I want to live today in anticipation of what you will do next instead of constantly complaining about what isn’t pristine in my life.

Remember the nature of knowing insider information. It’s like a drug. It makes you feel both superior and special. But what if those rumors are false? And even if they are true, you didn’t experience them firsthand, and there is most likely a slant to the story you know nothing about.

I’m just a broken girl who’s learned I can’t walk the crooked path of this life.

Look how He’s dusted me off and set me on my feet two hundred and fifty bazillion times. I’m fanatically in love with Him. So if this is true, I need to shed my need-for-everyone-to-like-me coat in favor of His robe of redemption, His mantle of humble submission.

Simply put, we can be prideful if we revere our body or loathe it. Pride is preoccupation with self. Instead, we ought to view our bodies realistically. Our body houses our soul. Our body reflects our character. With our body, we hug a crying child, listen to an exasperated friend, and hold our husband’s hand. Our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made – to experience pain, joy, loss, laughter, and anger. God’s desire for us is to honor him with every part of us – including our body.

When I became a Christian as a teenager, I gathered a false belief to myself that my Christian friends would be my forever friends. Surely, since we both loved Jesus and followed Him, we would always be in each other’s lives. No one would hurt the other – because Jesus! It didn’t take long for that theory of mine to be tested by reality.

That’s the crux of my prayer for you as you walk through difficult relationship – that you would begin to see God’s storytelling in your life even in the midst of pain and bewilderment.

That’s where spiritual warfare begins – leaving our own methods of filling our gaping holes at the well and allowing Jesus to fill every thirsty, needy place with His Living Water.

Sometimes dramatic people try to draw you into someone else’s drama, and that never ends well. Interfering is like pulling on a dangerous dog’s ears. Do it at your own peril.

That's the crux of my prayer for you as you walk through difficult relationship -- that you would begin to see God's storytelling in your life even in the midst of pain and bewilderment.