Approval and Self

by Sharon Chimere-Dan

Dear Daddy,

I don't take criticism well, whether it's constructive or not. Not only that, but I hate debate. I prefer to go unchallenged and have everyone like me and agree with me. If that's not the case I feel HORRID. I'm ready to throw up, I shake enough to be an inconvenience to myself, my chest constricts, my face feels flushed and I can think of nothing else but "that" for more than a day (sometimes)! I can hardly even take debate in, say, a classroom setting!

Please help me! People will definitely challenge me at one point or another, sometimes for my good and sometimes not. But I can't get like this every time they do. I'm tired of it. One of the biggest consequences of it is that I then try to get back into the person/people's good book/s in the pathetic way of smiling and laughing with them and trying to hang with them so in the hopes that they'll forget our disagreement. Please Lord, help me. It's Your opinion alone that counts forever. Help me remember Who You are and how much you cherish me.

~*~*~

In Isaiah 51:12 You said,

"I, even I, am He who comforts you.
Who are you that you should be afraid
Of a man who will die,
And of the son of a man who will be made like grass?"

I agree. I mean, I'm Your child. YOUR CHILD. In the case of a non-Christian disagreeing with me about You, I musn't let myself be so self-conscious that I water down what I'm supposed to say (which is exactly what I tend to do). When You were on earth, You were full of humility and grace, yet You told it like it was! I want to be just like that, just like You. Thank You. And thank You for listening to me and actually doing something about it Father. I feel better :-)

Matthew 5:11-12

"Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."