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| Do you like the person you see when you look in the mirrior? You should! After all, the person in the mirrior is a vry special person who is made and loved by God. God knew precisley what He was doing when He gave you a unique set of talents and opportunities. Now, it's up to discover those talents and to use them. Sometimes the world will try to make you do otherwise. At times, the world will try to make you fit into a mold. Yet God may have other plans in store for you!
The world will try to define how you look, act, and think. Because none of us are perfict we may become so wrapped up in meeting the world's expectations that we fail to focus on God's expectations. Instead of trying to please the world, tey to please God, by becomming the best that you can be!
There are three easy was of matintaing a healthy self- image: 1) Obeying God 2) Thinking healthy thoughts and 3) Finding a purpose for your life that pleases you and God! Some other things that will help you keep a good self-image that you and God can be proud of.
Behave yourself: If you are not behaving yourself, how can you possibly expect to feel good about yourself?
Guard your thoughts and heart: Even though you can't control every thought, you can usualy control the direction of your thoughts.
Spend time with upbeat, happy, and encouraging people: If you and your friends allways seem to end upi n the "critic's corner" it is time to find new friends and a new corner.
Don't be hard on yourself: If you are willing to forgive other people for their mistakes, then you should be willing to forgive your own mistakes too!
Find something you are passionatie about: Become so wrapped up in something that you simply don't have time to worry about sele- image.
<<<<<LOOK AT THE BIBLE>>>>>
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforhand that we should walk in them." Epesians 2:10
"For you formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise You, for who I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are your works." Psalm 139 13-14
"For you have made him a little lower then the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor." Psalm 8:5
"God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will contune it until it is finished when Jesus comes again." Philippians 1:6
****Find satisfaction in Him who made you, and only then find satisfaction in yourself as part of His creation.******
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| "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Thensaid I, Here am I; send me." Isaiah 6:8 God did not address the call to Isaiah; Isaiah overheard God saying, "Who will go for us?" The call of God is not for the special few, it is for everyone. Whether or not I hear God's call depends upon the staet of my ears; and what I hear depends upon the state of my disposition. "Many are called but few are chosen." That is few prove themselves the chosen ones. The chosen ones are those who have come into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ whereby their disposition has altered and their ears unstopped, and they hear the small voice questioning all the time, "Who will go for us?" It is not a question of God singling out a man and saying, "Now you go." god did not lay a strong compulsion on Isaiah; Isaiah was in the presence of God and he overheard the call. He relized that there was nothing else for him but to say, in conscious freedom, "Here am I, send me." Get out of your mind the idea of expection God to come withcompulsions and pleadings. When our Lord callecd His disciples there was no irresistible compulsion from outside. The quiet passionate insistence of His "fallow me" was spoken to men with every power wide awake. If we let the Spirit of God bring us face to facewith God, we too shall hear something akin to what Isaiah heard, the still small voice of God; and in perfect freedom will say, "Here am I; send me." | | |
| An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole
which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it
while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of
water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the
cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home
only one and a half pots of water.
Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the
poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable
that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of
what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day
by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side
causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman
smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the
path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known
about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path,
and every day while we walk back, you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to
decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would
not be this beauty to grace the house." Each of us has our own unique flaw.
But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together
so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person
for what they are and look for the good in them.
So, to all of my crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to
smell the flowers on your side of the path!
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| If you are like most women, then you are sensitive to rejection. And if you fit that to a tee, then you should be aware that the fear of rejection can be a major roadblock on the path of a purposeful life. Why might you ask? Well because the more fearful you are of displeasing others, the more likley you are to make decisions that are not in your best interest. When you try to please everybody in sight, you create for yourself an impossible, unrealistic, unsatisfying task. A much better strategy, of corse, is to first want to please God. Now don't get me wrong pleasing people is not a bad thing, to a point. Being a kind and considerate person is an important part of being a good christian. But you can't let your willingness to please to interfear with your own judgement or with God's commandments. If you are a world class people pleaser consder these points: 1) Your fear of rejection probly results from unspoken messages that are telling yourself about the consequences of being "judged" as unworthy or imperfect by the people around you. 2) You may be living and working under the mistaken fear of saying the word "no" to other human beings. Your inability to say no may be standing in the way of you and the things you want from life. So, get the corrage to say no. You will be glad you did! YOU CAN"T PLEASE EVERYBODY, nor should you even try. Focus your thoughts and energy on pleasing God first and always. Don't worry about the people you can't please. Focus instead on doing the right thing and leave the rest up to God! >>>>>>Look at the Bible<<<<<<< "Do you think I am trying tomake people accept me? No, God is the One I am trying to please. Am I trying to please people? If I still wanted to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ." Glatians 1:10 "Our only goal is to please God whether we live here or there, because we must all stand before Christ to be judged." 2 Corinthians 5:9 | | |
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