your heart that you’re going to change the
way you approach and view and respond to
certain triggers, you will be challenged with
those triggers (on a whole ‘notha level), with
great fervor (as my sister would say), just
to see if you are serious about your claim.
Yep, God got jokes. He wants you to see
how committed you are. I am in the midst
of that challenge now. I don’t want to be the
biggest loser on it. I don’t want to have this
test too many more times. I really need to
redecorate my heart space so that God can
refurnish me for future tasks. I have gotta
do better.
To this end, I compiled a list of things
to expect once you decide you’re going to do
better.
1. Expect to do better. Don’t set yourself up
for failure as soon as you make your vic-
tory proclamation. Say it and mean it.
Make every single step you take toward
doing better, do better.
2. Expect many many many opportunities to
do better. It’s what I said in the prose
above. When you say you’re going to
change how you respond to certain
things, God will be like, “Aw. Okay.
What about this? And this? And this
and this and this?” It keeps coming
at ya. He moves the hedge out a little,
but He doesn’t REMOVE the hedge.
It’s called expansion, expanding your
opportunity to do better.
3. Expect questions. Yes, even your ace will
ask you, “Why are you doing that”?
Then they will say, “I remember a time
you wouldn’t even fool with stuff like
this?” They may EVEN say, “Girl, isn’t
that going to stress you out more”? You
just say, “Hey, I’m trying to do better,”
and keep doing better.
4. Expect others to do worse (like THE.
MOST.) while you’re doing better. This
is closely related to number 3. Your
better may make other people feel, well,
bitter. Just because you’re doing better
doesn’t mean everyone else is doing bet-
ter. You mad? Well, you may as well get
glad, because your better may have very
little to do with someone else’s better.
5. Expect the unexpected. It’s in there (the
Word). God will do better than you
ever expected. You may be taking this
better trip, simply because what you’ve
done in the past hasn’t been working.
You may be taking this better trip,
because you feel like where you are
is a toxic place. But God sees a much
grander scope, and there is no telling
what excess and abundance will ensue
once you’ve done better. Your better
may release some better opportunities
that wil l unexpectedly fall out of the
windows of heaven. Better is worth the
risk.
I want to encourage you to continue to
do better on your journey. Yes, there will be
complications and complexities along the
way, but that’s just exercise to build better
muscles. Be strong in your better and see
where it takes you.
DiAnne Malone is a book author, college
professor and founder of Who’s That Lady Blog.
www.himpowermagazine.com 33