“You will never be good enough.”
“Who wants you around? Everyone is way better off without you.”
“Nobody loves you. Why would they?”
“You’re worthless. You will never amount to anything.”
“You can’t do anything right. Everything you do is an epic fail.”
Familiar with any of these thoughts? Or am I the only one who’s had thoughts like these before?
Yes, I have been known to be negative in my thinking a time or two. (Or eight. Or seventeen.) And yes, I have certainly developed an extremely negative self-image.
I have repeatedly told myself lies about who I am, and I’ve come to believe them. I have hammered it into my brain that I am good at nothing, nobody likes me, blah, blah, blah.
Even when someone tells me I do a particular thing very well, or they like being around me, I blow them off with my typical negative response.
And I have let myself become this way.
I have given the devil a foothold. I have listened to Satan’s lies and believed them.
I cannot do this to myself, my family, my friends – or to God.
To say there’s something wrong with who I am is to say that God made a mistake when He made me.
And God does not make mistakes.
To run myself down around my family and friends creates a negative person no one wants to be around.
Besides, aren’t a lot of our negative comments about ourselves made as an appeal for attention? Don’t we hope someone will contradict us and say something positive about us?
To run myself down in my head and heart is destroying my effectiveness for serving Christ.
If I can’t do anything right, how can I ever win souls for Him? If I can’t ever look past my own “faults,” how can I ever reach out and minister to others?
We cannot live with this mentality.
We were fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14), and God has a plan for us, to prosper us, and give us hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). We will miss this plan entirely if we only focus on ourselves, if we amplify our “mistakes” and our “faults.”
No, nobody’s perfect. Yes, we have all fallen short of the glory of God; we are all sinners. We will mess up. We will make mistakes.
But we can’t stay there. We have to remember that Christ created us with a purpose.
We cannot let Satan win our minds. We must take every thought captive, to the obedience of Christ.
Christ did not make a mistake when He made you. He loves you and has a plan for your life.
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<3 Loved this! Very encouraging!
Ahh, which one are you?!?! Skylar, Laini, or LA?
Laini ;P At least I’m 90% confident.
That’s my thought, too. She’s more active on here than Sky or LA.
(Oh cool, that looks like I was talking in code…)
Lol, see what happened to me is that I was talking to Laini and then it was the “Things thinking etc” profile and then it was Laini. XD
Oh, really. Hmm… She just followed me as TTAT…
Now I see what you were saying, never mind me. 🙂
I started following people on there because my feed wasnt working. And i had to follow some random communities before it would let me use it. So I unsubscribed from them and had to find people to follow lol
Oh and how did you comment on the blog a few minutes ago? I cant access it right now I dont think cause it wasnt working :/
I replied directly from my Disqus inbox. =D
Ok, we’re moving to my blog now =P
Lol, it does look like you’re talking in code XD
Hahhaha it does!
How’d ya guess? Ugh I need to get better at this logging in and logging out stuff…
Ah, here’s Laini!
Hey look, gang’s all here lol.
ikr?
I guess this is what happens when Revive is down…
Exactly lol. I was just gonna ask if that was happening to any of y’all. XD
Hey Josh, I’d feel bad if we spammed Lauren’s post like this, could we hang out on your blog instead?
Lol sure. Feel free to spam me here: http://guitarwitharmsblog.weebly.com/blog/origins-of-guitar-with-arms =P
Awesome!
Hahahhah ikr
That was me… lol I keep forgetting when I am logged in as who.
Great article! A song that came to my mind while I was reading this was Priceless by for King and Country. It’s a great song and about women (but it can apply to all of God’s kids) and how they are priceless. If there’s anyone that needs to be uplifted check out all of for King and Country’s music. I think it may help. But again, great article, and I hope to see more by you Lauren soon!
Hope this helps.
Wonderful job, Lauren! As one who has certainly struggled with negativity, your article is a breath of fresh air. Thanks for writing this encouraging article. 🙂
Hey there, Sam! I’ve been doing well, thank you 🙂 I’ve been busy, but blessed all the same. How ’bout yourself?
I know what you mean. I’ve been praying for you bro 🙂
Thanks. I really appreciate it 🙂
LAUREN!!!!!! =D
My favorite part of this article was at the end, where you said, “No, nobody’s perfect. Yes, we have all fallen short of the glory of God; we are all sinners. We will mess up. We will make mistakes. But we can’t stay there. We have to remember that Christ created us with a purpose.”
WAIT THIS IS LAUREN S??? *dies* I can’t believe I didn’t connect those dots in my mind. *facepalm*
Ok, studying chem now, for reals =P
Yeppers! 🙂
Get outta here, mister guitar! Do Hard Things, bro!
