“A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”
Proverbs 14:30 NIV
Growing up, there were two Hannah L’s in my class (one of them was me, since my maiden name is Linn). But that other Hannah L, though… man, she was cool. So sweet, so respectful, so soft-spoken (unlike me, the loudmouthed howler monkey). But also, Hannah L. was a total beast at sports. Y’all don’t even know — that chick was the legendary one on the team. She had a physique like a legendary athlete, shot hoops like a legendary baller, and ran track like a legendary sprinter. On the other hand, little old me bee-bopped around like a cricket on crack and mainly competed because it was fun. But, if we’re being honest, it was fun because we won — like, all the time — largely thanks to Hannah L. Her presence made us winners too.
Unfortunately, girls like my friend Hannah L. are easy targets for comparison. Flawed hearts see women like her through eyes of inferiority — brewing jealousy and killing confidence. And sadly, I see this happen among women within the body of Christ all the time.
In her book Not from God, Kaitlin Chappell Rogers illustrates the tie between comparison and jealousy perfectly:
“Comparison and Jealousy are like twin sisters.
Comparison tells you to put your life up against someone else’s, and Jealousy comes along and tells you to envy what they have.
Comparison says you’re [not as cool] as her, and Jealousy tells you to pick her apart to make yourself feel better.”
Because I love you, I’m going to give it to you straight:
Comparison shifts a God-focused heart to a self-centered heart. Comparison swings the pendulum from inspiration to subtle hatred. It blinds the truth, rots the soul, and drives people to do things like gossip, manipulate, and inflict harm upon others and themselves.
Overcoming comparison buys us a one-way ticket to Confidence City, USA — with Jesus as the pilot! He flies us straight to destinations of contentment, joy, and gratefulness. He reveals to us that if His goodness is for her, it’s for us too! When we love the Hannah L’s in our life like Jesus does, we always remain on the winning team.
God, give me eyes to see Your goodness in the women I admire. May it lead me to a fulfilled, confident life. Amen.
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Dive into the newest devotional by Hannah Crews, A Confidence That Changes Everything! It’s all about being able to walk into every room like Jesus sent you. Take a peek inside with this word from the introduction by Hannah:
“I know what you might be thinking:
Here we are again. Another Christian lady writing about confidence like she’s got it all figured out. She’s got no idea what I’ve been through or what it’s like to be me!
I hear you, my friend. And I’ll be the first to admit that, 1) I don’t have it all figured out; 2) I get how hard it is to feel confident when life repeatedly knocks you down; and 3) I understand how annoying it is to receive unsolicited advice from people who have never walked a day in your shoes.
But girl, let me just tell you something: This confidence devotional is different! It’s hilarious, humbling, and hopeful all at the same time.
It’s designed to make you laugh, revamp your perspective, and allow you to see yourself the way Jesus does. It will help you to leave comparison behind for good — because after all, you don’t need to become more like her when you’re becoming more like Him!”
And friend, this is exactly what you’ll find in Hannah’s new book.
Order your copy today. . . And, enter to WIN one of five copies of A Confidence That Changes Everything that we’re giving away*! Leave a comment on this article and be entered to win.
Then be SURE to tune in to the (in)courage podcast this weekend for a fun, inspiring, and deeply meaningful conversation with Becky Keife and Hannah. Listen on your favorite podcast app!
So much I love about this devotion today that I will be taking into my day & forward….
Jealousy and comparison as twin sisters that kill confidence. Comparison shifts a heart from God centered to self-centered.
With Jesus, there is more than enough to go around if it is for her, it is for me too!
It’s all about walking into every room like Jesus sent me!
This is just what I needed this morning. Thank you Hannah ❣️
God is so good. I’ve been dealing with some friction at work and I see that I had a hand in it with my own comparison and jealousy. I was not trying to be more like Jesus, I was just trying to be better than her. Thank you for the loving correction. This devotional was exactly what I needed.
