What Girls Get Wrong

A few months ago, I found myself struggling with jealousy toward my siblings. I’m not quite sure how to explain what I mean. I wasn’t jealous over what they had in their lives compared to me. There wasn’t a specific thing either of my brothers or my sister had that I wanted. Rather, I was jealous because their lives seemed to be going better than mine, that they escaped the struggles I have faced, the ones I still deal with (such as food allergies and health issues). This sounds horrible, like I want my siblings to suffer, to not have good lives, but I don’t. I mean...why can’t I just not suffer the things I do? Why can’t I have more good things in my life? It’s a struggle to write this, because I hate admitting it. I don’t want you to think I hate my life. I don’t. But at that time, I found myself upset that my life didn’t look as “good” as my siblings’ lives. I found myself asking why God had let this happen. What had I done that my life was so different from theirs? Di...

Some time ago, I wrote a post about how dangerous it is to compare ourselves to others .  Whether your comparisons make you feel bad about yourself, or whether they cause you to feel superior to someone else, the comparing game causes pain. At least, when we're framing it in a me versus you format. Why did God include so many stories of people in the Bible?  If we shouldn't compare, why did He write of Esther and her courage, of Ruth and her diligence, of Tamar and her seduction, of Mary and her obedience, of Naomi and her bitterness? The Bible is ultimately the story of God, His creation, the first man and woman's betrayal, His undying love and sacrifice, and His rescue of mankind from their sin and complete victory over evil.  But along the way, we read of many people, both good and bad, both repentant and in denial. What was the reason for all of these stories?  Was it just to make the Bible longer?  Did God have a word count He wanted to hit, and so ...

We all know what a trap comparison is, we've heard enough about how we shouldn't compare our lives, looks, etc to other girls, that Facebook inflates what our lives look like. But I haven't heard nearly as much about comparing our faults to those of others. That is a trap I've recently discovered in my life. I've always had an issue with comparison, if I'm honest. I think most of us do. We live in a sinful world, and from babyhood we're taught to look/act/be a certain way. We're indoctrinated with comparing ourselves every time we turn on the T.V. pretty much. We've used comparison lots to tell ourselves where we lack. We also use it a lot to pat ourselves on the back, to convince ourselves we're doing okay. But whereas we know by now how dangerous it is to compare ourselves to others as a standard of what we lack, the dangers of comparing our faults and mistakes to those of others to make ourselves feel better is much more slippery. ...