Who I am and What Others Think of Me

I have spent most of my life measuring myself by what others thought of me . . .

If I wasn't liked by someone . . . "there must be something wrong with me".

If someone disagreed with something I did or said . . .I felt like a horrible person.

If I was loved and accepted by others . . . I felt as though I must be okay.

It was as if I let the thoughts and feelings others had toward me define and "make" me who I was. Obviously, I know that I wasn't what others thought of me, it was just something going on in my mind, but I did let this thought process take over my life. The sad part is that I let the negative feelings rule over anything possitive.

You know . . . I have lived my life like this all the way up until now. I have been miserable. I know what is right. I know that I am who God made me to be . . . I know that HE makes NO mistakes, but somehow I allow the thoughts of other people bring me down.

Lately, I have been having some difficulty with someone who didn't like something I said. Hearts were hurt. Friendships were broken and lost -- shattered into pieces. I couldn't understand it, so once again I let this situation bring me down. I allowed it to, again, "define" who I am. Someone disliked something, so I immediately let these thoughts and feelings that were against me make me feel as though I was a terrible human being.

The truth is . . . I am a child of God. I make mistakes just like everyone else, but these mistakes or misunderstandings DO NOT make me who I am. Who I am in Christ is what defines me.

I have decided that if I want to live life without being miserable half the time, I need to stop measuring myself up to what others think of me. I need to recognize the difference between who I am and what others feel about me.

I just need to focus on the one that matters most . . . God