December 24, 2024 • 17 mins
In today’s episode of What’s God Got to Do With It? we’re diving deep into a struggle we’ve all faced: comparison. Whether it’s scrolling through Instagram, seeing someone else’s success, or feeling like you’re falling short in your own faith walk, comparison is a sneaky thief that steals our joy, gratitude, and connection to God.
Leanne explores the real cost of comparison—how it can plant seeds of envy and even make us question God’s goodness—and explore practical, faith-filled steps to break free. From practicing radical gratitude (and the neuroscience behind how it rewires your brain!) to celebrating others without comparison, we’ll learn how to turn jealousy into connection and curiosity. Most importantly, we’ll anchor ourselves in God’s truth, reminding ourselves of the unique and beautiful plans He has for each of us.
If you’re ready to stop letting comparison steal your peace and start walking confidently in your own God-given path, this episode is for you, because What God has for you is yours.
HOST: Leanne Ellington // StresslessEating.com // @leanneellington
To learn more about Leanne, head over to www.LeanneEllington.com, and to share your thoughts, questions, feedback, or guest suggestions instantly, head on over to www.WhatsGodGotToDoWithIt.com.
Follow Leanne on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leanneellington/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not here a preach. I'm gonna keep it clean and
talk to me and record where faith needs, files of
nature and get in touch with your creator with a bacon,
love and jew She even speaks Hebrew. What's that, Danzato?
What's that? As well? Sabosation, we should talking transformation? What's that? Danzato? Hey?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey, and welcome back to what's God got to do
with it? And today we're diving into a topic that
if we are all honest with ourselves, it really does
hit all of us at some point, and that is comparison.
And so yep, we are going there today and we're
going to talk about that sneaky little habit of scrolling
through Instagram or walking into a room and instantly sizing
(01:06):
yourself up against someone else. And you know, when you
see her outfit or her success or her family, or
her talent, or maybe how Air quotes perfect her faith seems,
and suddenly you feel like you're not measuring up. And
let's be real, sometimes comparison doesn't just stop it feeling
less than. Sometimes it turns into envy or jealousy. And
(01:27):
when that happens, it doesn't just stay in our heads.
It starts to spill out into our relationships and into
how we see ourselves, and then into how we see God.
And that's where the real cost of comparison shows up.
So today we're going to have a heart to heart
about the spiritual toll of comparison, and we're going to
(01:49):
talk about how it affects your faith walk, what it
does to your relationship with God and with others, and
most importantly, how to stop letting it steal your joy
and your peace. And so just say before we dive in,
this is not me coming from some high mountaintop. I
am not sitting here talking at you from some place
of judgment. Comparison has been a struggle for me too,
(02:09):
and so this is not me telling you what to do.
It is me coming alongside you as a sister who
has walked this road and is still learning how to
navigate it with grace. So let's start with the big picture.
Comparison is the thief right. It steals your joy, it
steals your gratitude, It even steals your ability to connect
with God. And so just think about it when you're
(02:31):
stuck in comparison. What are you focusing on? Right, Well,
you're focusing on what you don't have and what you're
not doing or who you're not measuring up to. And
when your focus is there, it's almost impossible to see
the blessings God has already given you. Paul says it's
so beautifully in Galatians six four through five, where he
says each one should test their own actions. Then they
(02:54):
can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to
someone else. For each one should carry their own load.
And when what Paul is talking about here is the
kind of contentment that comes from knowing you're walking the
path that God has for you. And so when we
are constantly comparing ourselves to others, we lose sight of
(03:16):
that path and we get distracted by somebody else's journey
and start questioning if ours is good enough. And so
I remember a season in my own life where comparison
was truly running the show. It was back when I
was deep in my own, you know, journey of healing
and self discovery and really my walk with the Lord.
