Self-Esteem Talk

"Fear Not, Therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:31) (ESV)
 

Good Day Oddballers,

Yesterday I had some conversations with many people who think very negatively about themselves, and today. I want to tackle the issue on self-esteem because it seems like I honestly have to "get real" with these people.

What I can tell you is this:  God made you perfect in his eyes. End of story. As much as society tries to manipulate that truth into something distorted and unrealistic with standards higher than even Goliath could reach, you as a person have to know the truth. It's hard to see, trust me, I Know for a fact it is. But eventually you will be able to recognize the postive qualities in yourself.

Trust me, I can relate. I was depressed for a time, I understand what it's like to feel like no one really cares about you at all. I understand the feeling of negative self-worth because you feel below the standard of quality and acceptance. I understand the feeling of wanting to be something I wasn't. I understand the feeling of trying to live up to unrealistic expectations and failing miserably. I understand these emotions because I was just like you. I understand those feelings that one could be having in regards to self-esteeem.

Self-Esteem is a complicated thing. It's not like I can get up in the morning and say "I like everything about myself." Well, because we live in a broken world where a lot of things aren't pleasent and beautiful and kind. We will have negative qualities and struggles because that's just part of living on Earth. So don't fret if you look in the mirror and don't like something. That happens to me too. It's all part of living in a world of sin.However, IT'S NOT EVERYTHING!

As a Christian, I know that through God I can look past my negative emotions about myself and find my strenths. For me, when I look in the mirror, I look past the negative things and find the things that I specifically like about myself: my eyes, and my nose, and my healthy frame. Using that, I can then find the postive qualities in my personality. I used to have to rely on people to tell me the good things about myself. But I know what positive qualities I have now, so I just try to ulilize them as often as possible in front of people.

What's difficult for me still is accepting the compliments from others. People will tell me how nice of a person I am, how pretty I am, How awesome of a friend I am, and How much they appreciate me in their life, but I tend to think about how others don't get told those things on a daily basis, so they should be told those things, OR there is always someone better who deserves it more than I do.

Maybe it's modesty, maybe it's self-esteem that's the problem. I don't really know. But nomatter what, I try to talk to God about it. He usually knows what to say to me through others when I need it most. So I rely on him to help me get through the rough spots.

So as you all go about your day, and you notice yourself thinking negatively about yourself. Tell your little peanut gallery to STOP IT!! There is no reason anyone should feel badly about themselves. Ever!!


Have a great Day everyone. Maybe that helped Maybe it didn't.


Oddball

Touched By God...It's an Awesome Thing

"Then I heard him speaking, and as I listened to him, I fell into a deep sleep, my face to the ground. A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees. He said, “Daniel, you who are highly esteemed, consider carefully the words I am about to speak to you, and stand up, for I have now been sent to you.” And when he said this to me, I stood up trembling." (Daniel 10:9-11) (NIV)
 

 Good Morning Oddballers,

I know it has been awhile, I have had a lot to think about these couple weeks so I can write for the next couple weeks for you guys. Since I will have Thanksgiving Break starting Tuesday, I will be able to write some longer pieces, I hope you all can deal with that lol.

First and foremost, there are a few things that I learned during my writing break. One, that the world is a beautiful place when it changes seasons. How God created the world with such organization.  The fact that God created each and every little piece of our planet just amazes me. Two, rely on God above else. Sometimes we as people can get distracted by the things in this world, however, the important thing is to put God first. Then for some awesome reason, everything falls into place. As much drama and hard choices can stress us out. Seek God above all else, and your eyes will be opened by his glory and grace.

Today, though, I want to just talk about an idea that I love, and that is being touched by God. I think we have all maybe thought of this picture sometimes in our lives. For example, "What would it be like?" "Would something happen?" "What would his hand feel like?" "Will I glow or something?". Hahaha, maybe the last question was mostly me, but I think you get the idea. As you can see, I have thought of this a whole lot. Not because I have no life, but because I just love God and want to know God at a deeper level that when I read scripture like Daniel 10:9-11 it makes me wonder what being touched by God is all about.

For me, I feel like I am touched by God, but probably in a different way than Daniel. To me, he held my hand through very difficult life situations and because of that, people have grown in their faith by listening to my testimony or reading on my expiriences. As much as the past tends to leave nasty scars, I still feel blessed with the fact that I made it through, and God never left me one moment through the whole thing, even when I was angry with him. It's a magical thing, feeling that overwhelming urge to do something Good. It makes me wonder if that is what being touched by God is going to feel like. Will it be some overwhelming joy that I wouldn't even know what to do with myself? Would it be like a first love that never dies? Or have I allready been touched by God, but I just don't recall it??

These type of things leave me with a lot of questions. I'm not going to write this blog expecting to understand everything that I write about on here. I just write my reflections as a dork of Christ. I do realize that some people expect me to answer their questions. My advice to those who have questions is to seek answers by God, it's amazing how he can answer questions. Trust me on that!!!

So today, just think about how God has touched you in your life, or some other reflection about being touched by God. Does he speak through you? Does he guide you through situations? Have you even been touched at all??

So many questions this morning.

Oddball

Your Parents were actually serious. It's the Inside that counts. :)

"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) (NIV)

Morning Oddballers,

Today I want to talk about inner beauty. My favorite kind of beauty, because yesterday I had a frustration about Americans in general. LOL. Usually in most cases, the nice people get pushed around, and usually right away they don't win the girl/guy they were going after as a significant other because they are just "too nice". If you think about it, it's kinda true. Not saying that I am a perfect exanple of these things, it's just the kind of stuff that I have noticed throughout High School and my few months at college. I usually turned down the "nice guy" for a total jerk because well, the jerk asked me first. LOL It's true!!! and what sucks about the whole things is that looking back, the "nice guy" would have most likely been a great relationship. See what we can miss if we don't take the time to evaulate the inside, the heart of a person??!!

