As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

I’m lined up to shoot the game winning shot. Come on, it's just a free throw. I’ve done these time and time again. This shot wins us the game. Shake off the nerves and shoot.

The ball circles the rim. The anticipation for whether it will go in or fall off the side of the basket is killing me.

Just when I thought I might pull off a win for my whole team, the ball falls off the side.

Cheers and shouts are all around me.

"We won! We're going to the championship!"

I made that possible. I made it possible for myself to feel like the LVP....the least valuable player.

I just allowed the opposing team to go to the championship game. I just let my entire team down.

Have you ever looked around a room, and without anyone even saying a word, you know that they don't want you there? You feel their negative energy and can almost see it radiating off of their faces like a ray of sun burning through your soul.

That's how I felt in this very moment. My team was disappointed in me. My team, it felt at that time, hated me. I lost the game. There was no turning back; nothing I could do to possibly fix the mess I had just created.

Sometimes, we feel like we've let the world down. We're not good enough or worthy enough to be considered a winner. You plea for something, anything to go right in your life, and just when you think it can't get any worse, life proves you wrong. You're not really sure just how much more you could possibly take.

I tell you this story and these feelings because I've felt this over and over again in my life. I've been that person to walk into a room full of people that didn't want me there, more than once. I've been that person that didn't think they could handle much more. I've been that person who wondered if others lives would be better off without me.

I've also been that person who was slapped in the face by God by thinking those things.

Now, I'm sure that some of you who are reading this are sitting there thinking "Oh no, not another God centered preachy blogger...", but this goes beyond being "preachy". This goes beyond God himself. This post is to give you a glimpse of Gods love, understanding, comfort, and even that which many people forget to mention -- Gods anger.

Imagine yourself as an artist. You have your biggest and most famous showcase coming up. Thousands of people will be at the show to witness and to observe what you consider to be perfect artwork.

The night of the show is finally here. Your guests start showing up. As they observe your pieces of art, you start to notice that every piece is being drawn or painted upon. You go up to one of the guests and ask them what they are doing to your perfect piece of art. They answer with, "Your art is good, but it is no where near perfect. I'm just trying to help you achieve greatness. This piece of art can hardly be called that. It needs a lot of help."

You do this several times as people are doing this to every single piece of your artwork. You receive similar answers as the previous one that your artwork needs help. You created it in your image, not theirs. You created it perfectly in your eyes, not in theirs. To you, this artwork is everything you meant for it to be. How could these people come in and destroy what you considered perfection?

This is how God feels when we try to "fix" ourselves. To him, we are his perfect artwork. He is the all-mighty artist.

Now what does this have to do with the first story I told?

When we feel unwanted or that we are not desired, we tend to point our fingers at ourselves. We try to fix whatever it is that people don't like about us.

We spend 5 hours a day practicing our free throws so that next time, we won't miss the winning shot.

Take a minute to really think about the rest of the game. Look at it a different way. You got the last shot because the other team fouled on you. You got the OPPORTUNITY to win the game. We can't win everything in life, and from those losses, we gain knowledge. We figure out what we need to work on, but it isn't by any means, completely our fault. You didn't play the game by yourself. You didn't score fewer points than the other team by yourself.

Just like life, you didn't cause others to dislike something that you did by yourself.

It's not on your hands the way that others choose to react to your situations.

Sometimes, well, a lot of the time, we beat ourselves up over something that we cannot control. So what do we do when these trials confront us and tear us apart?

In Isaiah 41:10, it says, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”

Give your problems to God. Jesus Christ didn’t suffer for your sins so that you could suffer them, too. Jesus Christ didn’t hang from a wooden cross, with a crown of thorns on his head, nails in his hands and feet, and a spear in his side so that you could feel the pain of guilt or of loneliness.

The wonderful thing about Jesus Christ is that he is whatever you need him to be: a support system, a friend, a brother, a comforter, a listener, an advice-giver, the list goes on.

Now, you may be one of those people who shake their head at the statement I just made.

Maybe you’re one of those people who has tried the whole “Christian religion thing” and you find that you don’t believe there really is a God.

Let me be the first one to tell you, this is one of those situations that ARE all on you. YOU have to allow the Savior to be a part of your life. YOU have to allow him to act as the friend, brother, comforter or whatever it is that you need. YOU have to have faith that he will take care of you. He will carry your burdens.

Now, with that being said, just because you have faith in God and believe in him doesn’t mean that you will make that game winning shot in every single game you play.

It means that you will have the confidence and the ability to have the opportunity to decide how you will act after that shot is taken. Whether you make it or not, decide before how you will act. Will you let Satan have power over you? Will you allow yourself to be brought down by the people that you are surrounded by? Or will you get up, practice your free throws and dominate at the next game?

You decide your fate. You decide who you will follow, but “as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 25:15)