Arise & ShineSample

I Want to Live!

Despite the race, nationality, or culture with which we identify, one thing each of us has in common with everyone else is we all desire to be loved. Yes, God loves me, and I know He loves me, and there are many times when I feel His love; however, it has been scientifically proven, as human beings we are all driven to connect with people. We say a dog is man’s best friend, but at some point, we will have a desire to connect with a real, flesh-and-blood person with whom we can have conversation, laugh, and share intimacy. We will long to be in relationship with someone who will tell us what a great job we did or help us to understand where we failed and to motivate us to try again. We may be dog lovers, but we know that Shaggy just can’t do all of that! Unfortunately, some of us make the error of building relationships with people who are toxic. We allow the negative, unproductive thoughts of others to dictate how we feel about ourselves. People who are unwilling to face their own insecurities, fears, and giants will look at us and see our potential, and purposefully take all of the skeletons in their closet and push them off into our headspace. They want to drop their negativity in our lap, so that we will become immobile like them. The enemy uses people to cause us to sit on the sidelines and just watch life pass us by. But just like David, God did not create us to sit on the sidelines and watch; He created us to become, to achieve, and to live. God, I want to live!