But I'd made a lot of progress, but I still
(03:36):
felt like I was playing catch up. With the people
around me. And so there was this one woman in
my field, and I remember every time I saw her
post on social media, I immediately made it mean that
I was falling short. And she seemed to have it all,
like the thriving career and the perfectly curated family moments
and the morning devotional shots that made it look like
she and God were, you know, having coffee daily together, right,
(03:58):
And well, I was over here struggling to just stay
consistent in my own prayer life. And let me tell
you that comparison wasn't just a mental game. It started
to take root in my heart and I found myself
resenting her, and worse, I started to question God, like
why did you bless her so much? And not me?
Like what am I doing wrong? And I didn't realize
(04:21):
it at the time, but I was letting comparison plant
seeds of jealousy and bitterness and honestly even distrust towards God.
Like it was impacting my ability to trust God, and
those seeds were choking out my ability to see the
beauty and the blessings in my own life. And so
here's the thing. Comparison doesn't just affect how you see yourself.
(04:45):
It also impacts how you seek God. And so in
James three sixteen, it says, for where you have envy
and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
It's even talking about disorder.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So now that might sound harsh, but let's just break
that down. So when we're stuck in envy or jealousy,
we're not just feeling bad about ourselves. We're also questioning
God's goodness and we're saying, like, God, what you've given
me isn't enough, and what you're doing isn't my like
my life, what you're doing in my life isn't enough.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And so one of my clients, Renee, came to me
feeling completely stuck. She'd been pouring her heart into her
new business, but every time she looked at her peers,
she felt like she was falling behind. And so she
told me, Leanne, I feel like I'm doing everything right,
but God's not blessing me the way that he's blessing them,
Like what am I missing? And so even just that,
(05:41):
like can you hear the heartache in that cry?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Out?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, Renee wasn't just comparing her success to someone else's.
She was starting to believe that God's love and blessings
were limited, like there wasn't enough to go around. And
that's what comparison does, like it tricks us into thinking
that some one else's success or beauty or blessings somehow
diminish our own. But here's the truth. God's blessings aren't
(06:08):
a competition. What He has for you is yours, and
what he has for someone else is theirs. It's like
in Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, where God says, for
I know the plans I have for you, plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. God's plans for your life
are specific to you, and they are good.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Notice it sayesn't say like, for you know the plans
I have for you. It says, for I know the
plans I have for you. Right. So let's talk about
how to break free from the comparison trap, because knowing
it's a problem is one thing, but learning how to
let go that's where the real work happens. So again,
not me coming from some high place, but these are
the steps that I've just brought myself through that I
(06:52):
feel like I want to pass on to you to
share it. So step one is to learn and practice
gratitude like it's a skill. And this is where faith
meat science comes in. Because for a lot of times,
gratitude didn't resonate with me. I hear that with my
(07:14):
clients a lot. So we're gonna break it down where
faith meets science as well. So the best way to
combat comparison is to focus on what you already have, Okay,
And so gratitude is like a muscle, and the more
you use it, the stronger it gets. And here's the
really cool part. Neuroscience backs this up. So practicing gratitude
doesn't just make you feel good in the moment, It
(07:35):
literally changes your brain. And so when you intentionally focus
on gratitude, it activates your brain's reward system and it
releases things like dopamine and serotonin, which are those feel
good hormones that regulate mood and promote feelings of happiness.
And so, over time, consistently practicing gratitude, it strengthens those
neural pathways that make it easier for your brain to
(07:58):
recognize and focus on the positive. It's not just like, oh,
just focus on the positive. It's like you've got to
train your brain to see abundance instead of black. But
what's even more fascinating, or at least it is to me,
is how gratitude works on a neurological principle. I've probably
talked about it a lot already, but this idea of
reciprocal inhibition. So this means that when one emotional state
(08:21):
is active, the opposite state is automatically suppressed or turns off.
So if I flex my elbow, I'm activating my bicep,
and because of reciprocal inhibition, my tricep has to suppress
and shut down, right. And so in this case, when
you switch on gratitude and then envy and jealousy are
neurologically inhibited, and so your brain simply can't fully engage
(08:44):
with feelings of gratitude and jealousy at the same time.
They're like two sides of a seesawt So when gratitude rises,
envy and jealousy have to go down and lose their grip.
And so one of my clients, Jesse, experienced this firsthand.
