I’m Done Trying to Please God and So Should You. I’m done being afraid of what God or others may say about me and instead, I’m trying to realize I’m a pretty good person, loved by God and created to do good works, end of story. Ephesians 2.

And not the, yes but saved by grace, type of thinking, none of that, yes but if not because of the cross mentality that hurts more than helps. No more of, yes but once a sinner always a sinner.

I’ve realized that kind of thinking is basic fundamentalism, condemnation, conservative, sin-management theology that has kept me bound not free most of my life, not the kind of JESUS FREEDOM AND ABUNDANCE I read about in the Bible.

So unfortunately along the way, I began to think that the whole point of my existence was to be perfect, to worry about what people thought of me, to fit in. And that caused not only a ton of insecurity, but a fear of being me.

There are a lot of positive attributes to being a good-ie type, you fit in, people like you, you get accepted by society, but the negatives far outweigh the positives.

So for many years, I’ve lived wondering if I was good enough, hoping to not get fired from a job, trying to always say the right thing, hoping others wouldn’t judge me.

I lived in fear of sinning, in fear of failing, in fear of my past. I often have to stop and ask myself – am I really that horrible of a person, I act like a freak’n Catholic.

And when I would make a mistake, I would only hope God would forgive me before it was too late and I lost everything.

It’s been a terrible way to live until something began to shift inside of me.

PART 2 COMING UP…