Confidence

“Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers, you cannot be successful or happy.” Norman Vincent Peale


Confidence is defined as belief in oneself and one's powers or abilities; the feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust; the state of feeling certain about the truth of something.

“But blessed is the one who trusts in the LORD, whose confidence is in him.” Jeremiah 17:7

Who is your confidence in - God, man or yourself? The question is not meant to trick or confuse you but to get you to think about your confidence and where it comes from.

I am confident in my ability to perform my job to the best of my ability. I have confidence in my role of a friend, mother and sister – sometimes. I am confident in my belief in God and that he is the beginning and the end and that I should cast my cares upon Him and feel confident that He will see me through.

When my confidence comes from myself it wanes when things get tough or beyond my control. When my confidence comes for God, I am able to stand steadfast through the storms of life and weather them out knowing that He has all things under his control and that no matter what the outcome, it is as He has planned.

Self-confidence is necessary to survive in the world but it is not to be confused with pride and our thinking that we are able to do all things by ourselves without care or thought of God in the process.

My confidence comes from my faith. When my faith is strong so is my confidence but when my faith falters so does my confidence.

Hebrews 10:19-39 talks about confidence and faith in great detail and I have learned a lot about how the two correlate to one another. I am thankful for the word and the lessons found within that help clarify what my role is in this life and how it relates to what God wants me to do and how he wants me to do it.

I am still a work in progress but I am open and flexible in my beliefs that as I delve deeper into His word that my faith and therefore my confidence will remain entrenched in Him as it should rightly do.

“So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.” Hebrews 10:35

Beauty

Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. 1 Peter 3:3-4

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and since the beholder is me then makeup is a necessity. I get up Monday through Friday and make my face up before going to work and on the weekends a little tinted moisturizer and mascara usually does the trick to get me through. My girls complain about the fact that I put on makeup questioning why I need it. For me it’s necessary for a couple of reasons. First I use it to protect my face from the dirt and grime encountered throughout the day and secondly it is a security blanket. Not one to think highly of myself and my looks, putting on makeup makes me feel better about whom I am. It’s amazing what a little foundation, eye shadow and mascara can do to bolster ones confidence.

Today’s scripture made me think about my inner beauty. What am I doing to put forth the best inner me each day. Do I wake up and have a quiet time with God setting my spirit on the right track to handle what comes my way? Do I soak up the word and listen to inspiring and uplifting music that will soothe the inner me and allow that beauty to come shining through? Am I doing things to nourish the inner most portion of my soul?

Sadly I’m not. I don’t have a daily regimen for my inner self as I do for the outer. Yet I feel as though I should. What a difference it would make to have my inner and my outer in tune with one another. Although I don’t go about flashing my gold jewelry and fine clothes I do take great pride in making sure I look my best for the world and since God means so much more to me than this place wouldn’t it make sense to treat my inner self with just as much, if not more, care in my desire to be pleasing to Him. God looks not on the outward man but on the inward man – the heart.

What is the state of your heart today?

“The LORD does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7

A Confident Heart

It's been a good week. Busy as usual, but good. I had a wonderful session with the counselor, been running everyone around town to doctor appointments and school activities and working all the same but its been quiet as far as the drama goes. It's like we are in a good spot for a little while and I am going to bask in it for what its worth!

The kids are out next week for Spring break and I am actually going to take some time off and spend it with them. Doing what? I have no idea, but I'm sure we'll make the most of our time together. This weekend it will be Easter egg hunts and church. No soccer practice or games due to the holiday.

I've been writing my son and praying over him that he is learning from this place he finds himself in right now and I have peace in my heart over it. I'm not lamenting or allowing myself to take on the blame game. I know that I have done all that I could and that the rest is up to him. I'm letting go of the guilt that I have held onto because of life's circumstances when he was younger. In looking back and I'm realizing that I was learning and growing up just as he was and instead of beating myself up I am telling myself that I did pretty good considering the circumstances and letting go of the dead weight. It feels great!

I owe a great deal of this peace and insight to Renee Swope who's book I just finished reading and will re-read many times over called A Confident Heart. It was a great read and it blessed me tremendously. I read it on the Kindle but plan to purchase a hard copy so I can highlight and mark it up. There were so many little nuggets in there and the last chapter gave me so many scriptures to situations in my life that I know where to turn in times of turmoil, grief and pain. It also reaffirmed that I am loved. I am needed, wanted and worthy of all He has for me in this life.

I highly recommend this book to everyone and plan to make it a gift to those that I encounter that are suffering as I have from low self-esteem, self doubt, loneliness and isolation from God.

Warmest blessings,

Kimberly