⚠️Be Careful What You Pray For
‼️Be careful what you pray for!
😷Like any other person living, I have to deal with toxic people.
🙅🏾♂️A few years ago, I became more aware of the toxic people in my life and the negative impacts that dealing with such people had on me.
🙏This awareness led me to passionately pray and plea to God to address and/or remove the toxic people in my life so it would no longer hold me back from being my best self.
🙌🏾God, being the loving and caring God that He is, heard and quickly answered my prayer!
This turned out to be good news and unexpectedly challenging news as well.
😁Good news: God addressed and removed the toxic people in my life.
🥺Unexpected challenging news: He started with me!
💡As a basketball trainer, I tell the players I mentor that everything that is good (for you) does not always feel good (while you're doing it). That was the case with me. It did not feel good while we endured the removal of the toxic me, but it feels good that he is no longer around, which has served as the foundation for me to live my best life!
3 Encouraging power 💭’s:
👊🏾 Don't beat yourself up - I discovered that life happens to us all, and often, the tough times we encounter and those in influential positions in our lives who have yet to address their toxicity will lead us to inherit toxic traits we were unaware of. When this happens, don't beat yourself up; instead, allow God to transform you into a new you! - Isaiah 43:19 - NLT - For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
👊🏾Don't be surprised - minus intentionally, moving through life Spirit-led, your flesh will lead you - which is the world’s default standard. - Galatians 5:13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh…16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever[c] you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law…9 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law…25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
As you can see, when we move by the default standard of the evil world around us - the flesh, we are Toxic As (you know the rest). We are selfish, jealous, dishonest haters who cannot control our rage. On the other hand, when we move by the Spirit, we are transformed into the “new us,” the non-toxic us!
👊🏾 Be the change! - As you consider this, consider Ghana’s famous quote, “Be the change you want to see in the world.” My experience tells me that that’s how God works within us; He rids us of the toxicity - our flesh - before He ever deals with toxicity around us.