So during a tough season in her life, she was
strug to think of anything to write down because she
was so focused on what wasn't going right. But I
(09:05):
encouraged her to just keep at it and really focus
on building those neurological muscles, and to start small. And
so she began jotting down little things like the sound
of her kids laughing, or the warmth of the sun
on her face when it was really cold, and she
just appreciated that sun even more, or the peace of
a quiet morning with her coffee. Right, and at first,
(09:25):
be totally honest, it felt forced for her, right like
it would for any of us. But over time her
brain started to shift, and as she cultivated that gratitude
in her brain and in her heart, those feelings of
lack and envy naturally began to fade. And that is
the power of reciprocal inhibition at work. Gratitude wasn't just
helping her feel better, it was actively shutting down the
(09:48):
negative thought patterns that had been fueling her comparison and jealousy.
And so I love this verse from First Thessalonians five eighteen,
where it says give thanks in all circumstances, for this
is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So here
is your challenge or your double dog dare. I want
to invite you to just every day for the next week,
(10:09):
write down three things you're grateful for and like, don't
overthink it and don't feel like it has to be profound.
Just start small and then as you write, take a
moment to really feel the gratitude in your heart. So
it's not like a shopping list where you're writing it out.
It's like, really feel it, let it sink in. And
over time you're going to notice that your mindset starts
(10:29):
to shift, and with it your ability to combat comparison
and embrace the blessings that are in your life. They're
going to be become even stronger. Okay, so that is
step one. Step two is to actually learn to celebrate
others without comparing. So I know this is this is
challenging too, but when you feel jealousy creeping in, I
(10:52):
want to invite you to choose to celebrate the person
that you're comparing yourself to. And so it might feel
awkward at first or even force right, but I promise
it will shift your heart. And here's why. So this
isn't just from a neuroscience perspective. Celebrating others taps into
the brain's mirror neuron system, which is the part of
(11:13):
the brain that helps us empathize and connect with others.
And so when you intentionally celebrate someone else's success or joy,
your mirror neurons activate and they allow you to kind
of like feel their happiness, almost as if it's your own.
And this practice can help shift your focus away from
envy and bring it over to connection. And when you
(11:36):
do that, you create a sense of shared joy rather
than feeling that competition. But also the act of celebrating
someone else it triggers a release of oxytocin which we
talk about a lot here on the Godpod. And when
you cheer someone on or like just send them a
kind message or pray for their success, you're not just
helping them feel good, you're rewiring your own brain to
(11:59):
a so their blessings with positive emotions rather than feelings
of lack or resentment. And so in Romans twelve fifteen,
it says, rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with
those who mourn. And this verse reminds us the power
of stepping into somebody else's own experiences with empathy and love.
And when we celebrate others, we're not only aligning ourselves
(12:23):
with God's command to love one an other. We're also
reminding ourselves of a powerful truth that God's blessings are
abundant and there's more than enough for everyone. So here
is your practical challenge in double dog Dare. The next
time you notice jealousy creeping in, and you know you're human,
you're probably gonna feel it, I want to invite you
(12:43):
to just pause and choose to celebrate that person instead.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I know it might sound so foreign, but this might
mean like sending them an actual message, or praying for
them on the spot, or just cheering them on. And
it might feel strange at first because if you're so
used to the opposite, but over time time it will
soften your heart and help you see their blessings as
a reflection of God's goodness, not as a threat to
(13:08):
your own. So that is step number two. And then
step three is to anchor yourself in God's truth. So
when comparison starts to creep in, and it will, I
want to invite you to combat it with the truth
of God's word. So, for example, like you can remind
yourself of versus like Psalm one thirty nine fourteen where
it says, I praise you because I am fearfully and
(13:30):
wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well, right.
And so that's just one example. You want to find
something that resonates with you, but write it down, say
it out loud, speak it over yourself until it starts
to sink in. And you are one of God's wonderful works.
