“I choose gentleness… Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.”
― Max Lucado
When God made me, He made a girl who loves, loves, loves for everyone around her to be happy. A girl that wears her heart on her sleeve and is gentle in speech, in action, and in touch. Before I really knew God, I totally was run over by emotions 24/7. I try to be thoughtful in everything I do and say, so when people weren’t as thoughtful back, it just rocked my emotions-I didn’t and couldn’t understand why they weren’t as thoughtful as I was! I really started to focus on not being so ‘weak’, because to me, gentleness, kindness, and thoughtfulness are perceived as weakness to others. I was becoming cold and callused by things of the world because I didn’t allow myself to show my soft side any longer because I was tired of being hurt by other people’s actions. I wanted off the emotional roller coaster. When someone wasn’t kind to me, I was rude back. When someone, knowingly or not, gave me a mean look-I gave one back. I was slowly but surely conforming to the world because it was much easier to simply just not care. Little did I know that I was actually choosing to constantly be hurt which snowballed to where I was choosing to be bitter about it all. I chose to let their actions affect me instead of choosing to look to God to see who I really was in Him. I look back and see how vicious this cycle was and realize now how happy I am that I finally turned to God.
“You are the only you God made… God made you and broke the mold.”
-Max Lucado
As my relationship with God grew, I learned that I Am What He Says I am and I don’t have to conform to the world just to function. I was created in His image!! (Genesis 1:27) God softened my heart and returned it to it’s original state, and then some. I stand confidently on the promises that He has made me and I now can say that I can be gentle and kind and loving to everyone and still be More than A Conqueror through Christ. I no longer let the actions of others affect my emotions and the only expectations I have of people are good ones. When it seems as though someone has ‘let me down’, I really try to let it go because I am not a perfect person myself, and their actions don’t and shouldn’t matter to me. I can be sure to tell you though, that this change wasn’t me. It was God working in me to renew my heart and mind. Now I can look at myself in the mirror and realize that all the qualities that I once thought of as weaknesses are beautiful. I love that in a world that can be so cruel, I can be soft and kind. In a world jam-packed with mean and harsh people, I can be gentle and sweet with all that I come into contact with. I have not accepted the calluses and ‘truths’ that life tries to give me because I am not of this world and God’s word is my truth. In all the times that my actions should have let God down, they didn’t and He has continued to love me all the same. Stop choosing bitterness and callousness, choose love today.
(Psalm 139:14) “I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.”
