Being Successful in life?

A mentor in my life once helped me realize that being successful in life is not a destination, its the journey. A journey through 3 categories driven by a focus on Jesus Christ. The first category, being, Spiritually, second is Financially, and third Physically. As I have pondered what this means and how I can change my life to be %100 focused on Jesus in ALL areas of my life I had to have things simplified in my mind so it would be easier to always remember.

I'm 21 and my life so far has been an adventure, with lessons learned, relationships developed and I am so blessed to have met Jesus! I have also experienced loss, pain, and consequences from either someone else's actions or more often my own. Here is what I have come up with in very simplified surface terms. Our life on earth is a series of choices. We have a choice to follow Jesus, we have a choice to look at wrong things on the internet, we have a choice to tell our loved ones that we love them. We have small choices that make up larger outcomes. We truly reap what we sow. I myself have not always sowed good things, but have sown sin into my life which has led me to deal with the reaping of it.

Over the past 2 years I have grown up. I got to experience life outside of "church". At first I was just bitter and blaming people and things on my problems I was facing. I was also trying to prove to my father that I could do things in life that would make Him proud of me. I was trying to prove to myself that I wasn't a loss cause. But here is where I have made changes... I NO LONGER measure myself or judge myself based on other people, But on the Word of God. When I was dealing with painful times in my life at first I played the blame game, then my heart hardened and I came to a place where I was a victim. I then continued to find myself lost and confused because I was lost and confused...

The Fact is that the Word of God says:

I AM GOD's CHILD - "I am God's child for I am born again of the incorruptible seed of the Word of God that lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23)

I AM FORGIVEN of all my sins and washed in the blood (Ephesians 1:7; Hebrews 9:14; Colossians 1:13; John 2:12; 1 John 1:9)

We run from pain, sometimes at all costs we avoid feeling pain. Thats one of the Amazing Things about God, He wants to help us deal with the pain thats upon us. Eventually the pain that we were running from (consciously or subconsciously) catches up to us and hurts us bad. We have to search out God and grab ahold of his plan. His plan being that we are to walk out life with Him leaning on Him while You and Him deal with the pains of life. During those trials and tests we develop as a Follower of Christ because we walked through those trials and tests following His example.