Facing the truth Part 1!

Happy New Year Everybody!I wanted to share with you today a few life changing thoughts about the truth and how to apply these things in your life and get life changing results! We're starting out a New Year so why not get some truth that can ultimately change our lives for good?!

Today will be the first part of the series called Facing the Truth where I will give you about 5 life changing principles that can enhance your life so that you can live your life in this New Year to the fullest and get the most that you can out of this new year!

I have realized something very life changing in my quest for seeking the truth. What truth is that? I’ve been relentlessly searching for the truth of how to be happy and discover why I was put here on this earth. I have to say that the truth isn’t always what we want to hear or see, but it is the one thing that we most often deceive ourselves over.

Nobody likes to look at themselves in the mirror and have to face the reflection that blames them for where they are today because of the choices that only they were capable of making. Nobody held a gun to our heads or forced us to do the things that we’ve done, yet we felt pushed and even threatened that if we didn’t make those choices that ultimately we would lose something we valued in our life. Yet, we made the choices in our lives and are living today with the consequences of those choices.

Ultimately we did lose. We lost pieces of ourselves. Those pieces have left a trail along the way that seems to lead us back again and again into the very past we try to forget. Now it is up to us to gather the pieces of ourselves that have been scattered and ripped apart like tiny puzzle pieces, and begin a new journey as we search for the truth that will change our lives permanently!

As we gather the pieces that were left behind and begin to fit them all together once again, you will find that the most beautiful picture emerges from a very jagged past. It is the picture of what you looked like before you were hurt, abused, betrayed, forgotten, rejected, ignored, and controlled. It is the picture of what you looked like when you were whole, enveloped in innocence, where you were able to do anything, believe in everything, trust without reservations, and could conquer anything that stood in your way!

It may be difficult to remember how it felt to be whole and pure in that innocence because the picture you have seen of yourself from as far back as you can remember was one that was tattered and filled with an incomplete void that nothing could fill. You deserved more than you were given, but sometimes when our innocence is taken from us, all we are left with are the scars and remnants of pain to remind us of what we once were.

The haunting reminders fill our heads and our hearts that without a miracle by the hand of God we may be like this for the rest of our lives…broken, scared, unable to leave the past behind, and so afflicted in our thoughts that we develop the inability to trust or believe. So what can we do? We can face the pains in our past, allow the truth to make us free, and begin the journey through life with a different perspective that offers hope and more than just a light at the end of the tunnel.

I’d like to share just one of the many problems that I have discovered as a truth in my life. Facing it was quite difficult for me because then it meant I had to admit that I was the major cause for why things didn’t work out many times in my life. It’s no fun to go head on against yourself, but you need to face the truth and admit to yourself how you have gotten where you are in your life if you ever expect to begin taking steps in the right direction, and not just continuing to make the same choices over and over again.

How long will it take us to stop going around the same mountain in our lives?

I discovered that I have struggled throughout my life with being too quick to bail out of something that felt uncomfortable. If it didn’t fit my idea or plan, I would run away from people or situations hoping that I would end up with something better.

I haven’t always been so impatient, but the older I got, it seemed like I have wasted a majority of my life away settling for people who would not change. They had no vision, or they had too much vision AND too much of themselves. I learned that if I wanted something and thought that it would take too long to get what I was searching for, then I would just go out on my own to find it.

What I really have done is plague my life with many “Ishmael” choices. By this, I mean that I have not been patient to wait on what God would have chosen for me. I have not waited for what His best for me would be, and I have gone out and created my own ideas and pursued things and people that He would not have ever led me to. The results are devastating and disastrous to say the least, not only for me but for my children as well.

I have learned the hard way that if you are making choices based on past hurts and fears that you will only go on to repeat the same mistakes over and over. Then we wonder why we have a totally different new situation or person in our life, and they wind up being the same as everything else who has ever hurt you in your life!

I want you to know that when you walk outside of the love and security that God gives you, fear will blind you and you will allow compromise to enter into your life. This is why it is so dangerous to ignore your convictions and do what you feel like instead. Not thinking of the consequences that follow WILL devastate your life, your future, and sometimes those we love around us.

I am here to tell you that recovery from all of your hurt and past is possible if you pick up the Bible to find what God says about you. Discover his plan for you there! He wants to heal you with His love, affection, and companionship. Most of the choices that I have made in my life were made because I did not feel like I was loved or wanted! I am going to share with you 5 of the most important things that I have learned and that have helped me to know what love really is.

1. Learn what love is

When you learn what love is, then you become equipped to actually begin to love someone else. However, when you make a decision to love then I will tell you that you open yourself up to being let down, being vulnerable, getting offended, or rejected. I can also tell you that if you will go back to remind yourself of what love is and how it acts even though you may experience any one of these feelings you WILL develop and maintain a different attitude. You will not take everything as a personal attack against you when you apply love to your life. Let me show you why.

First Corinthians 13:4-8 says: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, and it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but always rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love NEVER fails!

I can tell you that even in writing this to you I am convicted. I believe that we cannot possibly look at these things and not feel ashamed or know that we have fallen short of where God says that you MUST live. It is not an option to treat everyone with this respect and attitude. You may be asking the same thing that I have. How in the world am I supposed to do this?

Then you may think something like this-You just do not know how he/she has hurt me, or the things that they have done to me. I deserve to have more because...Well this person deserves to go through what he/she is because if you only knew what they have done. I am not going to settle for this because I could have so much more...He did not do this for me. . . She made me mad with what she said . . . How dare he not come home and then choose his friends over me...etc.

Do you see how in only a few examples of things that could cross your mind that these could be feelings or situations that we could be faced with at any time in our daily lives? God is not looking at what someone else has done to us; He is looking at our reactions. When you get hurt, it is a choice to stay hurt. When you get angry, blow up at someone, and use hurtful words, those are also choices that you have made.

Why will we sit back and justify why we responded or reacted in the way we did, and ignore that we have just sinned, and opened a door for the enemy to walk through? The way you act and react will continuously shape your life as well as your destiny. Is it easy? Absolutely not. Please understand that it is much harder to go to someone and say I am sorry than it is to ignore them.

Please come back tomorrow as I will continue to go through the other 4 incredibly important principles that will work to change your life if you will let them! I'd love to hear your feedback or thoughts so please don't hesitate to let me know what you are thinking! Most of all, be blessed and know that you are loved! See you tomorrow!