Is Jesus Part of Your Story, or Are You Part of His?

I started blogging in 2009.

Back then, I wrote about things like my mother’s decline through early onset Alzheimer’s and my fear of developing the disease. I didn’t worry too much about things like content or site layout or page views because my only readers were people close to me.

Yet my blog quickly became a place to share the transformation that God was bringing about in my heart in the midst of my struggles. And putting those words on paper–or on screen, if you will–became a healing balm for my soul and a way to connect with and minister to others who were hurting.

As my platform continued to grow, however, I began to agonize over every blog post, every headline score, and every social media share.

I constantly asked myself: Is this good enough? Am I good enough? Is what I have to share–as an author, artist, and advocate–good enough? Every decision I made about what, how, and when to share what God was doing in my life was now motivated by fear of failure and rejection.

I was worshipping at the throne of blogging and social media instead of at Jesus’ feet, and I wasn’t quite sure how to proceed.

Should I scrap the blog? Take a break? Start over from scratch? Do something else entirely?

I ultimately decided to hit pause and reevaluate my end goal. I figured out that it wasn’t so much pursuing my passion (i.e., writing) that was the problem, it was pursuing my passion on the big stage we call social media.

Unfortunately, social media fuels the idolization of our so-called “calling” by encouraging us to seek attention and affirmation for each and every accomplishment. Even worse, it encourages us to constantly compare ourselves to others, people who are seemingly passionate about the same things we are and doing them better (or louder).

No matter what our gifts and passions are, we allow them to become idols when we make them about ourselves, when we use them to seek our own fame, following, and fortune instead of God’s glory.

Paul instructed Timothy that God has called us to humbly spread his message, not through our works but through his grace:

“So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Rather, join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God. He has saved us and called us to a holy life—not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time…” (2 Tim. 1:8-9 NIV).

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When we learn to fully embrace our “why” each day, our choices follow suit. We begin to see the bigger picture. Instead of asking ourselves how much recognition we will receive for each milestone, we begin to ask ourselves how we will glorify Jesus with our body of work. We begin to choose honesty, humility, kindness and courage over narcissism, pride, impatience, and selfishness.

Most of all, we begin to realize that “finding our passion” was never actually about us, in the first place.

Jesus is not part of our story; we are part of his.

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Lauren Flake writes about her journey as a wife, mom to two little girls, and Alzheimer’s daughter in her native Austin, Texas, at For the Love of Dixie. Her first book, Where Did My Sweet Grandma Go? was published in 2016. She thrives on green tea, Tex-Mex, and all things turquoise.