Free to be me

It is hard to live in freedom. There are always people in your life telling you how you should be doing things. Listening to these voices, it may be easy to lose yourself to the expectations of others. People we know and love may not even realize they are putting these expectations on us. They may have ideas of how you should act or what you should say and after awhile you begin to start second guessing yourself. This has happened to me. 

God created you just the way you are for a purpose. Every time you try to please another person and change yourself, we are losing a bit more of the freedom, to be who God created you to be. Living in freedom the way that God has called you to is difficult. This means that pleasing God is more important than pleasing people. 

We have all tried to please another person, whether it be a teacher, a parent, a coach, a trainer, a boss, a friend. We all want others to like us and we alter ourselves to make those people pleased with us. When I was younger, I had quite the sense of humor, now the only time I seem to crack jokes is when I am around people I know accept me truly for who I am and not who they want me to be.

My encouragement today is this. Be who God created you to be! On the other side of the coin also be the person who accepts people for who they are and journey with them, not trying to change them, but loving them for exactly who they were created to be. You may just be surprised at the hidden gems that people only reveal in the presence of complete acceptance.