Confidence!

Confidence!

CON’FIDENCE, noun [Latin]
1. A trusting, or reliance; an assurance of mind or firm belief in the integrity, stability or veracity of another, or in the truth and reality of a fact.

Websters 1828 Dictionary

I’m a decent parallel parker. In fact, I often brag about this to my people, hoping to off-set my other behind-the-wheel mishaps. Like the time I ran over a lawn chair. Or a garbage can. Or when I got lost in my neighborhood. I digress.
I am also a respectable cook. I have grown confident in my cooking skills over time. My family usually finds my meals quite tasty. I believe they appreciate my cooking more than my driving.

Confidence. It feels good to feel confident, doesn’t it?
There are many areas of my life where I feel certain and skilled. There are also many parts of me that are uncertain and unskilled. For example, I am a rotten artist. I can barely draw stick figures and even these stick people need explanations to an outside observer.

Beyond these surface illustrations of our shared human state -we’re all good at some things and not so good in others- lies the state of our hearts.
As I peel back my heart-layers, I shine a spotlight on the real me. She is hard to find, as she shrinks back, wearing a veil of fear and insecurity.

An awareness that fear was beginning to get the upper hand began with a gurgling in my stomach, it could not be ignored. I knew the gray clouds looming and anxiety brewing was not God’s intention for me. So, the match began: me verses anxiety.

I was held back by the fear that stemmed from painful childhood experiences and mistreatment. From adult-sized suffering and stuffing. I learned that my “me-ness” was not enough or not okay. Fear taught me to back off in relationships, to not allow myself to show vulnerability, to limit my opinions, and that to please others is the means to love and acceptance.
Today, this new fighter-me is learning that she is enough. She is okay. That people-pleasing is not God’s plan for me (ouch! That sounds so unchristian).
The gift of pain brought an awareness of my need.
The gift of pain showed me that the time had come to stop shrinking back.

Shrinking back is the opposite of confidence.

I continue to embrace my word of the year (FIGHT!) with resolve and excitement. I recently read, then seized the following verse, and added it to my arsenal.

“But we are certainly not those who are held back by fear and perish; we are among those who have faith and experience true life!”
Hebrews 10:39 The Passion Version

I am a woman on a confidence journey. As I travel on this bridge toward healing, I place all my hope, faith, trust, and “me-ness” in the lap of my Savior-Counselor-King. I rise out of the gray clouds towards the sweet sunlight of His wisdom and wellness.

Care to join me in the journey towards life in the upper realm? We rise with eyes up, full of courage and hope, the Son shining on our faces as we take His hand with confidence and experience true life. True wholeness of heart. And we’ll do it a thousand times again if needed.

Refection:
1. Can I place all my hope, all my trust, all my faith in God? If not, then why?
2. Am I held back by fear? If so, then what will my first step towards healing entail?
3. In what areas/ways do I shrink back?

Dear Lord,
Our fight is your fight. We do not belong to those who shrink back, held by fear. As we rise, we resolve today to experience life in You through faith.
Amen