Hey It's Maria, and this is my first official post. I hope you like it!

I don't even remember where it began, this pattern of comparison. It was a pattern of looking at other people and their talents and then looking back at myself in disappointment. As a child I remember trying so hard to be good at things. And there were things that I can say I was naturally good at. But I tried too hard to excel in everything and it set me out with a permanent mindset of always trying to be the best. When I found out one day that I would never be, I lost hope. I didn't stop using my talents but I still had the negative mindset that nothing I did would ever be good enough and I might as well be content with it. The "I'm good but I'll never be great" attitude. This attitude is the surest way to run yourself into the ground. It got so bad that one day I just decided to tell myself that I might as well not try because there were already enough talented people in the world and my talents didn't matter. I let myself get consumed by the lies of the enemy. What's funny is that I was raised in church my whole life and everywhere I went I heard messages of hope but I let the negative voice become the stronger presence in my life. I found too much comfort in the zone of not trying because not trying meant that I wouldn't have to fail or feel bad when some one with a better ability came around. It all hit me how full of dirt my head was one day in Bible School. It's like the bubble of comfort I lived in for so long was revealed to me for the first time. I realized that the root of all this negativity came from the fact that I was trying to impress people and not God. When all is said and done and you've blown people away with what you can do, one day they're going to forget about you. That's the harsh truth. But God, ( I love these two words), created you and he gave you these talents for his glory. So that you could show the world what God's given you to reveal the magnificence of his craftiness; how detailed he is in forming us with a mind that no one else in the world can have. You have been given a life and whether you know it or not God has equipped you with talents and abilities that yes, other people possess too, but they can't perform them in the way that you do. That's the beauty of you. Bringing out the individuality of a talent that many others possess. But for the benefit of God.

Some people come from the other side of the scale with more confidence. It's such a precious quality to have. You have the ability to use to boldness in your voice to reach out to people in your loud way. But you can't ever get caught up in the greatness of the gift. The gift is great but it's not as great as the giver of the gift. The enemy will use anything he can to bring you down and pride is one of the nastiest internal diseases he will use to tear a person apart. There's pride that says, "I'm so good", and there's pride that says, "I'll never be good but I'm comfortable with it". Both are equally dangerous to your spirit. If you feel like you are wrapped up in either of these voices then pray to God asking him to release your mind of these things. There are three voices in your mind. God, the devil, and your own. And you are not the third party in your mind.
2nd Corinthians 10:5 says, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Through prayer you have the power to tell any negative thought to leave your mind. Philippians 4:13, " I can do all things through Christ who strenghtens me." Don't ever let the enemy fool you into believing you have no say in what goes on in your mind. 

I know I probably wrote too much but I have a lot to say. I'm going to reiterate what I've stated so far:
1) Your talents were not given to you to impress people, but to share what God can do through you. And what he can do through others. Try to think of it as having an audience of one. The only person watching is God.
2) Don't ever get discouraged because people who have the same talent as you seem to do it in a better way, to God there is no "better" because you are already his "best" creation. So show him your talents in only the way that you can do it.
3) Don't ever let pride of any sort take hold of your mind.
4) You have the power through Jesus Christ to ward off any negative thought in your mind.

I hope my blog inspires you and I know that God is going to use you for something great! I love you, but never more than Jesus does!