do you inspire you?

​A dear friend asked me last night, "who inspires you?"

The best questions to be asked in life are the ones you don't hold scripted answers for. Questions that force you to reflect and discover something about yourself that maybe you haven't defined.

I wrestled with my answer. I didn't want to give the obvious churchy answer, well it's God that inspires me. That would be too simple, and honestly a bit inauthentic.

I told her the last several years two men I've never met have been my greatest inspirations: Steven Furtick and Curt Thompson. But then I added one that I didn't see coming. One I had never considered until probed.

I told her that I inspire me.

I said I don't mean to sound arrogant with that answer, but for years I let my struggles drag me down. Today, I look back on those struggles and remind myself that I have overcome a bunch of them.

Not all of them, but a bunch.

What greater inspiration is there in a life where we are constantly having to overcome challenges than to have a life full of personal examples of overcoming?

After our conversation, I was doing some reading and came across this quote: "Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself?"

It was God's way of telling me that my response to my friend wasn't arrogant at all. It was God's way of reminding me that for so much of my life, I sat back and listened to me rant at me with negative message after negative message.

I just sat back and listened to me berate myself for things I had done or things I hadn't done or things I wasn't nearly worthy of becoming.

But then one day I stood up and I grabbed the microphone from me and I started doing the talking.

I started telling myself I could do all things through the strength of the God who loves me.

I started telling myself I was not created with a spirit of fear.

I started telling myself that in God I will find not a shred of condemnation.

Life starts changing pretty quickly when you stop listening to yourself and start talking to yourself.

I think we all need to do this. We all need to become bigger voices in our lives. We all need to proudly declare: I inspire me!

I encourage you today, if you find yourself listening to you tell yourself a message that beats you up, grab the microphone from yourself and start talking or yelling or preaching a message that lifts you up.

You might discover the greatest source of inspiration there is.