Self-Worth + CHALLENGE

"SMILE....You never know whose day you will change"


"We are capable, valid, creative, intelligent, unique, and powerful! However, many of us lack the resources, and/or the belief in ourselves to fully reach our potential, or to feel as worthy and ‘worth it’ as we really are"

“God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way."
-Stanley Lindquist

In a world that is ever changing, we feel the pressure of the world upon our shoulders. Some of us may have unhealthy feelings about our own inadequacies, real or imagined.

We may feel we need to:

- Think that we need to be tall and a size 2 to be beautiful

- Compare ourselves to others around us 

- Focus on our flaws

- Put ourselves down when we feel like we have failed

- Have our homes look like something from a home design magazine

-  Be good at everything

- Give up

Too often we wallow in our weaknesses so much that we do not allow “weak things” to “become strong.” Our condition is frequently misdiagnosed as humility, when in reality it is a lack of confidence.

What is the difference between the two?

To be humble is to recognize our utter dependence upon the Lord. We are conscious of our strengths, but we do not exalt ourselves and become prideful, for we know that all good things ultimately come from God. We are conscious of our weaknesses, but we know the Lord can use those very weaknesses to bless our lives and that through Him, as we learn from the book of Ether, our weaknesses can become strengths.

To lack confidence is to have feelings of low self-worth. We are preoccupied with our weaknesses, and we lack faith in the Lord’s ability to use those weaknesses for our good. We do not understand our inestimable worth in the eyes of God, nor do we appreciate our divine potential. Ironically, both pride and a lack of self-confidence cause us to focus excessively on ourselves and to deny the power of God in our lives.

The scriptures inform us that we all have weaknesses and that there is a place for them in our spiritual progress and that we are all beautiful children of our Heavenly Father: 

“If men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them”

Ether 12:27

"You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you"
Song of Solomon 4:7 

 

Do not let your adorning be external—the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry, or the clothing you wear— but let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which in God's sight is very precious.

1 Peter 3:3-4

We learn further from the scriptures how to gain confidence:

 “Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven” (D&C 121:45).

The Lord endows us with confidence as we practice “charity towards all men” and have righteous thoughts. One way we can practice charity is to be generous in our praise of others, thus helping them gain confidence as well. I have always loved the feeling Alma had for Ammon and his brethren when they met after a separation. “I do not joy in my own success alone, but my joy is more full because of the success of my brethren, who have been up to the land of Nephi,” Alma said.

I find the more I lose myself in the service of others, I obtain a witness of who I really am as a person and as a daugther of God. 

When I  possess healthy feelings of

self-worth, my joy in the accomplishments of others is truly magnified.

                         

I just want to say to YOU

 (reading this post) 

that YOU are beautiful

and that you ARE worth it....every little bit.

***YOUR CHALLENGE***

 TAKE THE TIME OUT OF YOUR DAY TO HELP SOMEONE ELSE OUT THIS WEEK AND SEE HOW YOU FEEL.

EMAIL ME WHAT YOU DID TO BRIGHTEN SOMEONE ELSE'S DAY AND HOW YOU IT MADE YOU FEEL.

I WILL POST SOME OF THE RESPONSES ON MY BLOG NEXT WEEK