Pressure

Have you ever felt the pressure to measure up? Like you had to meet a certain requirement in order to make it in life? Whether that looks like the pressure of being the best on your sports team, the perfect child, the funny friend, the person everyone wants to be around, or any other form of pressure or expectations?

I know I have felt this way numerous times. We feel like we have this pressure or expectation that we have to look like we have it all together and live up to everyone else’s standards of what we should look like. We become so focused and concerned about pleasing others and looking like the perfect person that we often forget who we are.

We get caught up in the lies of the enemy and the standard’s the world has placed on us. The lie that we won’t be good enough unless we have the newest car, or wear those kinds of clothes, or are dating someone. There are so many lies that quite honestly are easy to believe. We feel like we have this expectation that we have to live up to. We want to please our friends and make our family proud. We don’t want to let them down or disappoint them. 

Sometimes these expectations that we feel are not placed on us by other people, but we place these expectations on ourselves. We assume that everyone else has it all together so we buy into the lie that we also need to look like we have it all together when really we don’t. Truth is, everyone is struggling with something, just not everyone likes to admit or show it. 

God has been teaching me recently the importance of reminding myself and others about WHO we are. Sure we can put up a front and act a different way around certain people, but God doesn’t want us to have to do that. He wants us to be who He has created us to be. It is vital that we make sure we remember WHO we are and remind others of the same. 

Around a year ago, I read the book “Everybody Always” by Bob Goff. I had seen this book all over social media when it first came out and I wanted to see what all the hype was about. This book changed my life and my perspective on how I see and love other people. Once I started reading this book it was hard to put it down. The chapters are fairly short so it doesn’t ever feel long and dragged out. I highly recommend everyone to go and pick up a copy and read it! 

In a part of his book, Bob talks about how important it is to constantly remind people of WHO they are, not to remind them of when they mess up, when they fail, or when they could have done better. But, remind them of who they are.

When we are in Christ there is no need to let our lives be run by other people’s expectations of us. Who wants to live a chained-up life that is constantly trying to please others and live up to what we think their expectations of us are? Think of what a life of freedom could look like if we only lived by God’s approval and not others. It would change the way we live our lives and we would be living in freedom and not bondage!

I encourage you today, wherever you are at in life, to know that the pressures and expectations you feel right now can be taken away by God, and replaced with love, grace, and acceptance. Spend time with Him and He will continually show you what a life of freedom with him looks like. Continually give yourself grace. Look for love and acceptance from the person WHO created YOU and you will find it. 

-Kayla Milligan