January 7, 2020

Today, I want to talk about being thankful for the people that God has set in your path. God will send people in your life for a season or a lifetime. These people that He sends are there either to push you into what God Has for you and teach you how you shouldn’t be treated. The people that you surround yourself with are essential for your walk with Christ. You need people in your life that are going to push you, motivate you, keep you accountable, and much more. Ask yourself: Are the people who I’m surrounding myself with breaking me down? If they are breaking you down, those are not the people that you should keep in your life. Think of it like this: if you are surrounding yourself with people that are continually speaking words that are going to diminish the character that God has imparted in you, that is just what will be reaped in your life. His word says “Do not be misled: Bad company corrupts good character” (1 Corinthians 15:33, NIV). If you surround yourselves with people who are speaking death, those words are either going to reach a point where it changes your character or will make you feel less than. At first, we tend to make excuses for the people who break us down because we feel like we can change them. But, you can’t change them. The only person that can change them is God. We have to come before God and ask Him to change that person’s character and heart. That they will speak life and not death into someone's life. The second question you have to ask is: Are the people I surround myself with those I want to model myself after? Surrounding yourself with people that you want to model yourself after is essential. You want to surround yourself with people that are in the place or position that you strive to be one day. His word says “ As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17, NIV) My interpretation of this verse is that we mold ourselves after who we contact. For example, you are a person that God has called you to be in leadership. You have to now put yourself in the position to grow and learn about what leadership looks like. What does it mean to be in leadership? You would have to seek His word for the answers and define what it means to you. Most of all, find a leader in your church that you want to strive to be one day. I don’t mean becoming like them, for you and your leader are two different people with two different paths. What I mean is connect with that leader. Find out how they arrived at where they are now. That leader that God has set in your life is there to guide and direct you along your path of being that leader you want to be one day. The friends that you surround yourself with are also essential. Having a friend that is going to push you and keep you accountable is important. They are the ones who are going to keep you along the path that you want to succeed in. They are the ones who are going to pray with you and motivate you when you feel like giving up. Having a friend like that is important because imagine if you didn’t have a friend that pushes you to achieve your goals. You would have already given up because you surrounded yourself with people that told you that you couldn’t make it. Remember, you want to surround yourself with people who are going to speak life and push you. Not people that are going to break you down. Who you surround yourselves with is critically important.

Much Love From Yours Truly,

Colleen 💖