We all know that our dreams don’t take shape overnight.
There is a lot of work and many stages involved.
We often look at the success of someone who has been working for years and years on their dream, and either feel envious or discouraged because we can’t get there right away.
So I want to help shift your perspective a bit on some things.
I believe there is some very important groundwork that needs to take place in a woman’s life before she can move forward in a healthy way with a gift, dream or vision.
Not that we have to be perfect (praise God for that!) or have a perfect perspective on things, but just in the way that a house needs to be built on a good, strong foundation in order to be a useful, long-lasting building- the same is true of our dream.
There are some things that need to get settled in our spirit, with our own egos and in our own minds. And I believe one of the most important things we must look directly in the eye is…
That jealousy thing.
I was meeting with a mentor of mine recently to talk about some jealousy and envy issues I was having. There are a couple of women in my life who are having success in ways that I wish I was, and I am struggling not to feel envious.
It’s ugly and embarrassing. I want to be the one losing all of the weight and getting all of that attention. I want to be the one who can afford all of the new clothes, accessories and trips to the spa. It sounds so childish to say it out loud, but we all feel it. And as for me, I have a long history with jealousy. It is an issue that I continue to struggle with to different degrees and with different people. That is why it is so important for me to open my mouth and say these hard things out loud to someone.
My mentor shared that she believes jealousy is an issue as common to women as lust is to men. Wow! In other words, we all seem to struggle to varying degrees and the culture around us aids and encourages our struggle. Especially with social media. I think we can all relate to the feeling of:
“There are 1,000 other women doing what I want to be doing, and doing it WAY better than I ever could.”
Whether it’s someone’s career, someone’s body, someone’s house, or someone’s marriage- our brains seem to mix this toxic cocktail of everyone’s best features, and we are left feeling sad and discontent with our own lives.
I certainly felt this way when I joined my first official writers group. Sometimes I literally felt like: WHY BOTHER?! Everyone else is doing this WAY better than I ever could.
But then I remembered how passionate and how called I have felt to minister to women for such a long time- and how I could not see myself NOT pursuing it in some way.
And so now I want to pull you into our own little (figurative) corner of the room, look you in your eyes and tell you this:
You are an absolute masterpiece. And you are the only you. The ONLY one with the unique set of giftings that God has given to you. You’re a total original. And believe it or not, the very things that come out of you when you are not even trying hard- not pushing, not forcing or trying to prove to be unique or anything else- THOSE are the very things that make you…you.
If you don’t feel that way- if you don’t feel like you know who you are or how to find your unique self and space, here is a priceless little gem from C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity:
“Your real, new self will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are looking for Him.
Does that sound strange?
The same principal holds, you know, for more everyday matters. Even in social life, you will never make a good impression on other people until you stop thinking about what sort of impression you are making.
Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it.”
In other words: Stop trying to find yourself and start trying to find CHRIST.
And in Him, you will find who you are made to be.
And if that is not enough to get your juices flowing, I have included two printables below with QUOTES THAT I ABSOLUTELY LOVE!
(If you click on the image, it will open up on it’s own page for printing)
The only way I’ve been able to bring these quotes into reality in my own life and heart, has been through quiet prayer time spent with Jesus. Which brings us to our next lesson…
< Table of Contents
Next Lesson >