When You're Not Smart

      I have a confession. I’m a 17 year old junior in high school and I’m only halfway through Algebra 1… yeah… I’m a 17 year old junior in high school and I’m the self-published author of two full length novels with a third on the way. One of these facts tells you that I am stupid, lazy, and I’ll never get anywhere in life. The other tells you that I am intelligent, skilled, diligent, and already making my way in life. The question is, which statement is true? If you look at one side of me, the mathematic side, you will expect nothing and think nothing of me. If you look at another side of me, the english side, you will expect and see greatness in me. Both points of view are detrimental. Everyone is like this, full of positives and negatives, and everyone seems incapable of seeing more that one side. If you see only the negatives of someone then you will tear them down before they have the chance to begin, and the Bible says, “therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”  
~ 1 Thessalonians 5:11. However if you only see the good, the second someone fails you can’t believe it. They were perfect, how could they fail at something?! The Bible says, “…no one is good except God alone.” ~Mark 10:18. Instead we ought to be fully aware of one another’s strengths and weaknesses. Where one is strong, encourage them to continue on and do good with their gifts. Where one is weak, react with grace, build them up, and help them overcome. 
      As humans we will always fail; we are all flawed. However, when  our weakness is surrendered to God, we can walk in strength with the gifts and talents given to us, glorifying God in our strengths and weaknesses. Your failings do not make you a failure. Neither do your successes make you a success. You are a whole human being, created, designed, and loved by God with a unique purpose and pattern in the tapestry of His own making. “for we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for going works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” ~Ephesians 2:10 
        
                                     ~Katie Stone~