Raising God Pleasers Instead of People Pleasers

I've spent a lot of my time as an adult doing things to please other people. Or earn their favor. Or manipulate them into giving me what I need.

This behavior is a result of my misunderstanding of my relationship with God and with other people.

It's called codependency.

I held the mistaken belief that if I just did the right things, in the right order, at the right time and with the right people...if I could just get all of that right God would love and save me.

But guess what?! It doesn't work that way. I'm never going to do all the right things in the right order at the right time and with the right people all the time. And I might not even pray for every single specific thing that I do wrong and God still loves me. And His grace still saves me.

My salvation is not based on how many prayers I say or how often I read my Bible or doing the right things and not doing the wrong things. It's based on my faith and God's grace.

It doesn't matter who approves of me or not. I'm living for God, not other people.

This shift in my belief system has changed the way I parent. I base my decisions as a parent on how they will affect my childrens relationship with God and how they "see" Him.

I love them based on our relationship. On who they are. Not how they perform. I want my kids to do the right things because they are right. Because it glorifies God. Not so other people will notice and compliment them. If they get compliments...awesome. If not...awesome. It's not about performing.

My feelings for them don't change based on how clean their room is or how many compliments or complaints I get on their behavior.

What other people tell me about my kids might affect future teaching but it doesn't affect how I feel about them. Because God's opinion of me doesn't change based on how others feel about me. He knows my heart. So when someone complains to Him about me, they are not giving Him new information. And since He knows my heart, I don't have to worry about Him believing something that isn't true about me.

And that's how I interact with my kids. Except I can't actually know their heart. But I weigh what I know about them against any new information I receive and proceed accordingly. I want them to live their life thinking about what God wants, not what other people want. I want them to live courageous lives for God because they depend on Him and His approval and aren't always performing to receive compliments or approval from other people.

I just want them to give the appropriate weight to the opinions of other people. Even mine. If my opinion or what I want them to do ever contradicts what they believe God wants them to do...then I hope they go with what God wants and ignore mine.

The bottom line is, I want my kids to depend on God, not other people for the things they need. And I want them to be secure in God's love and live for Him and His glory. I want them to be like Paul and run the race that God has set before them for God and God alone.

Can you imagine all the things that Paul would have done differently if He were overly concerned about what other people thought of him? I daresay his ministry would have looked a lot different than it did. And not in a God glorifying way.

The thing is, I'm still struggling with my own issues with codependency. I still find myself looking to other people for the things that only God can supply. And feeling hopeless and wondering whether I matter to God at times because I fail so constantly.

So I read God's word and I am reminded of the truth. God loves me. He forgives me. And He accepts me. Regardless of whether other people do.

The One Where I Should "Be the Change..."

 One of my favorite episodes of Friends is the one where Phoebe and Rachel decide to start running and Rachel is embarrassed by the way Phoebe runs. Instead of talking to Phoebe about it (or just getting over it) she talks to all the other "Friends" and makes up excuses to give Phoebe for why she didn't go jogging with her. Phoebe eventually realizes there's something wrong and confronts Rachel and Rachel admits the problem and everyone has a little growing experience.

Passive aggressiveness and unhealthy relationships used to be a way of life for me. This is an area where God is doing some serious renovation in my life. He started showing me a few years ago how damaging passive aggressiveness is and has mostly cleansed my life of it. But I still struggle with passiveness quite a bit! I'm so thankful for God's grace.

The amazing thing that I've learned is that relationships don't have to be that way.  I don't have to go around wondering what people mean by what they say (whether or not they expect me to). Or trying to decode the hidden meaning behind their words and actions. And I don't have to communicate that way either. It's so exhausting. 

God doesn't want that for my relationships. Every scripture about how I should be interacting with others is evidence of that. He wants us to be kind to one another. Not just to each other's faces but even behind their backs. 

Passive aggressiveness, gossip and backbiting damage relationships. Not speaking up when I need something and then complaining because I don't get it is damaging to relationships. Telling things that aren't mine to tell is damaging to relationships. Wearing a mask is damaging to relationships.

All of this relationship damage impairs the body of Christ. Can you imagine if my physical brain decided that it didn't need to communicate openly with the rest of my body? Unfortunately a lot of people don't have to imagine, they've witnessed it.

The thing is, I don't have to live this way. The body of Christ doesn't have to function this way. The change starts with me. 

What if I was honest? What if I just loved people for real? What if I were as kind about you to Tom, Dick and Harry as I am to your face? What if when I need something I just ask for it? What if I forgive as God has forgiven me? What if I just shut my mouth instead of telling your story? What if when you do something to offend me, I just let you know? And when I've offended you I just ask for forgiveness instead of excusing and defending?

What if we were all safe people? 

I don't know, that sounds pretty awesome to me.

Ephesians 4:17-32

Matthew 5:37

Thief of Responsibility

Up until about 8 months ago I was completely convinced that all, 100%, of the problems in my relationships were my fault. I believed that I had either created the problem in the first place, or I had made it worse.

Either way--my fault.

I had spent the last 8 or so years examining my relationships and taking ownership of the problems. And definitely a large portion of those problems were mine to own...but I was taking ownership of everything, 100%. And as I changed, things DID change so I took that as confirmation that I had been the problem.

But even as I worked so hard to change, by God's grace and through His power, some things didn't change.