Hannah,
I just loved, loved listening to this Devo as I get ready for my day of work. I can sense the humor and “gurls’ girl” /Christlike attitude in your writing!
I struggled with Anorexia for many, many years—and those demon thoughts still haunt my mind some… I’m not completely healed, but have learned acceptance, appreciation and true love for myself as a daughter of JC! Thank you for reminding me to honor the Jesus inside others. I’ve never thought about mere “comparison” being the breeding ground for jealousy and contempt (sadly, most often among women). But it truly is the starting point (I’ve never done social media bc of this fear!) These words and a reminder to celebrate other women in our lives was a blessing to me this AM.
Thank you for your awesome message today, “girl”!!
Hannah,
Thanks for sharing both your wit and wisdom in such an enlightening and entertaining way.
My favorite is “…walk into every room like Jesus sent you!” There’s so much to ponder and gain in just those words alone.
Blessings along your way today,
Kathleen
My insecurities often leaves me ‘not worthy’ … Lord remind me of the goodness you are in me, working in me and thru me for ‘my part’ in this world for my good, furthering the kingdom for your glory!
You are talking my language! I need this book!
Hannah, thank you for this devotion and for the chance to win your book! I don’t know that I had ever considered the relationship between comparison and confidence, but it is so true— we can’t really walk in who God created us to be if we are always trying to be like someone else. This encourages me to keep my eyes on Him and be confident in who He made me to be.
I have struggled with comparison and envy with friends. However, I have to remind myself that God uniquely created me and that He has a plan and purpose for me.
Your lovely devotion was a reminder to continue to keep my eyes on Jesus and share His love to everyone.
This book would be a fantastic read, thanks for sharing part of it today.
Confidence is always something I have struggled with. Thank you for writing a devotional for women about, what I think, is a common struggle for us.
looking forward to finding a way to share this with my tween grandson
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book.
Hannah,
Congrats on your newest devotional my friend! We need funny, fun women like you to represent Christ well! Keep up the excellent work!
Here’s to us all keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author of our confidence.
Sending you spring joy,
Lisa Wilt
I hear you, Hannah! Yes, I have had my moments of comparison and jealousy. I have felt “less than” so often!
I joined a volunteer group about a year ago. This group does amazing work for underprivileged kids! But most of these ladies are mainly what I refer to as “the country club set”. I’ve been working on myself for the past year, trying to see each gal in the light of who she really is. And I am starting to see some of them differently. I’m starting to see them as kind, compassionate humans. And I see them now in their imperfect-ness. It’s still.A process.
Thank you for your encouragement! Your book sounds like more of the same. In a good way!
I am so looking forward to reading this insightful book to how Jesus would enter a room.
Thank you for this devotional, i really needed it. My role model should always be our Lord Jesus, amen!
So good! Needed this reminder today!
As the mother of three adult daughters, I would love for them to read your book so they can learn to lead fulfilled, confident lives! Thanks for the powerful inspirational words!
Thank you for the opportunity to win this book! I would love to read it.