So it's so powerful to be able to just again
let God's truth anchor you and what's true rather than
(13:52):
that comparison or that envy or jealousy. And then step
four is to turn that comparison into curiosity. And so
sometimes instead of letting comparison lead to jealousy, we can
use it to get curious and just ask yourself, like,
what is this comparison revealing to me about my own
desires or my own insecurities? Like maybe God is using
(14:15):
that moment to show you an area of your life
that needs healing or attention. And so for one of
my clients, Rachel, she realized that her comparison to a
friend's success wasn't really about the friend at all. It
was about her own fear of failure. And so once
she identified that and we can really work on her beliefs.
She could also, you know, take that to God and
(14:36):
start working on it from the inside out and the
outside end.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And so here's the bottom line. Comparison is a thief.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It robs you of your joy, your peace, your purpose.
But it only has the power that you give it.
And so when you shift your focus back to God,
and when you see your life through the lens of
His truth and his unique plan for you, comparison just
loses its great like there's no need to compete, because
what God has for you is yours and yours alone.
(15:06):
And that's why I invite you to just choose differently,
and to practice gratitude for the life that you've been given,
and celebrate others without envy, and lean into what comparison
is teaching you about yourself, and most importantly, to ground
yourself in God's truth and trust his timing. So thank
you so much for listening to today's episode. And if
(15:28):
this challenged you or it encouraged you, share it with
somebody who needs to hear this message, because it's so
powerful for us to remind one another of this bigger picture,
because we are all running our own race and on
a past design by the one who knows us best.
And just remember we are all already equipped, and already
loved and already enough, but it is up to us
(15:50):
to live like we believe it. All right, bye, for now,
we'll be back with more What's God Got to Do
with It? But in the meantime, I would definitely love
to hear from you, so just tell me where you
are in your story or maybe what questions you have,
like where do you feel you need clarity or support
(16:11):
or wisdom in your own journey. I definitely want to
hear from you, So head on over to What's God
Got to Do with It? Dot com and scroll down
to the form to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback,
and you can do that instantly. So What's God Got
to Do with It? Dot Com? You'll find all the
ways to do that. And if you like this podcast
(16:31):
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and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get your
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New episodes drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there,
be sure to rate and review to show your support.
It really means so much What's God Got to Do
(16:51):
With It Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown
Podcast Network. It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington,
executive produced by Elizabeth Fazio, post production and editing by
Houston Tilley, and original music written by Cheryl Stark and
produced by Adam Stark
If you want to go on a journey.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
If you're skeptical, don't worry.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Not here a preach. I'm gonna keep it clean and
talk to me and record where faith needs, files of
nature and get in touch with your creator with a bacon,
love and jew She even speaks Hebrew. What's that, Danzato?
What's that? As well? Sabosation, we should talking transformation? What's that? Danzato? Hey?
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Hey, and welcome back to what's God got to do
with it? And today we're diving into a topic that
if we are all honest with ourselves, it really does
hit all of us at some point, and that is comparison.
And so yep, we are going there today and we're
going to talk about that sneaky little habit of scrolling
through Instagram or walking into a room and instantly sizing
(01:06):
yourself up against someone else. And you know, when you
see her outfit or her success or her family, or
her talent, or maybe how Air quotes perfect her faith seems,
and suddenly you feel like you're not measuring up. And
let's be real, sometimes comparison doesn't just stop it feeling
less than. Sometimes it turns into envy or jealousy. And
(01:27):
when that happens, it doesn't just stay in our heads.
It starts to spill out into our relationships and into
how we see ourselves, and then into how we see God.
And that's where the real cost of comparison shows up.
So today we're going to have a heart to heart
about the spiritual toll of comparison, and we're going to
(01:49):
talk about how it affects your faith walk, what it
does to your relationship with God and with others, and
most importantly, how to stop letting it steal your joy
and your peace. And so just say before we dive in,
this is not me coming from some high mountaintop. I
am not sitting here talking at you from some place
of judgment. Comparison has been a struggle for me too,
(02:09):
and so this is not me telling you what to do.
It is me coming alongside you as a sister who
has walked this road and is still learning how to
navigate it with grace. So let's start with the big picture.
