Live for God and Love Yourself

It is so easy to let what others think or say, define how we feel. For some reason, it can be so easy to take to heart how someone treats us, the words they use (or not use) or the opinion we think they have of us, and really let it affect us, rather than just let it roll off. Many times we make more of it than it really is as well. Then we proceed to make ourself feel less than and not enough. In order to let it roll off, we have to make an intentional choice to live for God and truly love ourself. We can not look to others to help us feel enough and feel loved. In order to feel loved and to give love, we have to live for God, not for pleasing others and truly LOVE ourself. Many times when we are feeling things we don’t like, including anger, jealousy, envy or irritability…usually we have neglected taking care of ourself and need more time with God. This is really close to my heart lately as I watch my kids getting older and what they are feeling.

This is not being selfish, boastful, or arrogant, and this is not being inconsiderate of others. This is being kind and truly liking who we are and believing in ourself. This is taking care of ourself.

Yes, we should be kind to each other, but let’s be kind to ourselves as well.

Yes, we should fill others up, but let us fill ourselves up as well.

Yes, we should lift others up, but let us lift ourselves up as well.

Yes, we should stop judging others, but let us also not judge ourselves.

Yes, we should pray for others, but let us not forget to pray for ourselves.

Yes, we should stop being so hard on others, but let us also stop being so hard on ourselves.

When I start feeling less than and start not being kind to myself, I first pray over the situation. I pray for me to see it differently and for God to help guide me as to what I should be doing. Prayer is not going to change the world, prayer is going to help me to change, so I can handle the situation better and guide me as to what I should be doing. When we are frustrated at something around us, we need prayer to help us see it differently, or to help us accept it for what it is.

We then should be reminded to let go and practice letting go of what others think. Their beliefs do not define us. Many times, what we do, will fall short of others expectations. This doesn’t mean we didn’t try. This doesn’t mean our heart is not in the right place. This means that we have to still be ok and believe in ourself, even when someone else might not believe in us. Be kind to ourself. Sometimes we talk ourselves into thinking they don’t believe in us, when it may not even be true.

We also have to let go of judging others. They have a right to their opinion as well, and it doesn’t have to be the same as ours. If we want to let go of what others think of us, we should also let go of being critical of them.

Sometimes we need to love ourself enough to possibly change. We all need to be aware of what areas we can possibly improve upon. This can be hard. Looking deep inside ourself, and how a situation could have been different, and many times we could have handled it better. This is loving ourself enough to want to improve. Work on it and strive to be better. Some situations, we just need to work on acceptance and learning to accept what it is.

We also can be kinder to ourself by having more positive self talk rather than negative. It is so easy to get caught up in talking ourself down. It is much harder to lift ourself up, complement ourself and pat our own self on the back. We are the only person we can control. God made each one of us special, and we have to control our thoughts to believe in ourself and get up after falling down.

We are going to go through struggles daily. The real challenge is getting through them and getting back up and moving on and lifting ourself up in the process. Life does give us struggles where we feel completely helpless. There are times that we can’t change a thing. This, my friend, is when we get down on our knees first. Then, the letting go, the breathing, being kind to ourself and possibly a good walk in the fresh air. My point is…it is possible to go from feeling helpless to feeling like it is all going to be ok… if we are willing to have faith… and hope… and work to climb out of our despair. Be kind to ourself as we climb.

Take the steps to feel better. God will always get us through. It doesn’t mean it won’t be hard. It doesn’t mean it turns out good. It means that we can get through. Yes, I know there are times we might need more help than this. I know there are heavy struggles that might need outside help and professional help. Be strong enough to admit to that and get that help as well. Just do not give up. Never give up…..love who we are and have faith in God. This is what we need to teach our kids and let them watch us doing every day.

Love God. Live for God. Love who you are.