Believe it or not, I’ve got quite a pride issue. I would rather fight tooth and nail to figure something out myself before I ask for help. I would rather hold everything in, instead of letting people in on things so that I don’t have to handle them myself. I would rather try to act like I have it all together instead of asking for help because I’ve actually been falling apart.
I never thought I had a pride issue. I thought I just went with the flow, did was was told, and went on about life. Turns out that my pride gets in the way of a lot of things. Y’all, if I’m being honest, my pride even gets in the way with my walk with Christ. And that’s so sinful of me. When we really get down to the root of where our pride comes from, we realize that ultimately it begins from sin, but it also begins from our control issues. And boy oh boy, do I have control issues too.
But back to the pride issue, I’ve gotten too comfortable letting my prideful heart control me. I take a little too much pride in my writing, too much pride in the fact that I put myself through school without any help from my parents, too much pride in the fact that I’ve done everything from the age of 18 to now by myself. But y’all, none of that has been me. I’m not actually that good at writing, I’m just trying to write about things that the Lord puts on my heart. I didn’t put myself through school all by myself, I had a team of family members cheering me on, pointing me on the right path, and constantly reminding to do what was right in the Lord. I haven’t done a single thing by myself, it’s all been with the Lord. Never once has He left me or left me to my own doings. I wouldn’t be where I am today without His direction in every aspect of my life.
Y’all, we can not do anything without Christ. Let me say that again: We can not do anything without Christ. All of who we are, from the hairs on our head to the tips of our toes, from each beat of our heart to movement in our bones, we have all of that because of Christ. He knows how many beats our hearts will make, from forming us in our mothers wombs to the day He calls us home. He knows the exact number of hairs on our head and every vein in our system. He has known before we were ever conceived what our names would be, what type of person we would be come, whether we would be able to paint or sing or dance or write. God is the ONLY one who knows every small detail about us and gets to take pride in that. We don’t get to take pride y’all, because none of what we are is because of things we’ve done. Everything we do and are is because God said so.
So, when I start to take pride in the things I’ve done, or the help I’ve shied away from, or the millions of other things I claim are my own, I pray that I’m quickly reminded that nothing is of my own doing. All that I am or hope to be is because of Christ. He created me, He sustains me, and He will get the glory from now and all throughout eternity. I’m praying for any and everyone of y’all, that we will all see Christ in all of our moments and praise Him with every fiber of our beings.
“I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
Ephesians 4:1-3 ESV
Beauty in the Ashes 