Dear Hannah….Your devotion today was very interesting as early in my 45 working years, I did experience what your words were saying. Comparison vs Confidence is difficult at times depending on people’s personalities. I will say that I never did compare myself to others as I knew all I wanted was for Jesus to accept me the way I was. Actually, my story kind of goes the opposite way. Many other people were either jealous or by looking at the way I dressed, thought I was Miss Priss. I am 77 years old and I worked for 45 years before retirement and I have had the same problem no matter where my job was. It really upset me in the beginning as I did not realize they decided they didn’t like me because of my clothes, but they didn’t take the time to know me. Right now I am in a facility with 100 residents, all seniors. I had the same experience here. The first day I went down for breakfast and 5 tables told me I could not sit with them. So crying, I went back up to my apartment and had no breakfast ( we have no kitchen ). There are people here that are just down right nasty and will try to take you down. Well, as the last job I had for 35 years, I became a manager and I had the life experience and all the things I encountered from my first jobs to know how to handle these mostly women without being nasty, but getting my point across. Women here who took the time to talk to me and saw what a helpful, generous, nice person I am, were sorry that they treated me the way they did. Clothes do not make the woman or man, but I had always dressed that way from when I was a young girl. It was just me and as a manager in that last job, we were expected to dress as someone that had authority, so if they had a problem either work related or personal, they knew they could trust me to talk to me and I would not spread it around and I tried to really understand if it was a personal problem so I could try to encourage them in a nice way to think perhaps a different way. Religion was something we were not to talk of, but if their problem was very bad, before we left the conference room, I would ask them if it was all right to pray for them. So Confidence vs Comparison is just what your words have told us. I have so many things I could tell you that relate to your devotion, but I need to go and take my morning time to talk to Jesus. I found that I wasn’t doing that some years back, but I do it now. Thank you Hannah for your beautiful words and something that I hadn’t seen talked about before, but it really helped me. We are all human beings and we will make mistakes, but I have found that sometimes God has actually wanted us to do this as every time you do, you gain more strength to never do that again. Please enjoy your week and I tell Jesus about your wonderful devotional today……..Love to you and your family…..Betsy Basile
A perfect gift for several in my circle of life…
“…walk into every room like Jesus sent you!”
Wow! I guess He did.
This is such a different perspective than the one I usually have, which is walking into a room and thinking everyone in there is judging me and finding me lacking.
Thank you, Hanna.
Sounds like a very thoughtful
book. Thanks
I can relate to this article. I find myself most time comparing myself to other women and putting myself down (using the can’t word or thinking that I am not smart enough). God made us all different and like you said it is about becoming like Christ and not like someone else. Thank you for your comments.
Thank you for the reminder that our confidence should come from the Lord. Unfortunately, age doesn’t necessarily bring us confidence. I still sometimes look at people and wonder how they are so strong and good, and why I am not. God bless.
As I grow older I have begun to feel better in my skin.
I try remembering I am here on purpose for a purpose.
My identity is found in who God says I am and not in what others say.
What a lovely thought. We can walk into every room like Jesus sent us there…because it’s true! I hope your book encourages many women and sets them free from comparison.
Reading this today brings so many things that I struggle with daily to question. I wish I had more confidence in myself to deal with my life better. I would love a copy of this book for sure!
Encouraging words! I think sometimes I can fall into the trap of comparison. I have to remember the uniqueness that I was created with.
Keep up the good work
Love this important reminder!! Comparison is the thief of joy, as well. My soul-word this year is DELIGHT, so I needed this to remind me to focus on my Father’s eyes, how he sees me as His beloved and delights in me!!
I hope I win. This sounds absolutely perfect! I’ll need to order a copy.
This is interesting – is there anything in here about learned behaviors to “take yourself down before someone else does”? These are *useful* in some situations but I am convinced they’re not *right* but I’m not sure how to wrangle that – how to communicate “I’m not a threat to you, I’m not someone to be jealous of” in a way that’s really *right* instead of maybe not entirely accurate?
As someone who deals with anxiety, feeling confident in any given moment helps override that anxiety and give me more stability. It sounds like this book will be a wonderful tool to do just that!
Love this devotional. With all the social media it is easy to start comparing your life to others. Thank you for this.
Yes, we woman All need to stop comparing ourselves and instead realize that God has decided what “role” He wants us to “play”!! We ALL are God’s family and are invaluable!!..
Yes, we woman All need to stop comparing ourselves and instead realize that God has decided what “role” He wants us to “play”!! We ALL are God’s family and are invaluable!!…….”NO,I HAVE NOT POSTED THIS COMMENT BEFORE! I EVEN DOUBLE CHECKED TO BE SURE!!
The second comment was in “reply” to the fact that I had just posted 1 comment before!Think the computer is “off” as NOW there are 2 of the same replies!!
What a great interview! A great reminder to not fall into the trap of comparisons. On social media, with friends or family, and at work. But God gives us the confidence in him to become perfect versions of ourselves made in his image. Can’t wait to read this devotional.