Growing up I was fairly athletic and excelled mostly in baseball although I did play football some and toyed a little with basketball. I was small in comparison to many of my friends though. This led me to compare myself with them and at times not even try something if I was convinced I would likely fail by comparison to the way they could do it. This was a real thief in my life growing up in my early years and would manifest from time to time in my later years. The struggle was very real to me.

My mom would try to help me through my challenges with her praises of my achievements and always believing the very best of me. But it was never enough to truly break the cycle. Fact is, there will never be enough praise from others that will break such a cycle. It cannot be satisfied by others praising you.

My comparing led to all sorts of complications in my life. It led me into poor decisions, wrong behaviors to compensate for it and to quite a few over reactions to situations that got me into trouble. I don’t know if you can identify with this or not but I was at times controlled by this stronghold in my thinking. It was a secret battle being waged on the front lines of my imagination holding me back from really being able to take advantage of great opportunities. Instead it led me to settle for lesser things. Come to think of it, that’s the best way to describe the fruit of it. I was living a life of settling for lesser things out of fear of failure due to comparisons rooted in insecurity.

It would not be until I became born again that I began to get set free from the grip of that stronghold. By discovering the truth concerning Jesus and what He said and thought about me I was set free to be the me He said I was. By His grace I was set free to do what He said I could do. I became empowered to try things, to step out and do things that before would have been unavailable to me due to the grip of that stronghold. The more I discover His love for me the more free I become to step out into the things He has set aside for me to do. The more I can enter into who He says I am in Christ. I am loved and so are you! So I encourage you to step out in His love for you today and be the blessing he has empowered you to be.