Psalm 23:4 - Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
Proverbs 29:25 - The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.
Proverbs 29:25 (NLT) - Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety.
Matthew 7:1-2 - "Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.
Dear God, help me to trust You more. People, being with them, being around all their unwritten social rules, can most definitely be very scary and beyond frightening even! Let me be who I was created to be. Sometimes I want to scream out at the top of my lungs, "Hey! Stop judging me just because I act differently than you or talk differently or look or dress differently. You are no different and no better than me!" I refuse to wear certain types of clothes because they are itchy or scratchy or slippery. I refuse to touch certain things because they confuse the nerves in my fingertips and make feel pain and pleasure at the same time. And I do not like that sensation. Or the tag is in the wrong place (the ones they put at the waistline of shirts? Yeah, just take the metal wire brush and poke me with it a thousand times over. I sometimes wear my sunglasses inside to shield the light or cover my ears to reduce the sound. I put things in my mouth because I need to work on oral defensiveness in a moment that is otherwise troublesome for me. I may not always look at someone when he or she talks to me because it hurts and I need to be able to understand what they are saying. Conversely, I sometimes stare at a person very intently such to the extent that they feel uncomfortable with me because I am not only trying to understand what they are saying but I am also trying to read them and pick up on some of their nonverbal gestures so I can learn what is and is not appropriate. I do not always cry when other people do because I do not understand what they are going through. It does not mean that I do not empathize or sympathize though. It just means I have an emotional disconnect due to lack of experience or exposure and do not have a file to pull from so I know how to respond or what to do. Conversely, I have so many files that I cannot generalize things very well and that causes me to be very detail-oriented. Like with the word glove. "Define glove." I said, "What kind of glove? Do you mean a glove for catching a baseball, a glove for keeping your hands clean and safe from dirty things, or a glove for keeping your hand warm in the winter? Different gloves have different purposes." "So you are saying that a glove is something that covers the hand?" "No. Not exactly, but okay." To this day, I have a mismatch. An oven mitt covers the hand but is not a glove. A mitten covers the hand but is not a glove. My blanket can cover my hand, but it is not a glove. Yes, God, being around other people can be scary! Please help me as I continue to grow in my trust with You so I will not only be safe but not worry about what they think of me. I want to please You, not others. Thank You. In Jesus' Name, Amen!
