‘This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!” For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.’ 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 (NLT)
‘Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.’ Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)
‘Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.’ Romans 12:2 (NLT)
It seems we can spend our adulthood unlearning the negative beliefs we learned in earlier years as we start to look past our shortcomings and become more comfortable with the way we look, how we interact socially, our performance and abilities etc. Instead of looking outside ourselves to things, friends, partners, our roles etc to make us feel a sense of confidence, remember the qualities and characteristics about you that are virtuous and that worthiness is your birthright. Start to practice acceptance of the things you dislike about yourself and be more forgiving of yourself when you slip up. I’ve found that every year, the older I get, the more comfortable I feel in my own skin and the less I care what others think and the less value I place on external based standards. Building healthy self-worth is a process and we need to be prepared when situations trigger our negative beliefs but remember that it’s ok and we can learn to respond in an accepting and compassionate way.
from Journey to Confidence