A dear friend of mine lamented to me recently about her structured personality and how she wishes she could loosen up sometimes. This was a struggle I knew all too well, but I was reminded of a seemingly obvious but often forgotten truth: God made us that way.
God gave us our personalities. He created them. He decided if we would be talkative or reserved, a realist or a dreamer, a planner or a free spirit, and a million other preferences and tendencies.
Like my friend. I spend a great deal of energy trying to change, circumvent or complain about certain aspects of "me." The enemy wants us discouraged. He wants to make the self critic scream louder than the voice of Truth.
The truth is that God made and formed me (and you!), and all that He has made is good. We should conserve all of the energy we spend fighting our least favorite traits and use this energy to ask Him how we can channel them for His glory instead.
We're wired intentionally, for a purpose greater than ourselves. My friend who doesn't like her structured ways is currently mothering a newborn who is desperately fighting structure but needs to be put on a schedule and fed at very regular intervals. Sounds like the baby is in luck - God made her mom love consistency, knowing that the trait would serve her very well during this tiring yet critical season. Similarly, you will be in situations when your specific temperament, gifts, or abilities are needed. It's likely that your strengths are weaker areas for your spouse and vice versa. The same dynamics can play out in a business, church or friendship.
God has huge plans for you and has equipped you accordingly inside. You uniqueness is for Kingdom purposes. He made you exactly as you are on purpose, and for His purpose. Let's try to spend more time thanking Him for how He's equipped us instead of feeling ashamed, aggravated, embarrassed about it.
God gave us our personalities. He created them. He decided if we would be talkative or reserved, a realist or a dreamer, a planner or a free spirit, and a million other preferences and tendencies.
Like my friend. I spend a great deal of energy trying to change, circumvent or complain about certain aspects of "me." The enemy wants us discouraged. He wants to make the self critic scream louder than the voice of Truth.
The truth is that God made and formed me (and you!), and all that He has made is good. We should conserve all of the energy we spend fighting our least favorite traits and use this energy to ask Him how we can channel them for His glory instead.
We're wired intentionally, for a purpose greater than ourselves. My friend who doesn't like her structured ways is currently mothering a newborn who is desperately fighting structure but needs to be put on a schedule and fed at very regular intervals. Sounds like the baby is in luck - God made her mom love consistency, knowing that the trait would serve her very well during this tiring yet critical season. Similarly, you will be in situations when your specific temperament, gifts, or abilities are needed. It's likely that your strengths are weaker areas for your spouse and vice versa. The same dynamics can play out in a business, church or friendship.
God has huge plans for you and has equipped you accordingly inside. You uniqueness is for Kingdom purposes. He made you exactly as you are on purpose, and for His purpose. Let's try to spend more time thanking Him for how He's equipped us instead of feeling ashamed, aggravated, embarrassed about it.
Thank you. I really enjoyed this post.
ReplyDeleteAmen!! Love that you wrote about this :) - Courtney
ReplyDelete