Hehe, I did. =P
Ohhhhhhhhh… now i get it! Can’t believe i didn’t put that together! Haha…
I know! Everyone was like “LAAAUUUURREEEENNNN” and I was like geez, what’s the big deal…OHHHHHHHH lol.
How’s that Chemistry going?! 😉
AUGH how dare you mention chemistry XD
I actually discovered half-way through my online test-thingy that I hadn’t done my lab report that’s due today. o_0 I had to fax it in, lol. But it’s done.
Yikes! I hate when that happens. The other day I had an assignment that was due at 8am, but I thought it was due at 8pm. Didn’t get that one in on time. Glad you were able to get it done. 😉
Mwerpsies! =/ Yeahhhh, I’m still a little worried that it’s gonna be late though…I was supposed to turn it in 7 days after my lab that starts at 2 PM and I turned it in at like 4 something lol. But worst that can happen is he takes off 10 points for it being late and I have to drop that grade. =D
Yeah. At least it is not the end of the world. That was the first time I had ever turned an assignment in late, so I was pretty depressed. :/
Aw. =/ You’re in college, right?
Yes, I am! 🙂
Cool! here I am spamming Lauren’s post again. =P I’d offer to talk more on my blog, but I should get some more work done (English this time lol).
I actually kind of sort of enjoyed Chemistry besides the tests or experiments. 😉 but glad its over for me too, hehe!
Lol, I have a really really bad professor, so I basically have to learn everything by myself haha. =/
Aw! That is sad! I did apologia ( I think that is how it is spelled), so I basically did it on my own, but the text I had to read was really well done. 😉
Wow, Lauren! Your article is great! I have also thought negative thoughts about myself as a Christian.
There was a time I had tried witnessing, and I was repeatedly rejected; so afterwards, I felt frustrated, and negative comments were going through my head.
But this article has helped think about what God has in store for me, even though I get rejected.
Thanks!
Lauren! Thanks for sharing! This is an encouragement to me, who has struggled with the same thing numerous times.
Something that someone recently told me was something like don’t keep looking back at the times you have failed; don’t live in that past, but keep looking and walking forward to what is in front of you.
Lauren, this is a great article! I totally needed it today! 🙂
This is amazing Lauren!
I know this is off topic, but I’m starting a new channel on Disqus called A Christian Life; you can click on my profile and go to discussions. There I put pics of Bible verses and other stuff. I would like more people posting on it also.
Thanks. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/dab50b1fb9d67631230ad8e164e5347ad7fa30bed78a67b9fd5339baeb7f0772.png
Thanks for this, Lauren! This is perfect, I totally get this because these have been major struggles for me. Thank you! and btw I finally got to see the Lauren who everyone is always talking about!
Lauren, I can’t thank you enough for this. God knew it was exactly what I needed and when I needed it most. God is faithful! I have struggled with a lot of negative thoughts about myself, and you are sooo right- God loves me. So, thank you. God used you tonight 🙂 xo
Eeeee, Lauren!! So glad you wrote this!! Well said. 🙂
P.S. Yay, I get to connect a face to a name now!! 😀
Excellent post, Lauren! So glad to finally see it! Oh, and now I know what you look like! Wait… 🙂
Judging by the other fifty-two comments, it’s no mistake that you wrote this either! Good work, God used you to encourage a lot of people. 🙂
Judging by the comments here, this is great! Maybe that means I should read it…
It really is great, Lauren!
“… aren’t a lot of our negative comments about ourselves made as an appeal for attention? Don’t we hope someone will contradict us and say something positive about us?”
That was really convicting for me, because in the past I’ve often been notoriously self-deprecating – in a way which was no testament to my humility. This negative self-image can actually be one of the most bizarre and devious forms of pride. Ultimately, should it matter what we think about ourselves? How much are we supposed to think about ourselves, anyway.”
“For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but of power, of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). “Wohoo! I’m the best!” I might think. But that’s wrong. Far from being an excuse for arrogance, this verse is a really challenging challenge. 🙂
Thanks for writing!
This is beautiful, Lauren. My voice teacher were just talking about last week how making statements like “I have terrible posture” simply reinforces something that you already know and are working on in a negative way. By saying it you almost sound proud of it and are even more unlikely to change. This is so true in the rest of our life too..
Amen!
this really hit me hard. i will try to remember. i cried reading this. beautiful
This was an amazing post, Lauren. You have a talent with words and I am so glad God gave that to you and that you use it to encourage others. Thank you.
-Mikayla-
Really awesome, thanks for writing Lauren 🙂