Never Settle... Ever

"Sometimes you have to forget what you want to remember what you deserve." 

-Unknown 

When we are little the world is full of dreams and endless possibility. We set our sights on the very best this world has to offer, nothing is too good or too far out of reach. As we get older people are careless with out hearts, we make mistakes and we start to settle. We reel it in because going after the very best is too much of a risk. What if we fail? Or worse, end up with nothing at all? As women we do this exceptionally well with men, "I don't want to end up alone so I'll just settle for what's here". But I think it goes deeper than that, at least it did for me. Before we are willing to take that risk we have to understand and believe that good will never measure up to God's best.

The first step is actually believing that God is good. I have questioned Him so many times and over the years I have found myself angry and confused because I couldn't understand why He would allow such heartache into my life. (Can I just bring a little freedom to you right now... it is ok to be angry. What happened was real, it hurt, and you are allowed to be angry about it. But we can't stay there because anger can so easily turn to bitterness that will destroy your life.) At my core though I still knew He was good. He showed me that no amount of pain I could ever feel would outweigh the agony He felt watching me hurt. He is so good and the closer you get to Him the more evident this becomes. He is always always good in every circumstance. It goes against His very nature to be anything less.

That's the easy part. One encounter with His presence and you will be convinced of His goodness. The hard part is believing YOU are worth His best. Like I've said before your identity, your worth....this is the enemy's favorite thing to destroy. He can't compete with God's character because He is so pure and so loving that once you've had a taste of that it's impossible to forget. So instead, the enemy attacks us directly and for some reason lies seem to be so much easier to believe than the truth.

If you don't know who you are, or more importantly whose you are, then there is no way for you to know how much you are worth. When we settle for less than God's best we are selling ourselves short of the price that was paid for us. We say His sacrifice wasn't enough to cover who I used to be and therefore I will never be worthy of His best. You may be siting there right now thinking, "you don't know what I've done and you don't know where I've been." You're right I don't, but what I do know is that none of it matters now, Jesus paid for it all and it is all covered. What He did is enough for all your hurt, your shame, your regret... give it to Him. Your past has taken up enough of your time, it has caused enough damage where it is, leave it there. Don't let it take up any more of your precious life, leave it behind you.

Maybe it's not your past, maybe you're settling for a different reason. Because you don't think there is anything better out there? Because having less than the best is better than having nothing? When we settle most of us know that thing in our lives isn't God's very best but we're holding onto it because letting go is scary. Especially when we are using it to cover areas of pain in our lives. Men, alcohol, relationships, walls we put up... while they can temporarily ease our suffering they will never heal.

Beautiful, anytime you try to use a man to heal your heart you are setting him and yourself up for disaster because he was never created to do that. He won't heal that because he can't, God is the only one who will ever be able to bring healing to your broken heart.

Maybe you find yourself settling because its easier than feeling your pain and going through the healing. This is just another tool the enemy uses to get us to stay where we are. The longer we live in a lie the more we begin to believe it. And we convince ourselves that maybe we really aren't settling, making excuses for areas where we know God's best has been sacrificed.

Whatever the reason the bottom line is anytime we trade what the world says is good for the best God has we will end up broken and longing for more. You are worth the very best and I can tell you from experience that God never disappoints. I can try to convince you of your worth all day long but the truth is the only one who is capable of speaking to our hearts is God. He is the only one who can truly show you, not just tell you, what He thinks of you.

Open up your heart to Him, He will never leave you empty, hurt, or alone. He made you and He is fully aware of every longing you hold in your heart, many of those were put there by Him. It's time to let go of that thing that is holding you back from God's very best and let Him show you what you are really worth. It is so much better than "good" for you were never created to live "good" you were created to live life to the fullest it could ever be experienced. I know its scary but you don't need to be afraid, let Him blow you away.