Run Your Own Race

Before I begin to write this blog post, I must warn you, a lot of what I write may be repetitive of things I’ve written before, but I felt a need ramble through it once again.  As you know, the last few years for me have been full of highs and lows.  I would not be able to sit here and open my heart in front of the world without having courage and confidence in myself. And yet, with that being said, I continue to struggle with insecurities in different areas of my life: writing, work, parenting, finances, etc.  It can be so contradicting but what I’ve learned is that no one really is 100% confident in every aspect of their life.  We look at these movie stars, models and billionaires and look up at them and think, “Wow, they have money, fame and beauty.  They have nothing to worry about.”  But they do, in fact probably more so than you and I.  Beyonce just had her drama with her man and her sister played out in front of the whole world (with footage to prove).  You have billionaires like Donald Sterling, a man with power and money become a man who is hated.  No one has it all together and we need to stop putting pressure on ourselves.  I’ll be the first to admit I tried to balance it all and it didn’t work for me, partly because I had lost focus of my first love and that was my devotion to the man upstairs.  It’s true what they say, you can’t try to do it on your own, you will fail, even when you think you have figured out.  God works in mysterious ways and I had to hit the ground before I could stand up.  I’ve seen a lot of my friends find courage and confidence in themselves to reach in and go for  ‘it’ – whatever that ‘it’ may be.  I’ve seen them prosper and I’ve seen them persevere.   Those friends inspire me, they make me realize that the impossible is possible and they help me try harder. 

Have you ever looked at someone and just been envious?  I have.  You look at them and then you look at yourself and you sit there in a pile of jealously.  You notice everything they have going on, a career, that perfect body, that amazing boyfriend/husband, or even their perfect children.  You look at your life and you start comparing and the bitterness creeps in because your life sucks.  Right?  Wrong!!!!  We all have something amazing about our lives.  Some of us just haven’t figured it out yet.  What I want is for you, for me, for us to stop comparing ourselves to each other. Let’s find our passions. Let’s go out there and do something about it. 

I’ve been working on so many things in the past year including myself.  I learned a lot of things that I should stop doing (one was comparing) and to tell you the truth, I haven’t mastered it completely, but I’ll tell you one thing, I don’t do it nearly as much as I use to.  I’ve learned how to stop myself mid-thought and recite scripture, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made…..I am a masterpiece………..I can do all things…….run your own race…….”  Knowing your worth and the realization that we are all made different with a different path laid out for us sounds predictable and common, but it’s the truth.  Loving and accepting yourself is one of the hardest things we will all have to face and yet it is so simple.    

Think of the things you have wanted for your life, now stop thinking and start doing.  You’ll find that if you take the first step the rest becomes a domino effect. 

Take a moment to watch this sermon from Joel Osteen called “Run Your Own Race”.  It will change your attitude, your perspective and even your life.  It may take listening more than one time.  What I would do is listen to this sermon, along with other sermons by Joel Osteen every morning for what seemed the entire year of 2012.  My life was changed.  If you can’t make it to church, try this.  Believe me, you’ll start craving more. 

       XO,