I would go through periods of deep depression out of frustration and despair because I just hadn't changed enough to fix all the problems. I questioned whether I had actually changed at all or if it was just my imagination or pride. And I began to question whether it was even possible for me to change. Like maybe I was just a Saul or Judas or Pharoah. And that led to a lot of questioning God and being angry. All of this even though I had clearly changed.

So last September I became desperate and reached out for help. I began counseling and going to Celebrate Recovery and working the steps and principles. And I've spent the last 8 months coming to the realization that everything is NOT my fault.

While my actions have and do affect others, I am not 100% responsible for the problems in the world. Or even MY world. If it can't be fixed by ME changing--it probably isn't and never was my fault.

I have to own my own actions but no amount of fixing ME is going to fix someone else. And fixing them isn't my responsibility or even within my realm of control.

In some ways this is a huge load off. Not having to take responsibility for other peoples actions and feelings is a weight lifted from my shoulders.

But it also means that I can't fix all the problems in my life. God can fix me if I'm willing to surrender but no amount of surrendering on my part will fix anyone else. I have to just pray and trust God with other people.

So when something happens or someone lets me know that there's a problem, I can assess the situation, own my part, ask for forgiveness if necessary and not take responsibility that isn't mine to take. Because taking other peoples responsibility robs them of the opportunity to grow.

Yes, my actions can trigger someone to sin. And I am responsible for not provoking my brothers and sisters to stumble and I should avoid it at all costs.

Yes, other peoples actions can trigger me. I am responsible for setting boundaries for myself and communicating them to protect myself from sinning (that seems to be what Jesus is talking about when He says, if your right hand offends you, cut it off). It is also my responsibility to NOT sin even when provoked. I fail on that account.

The thing is, knowing that my words and actions are about me, and only me, has set me free. Because the same thing applies to other people. Other peoples words and actions are about them. Not me. "Hurting people hurt people and free people free people".

So what does this look like in my life?

1. My depression is almost non existent.

2. My relationship with Michael is much more peaceful.

3. I'm a better mom. I didn't even realize how much all of that responsibility affected me as a mother. Yelling has reduced to...well...it's a rare occurrence.

4. I can trust the wisdom that God provides and I can tell myself the truth based on that. So I can take responsibility for my actions when needed and feel confident when things truly aren't my fault.

When I started this process, I thought I would be fixed at the end of my step study. I'm not. But I have learned a ton and I am equipped for growth.

I am thankful and I am ready to continue the journey.

Blessed are the Codependent People?

I don't ever remember a time when I wasn't afraid of people.

As a result, I learned at a young age to be acutely aware of other people and their words, facial expression, moods and body language. I am especially sensitive to the slightest changes in all of them.

I probably would have made a good spy.

It is uncanny how unconsciously observant I am.

This ability comes in handy sometimes, but it also presents a problem for me, because I allow the information I gather to hold me hostage. I put too much weight on the feelings of other people and allow them to affect my actions and feelings to an unhealthy degree. In the name of peacekeeping I have let things go that should have been addressed. I'm afraid of how others will respond. I have allowed the elephant in the room that's suffocating us all to just keep depriving the relationship of oxygen.

God has been working on me though.  Because this life isn't about pleasing people or making them like me. It's about dying to myself (and my codependent, people pleasing ways) and laying my life down as a living sacrifice. And that might involve people judging me and thinking negatively about me even when I am in the center of God's will.

My friend Carrie recently pointed out to me that Jesus said "Blessed are the peacemakers" not blessed are the codependent people or the passive people. Peace very often comes as the result of some sort of confrontation. This doesn't mean that I should confront everyone I know about everything I disagree with them over. It means the relational issues, the things that damage the relationship. Not everything I disagree with someone over should damage the relationship.

I'm definitely not cured. I haven't yet been able to confront anyone other than my husband, but there's progress. I'm finding myself less affected by others opinions of me. Twice recently I've overheard someone talking about me in a  not so nice way and it barely even registered on my radar. Previously I would have been angry and retaliated in some way. But I didn't!!! Praise God!

I am so thankful for a kind and loving God who fills me with His Spriit, covers me with the blood of His Son and loves me inspite of my flaws!

So I Have a Confession to Make...

I started blogging because I felt "led" to.  I started with the understanding that my writing is mediocre at best but it seemed that God was laying things on my heart and they had to go somewhere.  Maybe it was just that I needed to process God's work in my life and blogging presented itself as a means to that end.

But I have a serious problem with comparison.  I see how well someone else writes or how many followers they have and mine is so small in comparison that I start asking myself questions like "why are you even doing that?! I mean, really, WHO DO YOU THINK you are?"

I guess the problem is that I seek approval from people instead of God.  I actually kind of correlate the two. If others don't approve then God must not either...right?! No. Not right at all. The Bible is full of examples of people who did exactly what God wanted them to do but who were not accepted or even wanted by society. Okay, so am I comparing myself to people like Elijah? No. Absolutely not.  I'm just using those stories as support for my belief that I don't need the approval of others to have the approval of God.

Yes, I hope this blog encourages SOMEONE.  Yes, I want God to do something amazing through me.  But even if I'm the only someone it encourages.  And even if the only amazing thing that happens here is like a grain of sand on a huge seashore that nobody even notices...it's STILL amazing because that's a million times more than I could ever hope to accomplish on my own.

When God gives me something to write, I'm going to write.  For HIS glory.  Not for my own. And not so that anyone else will approve.

I'm going to say yes to God, even if He's the only one that hears it. :)