Comparisons

I am a "comparer" (is that even a word?).  All my life I have looked to others as examples of how I am to live my life.  In my younger years, my comparing looked a lot more like following as I stuggled to keep my equilibrium between doing the things I knew I should be and those that everyone else was doing.  I fell and rebelled a lot in my teens.  

As I have grown, my following turned more to true comparing and learning by example.  I watch godly women who seem to have it all together -at least most of the time -but also arent afraid to be real and show us (me) how they work through the hard times.  Now many of those women are my friends and I am not only able to learn by their example (good and bad) but also to encourage and be encouraged by them. 

Something that helped me a lot was keeping this in mind:

Dont compare yourself to other people -especially women.  Compare yourself only to Gods Word.  That is the only Truth to follow. 

It will still seem hard when you look at the beautiful pictures we are given of Godly women in scripture but we will also see those who fell.  And we can learn just as much from those who did not live righteous lives as we can from those that did.  In fact, I can think of only one example of a woman who did seem to have it all together in scripture -Mary.  And yet she was human and therefore was not immune to sin either. 

So when we see other women who seem to never struggle with anything and their lives are in such perfect order, beware.  The fascade of perfection is just that -a fascade.  Dont try to be like "them".  Strive, rather, to be more like Him and what He has called us to be.