Grow with Grace
One of my all-time favorite sayings is “Grow with Grace" or “Bloom with Grace"
Having grace for yourself and others can be hard at times. I don't know about you, but I am always extremely hard on myself. It can be with anything, like cleaning, cooking, talking, working, blogging, being a good wife, good friend, my relationship with Jesus, and even with my looks. I constantly must look in the mirror and tell myself," It is okay, you are not perfect! Just breath in and out. And have Grace for yourself". I should make that in a shirt! (haha).
I feel like grace can look different in many ways. The way I look at it is giving myself permission to not be perfect. Growing up I always liked to make everyone happy,to be perfect in everything I did, and for people to like me. I did this so much that I told myself to not care about my own feelings. In my brain this made sense, but to others I am pretty sure they thought it was stupid or dumb (many did say that to me actally). I wish I could tell you why I thought that way. Honestly, I just thought I needed to be strong and carry other people’s feelings, and just always be the yes man in a sense. No matter what that I would always be there for others 24/7. I always hated to say no (I still struggle! Not perfect over here).
The past few years I have really worked with myself on this. If you struggle with similar things, I want you to know that I understand what you are facing and you’re not alone. I have learned I can’t find my worth in what others think of me or if I am not able to help someone that it will be okay. That is God's job. I also must find my worth in Him! I must give myself daily grace to not be perfect. Because no one is truly perfect. (Besides Jesus!!) We all make mistakes; we are all humans. Now do I get frustrated when I mess up, ohhh yes! I have learned though that I am not bound to my mistakes. I can grow from them and learn. One of my all-time favorite quotes is from Thomas Edison, He says 'I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work". If that doesn’t show having grace for yourself then I don't know what does. I also love Psalm 139:14 it says , “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.”
So even in the times of my doubt and struggles I know am being taken care of and my worth is in the one who created me, the opinions of other should not matter and that the Lord meets us every day where we are at! With that beautiful word called Grace!
I worked at a bank drive thru for a few years it was one of my favorite jobs. I loved being able to be nice and make relationships with my customers. With ALL customers, not just certain ones. There would be a few that were unfriendly and you would be warned oh that person never smiles and isn’t friendly. Well, I made them my mission that I would get them to smile at least once. It may have taken a few tries but eventually I got a lot of my frowners to smile. Just by simply being kind! I would comment on how they looked, or make a comment about the weather or day, I always smiled even if they glared or looked annoyed. I never let it get to me. I just always tried so hard to have grace. You truly never know what someone is going through or their background.
Now again I never let anyone bully me or run me over. (Well, I did at first! But for several several years I have had to work on that) especially in public. You will have people try and run you over because you seem too nice. I have had to learn to still have a backbone and still be kind even if does mean I have to be firm. I continue to learn to have grace with myself and if it is too much and I need to ask for help in the situation that it is okay.
Those times weren’t and still are not my favorite because it goes back to my younger days in my brain and it’s like “oh no, I must make them happy what if they hate me”. That’s when I take a deep breath " say grow with grace Bre, grow with grace! You do not have to be perfect, and you do not have to make them like you or make the situation perfect.”
I just wanted to share a little bit about my "Growing with Grace" journey! It is still a work in progress. Like mega work in progress for several years now! I can’t wait to keep sharing more about my experiences with you! I do want you to know that if you felt any of this and it relates to you. I want you to know that having those thoughts does not make you weak, it does not make you dumb or stupid. To a lot of people, it is called "People Pleasing" and it’s not a popular subject by any means. From a working to be free from people pleaser to another' Please do NOT think you are stupid or unworthy. Our hearts are just extremely caring. To the people who don’t understand they are just looking out for us. But do know that our feelings are just as important as anyone else’s, and it is okay to nicely say let’s talk about this later, or if you need space for your heart or mind, it’s okay to say no. It is okay for us to not be perfect. Let me say that again... It is okay to not be perfect.
We are loved by God; we are worthy and chosen by him. All we can do is shine bright for Him and pray for others. Be kind and show grace in all areas of life. It is not an overnight process... but a daily walk!