I  am ashamed to say that I am totally guilty of initially judging people by their looks before I get to know them, but I think everyone has sometime in their life. For me know, what I have found that as the older I get, the less I have been doing that. I look at the personality, how they treat others, and how they treat themselves. In my opinion, that is key to any kind of successful relationship. As much as one would like to thing that outward appearance is totally important; it is in a way for things in the future of the relationsip, but, initially, to see if they would fit, it's kind of irrelevent. Just because you aren't the girl in the magazine, the girl with the best clothes, the guy with the best body, the guy with the best hair and smile, the person with the designer clothes and a awesome set of beautiful nails, in no way this means that you are more/less likely to get a significant other in your future. NO WAY at all.

So what the verse today is trying to say is that "the unfading beauty of a gentle spirit" is the kind of stuff that we should be looking for in people because God finds that valuable in us. This is a verse that I live by. I strive to find the gentle spirit in people, and when I do, it is totally attractive to me as a friend and as a potential significant other. It's addicting to me. I love to see the power of God working through people with their personalities. It totally amazes me in every single way.

So as you all go about your day, I just want you to evaulate yourself. DO you have a gentle spirit?? That I think is the question everyone should be asking themselves on a daily basis.The more gentle our hearts are, the more we present ourselves in a godly way, I I don't find anything wrong with that whatsover.

Have A Wonderful Gentle Spirit Day EVERYONE!!

Oddball <3

Relationships According to Dorks ;) Part 4.

"Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love."(1 Corin. 13:8-13)
 

Mornin' Oddballers,

Today is the LAST day of our 1 Corin. 13 adventrue. Today, as I wrap up the ideas mentioned in this chapter. That it is a bit shorter than some of the other entries. Sometimes, ideas can just flow from my mind and I can write forever. Many occasions while I write my blog I have to discipline myself to actually stop writing. I surprise myself sometimes.

So yeah, now unto the verses for today. I know it's alot. But the ideas kind of tie together. So I wanted to write about it as a group. I don't really want to defile these verses, because I feel that reading them really captures the idea on what exactly love is all about. What I think about when I read this is how I dealt with the boy I had a crush on when I was younger. Now that I thnk about it, I was more biblical as a woman then than I think I was as a teenager when my parent's said that "I could finally date." It's wierd, how innocence can really affect how a person deals with issues. Even though I have been studying the art of beauty and love and how to incorporate in my life Biblically, I still find myself struggling to do EVERYTHING that I am supposed to. I guess having perfection with Love is only up to God, but I definitely strive to show that to everyone I can.

I think if you guys get anything out of the series of 1 Corinithians 13, I hope that you all see how important Love is in our lives. I feel so strongly about love that I really take time to consider my options when it comes to those I am thinking about getting romantically involved with someone. Of course the girliness in me gets super confused stressed out, and has a hard time really seeing what God wants, but I definitely pray about it vigorously to see where God wants me to go and who he puts in my life.

In my opinion, emotional roller coasters aren't something to be ashamed of. I think it is important to embrace our roller coasters in regards to love. It helps us see where our true love lies. It's that one text saying "hey, I am thinking about you today." that could be the deciding factor between love and true love. Sometimes we think we love people, but in realitity, we do, but not in the way we may think sometimes. Love is complicated. That's why I spent four blog posts trying to attempt at figuring this concept out. It's not easy.

So I encourage you as you go about your day, to just think about everything you have read these past four days. Most of the time, I don't write a blog post on fridays, but I really wanted to say this today.

I hope your days are filled with Love, Peace, Hope, Faithfulness, and Happiness. :D

God Bless

Oddball

Relationships according to dorks ;) Part 3

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perserveres." (1 Corin. 13:6-7) (NIV)

Good Day Oddballers,

Today is yet another portion of 1 Corinthians 13. I really am enjoying reading through these verses and taking them one word at a time. It definitely reminds me of all that love is. Not only how God loves us, but how to really love others. I am finding this quite beneficial. I hope you are too. :D

Now today, I'm not sure whether this will be a longer or shorter blog post, I guess it all depends on how everything goes. Well, I guess we are going to start from the begining to the end this time. Yesterday we went backwards and I think it helped the understanding in my opinion, if it did not.. my apologies. So yeah. Love doesn't delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. I love LOVE this verse so much!!! I truely believe that love will stand by the truth. When people purposefully try to do wrong to the one's they love. I feel like they aren't actually showing love. True love to me comes from standing by the truth nomatter the cost. That's what I belive in and feel strongly about.

Love always  protects, trusts, hopes, and pererveres. I love this line too. Love is a sign of protection. Moms do this all the time. Lion's protect their young. Mama bears protect their babies. It's part of nature really for a mom to protect what they love. That's why girls get jealous easier than guys do. We love our man, and we don't want any other girl threatening that love. Because we love them enough and don't want them to get hurt by making mistakes. Love does always trust. Trust, in my opinion, is the most important aspect of a relationship other than patience. It is important to make sure that there is an amount of trust between the two people. Otherwise there will be doubts and then sin happens because of that doubt. Not only is distrusting a person stressful, it can be a whole lot of work to try and mend that trust if it's broken. Just be careful in regards to trust..it's not something you want to lose with the one's you love.

Love hopes and perserveres as well. Love always looks for a positive in everything, and it is patient and perserveres through tough situations. They work with their partners and put an effort into progress. They put the work into the relationship because they love, adore, and care about the person enough to do what is necessary to make it work. This is so important. I try very Very hard to do this in all relationships. With friends, or someone I feel love romantically for. I communicate and work on building the relationship and not knockig it down.


Just something for you guys to think about today.

Have a Rockin' Day,

Oddball