When Insecurities Come Up...

   I am a person who enjoys joking around and picking on my friends. It is one way that I show my love and show I care about people. I also enjoy picking on my sister’s friends. 
   One day we were at my sister’s soccer game. We were waiting for the game to start. My sister was with her friends and I was with the coaches. I knew that one of my sister’s friends did not like it when I stared at her. I started staring to see how long it would take her to notice that I was staring at her. My sister’s friend finally noticed.
   My sister’s  friend looked at me then looked away. I chuckled and my sister’s friend decided to whisper something to my sister. Now, I know teenage girls because I was one at some point in my life. And I knew this girl didn’t actually say anything to my sister. She was just pretending that she did say something so that I would freak out or stop looking at her.
I looked over at my sister and I said, “she didn’t actually say anything, did she?” My sister laughed and so did her friend. Then my sister confirmed that her friend did not actually say anything. 
   This whole situation got me thinking, “why exactly did my sister’s friend pretend to say something?” She did it because she wanted me to stop looking at her. But, she also did it because she was insecure. She was insecure because I was looking at her and she thought that I was making judgements about her. That’s how girls are. They/We assume that we are not good enough and every one is judging us.
   Then, if we feel insecure, we want to take the insecurity, or attention, off of us. My sister’s  friend did this by pretending to whisper about me. I knew this was all a game because we have played it before. But, there was a time in my life where I would have thought about what my sister’s friend said about me. I would have let that insecurity fester until all I thought about was what my sister’s friend said.
   But, I did not do that because I have changed.  I know that it does not matter what others think about me because I have God with me. All that matters is that I know my identity is in God. If I have peace in him then no matter what people say about me, think about me, or do to me doesn’t matter. I have confidence in myself through God. 
   No matter what age you are you will face people who do not like you, have opinions about you, and will do mean things to you. But, if you have faith and trust in God then it doesn’t matter what they say or do. The things of this world are temporary. We can choose to forgive those who hurt us because we have been forgiven much.
   So, do you care too much about what others think about you? Do you know your identity is in Christ? Will you choose to trust in God and forgive others?
   John 1:12 and 2 Timothy 12:7