By, Crystal S Kauffman, Contributing Writer

Sometimes during your life, you will hear negative labels that have been placed upon you by teachers and parents. Maybe your parents told you, you will never amount to nothing or teachers have told you that you are not smart enough to pass a grade. Unfortunately, we tend to believe what others say about us, even though we know that they are wrong. Something I learned from Sunday school is that God doesn’t make junk, so how can we amount to nothing or be worthless?

With God as our guide, we will learn by faith that he has a divine plan, which will help us reach our full potential. Never hold onto these labels that others have given you, which is solely based their limited observation of you and your past mistakes or behaviors. You are not worthless or a freak in God’s eyes, because you were made in his image and he has a plan that will lead you to success. However, you must first believe in Jesus Christ and repent of your sins, in order to become a new creature in Christ.

God has a plan for your life that will help you reach your full potential, whether it is to be successful in business, a ministry, or as a witness for God. Start today, remove the negative labels from your life and soon others will see how God has changed your life as well. Furthermore, believe in yourself and take a moment to thank God for bringing you out of past behaviors and mistakes like: addiction, failures, and other labels that may have held you back for so long.

Never let anyone speak a negative label over your life, because God has put many positive labels into your life. The day you became a Christian, your life became new and God spoke blessings over your life. So now, it is up to you to remove these labels and speak positive things into your life, so you will begin to the many blessings that God has in store for you. However, if you continue to believe the negative labels that people spoke about you, then you may be missing out on the many successes God has been preparing for you.

"Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him" James 1:12

By, Crystal S. Kauffman, Contributing Writer

Sometimes you will find yourself in a situation that you don’t want to be in, however, you must face the situation and continue moving forward. The situation may concern having a horrible childhood, not getting a promotion at work, or a dispute with the new neighbor. Nevertheless, you must not dwell on things and are beyond your control, instead focus on things you can change. You cannot change a childhood, so you must forgive your parents and focus on changing your future. This way, future generations will not continue the abuse or neglect that you felt as a child.

The promotion at work was given to a younger person, who may not have had as many years with the company as you have. However, this is beyond your control and the person who got the promotion may have a college degree that you don’t have. In this situation, you must continue to do the job that you’re given or find another place of employment. Either way, you must forgive your boss and the person who got the promotion, if you have gotten angry about the situation at both parties. Furthermore, you can work hard and take some college courses, which may guarantee that you will not be passed over whenever the next promotion takes place.

If you have a dispute with your new neighbor, you must try to dissolve this dispute in a civil yet timely manner. Unfortunately, some people are impossible to deal with and that will not come to any kind of compromise. So therefore, try to stop the argument, by producing all documents that show your land line or what the argument was about. Additionally, you must forgive you neighbor and move forward in solving the issue at hand. Sometimes this means, you must compromise or even seek legal advice on solving the problem. However, you must forgive your neighbor, if you get angry with him and let God handle the situation.

Don’t let yourself stay in a pity party, instead get up and change your situation. Sometimes you are going to come across situations that you can’t change. Therefore, you must learn to pray and give your problems to God, because he is only one who can change the situation. Don’t be a negative person, because of something that was done to you, which was beyond your control. Additionally, get over it and dwell on things that can change your situation, while helping you move forward in your life.