Michael White

When I started writing this morning I really wanted to talk about ambition. But for some reason, my talk on ambition turned to my own insecurities as a young adult as I battled depression and loneliness. It is amazing to be surrounded by thousands of people every day and be lonely. It is a gut-wrenching place to be when you feel alone.

After the accident I remember sitting on my grandmother’s bed and starting to cry. And no one understood why. Not even me to be honest. The truth was that I was alone in a world of pain and shame. How had I fallen so low? How had this happened? It was a painful reality to face the man in the mirror that day. And it is something we all face every day when we wake up staring at someone we do not recognize anymore. When was the last time you took a cold, hard look at yourself and said, ‘i like me’…. yep….me2

There is something to take away from the reflections in the glass. Have you ever been to an art gallery and watched someone really describe the creativity of a painting? I have and I never see what they see. And the reason I cannot is because I’m not an artist and my vantage point is completely different than someone who has a love and deep appreciation for painting. So when we begin to judge ourselves, what we are doing is trying to develop an appreciation for something without the love and appreciation that is required to define the value of ourselves.

Which is where my faith became huge. The first time I read the words, ‘you have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you’, it completely changed my life. the fact that God picked me…loved me…cherished me….valued me….meant that He saw something in me that I had never seen in myself.

Survive and Thrive