“Comparison robs you of gratitude.” The words have stuck with me, even though I don’t remember who first said them. And it’s true—comparing ourselves to others keeps our eyes fixed on the wrong thing and steals our joy. So why do we do it? Why is the battle so hard to win? Hijacking our gratitude isn’t the only thing taken from us when we accept comparison as a way of life.
Category Archives: Spiritual Growth
Mental Tsunami
I used to be terrified of thunderstorms. Once, as a child, my mom left me home alone to run to the store and the light rain turned into a storm while she was out. There was a branch scraping against the window of my playroom and I thought someone was trying to break in. I hid, terrified and crying until she came home. That’s when my fear of storms started.
But it was never the storm that I was afraid of, even though I didn’t realize it. It was the fear of someone breaking in and hurting me.
My mind is often the ideal location for a thunderstorm. When it rages like a tsunami it tosses my thoughts around in complete chaos.Read More
The Beauty of Sin
I know an electrician who recently had a life-altering experience and as I prayed for him, the similarities to his journey and our faith walk became clear to me. A few weeks ago he was at a job that required him to go into the ductwork. A beautiful blue light caught his attention because it was something he had never seen before. He knew it killed bacteria found in the ductwork and as he studied the light, seeking to learn more about it, he saw in small print: DO NOT LOOK DIRECTLY AT LIGHT. So he promptly turned away and went back to the task at hand. A short time later he completed his assignment and went on to the next job. Read More
Under Pressure
If you fail, you aren’t a failure. A lot of people don’t realize that. Our choices don’t define us and neither do our outcomes. When we are under pressure it does reveal our true character. Because pride keeps us blinded to our own shortcomings God allows pressure in our lives to create moments of clarity when our eyes are open to the reality of our hearts. Testing exposes our weakness. What un-Christlike attributes boil over when the heat is turned up? That’s where you still need to grow. Read More
The Problem with Faith
We have a faith problem in the American church. We don’t want to own it, or maybe we don’t realize it, but we do. Here is what I mean: we believe that God can, but we aren’t as quick to believe He will. It doesn’t necessarily start that way, but it is more often than we want to admit where we end up. Read More
Deeper Growth 