Meet my friend Laura, she is one of the bravest women I know. I have been honored to coach and train her for this season and celebrate some amazing goals she has crushed, (like working out 208 days last year). She is a single mom to a foster daughter, an IT application analyst, and lifts the barbell like it' her job.
But... negative self-thoughts still try to creep into her mind.
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Thinking these thoughts, I automatically assumed everyone else was thinking them about me too, doubling my insecurity. I tried to build walls around myself and wore a façade so real I almost believed it myself.
Many of my thoughts involved my physical body: too fat, too weak, too short, too tall, my hair too thin and wavy, my freckles ugly. Once I exhausted my list of inadequacies physically, it became second nature to also believe: I’m not smart enough, I’m not funny enough, I’m not kind enough, I’m not talented enough, I’m unlovable, I’m unworthy. Oh how easy it is for me to believe those things.
Obedience, prayer and faith rescued me from the depths. I would cry out the father’s prayer from Mark 9:24 over his possessed son “Oh Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!” I would pray for the Lord to help me think healthy thoughts, to help replace the lies with truth.
I have marinated in Zephaniah 3:17 for years “For the Lord your God is living among you. He is a mighty Savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.” This is my GO-TO verse. Whenever I don’t know what else to think, I think this verse. The Lord of ALL CREATION DELIGHTS IN ME WITH GLADNESS! I believe this with every cell in my body. I also believe that He only delights in that which is WORTHY of HIM. If I believe those two things, how could I possibly believe a single lie written in the paragraphs above?
That doesn’t mean that I never fail. Satan gets cleverer, and I have to be more diligent. I still have to remind myself that feelings aren’t TRUTH. The Word of GOD is TRUTH. I can always fall back on that. There is a GOOD reason the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:14-17) is: belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shoes of the gospel of peace, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and word of the spirit the Word of God.
The best ways I have found to identify lies and replace them with truth are having people I trust to speak truth to me. I can spout nonsense and they will listen with love and then say “girl, you know that’s not true.” They help me replace lies with truth. Also, journaling. I write it down, and sometimes it looks so ridiculous on paper that I can’t believe I wrote it, much less believed it! And I still pray for healthy thoughts, for truthful thoughts. I STILL cry out “Lord, I believe! Help my unbelief!” And He ALWAYS answers.