Comparison is the thief right. It steals your joy, it
steals your gratitude, It even steals your ability to connect
with God. And so just think about it when you're
(02:31):
stuck in comparison. What are you focusing on? Right, Well,
you're focusing on what you don't have and what you're
not doing or who you're not measuring up to. And
when your focus is there, it's almost impossible to see
the blessings God has already given you. Paul says it's
so beautifully in Galatians six four through five, where he
says each one should test their own actions. Then they
(02:54):
can take pride in themselves alone without comparing themselves to
someone else. For each one should carry their own load.
And when what Paul is talking about here is the
kind of contentment that comes from knowing you're walking the
path that God has for you. And so when we
are constantly comparing ourselves to others, we lose sight of
(03:16):
that path and we get distracted by somebody else's journey
and start questioning if ours is good enough. And so
I remember a season in my own life where comparison
was truly running the show. It was back when I
was deep in my own, you know, journey of healing
and self discovery and really my walk with the Lord.
But I'd made a lot of progress, but I still
(03:36):
felt like I was playing catch up. With the people
around me. And so there was this one woman in
my field, and I remember every time I saw her
post on social media, I immediately made it mean that
I was falling short. And she seemed to have it all,
like the thriving career and the perfectly curated family moments
and the morning devotional shots that made it look like
she and God were, you know, having coffee daily together, right,
(03:58):
And well, I was over here struggling to just stay
consistent in my own prayer life. And let me tell
you that comparison wasn't just a mental game. It started
to take root in my heart and I found myself
resenting her, and worse, I started to question God, like
why did you bless her so much? And not me?
Like what am I doing wrong? And I didn't realize
(04:21):
it at the time, but I was letting comparison plant
seeds of jealousy and bitterness and honestly even distrust towards God.
Like it was impacting my ability to trust God, and
those seeds were choking out my ability to see the
beauty and the blessings in my own life. And so
here's the thing. Comparison doesn't just affect how you see yourself.
(04:45):
It also impacts how you seek God. And so in
James three sixteen, it says, for where you have envy
and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.
It's even talking about disorder.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
So now that might sound harsh, but let's just break
that down. So when we're stuck in envy or jealousy,
we're not just feeling bad about ourselves. We're also questioning
God's goodness and we're saying, like, God, what you've given
me isn't enough, and what you're doing isn't my like
my life, what you're doing in my life isn't enough.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Right.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
And so one of my clients, Renee, came to me
feeling completely stuck. She'd been pouring her heart into her
new business, but every time she looked at her peers,
she felt like she was falling behind. And so she
told me, Leanne, I feel like I'm doing everything right,
but God's not blessing me the way that he's blessing them,
Like what am I missing? And so even just that,
(05:41):
like can you hear the heartache in that cry?
Speaker 1 (05:43):
Out?
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Right, Renee wasn't just comparing her success to someone else's.
She was starting to believe that God's love and blessings
were limited, like there wasn't enough to go around. And
that's what comparison does, like it tricks us into thinking
that some one else's success or beauty or blessings somehow
diminish our own. But here's the truth. God's blessings aren't
(06:08):
a competition. What He has for you is yours, and
what he has for someone else is theirs. It's like
in Jeremiah twenty nine to eleven, where God says, for
I know the plans I have for you, plans to
prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give
you hope and a future. God's plans for your life
are specific to you, and they are good.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Right.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Notice it sayesn't say like, for you know the plans
I have for you. It says, for I know the
plans I have for you. Right. So let's talk about
how to break free from the comparison trap, because knowing
it's a problem is one thing, but learning how to
let go that's where the real work happens. So again,
not me coming from some high place, but these are
the steps that I've just brought myself through that I
(06:52):
feel like I want to pass on to you to
share it. So step one is to learn and practice
gratitude like it's a skill. And this is where faith
meat science comes in. Because for a lot of times,
gratitude didn't resonate with me. I hear that with my
(07:14):
clients a lot. So we're gonna break it down where
faith meets science as well. So the best way to
combat comparison is to focus on what you already have, Okay,
And so gratitude is like a muscle, and the more
you use it, the stronger it gets. And here's the
really cool part. Neuroscience backs this up. So practicing gratitude
doesn't just make you feel good in the moment, It
(07:35):
literally changes your brain. And so when you intentionally focus
on gratitude, it activates your brain's reward system and it
releases things like dopamine and serotonin, which are those feel
good hormones that regulate mood and promote feelings of happiness.
