Be the change you want to see!

Be the change you want to see.
If you keep doing the same things in life. You will continue to receive the same things in life.
Are you tired of waking up each day wanting more? You wake up sad, depressed, and unfulfilled. No matter what you do, life just seems to keep throwing curve balls?
You think, why me? When will it be, MY Turn?
Everyone else seems to have it all together and well you're life is just a hot mess!
Does this sound familiar?
Then you may want to keep reading...

First off. No ones life is perfect. In this day and age of smartphones and social media, We tend to compare ourselves to unrealistic expectations.
That beautiful woman you see on Facebook everyday who post pics of her flawless hair and makeup and her rigorous work out routine.
She struggles with low self esteem and no self worth.

While you look in the mirror at the extra 20 pounds you gained from your first child, wondering why you can't be like her. You chase your toddler and post pics of your messy living room.. Thinking no one could envy you.
She secretly prays for a child. She would love to carry that extra weight but she can't have children.
When you fight with your husband and post it on social media. She secretly prays for a husband that will love her because she can't keep a relationship out of fear that he will leave because she can't give him a child.

Guys, I know you won't admit it but you do this too. That guy you see that always has a new truck, four wheelers, guns and toys. He works on the road, he is single and parties all the time ... and you envy him.
You're tired of working all the time to have nothing. You are tired of coming home to a dirty house, tired wife and crying children. Why can't you have his life? You start thinking want to leave your wife and family and be single.

Well guess what. He has envied you for years. You see his parents divorced when he was two. His dad left and his single mom struggled to take care of him and his brothers and sisters. He never had a dad. He had a loving mother that struggled with alcoholism and drugs bc she couldn't handle the stress of doing it all alone. He watched her try really hard to make relationships work but she always put the drugs and alcohol first. They were poor. He never knew and still doesn't know how to love. He started working at the age of 12. That's all he knows. He won't let anyone in because all he has ever known is leaving. He chooses to work hard and he loves his "stuff" because it makes him feel safe. He pushes every good woman away because he doesn't want her to know he still secretly takes care of his alcoholic mother and his sister who is now strung out. He some how feels that they are his responsibility because he was the only man they ever had around.
He is unfulfilled and all he wants is to have a normal family. A loving wife who is tired from chasing those messy loud children all day. He wants YOUR LIFE!

Teenagers.. That girl you see who always has the newest brand name clothes, a brand new car for her 16th birthday, makeup for days... she has no curfew and does whatever she wants! She eats out every single night!
You envy her. Why can't your parents spoil you like that?
Her parents are still married. They seem so perfect as well with their brand new cars and big beautiful house.

Guess what? She cries herself to sleep every night. Her parents are over loaded with debt. They buy her things to show love and for forgiveness for not showing up at that school function again. Her parents work all the time and are never home. That's why she eats out and doesn't have a curfew. Her parents fight every night. She hears them say , that they can't wait until she graduates so they can get a divorce. All she wants is a family. She wishes she had brothers and sisters at home to aggravate her, to talk to, anyone just so she doesn't feel so alone. She longs for a mom who has supper ready and asks her how her day was. She would trade it all to be YOU! She is thinking about suicide. Maybe if she is gone, her parents can finally move on and be happy.

Did any of this hit home with you? I know you have heard the old saying, you can't judge a book by its cover. Well these days it should be you can't judge a social media page by its content. Everyone struggles. Everyone has low points in life but there is one thing all these people have in common.

They want CHANGE.

How many times in life have you wanted a change but you just wait on it to happen? Wallering around in self pity? The question is, what are YOU doing to change?
Then you ask, how dare you ask ME what I'm doing to change? I didn't do this. This isn't MY fault. Then the blame game starts. My life is terrible because of (insert blame here).

STOP this NOW! I do realize you do not always have control over what happens to you. What you do have control over is how YOU react to the hand that's dealt to you.
You can either blame everyone for your problems and stay in the same place or you can accept that life isn't perfect and make a CHANGE.

Change you say? But I thought you just said everything isn't as it seems?

Ahah! Be the change YOU want to see. Compliment that girl you envy on her appearance then offer to take her for coffee. Maybe she needs a friend.
Bring home take out for your tired wife and pick up that crying baby and let her go take a long bath. I promise you and the children will be better off when she feels refreshed with a little alone time to collect her thoughts.
Ask that girl that seems to have it all over for dinner Your loving home and rules may be the only Love and discipline she has ever witnessed.

You see. I always thought CHANGE meant walking away. Starting over, then I realized that's not at all what CHANGE is always about. Change comes from within. Change the way you see things. Change the way you think. Change your Actions! Put yourself in someone else's shoes before you judge or make assumptions. Do something to change YOUR life without walking away. Face your demons! Sometimes YOU are your own worst enemy.

REFUSE to let the world corrupt YOU! 
DO AWAY with NEGATIVE thinking!
Git rid of "head trash".. Every time you start to get down because of life's disappointments. Write down something you are thankful for! I would be willing to bet you run out of Negatives when you start focusing on the POSITIVES in life.

Another thing these people and every single person in this world has in common.

They all have someone that loves them unconditionally. They all have someone that knows their plan and their future. They have someone who gave their only son so they could have everlasting life. It's all right there waiting on them and you. All they have to do is ask him for help. He will never leave them or forsake them and he will do the same for you.

I personally believe a relationship with God is the only way to find true happiness. Don't know where to start making changes? Ask God to direct your path then trust him enough to let HIM make the changes! You will stumble and you will fall, but pick yourself up and dust yourself off , because no matter how hard or how far you fall, God will always be there to pick you up, and his love for you will always be unconditional.

Praise him because you are fearfully and wonderfully made. For I know the plans for you, "declares the Lord" plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

Change can be scary. Most of us feel safe without change. That's the best part of a relationship with God!

 God's promises won't ever change! He is always the one constant in our lives that will never waver! Hold tight to his word and trust him!

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalms 18:2

And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. Matthew 4:39