Confident...who me?

I've read Joyce Meyer's The Confident Woman more times than I can count and the new devotional by the name has been my companion this year, but some days I tackle what comes my way not feeling a bit of it. I know that may surprise some of you ;). I've grown a little over the last year or so, but I am much more comfortable being that behind the scenes support person than the one out front. I've growing through it though and realizing I can do the out front thing too. As women I think we struggle with lack of confidence because of the society we live in and because of each other. We compare ourselves to each other and judge ourselves by what we think we should look/act like. God's been preaching at me all year to love myself like He does, well I'm closer than I was yesterday on that journey(but not there yet). I've often known God trusts me more than I trust myself and honestly He has more confidence in me as well. Confidence is not about feeling you can do it, but in knowing He said you could. If He's put that desire in your heart and given you those gifts, He's going to help you get it done. I think lack of self confidence is something the enemy loves to get us with because if we don't believe we can do it, then we won't. I learned this week through some sweet time with Him that struggling with self confidence is just the enemy's way of saying he's scared of what a confident me could do. I guess I said all that to say, confidence is not always just a smile on the face. Some times we get so good at putting on our faces that we forget we just need to be real. Remember those that do for you and encourage them, chances are the one who is encouraging you may need encouraging themselves. Hold your head high, shoulders back, and as they say at the gym with your abs on, and walk knowing that regardless of how you feel He's got your back! God doesn't call you to do something when you feel like it, but to do it regardless. That is a truth I'm finally starting to grasp. I still struggle with confidence some days, but those days are becoming fewer and fewer. I know He's given me things that only I can do, people that only I can touch, and a work that only I can do. Now that's confidence ;-)

Side note: The first truth I gained on this confidence journey was knowing who I was in Him. Talk about making the enemy scared...when you realize who you are in Him and what He's going to help you do, YOU can do anything! You have to know who you are in Him, that He loves you know matter what, and regardless of how many times you knock yourself down(or let the world knock you down), He's going to be there to dust you off and pick you back up again.

So today despite how you may feel, know that He loves you and He has a plan for your life. On this journey to that plan though He knows you may fall down some, but He knows that each time you get back up, you get a little stronger. He also knows that at the end of each day, regardless of what kind of mess you may have made of it...you can ALWAYS crawl up in His lap and tell Him about it.