Facing {MY} Giants

There was so much great information that was touched on during our time at camp. The main focus or theme of camp was CONVERGENCE - choosing one path or the other with the hopes that you would choose the path that converges your life with God's. One particular night, the pastor was speaking on sin and how you can try to overcome your repetitive sin, or the sin that you repeat constantly. For me, that was a nasty tongue. Whether it be bad language (I know, I know ya'll) or belittling someone else, I've known for a long time it all needs to stop.

But it's so dadgum hard to break a habit.

So the pastor brought up the idea of facing your giants head on. In essence, when you pray and ask God to forgive you of your sins, don't just skip flippantly right over that part. Instead, NAME your sins out. What a gross taste that put in my mouth?! Having to say, "God, I'm sorry for belittling {name}. Can you help me to turn away from that. God, I'm sorry for saying the words I said. I know they hurt you." Hearing myself say those sins out loud and really looking them in the eyes has pretty much nipped that in the butt from happening again. Granted, I will still struggle, but I have become much more aware of what I say.

And then the pastor said to take it a step further. Write down your top three sins you struggle with daily. The ones that you don't even realize you're doing in that moment until the moment has passed. Once you've written them down, keep them somewhere where you KNOW you will look at it throughout the day. For me, that's my planner. Ya'll... you will realize how quickly you are starting those sins in the day. It's a nice little wake up call when you have a way to hold yourself accountable.

So I want to challenge each of ya'll today - what little or big sins are struggling with that are keeping you at a distance from God? Own those giants, look them in the eyes, and say, "My God is stronger than you" and let's knock them out together. Know that you're not alone in your every day struggle to maintain a somewhat Christ-like lifestyle (I say somewhat because, honestly, we will never have the perfect Christ-like lifestyle). Love each of ya'll tremendously. Mean it!