Comparison is the Thief of Joy

        When I was about 10 years old,I noticed something about myself;I'd always been pretty tall for my age. Me and one of my sisters were always the Glamazon queens in elementary school and throughout.And it would ALWAYS bother me.My peers could say something as little as "Oh but you're tall, so you don't have the problem." In my head I'd be like, "I have problems!" I wanted to empathize with my shorter counterparts.I would even dread the check ups at the doctor and close my ears to the sounds of me growing another half inch.  In school pictures, we were always in the middle to back row,normally reserved for the pubescent boys. For years,I would ever so slightly hunch my back when I walked or slouch in my seat .It made me look shorter,and thus more girly and feminine because height was something I typically associated with masculinity (as illogical as that sounds).I was usually seen as one of the guys as my shorter my girly looking female counterparts etched hearts on their notebooks and made MASH games of the popular guys in our class(talk about a throwback). That could never be me! I would look others in this adolescent envy because I wanted to be like them and live the life they lived. But because I was tall AND plus sized,that could never be.Fast forward 10 or so years later,that growth spurt has slowed down and my height has actually come into some very good uses.Can't reach that shelf?I GOT THIS! Does my 5'6 frame work perfectly to model those shoes?!Why of course! There were so many great things about being taller that I had never stopped to think about. And it wasn't until I stopped looking at the qualities and characteristics that I didn't have that I was able to focus on my God given assets.

       It's taken me some time to learn that what God has carved for another, will not also be for me. I mean I can seriously look at the lives of others around me and think 'what am I doing wrong?" But I also found that in praying for the discernment I need to take me on MY journey,that someone else's path may have also been constructed with battles of their own. To compare someones bank account or businesses or relationships with that of your own is allowing the enemy to steal the joy that is yours. Suppose the young lady who has her own apartment and has the flyest gear has done so in a way that is not of God? Would you want it then? 

In moving in decency and in order on God's path for ME,I have learned several things. 

1. Count your own blessings and not the blessings of someone else- 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12

2. Don't fall prey to feelings of envy-Proverbs 14:30

3. Look to the Word for your next steps,not your friends (at any stage in your life)- Romans 12:2

       Comparisons are misleading. They allow us only to see what we want to see in the context of what we want at the moment. But if we continue to hold fast and true to our teachings,we will soon understand that no two men are made the same. My Chapter 1 will not be the same as my mother's Chapter 20.In other words, the middle of someone's journey will not look the same as the beginning of your own. But that's not for you to ponder or fret about.  Each of us has to endure different battles. Just remember to give God your all in everything. And it will be well. 

Faithfully

Brieana