I don't care just love me

There was something about her that made me gravitate towards her.  Maybe it was the way she walked into the room: earbuds in trying not to care that she was different on the inside, or so she thought.

She had been thrown our like the trash by her mom and a return to sender label stuck to her forehead.

No one loves me- no one cares about me. I can't wait til I'm 18 and I can do what I want.

As the class bell rang; introductions were made, I started to speak.  For the next 45 minutes I spoke of my childhood, my low self- esteem, the meeting of my husband and how he became the person in my life that showed me how to make life happen instead of letting life happen.

The bell rang and the class got up to leave except for one.

The tears that were brimming threatening to break down the Dam, had now been open by the Army Corp of Engineers and the tears were flowing freely.

The low self-esteem with the need to be loved was a recipe for disaster. As she spoke, I realized the earbuds and "I am tough, don't care" attitude she came in with was just a wall of protection to get through the day. 

The bad part for me: I can only show her Gods kindness, love through actions.

I can't tell her that that emptiness, that void can only be filled by God.

We all want to be loved, needed, respected, fulfilled.

The problem is if our self- esteem and or self- confidence are low we will take whatever comes our way.

It's the old parenting adage, even negative attention is better than no attention at all.

God reminded me of this today:  if you are a believer in Christ....show love, you don't always have to have a scripture to back it up.

Preach the Gospel at all times, use words if necessary.

  --  Saint Francis of Assisi 

Who's influencing You?

As I was teaching yesterday I asked the classes to  pick who influenced them: family or friends and write their names down.  Then I asked them to write down the good
and the bad characteristics of everyone they wrote down.

I asked them them why they thought that mattered in a career and leadership.

As most high schoolers do...they just looked at me like I had 2 heads.

I then proceeded to tell them that the people they are around will influence who they
become if they don't know who they are in the first place.

We then talked about the fact that many people think that if they can just leave this
place or that place; if they could get a better job, if their kids would just behave....

Well it all starts with YOU.

I tell people during teaching if they want to move somewhere or do something different they first need to make sure they are not running away from something but yet to something. They also need to be clear with why they are running to something, but as we delve into it we find that they are still running away
but the issue is that the very thing they are running away from is the very thing you
always take with you.....it's YOU.

So back to influencing... Who's influencing you and do you even know who you are and
do you even care?

Example my oldest daughter....I could tell every time she got new friends.... How? She
changed her music.

What is it that you change every time you have a new influence come into your life?

Know what you believe

Ephesians 4:11-14. So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of 
Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the 
Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of 
Christ. Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and
blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and 
craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.

and who you are or.....you might just find yourself caught up in:

2 Timothy 4: 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. 
Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of 
teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear

Now back to the YOU  part.... You always take you with you...so you can change the
outward appearance, (new clothes, new hair style), but until you change the heart....

Proverbs 27:19 

As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.