Go Where You Are Celebrated

Starting a business is hard work. If you haven’t heard I started a little cooking school in Old Towne Orange.

Owning your own business is a journey of self exploration. If you work for an organization I am sure you have had those thoughts of “how much better I would do it, if I were in charge!” The thought of how awesome it would be to own your destiny. Then, if you are lucky, you are in that spot and realize how much you still have to learn.

The biggest challenge is the same one I have most of my life, the feeling of low self worth. The struggle to see myself as God does. It takes discipline to choose to focus on the good and not the bad. I had this huge aha moment a week ago after having a conflict and choosing to stick up for myself. On a walk later that day I was listening to Joel Olsteen and he was talking about a No Stick Anointing.

The words that pierced me were “go where you are celebrated and not just tolerated.” Those are profound words to a people pleaser. It just clicked. I have spent so much of my life wasting significant energy on trying to win the approval of people who didn’t care or who didn’t love me or whose expectations I could never meet.

It can be family or friends.

Maybe a co-worker or a client.

That time would have been so much better spent investing in the people who did care, who wanted to be in relationship with me. I always rejected the nice guy and tried for the guy who would be trouble. I stayed in situations that were not uplifting, that did not feed my soul because I thought I could make them accept me. In certain jobs I tried to juggle 10 things trying to please someone who really just liked making people jump through hoops.

We don’t always have a choice and we can’t always walk away from hard situations. Difficult situations refine us and God uses them to develop our character. But, there are times when we are at a fork in the road and can make choices.

Part of going where you are celebrated, is knowing who you are in Christ. It is believing that He is in control and that if we trust him, he will go before us and open doors. In Luke 9:3-5 Jesus  says “if the people in the town will not welcome you, go outside the town and shake their dust off of your feet. This will be a warning to them.” He was talking about people not welcoming the gospel but there is a practical application here too.

The truth is, If we are following and honoring God not everyone is going to like us. We are called to reach out in love and  do our part to live in peace but that doesn’t mean we have to try and please everyone.

Life is messy sometimes. We struggle to find our place. We lean forward to try and hear God. We take a step forward, only to take another 10 steps back.

When I am trying to people please I end up places I was not supposed to be. There is a certain freedom to letting go and realizing not everyone in life will like us.

My sweet niece wanted to pull me around in a big ol wagon. I have been struggling to lose the weight I gained and said “I’m too heavy you can’t pull me around”. She is persistent and coerced me into sitting down and proceeded to pull me all over the yard. “See Cheri you are light” she triumphantly said.

Go where you are celebrated and kick off the rest.