And so, over time, consistently practicing gratitude, it strengthens those
neural pathways that make it easier for your brain to
(07:58):
recognize and focus on the positive. It's not just like, oh,
just focus on the positive. It's like you've got to
train your brain to see abundance instead of black. But
what's even more fascinating, or at least it is to me,
is how gratitude works on a neurological principle. I've probably
talked about it a lot already, but this idea of
reciprocal inhibition. So this means that when one emotional state
(08:21):
is active, the opposite state is automatically suppressed or turns off.
So if I flex my elbow, I'm activating my bicep,
and because of reciprocal inhibition, my tricep has to suppress
and shut down, right. And so in this case, when
you switch on gratitude and then envy and jealousy are
neurologically inhibited, and so your brain simply can't fully engage
(08:44):
with feelings of gratitude and jealousy at the same time.
They're like two sides of a seesawt So when gratitude rises,
envy and jealousy have to go down and lose their grip.
And so one of my clients, Jesse, experienced this firsthand.
So during a tough season in her life, she was
strug to think of anything to write down because she
was so focused on what wasn't going right. But I
(09:05):
encouraged her to just keep at it and really focus
on building those neurological muscles, and to start small. And
so she began jotting down little things like the sound
of her kids laughing, or the warmth of the sun
on her face when it was really cold, and she
just appreciated that sun even more, or the peace of
a quiet morning with her coffee. Right, and at first,
(09:25):
be totally honest, it felt forced for her, right like
it would for any of us. But over time her
brain started to shift, and as she cultivated that gratitude
in her brain and in her heart, those feelings of
lack and envy naturally began to fade. And that is
the power of reciprocal inhibition at work. Gratitude wasn't just
helping her feel better, it was actively shutting down the
(09:48):
negative thought patterns that had been fueling her comparison and jealousy.
And so I love this verse from First Thessalonians five eighteen,
where it says give thanks in all circumstances, for this
is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. So here
is your challenge or your double dog dare. I want
to invite you to just every day for the next week,
(10:09):
write down three things you're grateful for and like, don't
overthink it and don't feel like it has to be profound.
Just start small and then as you write, take a
moment to really feel the gratitude in your heart. So
it's not like a shopping list where you're writing it out.
It's like, really feel it, let it sink in. And
over time you're going to notice that your mindset starts
(10:29):
to shift, and with it your ability to combat comparison
and embrace the blessings that are in your life. They're
going to be become even stronger. Okay, so that is
step one. Step two is to actually learn to celebrate
others without comparing. So I know this is this is
challenging too, but when you feel jealousy creeping in, I
(10:52):
want to invite you to choose to celebrate the person
that you're comparing yourself to. And so it might feel
awkward at first or even force right, but I promise
it will shift your heart. And here's why. So this
isn't just from a neuroscience perspective. Celebrating others taps into
the brain's mirror neuron system, which is the part of
(11:13):
the brain that helps us empathize and connect with others.
And so when you intentionally celebrate someone else's success or joy,
your mirror neurons activate and they allow you to kind
of like feel their happiness, almost as if it's your own.
And this practice can help shift your focus away from
envy and bring it over to connection. And when you
(11:36):
do that, you create a sense of shared joy rather
than feeling that competition. But also the act of celebrating
someone else it triggers a release of oxytocin which we
talk about a lot here on the Godpod. And when
you cheer someone on or like just send them a
kind message or pray for their success, you're not just
helping them feel good, you're rewiring your own brain to
(11:59):
a so their blessings with positive emotions rather than feelings
of lack or resentment. And so in Romans twelve fifteen,
it says, rejoice with those who rejoice, and mourn with
those who mourn. And this verse reminds us the power
of stepping into somebody else's own experiences with empathy and love.
