5 Things to Expect When You Say, I’m Gonna to Do Better

Have you ever re-evaluated the terms of your career paths, friendships, boo-thang, marriage, church membership, ministry appoints, friends, enemies and frienemies and said to yourself, “I’ve gotta do better with that.”  Over the past couple of year I’ve been in that space.  And I don’t mean just fronting, like when I see a Facebook meme and I’m all on some “Ah, yes I need to evaluate the people in my space and clean out the ones that leave trash behind.”  No, I went a little deeper.  I really make the effort to look at things from as many perspectives as my little mind would allow and decide that I would do better in my stewardship over certain relationships.

Can you say fail?

Not one. Not two. Many times

Here’s the thing.  As soon as you say in your heart that you’re going to change the way you approach and view and respond to certain triggers, you will be challenged with those triggers (on a whole ‘notha level), with great fervor (as my sister would say), just to see if you are serious about your claim.  Yep, God got jokes.  He wants you to see how committed you are.  I am in the midst of that challenge now.  I don’t want to be the biggest loser on it.  I don’t want to have this test too many more times.  I really need to redecorate my heart space so that God can refurnish me for future tasks.  I have gotta do better.  To this end, I complied a list of things to expect once you decide you’re going to do better.

1. Expect to do better.  Don’t set yourself up for failure as soon as you make your victory proclamation.  Say it and mean it.  Make every single step you take toward doing better, do better.
2. Expect many many many opportunities to do better.  It’s what I said in the prose above.  When you say you’re going to change how you respond to certain things, God will be like, “Aw. Okay. What about this? And this? And this and this and this?”  It keeps coming at ya.  He moves the hedge out a little, but He doesn’t REMOVE the hedge.  It’s called expansion, expanding your opportunity to do better.
3. Expect questions.  Yes, even your ace will ask you, “why are you doing that”?  Then they will say, “I remember a time you wouldn’t even fool with stuff like this?”  They may EVEN say, “Girl,isn’t that going to stress you out more”?  You just say, “Hey, I’m trying to do better,” and keep doing better.
4. Expect others to do worse (like THE. MOST.) while you’re doing better.  This is closely related to number 3.  Your better may make other people feel, well, bitter.    Just because you’re doing better doesn’t mean everyone else is doing better.  You mad?  Well, you may as well get glad, because your better may have very little to do with someone else’s better.
5. Expect the unexpected.  It’s in there (the Word).  God will do better than you ever expected.  You may be taking this better trip, simply because what you’ve done in the past hasn’t been working.  You may be taking this better trip, because you feel like where you are is a toxic place.  But God sees a much grander scope,and there is no telling what excess and abundance will ensue once you’ve done better.  Your better may release some better opportunities that will unexpectedly fall out of the windows of heaven.  Better is worth the risk.

I wanted to encourage you to continue to do better on your journey.  Yes, there will be complications and complexities along the way, but that’s just exercise to built better muscles.  Be strong in your better and see where it takes you.

Doing better,