Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ -Matthew 22:36-39

Have you ever wished you were never born? Have you ever hated your life because of what people have said about you? Have you ever come to point where you feel like giving up? I know I have.

So much of our pain and loneliness is a result of a poor self-image. We “know” God loves us, but we don’t love ourselves, which proves that we don’t really know God loves us, created us, and made us just how He wanted us!

Jesus said to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we don’t love ourselves, we’ll never  be in a position to love and impact others. So how do we learn to love ourselves?

The Solution: Fight lies with the truth.

Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of human opinion disables; trusting in God protects you from that.” We need to put all of our trust and worth into God’s hand. We need to see ourselves as He sees us. We do this by spending time in His Word, in His presence, and around other believers!

When other people or our own thoughts tell us we’re fat, we’re not good enough, we’ll never be successful, we’ll never find someone to marry, we don’t have any friends, nobody likes us, or _____(fill in the blank), we must recognize  that those are all lies, purposed to hold us captive. We must replace those thoughts with what God says about us.

Here are some thoughts I’ve been thinking on when lies come my way:

• There has never been and never will be anyone else like you.

• “You will make a lousy anybody else, but you are the best “you” in existence.”
  

• God doesn’t take time to make a nobody. – Zig Ziglar
  

• Most of us spend most of our lives trying to prove ourselves to people, when all we have to do is prove ourselves to God. –Mark Batterson

• “God will help you become all you can be, but He will never help you become successful at being someone else.” –Joyce Meyer

One of the greatest battles we will all face is overcoming a poor self image. The only solution is replacing what people have said about you and the negative thoughts that come into your mind with what God says about you.

Two books that helped me with self-image issues are: Soul Print by Mark Batterson and See You at the Top by Zig Ziglar!

Jesus really does love you. He wants you to love you too. Be confident in who He created you to be.

Thoughts?

This week I answered:

1. Who would I rather be for a day: Jack Bauer or Tony Horton?
2. Do I struggle with trying to be perfect in my walk with God?
3. How do I deal with that?
4. How do I deal with comparing myself with people I would like to be?

• God is always with you and knows exactly where you’re at

• You learn to trust God in life because if you don’t, you’ll fall flat on your face

• It’s a season of character development, not gifting development

• God’s discipline and correction is really preparation for what He has for you in the future. He corrects & prepares those He loves!

• There is a reason you’re in the wilderness, and you won’t always know it until you’re out of it!

• In times where God seems distant, He is usually leading you into a deeper relationship with Him then you’ve ever known before.

• We need to stop looking to people for affirmation, permission, and acceptance. Doing so will only lead to bondage. Instead, we must learn to get these things from God, which leads to freedom.

• God is smarter than me, He knows what He is doing. He wants to get me where He’s called me to more than I want to do what He’s called me to!

“Wilderness” experiences are not always pleasant, but they’re always worth it when we get through them.

What lessons have you learned in the Wilderness?

This post was taken from the Only God Blog!