The thief of joy

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Comparison is the thief of joy-Theodore Roosevelt

Sometimes we compare ourselves so much to other people that we forget the great things that God has bestowed on us which in turn halts us from doing the things He wants us to. This happened to me for 2 months.

It's an internal battle. A battle that occurs in the mind, translates to speech and eventually becomes your character. I find it quite ironic that during this time, I read the 'The battlefield of the mind' by Joyce Meyer. I think reading this book helped me to restructure my thought pattern to a great extent and has helped me to even identify the way in which the enemy primarily works against our minds. I certainly recommend it. However, you can read all the books you want to and gain as much information as possible but nothing will change until you do internally.

I'll confess that, I didn't realise I was in this phase until I stopped certain things that God specifically put in my hands to do. For example, this very blog. I know it's a work in progress but I so compared myself to others that I eventually convinced myself that I couldn't do anything with it or that it wouldn't go far. May I mention that this however, did not stop the flow of ideas regarding my blog posts. I thought about it everyday!

As I mentioned before, my character was affected. I reduced my calls, texts and general posts that made me, me. I became inferior to people that genuinely loved me and I was downright negative about everything. The funny thing is no one particularly noticed this because as I said, it was an internal thing and I hid it quite well.

Eventually I became quite unhappy and demotivated to do anything and if I'm honest with you, I cannot recall how I got to this stage. I'm only grateful that I'm progressively coming out of this! One way I'm recovering so to speak, is by reminding myself of who I am in Christ and remembering the love He has for me that He displayed on the cross. It's easy to forget so that's why God told Joshua ''This book of the law must not depart from your  mouth but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. Then you shall make your way prosperous and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8 (NKJV) Yes, to have good success in our minds means to be stable and positive.

Let's be clear, this isn't a blog post to declare and announce some epic return but rather an encouragement and caution against comparison.

There's a reason why you are who you are, bestowed with the gifts and talents that you have. Others may be in your field and this is for many reasons including the fact that you can't reach everyone by yourself. So "We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise." 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV). I compared myself with others, became foolish and look where it landed me! Avoid doing the same.

Last thought: If you compare yourself with another person, you're indirectly telling God that He didn't do a good job.

Until we meet again, be yourself!
Rubo

Keep an eye out for my next post on discouragement.