And when we celebrate others, we're not only aligning ourselves
(12:23):
with God's command to love one an other. We're also
reminding ourselves of a powerful truth that God's blessings are
abundant and there's more than enough for everyone. So here
is your practical challenge in double dog Dare. The next
time you notice jealousy creeping in, and you know you're human,
you're probably gonna feel it, I want to invite you
(12:43):
to just pause and choose to celebrate that person instead.
Speaker 1 (12:47):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:48):
I know it might sound so foreign, but this might
mean like sending them an actual message, or praying for
them on the spot, or just cheering them on. And
it might feel strange at first because if you're so
used to the opposite, but over time time it will
soften your heart and help you see their blessings as
a reflection of God's goodness, not as a threat to
(13:08):
your own. So that is step number two. And then
step three is to anchor yourself in God's truth. So
when comparison starts to creep in, and it will, I
want to invite you to combat it with the truth
of God's word. So, for example, like you can remind
yourself of versus like Psalm one thirty nine fourteen where
it says, I praise you because I am fearfully and
(13:30):
wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well, right.
And so that's just one example. You want to find
something that resonates with you, but write it down, say
it out loud, speak it over yourself until it starts
to sink in. And you are one of God's wonderful works.
So it's so powerful to be able to just again
let God's truth anchor you and what's true rather than
(13:52):
that comparison or that envy or jealousy. And then step
four is to turn that comparison into curiosity. And so
sometimes instead of letting comparison lead to jealousy, we can
use it to get curious and just ask yourself, like,
what is this comparison revealing to me about my own
desires or my own insecurities? Like maybe God is using
(14:15):
that moment to show you an area of your life
that needs healing or attention. And so for one of
my clients, Rachel, she realized that her comparison to a
friend's success wasn't really about the friend at all. It
was about her own fear of failure. And so once
she identified that and we can really work on her beliefs.
She could also, you know, take that to God and
(14:36):
start working on it from the inside out and the
outside end.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
And so here's the bottom line. Comparison is a thief.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Right.
Speaker 2 (14:43):
It robs you of your joy, your peace, your purpose.
But it only has the power that you give it.
And so when you shift your focus back to God,
and when you see your life through the lens of
His truth and his unique plan for you, comparison just
loses its great like there's no need to compete, because
what God has for you is yours and yours alone.
(15:06):
And that's why I invite you to just choose differently,
and to practice gratitude for the life that you've been given,
and celebrate others without envy, and lean into what comparison
is teaching you about yourself, and most importantly, to ground
yourself in God's truth and trust his timing. So thank
you so much for listening to today's episode. And if
(15:28):
this challenged you or it encouraged you, share it with
somebody who needs to hear this message, because it's so
powerful for us to remind one another of this bigger picture,
because we are all running our own race and on
a past design by the one who knows us best.
And just remember we are all already equipped, and already
loved and already enough, but it is up to us
(15:50):
to live like we believe it. All right, bye, for now,
we'll be back with more What's God Got to Do
with It? But in the meantime, I would definitely love
to hear from you, so just tell me where you
are in your story or maybe what questions you have,
like where do you feel you need clarity or support
(16:11):
or wisdom in your own journey. I definitely want to
hear from you, So head on over to What's God
Got to Do with It? Dot com and scroll down
to the form to share your thoughts, your questions, your feedback,
and you can do that instantly. So What's God Got
to Do with It? Dot Com? You'll find all the
ways to do that. And if you like this podcast
(16:31):
and want to hear more, go ahead and follow, like,
and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts to get your
weekly dose of What's God Got to Do with It?
New episodes drop every single Tuesday, and while you're there,
be sure to rate and review to show your support.
It really means so much What's God Got to Do
(16:51):
With It Is an iHeartRadio podcast on the Amy Brown
Podcast Network. It's written and hosted by me Leanne Ellington,
executive produced by Elizabeth Fazio, post production and editing by
Houston Tilley, and original music written by Cheryl Stark and
produced by Adam Stark
Host
Leanne Ellington
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