Guilt Trip

Has anyone ever given you a guilt trip?  I am given a guilt trip on a daily basis...by myself!  I constantly feel guilty about not being a good mother, not being a good wife, not being a good friend, not doing enough around my home, not serving in my church enough, not working out enough, etc... I didn't even realize I was doing it until I was eating dinner with some friends last night.  I found myself continually talking about how guilty I felt and I also heard myself say, "That's no way to live!"  Wow...I didn't realize how heavy-hearted I had been feeling.  I came home and started reflecting on my feelings and my faith.  I started thinking about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  They were so close to God until they started to believe the enemy's lies.  As soon as they believed the lies and sinned, they had to leave the garden and be separated from God.  I have also been believing the lies about who I am and I have been unknowingly separating myself from God.

About two summers ago, I adopted John 3:30 as my life verse (He must increase, but I must decrease.)  I've been focused on making my life more about Jesus and less about me...making my life about His desires and not my own.  I realized last night that there is another way to apply that very short (but important) verse to my life.  It's time for me to allow my joy in life to come from knowing Jesus and not from being a certain type of person.  When I am constantly thinking about how I'm not good enough, or should I say, when I am constantly believing the lies about how I am not good enough...I am still more fixated on myself than on Jesus and the joy that comes from truly knowing Him.  A few summers ago, I read a book by one of my favorite authors/speakers, Lysa Terkeurst.  In the book, I remember that she wrote, "Guilt bears no fruit."  That quote stood out to me at the time, but I'm not sure I truly understood it until today.  It's time to let go of the guilt and live in His glory!  Today, I'm feeling excited about making my life about His desires AND about allowing myself to feel the joy that comes from truly knowing my Savior! 

HE IS GREATER THAN i!