Better or bitter, what’s it going to be? You get to decide.

I recently shared that I regularly pray to be unoffendable. I’m not yet but I’m working on it. My mentor has me in a spiritual training program and guess what keeps coming up? Bitterness. This training was to help me help others. God, in His goodness, has shown me my own bitter tendencies, why I have them, and how to remove them. Turns out even bible study teachers can grow a root of bitterness.

Do you suspect that the crease in your forehead, the frown on your face, feelings of rejection, anger, isolation, and unforgiveness might have planted a root of bitterness in your soul? Bitterness won’t be contained. It hurts you and those around you (Hebrews 12:15). Like some awful decease, it begins a slow and painful death of the you that was meant to be.

Our own goodness, planted by the Holy Spirit, can’t come to fruition when bitterness is taking up all the room. I want goodness to spill over to others in my life instead, so I’m doing the work to get better. That root is dying. Thank you, Jesus!

If you have even an inkling that bitterness is the problem, please know that you too can be better.

Confidently approach Jesus in prayer (Ephesians 3:12). Pray, and get ready to work. Ask Him to uncover the root cause and courageously move forward together until you are better. Put pride away because there’s no room for it in God’s classroom (James 4:6). Believe me, we simply can’t do it on our own.

Now, I’m experiencing “betterness” and I like it.

At first, it was a daily choice, giving up my right to continue being hurt. Doesn’t that sound crazy? But I want better, so I’ll keep making that choice until I don’t have to anymore.

Don’t hold on to past hurts, my friend, letting them fester into bitterness. If this is you today, please choose to be better not bitter. Trust Jesus because he can do more than you ever thought or imagined possible (Ephesians 3:20).

Go to the Table of Contents to read more posts in this series as they go live.

31 Days of Five Minute Friday Free-Writes, it’s a writing challenge hosted by Kate Motaung over at Five Minute Fridays. We write daily for five minutes using a prompt Kate provides. The point is to write. The prompt today is BETTER.

Picture credits: Bitter (woman standing) Raychan at raychan-bRoLBgaxnFg-unsplash; Better (woman smiling) by Lesly Juarez at lesly-juarez-1AhGNGKuhR0-unsplash