20 Years 20 Lessons - Lesson 1 - Constructive Criticism

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I just love it when I correct my kids and I get that teenage eye roll with a nostril flared deep throated grunt in return. It makes me want to slap them. Same goes with adults! I’m trying to help you here...LOL…

Being a minister has its ups but it also has its downs and giving correction to someone who desperately needs it but refuses to accept it...is a major downer! MAJOR! Excuse me...didn’t you come to me for help? Didn’t you ask for my advice? Weren’t you inspired by my message based off of how God saved my marriage by telling me I was controlling, manipulative and selfish? Oh you were? But you were inspired for me...none of that rang true in your current situation...Oh I see… (insert my eye roll with loud throat grunt). 

Let me be honest. If you are troubled in an area of your life and you are seeking help...any kind of help...then be open to receive it ~ in whichEVER form God chooses to send it to you! It might hurt, it might be hard to hear, it might mean making some necessary changes...but you prayed for help...now you are getting it...don’t turn it away. Don’t!

This has been one of the greatest lessons of my 20 years in ministry. I learned early on how to receive constructive criticism well. It has served me well. It will serve you well. How did I swallow the pride pill and learn to accept when I was wrong? I prayed for it. I asked God to give me a teachable Spirit...and just like that He did. How? After I prayed a lot of people came at me with tips on how to preach better, how to speak better, how to be a better wife, mother etc...Oh it came in by the droves...but that was God giving me what I asked for and I accepted it. Was every piece of advice beneficial? No. However that is where the discernment came in handy. If it lined up with the Word then it was good advice. If it didn’t, then it wasn’t. Easy peasy like mac n cheesey. Haha! 

Know this in preparation. You are not always going to like what you will be told...but if you keep an open mind and know that God is answering your prayer through these peoples’ critiques, it will make it much easier to bear. Training is the hardest...then it’s just second nature!

Proverbs 12:1 (ESV)
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,
    but he who hates reproof is stupid.

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