Goodness. I have been overwhelmed and humbled by everyone’s response to The Teenage Girl on Instagram. The response to this post has just confirmed even more so to me that this is a huge thing that teenagers (and everyone, probably) are dealing with today.
I have also recently written a post about how we tend to compare our real life to another person’s social media life. This is a terrible trap to fall in to, but it’s an easy one to fall in to.
Honestly, these posts are things I’ve written because they are things that I have struggled with in my own life. It’s so easy for me to type or tell a bunch of teenage girls that it’s okay to post a not-so-perfect picture of themselves, but when my husband and I take a picture like the one below, and I’m not so fond of that angle, I’m tempted not to post too. The Lord has challenged me on this so much lately- that I have to be willing to do the things that I’m challenging the girls that I lead to do.
Social media can be such a good thing, and it is something else that can be used for God’s glory, but no matter our age, we need to be cautious with it. As I saw the response to my previous post, my heart began to be burdened to actually DO something to fight the battle of finding fulfillment in social media and to fight the battle of comparison on social media. I want to do more than just write a post challenging readers (and myself) to find our satisfaction in Christ and not our Instagram likes. I want to DO something to remind myself that my satisfaction is in Christ and to remind you that’s where your satisfaction should be too.
So, here’s what the Lord has laid on my heart (and I challenge you to join me too)- #forrealFriday. On Fridays, I’m going to try to post something real, as in real life, not the cute picture of my kids that I got on the 1000th take, or the picture where my hair is nicely curled, something real. Something like this:
This picture is at the end of a LONG day. My hair? It was fixed at one point in the day; not sure what it’s doing now. Makeup? Nonexistent at this point. And what am I doing? Sitting outside of my 3 year old’s room while he pitches a fit (when all I really want to do is watch some Netflix. Parks and Rec, please!). This, my friends, is real life.
I know that #forrealFriday is something so small (and to be honest with you, I’m a little nervous about it. Being real can be scary.), but I’m praying that you’ll join me in this challenge of being more “real” on social media. I’m praying that this is what #forrealFriday will do:
- That if your likes don’t hit a certain number, you’ll be okay and not even care, because your satisfaction is in Jesus, not those likes. And if you do care and it stings a little, you’ll work through that with the Lord. He wants to help us work through our issues (Him and I are always working on so much!).
- That your post will encourage someone else to be real and remind them that true satisfaction is only in Jesus.
- That your post will be a “me too” kind of encouragement to someone. I’m learning that this is sometimes the best kind of encouragement to give, a simple reminder to someone that they’re not alone in their struggle. So that picture of your kitchen sink full of dishes might help someone be comforted in knowing that they aren’t the only one with an overflowing sink. Or that picture of you with your hair un-brushed at 2pm will remind someone else who is having “one of those days” that they aren’t alone in that.
- That all of our “real” posts will help us stop comparing our real lives to others’ Instagram lives. These posts will remind us that what we see online is just a small glimpse into someone else’s life. None of us have it all together.
- That your followers will be encouraged in the fact that we all have flaws and insecurities. And that not every picture we post has to have the perfect filter or be perfectly edited.
I pray that this small thing can serve as a reminder of the BIG thing- Jesus is the Living Water. He is where our satisfaction lies. Our identity is in Him. So, I encourage and challenge you to join me in this. Join me in shouting to the world that we aren’t always edited and filtered, but it doesn’t matter, because we find satisfaction in Christ alone.
#forrealFriday. Let’s get started.
2 kids trying to escape after a crazy shopping experience. Real life.
We fixed Hunter’s hair like his Daddy’s for the first time on vacation. I was determined to get an adorable picture, but real life was he un-fixed his hair and declared, “I not sayin cheese!”
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