Everything I Am (Another Hip-Hop Devotional)

Man, here we go again.
everybody sayin' what's not for him
everything I'm not, made me everything I am --
people talk trash, but when it hits the fan
everything I'm not, made me everything I am
Everything I Am - Kanye West

You ever doubt yourself because of your shortcomings? This is a common thing. Are you constantly reliving the mistakes of your past and preventing yourself from success in the future? Maybe you have a limited education, you have a jail record, your family is poor, and people have messed over you all your life? Now that the economy is slow and everything you used to do as a side hustle has dried up it hard to eat these days.

Whatever has held you back in the past doesn't have to limit where you go from this point on. The good news is you can move past the scars of yesterday. God never consults your past to determine your future. So stop looking at where you have been and start looking at where you are going. Stop advertising your pain. Stop concentrating on your short comings. There isn't a person walking God's green Earth that doesn't have some sort of limitations.

We all have handicaps so to speak one way or another. Some are financial, some are emotional or mental, and some are physical. But the bottom line is we all have short comings. Trust His power and hold on. He will give you the strength to keep from falling (Isa. 40:31).

Success is to be measured not so much by the position
that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed. (Booker T. Washington- Up From Slavery -1901)

The smart person builds on their strengths and works with what they have instead of letting their weaker aspects prevent them from reaching their goals. A questionable background, a jail record, a limited education and being born on the wrong side of the tracks shouldn't be an excuse from charting your own course.

Is your past preventing you from moving forward in your present and succeeding in your future? It's important to remember the past is over and concentrate on your future. Let God pull you up by His power (Ps. 54:1-4). Then, hold on to His hand. Cling to Him and "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Eph. 6:10).

The best thing about the future
is that it comes only one day at a time. - Abraham Lincoln