doesn’t say He will come to us, He says to take His yolk, He says to seek and ye shall find, and He says to live like Christ and follow Him. We have to do the work if we want Him. If we want to be with Him in Heaven, we have work to do and a lot of that is cleaning up our acts and doing His will! Once we find His Truth, He’ll give you His grace and peace and you will have a strong protector against temptation!

I was beginning to understand what He wanted of me. He says to not be conformed to this world. He says those of this world are not His. I had work to do and as soon as I got it into my head that all I needed was to fit in with Him and not others, that YET in a few paragraphs above was getting closer to a NOW! A continuous growth in His truth causes a stronger faith to be able to overcome what challenges we will all go through whether they seem simple or complex!