Hey friend. Let me share with you a struggle of mine that I'm constantly battling and I bet a lot of y'all are, too

Social media can play as an advocate or the devil's advocate. It's easy to present the best version of ourselves online. We often post the highlights of our lives and never the things we struggle with. Social media can become a platform for a good cause or it can become a place where we begin to tear ourselves apart.

We can use it to share encouraging stories like when my dad received a kidney from a woman he didn't even know because of a facebook post. Or when someone just lost everything in a fire and needs clothes donated. It is a great way to share what's happening in a community like when a local event is happening to support a charity.

But on the other hand….it's the place where we play the comparison game.

We sit there scrolling through the posts of engagements, weddings, pregnancy announcements, picture perfect families, and the pictures of friends who seem like they are always traveling to all your dream vacation spots.

We sit there wondering why aren't our lives fun and fascinating and full of life like the people we follow or find on social media. We wonder why we don't get 1,000 likes. We wonder why we can't appear that way. Then we wonder how we can get that many likes or how we can act like we have it all together. Is it the filter they use? Is it the way they pose? Is it who they follow…maybe I should go follow some of their followers?

Question: Would all the things you want to do still be worth it if you couldn't post it on social media?

Listen. I get it. I do it all the time. But what I have learned is that that girl who has the perfect hair and perfect body does not really have it all together. That friend who is always on vacation in all the spots I want to visit, is really not having the time of their life like it appears.

Sometimes people's outward appearances and their inward feelings don't equal.

We all struggle with things. We can't keep playing this game and tearing ourselves apart. We cannot play the game of wishing we were someone else.

Because you have a purpose and that purpose does not include you being someone else.

If God wanted you to be in that stage of life, just know that He would have you there if you needed to be. You have a story and a purpose wherever you are placed. You are where you are in life for a reason. You don't have to conform to the world and post all these trendy pictures just so you can get likes on instagram. Your social media does not define who you are.

No one is as perfect as they seem on social media. We all have struggles and we don't have a life portrayed in a movie. If we were all perfect, there would be no need for God. God makes us redeemed through salvation. We just have to come as we are and accept Him. We can accept His free gift and live the life of being set apart to grow His kingdom. And that is the best life we could ever be offered.

We shouldn't do things to see how much attention we can receive or how far we can go in the comparison game. This allows the devil to take hold of us in our situations and we give him a foothold.

We can't play this comparison game because God doesn't call us to that. We are not called to be like the rest of the world; we are called to be set apart, not to fall into the temporal things of the world.

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

So I get it. I am right there with you. I compare myself to 100 other people daily. I wish I was in their season of life or I wish I had their hair or I wish I could have a picture perfect family. But when it comes down to reality, those versions of people we see on social media isn't at all how it appears. I have to tell myself that I am where I am for a reason and I cannot play this comparison game.

I am in a season of learning how to be content and it is so difficult. We live in this world that always tell us we can be more and have more if we do this and this. I tell myself that it doesn't matter what they have because it's just temporal things. That season of life will soon fade away. Their hair will not always be long and blonde. And their picture perfect family probably has a lot of underlying problems.

What I have is even better. It's eternal. An eternal life with a Heavenly Father who tells me I am more precious than rubies and loved beyond measure. I am worth more than I tell myself and more than I even know.

So I want you to be encouraged by that today, too my friend. You don't have to conform to this world to be loved, you have a purpose and story where you are, and you are important to a God who is far better than anything this world has to offer.

Don't ever think you're alone in a struggle. Cause I probably have been there, too. You have a story and a purpose right where you are, my friend and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.