Speak Life.

It's hard to take any type of criticism. It's hard to believe that anyone would disagree with you when you feel you've done your very best in that situation... The thing is, there will always be someone. Someone who feels you could have done better. Someone who feels you didn't do enough. And that's hard.

Growing up, I've always been a people pleaser. I wanted to do things the "right" way - so people would see that I was good, and that I would feel as if they appreciated me because I was good. As I've gotten older I've come to realize more that because everyone has an opinion, it's impossible to please them all. Someone is always going to disagree. Someone will always be there to criticize. Someone will get the wrong idea about you, based on an opinion they have or anger they've allowed to fester. It's disheartening, to know you've done all you could, but to someone else, it wasn't enough.

Bottom line, the most important being I answer to, is Jesus. - If I'm doing my best to seek his face, and to live out a life that brings glory to his name, showing his love unconditionally all the time, the opinions of other's don't matter. It's so cliche - we say it all the time. "Do what you want! People will think what they want!" There's a balance though, you don't want people to see you as someone who disregards every opinion, because God does speak through different people in our lives. I think it's important that we think about criticism when it comes, analyze where/who it came from, and decide whether it's something we need to address with ourselves or not.

It's important to think about where it came from, how was this person effected by me, positively? negatively? Is there an ulterior motive? Is what they said something to help better myself? Or were they tearing me down? - Just as God uses people to speak to us, Satan does too. He will use people to tear us down. - We've got to know the difference. We've got to be able to strike down any negative word from the enemy, as not to let it simmer and take root in our hearts. If that happens, we become the negative influence we don't want to be.. the same one that came down on us.

Something that has really stuck with me is our ability to speak life or death. It's amazing how a sentence that takes nothing but air and vocal chords to produce, can be more painful than a literal knife in the back. - I've made it my goal to speak life, be positive, and encourage with my words.

• 1 Peter 3:16 (NLT)

  But do this in a gentle and respectful way. Keep your conscience clear. Then if people speak against you, they will be ashamed when they see what a good life you live because you belong to Christ.

That verse pretty much says to "keep your head up" - Show love, and be kind. People will notice.