Putting one foot in front of the other, especially on those cloudy days.☀️

Jealousy and comparing ourselves, hit in a couple different ways. You never want it to happen, especially to you, but it does. It makes you feel like it’s slave. Every little thing that happens, makes your brain, your heart, and your thoughts explode. You ignite this fire that’s been slowing kindling and now it’s coming right at you with a giant roar and there’s no stopping it.

Jealously hurts friendships, relationships, and just about everything you can name. It comes like that fire, scorching everything in its way and leaving you back to square one, or feeling even worse than before.

In my personal opinion, it is closely related to comparing and it acts just like it too. Once jealously and comparisons come, the JOY you had is GONE. You feel like a piece of clothing on a washboard. Getting ran back and forth, up and down on the board, until you’re bleeding and raw.

I didn’t know how jealously is for you, but this is how it is for me. It slowly consumes me. It makes me think terrible thoughts towards people that I love. I sit and worry over every stupid little thing. And the kicker is, no good comes from this! 

So, why do we do this to ourselves? I sure hope I’m not the only one. I start to think where those thoughts of jealously come from. I’ll give you one hint... it’s DEFINITELY NOT from our Father in Heaven. 

Satan knows US brothers and sisters. He knows what he can do, what door he can get his foot in, so that we’ll believe what he is telling us. Just one little step and he’s there. In your head, in your heart, consuming your mind with a rage that you’ve never felt before. 

I find myself feeling like an idiot for even saying these thoughts of mine out loud, but I think it’s important to know that you are not the only one struggling. In our culture, talking about how we FEEL is looked down upon. Being vulnerable is not ok. And self doubt and insecurities are rampant. 

So you’re thinking to yourself, ok, Lyssa, this is all find and dandy, but where is the positive and the uplifting? Where is the testimony? Please tell me things get better?! Things will get better and I have faith in that. But, something we forget, is that it’s OKAY to NOT BE okay. In fact, it’s completely “normal” whether we admit that or not. 

A lot of the time I feel like I need to be “ON” ALL THE TIME. But I don’t. And if you think I am, then you definitely don’t know me. This post isn’t to make you feel bad or say “poor Lyssa”, it’s to get you thinking. To be REAL. To be VULNERABLE. To be AUTHENTIC. 

From the book entitled “strength through adversity” by Brent L. Top, he shares this poem:

“If you can smile when things go wrong, and say it doesn’t matter. If you can laugh off cares and woes and the troubles they make you fatter. If you can keep a cheerful face, when all around are blue. Then have your head examined bud, because there’s something wrong with you. For one thing I’ve arrived at, there are no ands and butts, a guy who’s grinning all the time, must be COMPLETELY nuts.”

This might sound silly, but this poem set me FREE! It reminded me that it was ok to not be ok. And if I was smiling and happy all the time, then I must be seriously insane. It’s the little things like that in our lives, that help us examine how we’re doing, where we are at, and where we are going. When we are choosing the right, our path will ALWAYS BE UPHILL.

Brothers and sisters, I KNOW that God is AWARE of us. He is our Father and we are His children. He understands what we are facing and His Son Jesus Christ suffered through all of that and more and still loves us. He CHOSE to do that, knowing what was in store and what was going to happen. And He still did it. His love for us is perfect and the care and awareness He has for us is endless. We are taught in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” 

I’m not saying life is going to be easy, because some days, months, maybe even years, won’t be like that. But there is someone we can ALWAYS turn to, when life gets to much to bear- our loving Heavenly Father. One of my favorite talks is by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, and he says: “Keep trying, keep trusting, keep believing, keep growing. Heaven will be cheering you on, TODAY, TOMORROW, and FOREVER.” Keep going friends! You and I can do it!! ♥️🙏🏻😭☀️🔥