Where You've Been

A Highlight Culture

When I sat down to write this, I kinda forgot how hard it is to be openly vulnerable about your life. In a culture full of Instagram highlight reels, it’s easy to feel like the life you choose to show people is who you fully are. This is hardly ever the case.

Even if you post the most authentic, unedited pictures, you still have the power to let people know what you’re doing at your own schedule.

I’ll tell you about a new job or a promotion at work, but what I won’t share is how badly I flopped at a meeting just a few days ago. Or I might even post some progression pictures from the gym to show you how hard I’ve been working, but I’m definitely not showing you the fact that I still have stretch marks and can’t fit into my jeans from last summer.

Long story short, we live in a world of false representations of what growth and change and seasons of discomfort look like.

So, where am I going with this?

Despite what you might be thinking at this point, I’m not here to slam your Instagram. I’m here to call you out. I’m here to call myself out.

Because we’ve decided that it’s ok to live this way, we’ve forgotten how to reflect in on ourselves in a positive light. It’s ok to have goals and want more for your life, but what’s not ok is comparing who God created you to be with who he created someone else to be.

I like sunsets and ice cream, but I won’t compare the two to each other. Why? Because that would be ridiculous. They are each amazing in their own way.

Who Am I to ______?

Moses is by far one of my favorite characters in the Bible. To me, he is the perfect depiction of what it feels like to be unequipped. Unable. Unsure. At this point in Exodus 3, he had killed a man and hid in the wilderness for most of his life.

When the Lord comes to him and commands him to free the people of Israel, he is utterly confused. How could he be the one God had called for this? Was there no one else? No one better?

I don’t know about you, but I’ve felt this a few times in my life. I’ve found myself saying, “But God don’t you know? Can’t you see the sin of what I’ve done? There is someone better, I’m sure of it.”

But this is exactly what He does. He takes the broken, the sick, and the sinful to create change. He calls people on purpose.

Who better to reach someone hurting from addiction than someone who has been through it themselves? Who better to reach out to someone who needs a friend than someone who knows just how lonely life can be?

Listen closely. Where you’ve been, is not where you are going. You change every single day. You are growing into something and someone new, and your past does not define you.

If you think the Lord can’t or won’t use you because of mistakes or things that have happened to you before, then you obviously haven’t been paying attention. You are exactly where you need to be planted right now.

He calls people like you and me to reach others in a way that only we can. If you feel unworthy or unable, you’re not alone. But you cannot let this feeling stop you from what you were made to do.

If you begin comparing your weeds to someone else’s flowers, you will quickly find yourself stunting your own growth.

Embrace who you were made to be today. Be proud how far you’ve come, and all the places you have yet to go.

xo,

c