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Transcript

And I feel like God doesn't want us to constantly question our efforts and constantly belittle ourselves. And I just keep feeling like He’s telling me, calm down.

I'm Wanda. I'm a mom, and I have struggled my whole life with feeling that no matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I will never measure up. I'll never be enough.

And that somehow I just don't belong.

And this 30-day challenge has not fixed everything, has not made every day easy, but it has given me a renewed strength. And that's all because I have come to know my Heavenly Father more,

that I have come to see and feel more clearly how God feels about me.

And even though there's still challenges, there's still things I need to get through.

It truly has changed my life and being able to feel a new sense that I am enough and that I do belong. And it's given me an anchor that I didn't have before.

It's truly changed my life and been an incredible experience.

I feel like it is really easy to feel like we don't belong. That what more can we do? How can I be better?

Often makes us feel like we’re inadequate or at least it does me.

So I've been realizing, I believe that Jesus wants us to feel belonging now. He wants us to know that we don't have to be perfect or get it all right to belong to Him, that He loves us. He loves our efforts. He loves who we are. So the question that I'm asking myself is, what is one thing that—

about me that God can use today? What is one thing about me

that God is already using?

Two words came to my mind when I asked the question this morning

What's one thing about me that God can use?

Charitable hope.

And I—

it took me off guard. I’ve never heard that phrase. I've always been able to see the good in others, even when they were—even in the moments of them being really mean to me. I love them. And...

the thing that I’ve been working on and getting lots better at now is giving myself that same kind of charity and giving myself the benefit of the doubt and recognizing even in those hard moments that I am,

I am doing what I can.

And this morning when I asked,

what's one thing about me that God is already using?

The thought came to my mind to ask my husband. And it didn’t take him long.

And the thing that he came up with was anxiety. My anxiety.

And then I asked him why? Why do you think God’s already using that?

And he shared some of the obvious things. First of, well...

I’m more sympathetic to others, I understand firsthand what it’s like.

But, because of my anxiety we have had to address certain

issues or circumstances that had I not had anxiety, would have gone unnoticed.

And because we've addressed those little things,

we haven't had near as many big things to worry about.

Some words came to my mind that someone's coming to visit.

Hurry and get ready. I went and started just picking up toys and,

as I was doing that, then the thought came, “I’m already here.” And

I just had this peaceful feeling come over me. God's already with me.

God is already here. And I came out and I just have been sitting here in the grass and thinking about things, and I’ve just felt like He’s right here lounging with me and enjoying this beautiful day, looking up at these clouds and feeling the breeze and just enjoying the beauty of this world that He has created for us.

Today, when asked what’s one thing about me that God is already using? What came to my mind was faith. My faith.

I believe He’s using it to help

me be more present, to help me identify with what is present now instead of constantly identifying with the past and what has happened in the past.

And that this whole 30-day challenge has really taken that

to a new self-awareness or a new level. I don’t know what to call it. A new experience that I wasn't expecting.

Um, it’s just been a lot more peaceful, even in the chaotic moments.

It makes me think of the scriptures that talk about God's peace, that He will give it to us not as the world gives it, but that it

will defy all understanding. And that's exactly how I've been feeling, is because it's still been there, still been rough patches of the day. But.

That that peace has definitely been there.

And that's really what has been coming to my mind over and over today.

Is that Sunday is a day to remember that Christ died for us because we were worth it.

He didn’t die for us because He wanted to show off or show how magnificent He is or the things that He could do.

He did it because we were already enough in His eyes and He wanted us home.

Well, today has been a beautiful day.

And, um, just to kind of refresh for this 30-day challenge, I’m asking God, what’s one thing about me that He’s already using? And

it's helped me to feel more like I am enough, that I belong to Him and to the people around me, that I have worth, and that anything more that I work on is only exciting and rejuvenating to me instead of another thing to prove that I'm not enough. And now more than ever,

there has been a shift in me and I feel more capable. And we've been in several like big social gatherings and it hasn't been

a big deal. We just got back from family and it was wonderful. And I never—as we were driving away, coming back home, I realized I never once felt an anxiety attack or anything of just social overload. It was wonderful and it was fun and we didn't do anything

super extraordinary, just family things. And God’s plan is, for me, is wonderful. And I just feel like there is a lot more about me that is worth sticking around to discover and that I belong with who I am already.

And I’m just—I’m very grateful for the whole experience. This whole 30 days has been absolutely incredible and that

I know that we all belong to God with all of our imperfections because they are beautiful to Him and He loves us just how we are.

Thank you for joining me on this incredible 30-day challenge. It has changed so much for me, and I hope that a similar challenge can help you.

So I invite you to ask God, what is one way that He is already using you in your life right now? And leave your thoughts and comments down below.

Remember also to like share and subscribe so that way you can see the other incredible challenges that others are doing to follow

Christ right now.

Battling Low Self-Esteem with God's Help

Description
Wanda confronts a belittling personal view of herself that says she doesn’t measure up. She approaches the 30-day challenge with great candor and discovers God’s voice of peace, love, and belonging.
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