MIDWEEK- Rebuilding Self-Esteem
Darin and Amy talk about how the Christian religion has taught us that self esteem and confidence are the same as pride. Many Free Believers find that after leaving an institution that regularly taught them to believe that their hearts were deceptive, it can take a lifetime trust themselves once again. Building inner confidence even feels prideful and wrong to many of us but having a healthy self esteem is absolutely imperative. Self loathing has become more than a habit in our thinking. It has become an epidemic among Christians that has taken the very life that Christ came to give us. The heart of the Father is to see us confident and secure in ourselves. How we feel about ourselves means more to the Father then almost anything.
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I know this podcast is absolutely brilliant! I feel it is about absolute surrender and the more we surrender with our own spirit, soul, and body, to our Loving Heavenly Fathers Heart. Then we will accomplish the will of our Loving Heavenly Majestic Majesty King Christ Jesus has given us.
I know this podcast is absolutely brilliant! I feel it is about absolute surrender and the more we surrender with our own spirit, soul, and body, to our Loving Heavenly Fathers Heart. Then we will accomplish the will of our Loving Heavenly Majestic Majesty King Christ Jesus has given us.
After dating this single mom for one year I asked no less than 5 people whether or not I should marry this girl.After being a christian for 23 years going to church,reading the bible,going to small groups,basically doing all the usual christian things on a consistant basis I didn't have enough self-confidence(uh-oh there is the word self)to decide what I wanted.Low self-esteem how about NO SELF-ESTEEM. Thank God she married someone else!!!!!!!!!!!
Richard, your understanding is priceless. It sounds like you are ready to meet a girl who will see and love you for your true value--if you haven't already.
Richard I laughed when I read your post. Thanks.
Richard,
Man can I relate to that. I went through the same issue a few years ago when I was dating a wonderful Christian Brazilian girl who was crazy about me. Like you I didn't have the confidence to choose what I wanted, but wrestled with the whole issue of God's will, which eventually caused me to let her go. *sigh* I think this religious system lies to people by telling them they are not holy or smart enough to make decisions on their own, but need to have "god" choose everything for them and that they can forfeit their calling, destiny,etc if they don't. Actually, it's this system that robs people of the endless possibilities of life.
Vincenzo, it's the system that robs them of self esteem and drowns them in fear and that takes away all possibilities of life. The sad thing is that it is their choice to give it up and then not take it back.
Well said.
Haha Darin, I am going to send you a picture of the guys I would date...and you tell me all about them :-D...Anyways, thanks for the reminder.
I love love LOVE what you said about God liking to elevate people, lifting them up showing them off. That touched me.
On another note I was raised with the belief that all forms of pride was bad. I was shamed for taking good, sincere, personal pride and dignity in myself. Since I have been in the wild I learned dignity, self respect, and personal pride.
I very much appreciate the comments about praising your child for learning to ride a bike and how silly it is to say that the effort is totally God. This is attitude is something I see everywhere and it really disturbs me. It's okay to make decisions in life and not have to expect God to make them for you. I would love to hear more about intentional living - what I mean by that is making everyday, common sense decisions about life knowing that God is the foundation upon which we have freedom to choose.
Well said...we can have all the people in the world rooting for us, but it is out of other's control what we choose to think about ourselves in our own heads. And I see this as a GOOD thing. We are are made responsible for our own well being. The voice of the critic that we all have to face in our mind was alive and well before any of us ever entered any religious institution. Yes, the institution reinforced the bad heart idea, but we were attracted to those places because they matched what was already taking place within us.
So much of what I understand about personal decision-making now that I have left off using a static set of rules revolves around asking myself a couple of questions, "What am I giving myself permission to do?" and "what am I going to do if I don't get my way?" That has simplified a lot of issues for me.
This podcast was so great!! I love it when people agree with me....hahaha! I have been discovering this amazing life of no mistakes. I've raised 2 teenage boys in the last few years, and it's been quite an emotional ride. They made "mistakes" (according the church's standards), but in every one of these "mistakes" I saw God at work in their lives. Everything had a positive to it. I am so convinced of this reality now. It make you doggone brave. You can go out and do whatever is in your heart and God is with you, so how can you fail? Even if things go "badly", He is right there to help you see new things about yourself and Him, and He takes the lemons of our lives and makes lemonade. It sounds so corny, but it totally true! Thank you Darin and Amy!!