PLEASE CHANGE

  Please change!! I have been in that place where I just wished and prayed and try to verbally motivate someone to change. I have been told that if I loved enough or was a better Christian, I could motivate them to change. Let me tell you now, that could not be further from the truth! You cannot MAKE someone change, love you or do the right thing. If that was possible, do you think Jesus would have had to leave Heaven and die on the cross for us? Really? So, we have more power than the Creator and the Savior? Not so much.

   I have done everything I could think of. I have read hundreds of books. I have counselled with people. I have asked those people that I didn't measure up to, what could I do to please them? None of it seems to matter. It didn't help. Do you want to know why I think it didn't help? When someone holds something against you or has a measuring stick up to your life with their phantom rules on it, there is nothing you can do to achieve that goal. Even if you did everything "right" it still wouldn't make them happy. They have not experienced or know unconditional love. It is not something that we are familiar with. They have a heart problem. It has nothing to do with you. Understanding the love of God is so foreign because we love with conditions. It takes effort to try to love t unconditionally. Most of the time, if someone has a conditional heart, they place those unattainable conditions on everyone but themselves. "The have eyes that will not see and ears that will not hear." To me, they have set themselves up as a god and demand things from the ones that are "inferior" to them. They demand allegiance but give nothing other than even more unrealistic expectations in return.

   Personally, I would rather please the Lord. If that conflicts with someone else's idea of who I should be, then that is no longer my problem. I love everyone, whether they are loveable or not. I have worked my whole life, and my whole marriage to gain people's approval. One of the best moments of my life was when I let other's opinions be just that, opinions. They are not guidelines for my life nor will they determine my happiness. I will not change for anyone but the Lord. I will not wear something that someone else wants me to wear because THEY think it determines my Christianity. I will not worship the Lord the way THEY say I need to worship Him. I will not raise my children the way THEY say I should. That is something the Lord and I will determine together. (Who are they and who cares what they say?) If He can hold the universe in its place and make a home in Heaven for me, surely He can help me be the person He wants me to be with no help from anyone else. I am a big girl. I do not need someone else's permission for anything. I do not need anyone's approval but God's.

   Finally, I prayed for understanding. I prayed that God would change MY heart. I didn't pray for God to change them. It works, I promise. I do have a limit with certain people. I cannot spend very much time with those people that are constantly criticism me, my decisions or my life. I can love them from a distance. There is nothing wrong with someone that does or believes differently than you do. They are just different. God made us all different. What a boring world would it be if we were all the same. I have yet to find anyone that can fit me into their "mold". I have yet to find a mold that works for me. I try to be the best me I can be. There is only one me. I believe I should be the best me that you know.

   Change isn't a bad thing unless you wish it on other people. May your life be full of change. Good changes that shape and mold you into the person God created you to be.