By Daniel Garner
"Therefore, my beloved brethern whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved" - Phillipians 4: 1
"Faith obliterates time, annihilates distance, and brings future things at once into its possession" - Charles Spurgeon
One of the biggest lies that it hurts me to hear others tell themselves is "I'm not strong enough". Or "I'm not as strong as them" or "I'm not smart enough".
The danger of devaluing yourself is that there's not a magical arbitrary line where you stop devaluing yourself. On a long enough timeline, if you tell yourself you're not smart enough, or strong enough or faithful enough than you will begin to buy in totally to your own self-fulfilling prophecy and see your true lot in life as simply existing as a lump on the couch who's only talent is decrying yourself as worthless and critiquing day time television.
Never underestimate yourself!
We get told often that people don't go to church because it just doesn't matter.
Bad people still do bad things. Good people still get used.
So is that it, then? Roll over and die? Give in because resistance is futile? You say, "I'm just me. I can't do anything".
There is never nothing that you cannot do!
You are never worthless. One person can and has changed the world. George Washington. Winston Churchill. You say you don't have an army behind you? Okay. Then Paul. Martin Luther King. The Tiananmen Square Chinaman. Mother Teresa. Steve Jobs. Nikola Tesla.
So you don't think you're a Mensa certified genius? Okay. Then the Wright brothers. Princess Diana. And more than anyone can count.
Never stop trying!
It doesn't matter where you are. It doesn't matter if you don't have four walls and a roof or the spouse of your dreams. It doesn't matter if the only ceiling you have is the stars. It doesn’t matter if you’re not with someone. You are never alone. Christ says "My home is within your heart, and you are never alone no matter what".
There are a lot of times where we don’t get to choose our circumstances. Maybe you’re in one of those times right now. We don’t always get the opportunity to choose what we go through, but we do always have the final word on what defines us. Grows us. And the thing is, is that those things we loath, those things such as pain and agony and death and loneliness that we despise to no end may have a say in how we are molded, but we have the final word on what it does to us. There is a time for everything, and the time for pain and loss is always right before we decide to stop listening to that pain and loss!
Despite seemingly popular belief, life can actually be something other than a lifetime-long marathon of constant Soap Operatic drama, loss and anger.
It can be brilliant, and anyone can be and do anything because in this non-soap opera version of life there is always hope.
We get beaten down so often and told to shut up or conform or whatever else helps make the person screaming it at us feel better about their own life decisions.
But life's not like that.
Or at least it doesn't have to be.
Because always remember this: There's always hope!
And we are more than how we feel about ourselves. We are more than the number of our sins and less than the culmination of our vices. We are more than the worse of ourselves because we are forgiven by the Creator of the Universe. Because we are loved by Him.
As you start each of your days, ask yourself how you want to be identified.
Do you want to be recognized by yours scars or your magnificent and unique values?
It doesn't matter how little you think your importance weights. No matter how small a victory or a quality, it IS still a victory and quality.
And they are YOURS.
You are not helpless. You are not without hope.
And of equal quality: You are not worthless!
And it’s important to know just who and what we are. What makes us tick, what motivates to do things and not only what we do but how we go about doing it. The more we understand about ourselves, a lot of things can happen.
The more we understand our love our anger and our victories and vices the more understanding we will be.
The better we become over the course of our lives we discover very quickly that our remorse and shame of our past tends to far outweigh our confidence in ourselves.
We cannot change the past. But we can fight to change today. You can't change what you've done, but you can change who are you and who you will be.
It is never to late.
If it was not to late for the thief on the cross next to Christ, then it is not to late for you!
The Takeaway: No matter your dream, it doesn’t matter where you are currently in your life. Wherever you are is where you can start that dream. Part of us, honestly, always wants to talk about how bad our past is. Sometimes it does help, because there is a time for healing. But then after is the time for growing into your best “you!” Stand determined for that future in greatness. Talk how great your future can be!
Because it can be.
Because YOU are!